An investigator has discovered new details in the case of an American scientist whose body they found almost a year after she went missing on June 26, 2025. Earlier this week, New Mexico State Police (NMSP) discovered the body of Melissa Casias, who many 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 Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) scientist Melissa Casias in the McGaffey Ridge area of Carson National Forest on May 28. In their initial report, police said they found a handgun next to her remains.
Authorities also reported that 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.
“That’s not inconsistent with someone wanting to make a clean break and get away from stuff,” Morgan Wright, CEO and founder of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, told CUOMO this week.
New details emerge on the disappearance and discovery of Melissa Casias
Now, according to Thomas McNally, a former homicide detective who investigated Casias’ disappearance for the scientist’s parents, authorities discovered her “skeletonized” body seated up against a tree with a gun on the ground nearby.
McNally, despite being adamant that foul play was involved in her death, says that Casias should not have been part of the conspiracy theories surrounding the other missing and dead scientists, researchers and lab workers.
“It’s great that the press is getting this story out there because of the Los Alamos stuff, but it has nothing to do with [LANL],” McNally told DailyMail.com, “If you want to tell the story, tell a real story. I want to be emphatic on this point – this is in no way, shape, or form related to her job.”
DailyMail.com also reported that although the New Mexico State Police have yet to release a cause of death, McNally said her body had a gunshot wound to the skull.
“Her body was found May 28, in a very remote area of the mountains that is not normally frequented by hikers, people there for recreation,” said McNally. “The elevation is almost 8,000ft up. I understand that the skeletonized remains were found sitting up against a tree with bleached clothing, sun-bleached clothing. There was a gunshot wound in the skull and a gun recovered at the scene.”
The family of Melissa Casias is filing a lawsuit
Casias’s family is now suing the New Mexico State Police in civil court, alleging they mishandled the case.
“I can’t get into what the lawsuit is for but I can just say that it’s in the process of being filed as we speak,” McNally said.
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.
She 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.