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 IDENTIFIEDMelissa Casias is shown standing and smiling in the image.(Sierra Casias)Steven Garcia, 48, who worked at the Kansas City National Security Campus, was reported missing Aug.
28, 2025, after leaving his Albuquerque home on foot carrying only a handgun.(L) Photo of Melissa Casias in a hat outside taken on an unknown date.
(C) Ret.Maj.
Gen.William Neil McCasland in uniform taken on an unknown date.
(New Mexico Department of Public Safety; Sierra Casias; United States Air Force)Jason Thomas, left, Melissa Casias, center, and Frank Maiwald are among scientists whose deaths or disappearances have drawn scrutiny as officials review whether any cases are connected.(Fox News: Sierra Casias: Legacy.com)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 ...