Authorities have found the body of one of the people linked to a conspiracy theory tying a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances of scientists, researchers and lab workers with alleged ties to secret government research.
New Mexico State Police (NMSP) say a hiker found the body of Melissa Casias in Carson National Forest. Police also found a handgun next to her remains.
According to the NMSP Investigations Bureau, they were notified that a hiker had discovered human remains in the McGaffey Ridge area of the forest on May 28. Authorities identified the remains as belonging to Casias, who was reported missing on June 26, 2025.
She dropped her husband off at their Los Alamos laboratory and was last seen walking southbound on State Road 518 from Talpa. The McGaffey Ridge area of the Carson National Forest, where Casias’ remains were discovered, is around six miles from her home, according to The Independent. Casias had left behind her cell phone, purse, keys and wallet at the time of her disappearance. She also reportedly wiped all records from her phones before leaving them behind.
Her cause of death has not been made public, but will be determined by the Office of the Medical Investigator. An investigation by the NMSP is still active and ongoing.
“We confirm that the remains found in Rio Chiquito are Melissa,” Casias’ family wrote on Facebook. “There will be more information to come but what we can tell you now is she was located in an area previously searched,” the family’s statement read. “This is a lot to process, our hearts are heavy and we fully intend to continue to pursue answers for justice.”
Confirmation of Melissa Casias’ death adds to the mystery
Melissa Casias is one of twelve American scientists, researchers or lab workers who have either mysteriously passed away or vanished since 2022. According to conspiracy theorists including Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett, all of them appear to have connections to space or nuclear initiatives, and in several cases, top secret projects.
Casias had worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory from March 2023 up until her disappearance. Authorities believe she had security clearance for sensitive data at the lab. According to her husband Mark Casias, she was under immense stress at the time, but he has not specified what was causing it. He also said that when he last saw her, she said she was going to another location within the lab, but never returned.
At least 12 people tied to top secret research, including Melissa Casias, have mysteriously died or gone missing
On May 12, 2024, former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer Matthew James Sullivan, who was only 39 years old, reportedly took his own life. However, officials never made his cause of death public, nor did local media cover the case at the time.
Authorities found scientist Amy Eskridge dead after she warned that her life could be in danger. She was experimenting with anti-gravity technology and conducting research on UFOs and extraterrestrial life at the time of her death.
The list also includes Steven Garcia, a government contractor who worked for the Kansas City National Security Campus; Anthony Chavez, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory employee; Monica Reza, the Director of the Materials Processing Group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; retired U.S. Air Force Major General William Neil McCasland; Michael David Hicks, a research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Frank Maiwald, a NASA scientist employed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and three other researchers – Jason Thomas, Carl Grillmair, and Nuno Loureiro, who have vanished without a trace or passed away inexplicably.
Prominent UFO researcher David Wilcock also died unexpectedly at the age of 53 in Boulder County, Colorado, on April 20. He reportedly took his own life despite stating emphatically in 2022 that he would never do so.