Hiker discovers body of missing New Mexico nuclear lab worker, police say

One of the bodies of the 11 mysteriously missing persons that had potential ties to U.S. nuclear secrets or rocket technology has been discovered by a hiker in a New Mexico national forest.

Police have identified the remains of Melissa Casias, 54, a missing Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) worker. Her disappearance became part of a wider swirl of speculation over scientists and lab-linked employees who vanished or died under unclear circumstances that spurred President Donald Trump's attention and a House Oversight Committee investigation.

The New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau was informed Thursday that the hiker found Casias in the McGaffey Ridge area of the Carson National Forest with a handgun alongside her remains, according to a NMSPBI Facebook post late Saturday night.

"The cause and manner of death have not yet been determined," according to police, which noted the Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI) identified the remains as those of Casias and are conducting "further anthropological examination."

WHITE HOUSE REVIEWING CASES OF MISSING, DEAD SCIENTISTS FOR POSSIBLE LINKS AS 11TH PERSON IDENTIFIED

Casias, from Taos, New Mexico, and Anthony Chavez worked at LANL, a leading nuclear research facility in New Mexico, and both were among those marked as suspiciously missing by FBI and House Oversight investigations.

"The New Mexico State Police extend their deepest condolences to the Casias and Mondragon families during this difficult time," the agency wrote in its release.

Casias was reported missing June 25, 2025, after she failed to arrive at work and did not return home after visiting her daughter at work, police said. Her family later found that her purse, identification and cellphones had been left behind, prompting concern for her welfare and a missing person investigation.

DEFENSE DEPARTMENT SCIENTIST’S ACCIDENTAL DEATH RAISES QUESTIONS AS PROBE INTO MISSING SCIENTISTS GROWS

State police said the investigation remains active and ongoing.

In an April 20 letter to FBI Direct Kash Patel, the House Oversight Committee said it was investigating "recent unconfirmed public reporting" alleging that people connected to "U.S. nuclear secrets or rocket technology" had died or vanished in recent years.

MISSING GENERAL, SCIENTIST DEATHS TIED TO SECRET US WORK PROMPT WHITE HOUSE PROBE

"Public reports raise questions about a possible sinister connection between a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances which began in 2023," House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., wrote in a release seeking information from federal agencies.

The committee’s release said the reported cases included the two LANL, two affiliated with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, an MIT scientist who worked on nuclear fusion – shot by the Brown University mass shooter – a pharmaceutical researcher and a government contractor who worked at a nuclear weapons component production facility.

Authorities have not announced any link between Casias’ death and the other cases and speculated they were not linked. The House letters also described the reporting under review as unconfirmed.

REP BURLISON DEMANDS FBI PROBE AFTER TOP US SCIENTISTS VANISH OR TURN UP DEAD

Casias’ disappearance had prompted a Missing Endangered Advisory from New Mexico authorities after she was last seen in the Taos area. She was 53 years old at the time.

The discovery in Carson National Forest now closes the search for Casias, but not the investigation into how she died and whose handgun was found beside her.