A Los Alamos National Laboratory staff member has been found dead in New Mexico after her disappearance last year.
Authorities announced over the weekend that Melissa Casias, a worker at the laboratory, was found by a hiker in the Carson National Forest. The New Mexico State Police said Ms. Casias’ remains were found with a handgun nearby.
Her disappearance is one of a series of missing persons cases over the last year connected to laboratories focused on classified nuclear weapons work and aerospace engineering.
Her body was found in an area within driving distance of the city of Taos. The FBI recently opened an investigation into at least 10 missing scientists or lab employees. The FBI previously told The Washington Times that they are “spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased” people.
The New Mexico State Police said in a statement that the “cause and manner of death have not yet been determined” but that findings are part of an “extensive investigation, which remains active and ongoing.”
Ms. Casias went missing in June 2025.
The FBI previously told The Times that it is working alongside the departments of Energy and Defense and local law enforcement to find answers.
A prominent case involves William “Neil” McCasland, a 68-year-old retired Air Force major general and adviser to the Sandia National Laboratory. The labs are federally funded and responsible for engineering the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico is responsible for the search for Mr. McCasland and part of the broader investigation searching for employees, joined by other state and federal investigators.
Ms. Casias, described as an administrative employee at Los Alamos, is one of at least four people directly connected to the two national laboratories who have gone missing in the last 18 months.
A nuclear physicist and MIT professor was also fatally shot outside his Massachusetts home last year. Another aerospace engineer disappeared during a hike in Los Angeles. The growing list has fueled online speculation of a plot.
The instances are not obviously connected. Sources The Times previously spoke to highlighted that while concern is growing, no known evidence of a plot has emerged.
The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator will conduct a further examination in the coming days to determine Ms. Casias’ cause of death.
