Remains found in New Mexico national forest ID’d as those of Melissa Casias, who vanished last year

Human remains found by a hiker last week in a New Mexico national forest are those of a Los Alamos National Laboratory employee who had been missing for nearly a year, authorities said.

The discovery in the McGaffey Ridge area of Carson National Forest was reported Thursday, and the New Mexico Medical Investigator’s Office identified the remains as those of Melissa Casias, authorities said.

“Investigators also learned that a handgun was located alongside the remains,” New Mexico State Police said in a statement Saturday.

The Medical Investigator’s Office is likely to determine the cause and manner of death, police said.

A representative for Casias’ family said it would have no comment until after an upcoming meeting with investigators.

Representatives for Los Alamos National Laboratory didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

The area of the discovery, about 6 miles from Casias’ home, can be reached by a state highway, which she was seen walking along the day she was reported missing.

Casias, 53, was reported missing on June 26, when her supervisor phoned her husband looking for her because she hadn’t reported for work, her husband, Mark Casias, said in an interview last year.

Melissa Casias was reported missing in June. Authorities said her remains were found in a New Mexico national forest Thursday.

Mark Casias said his wife had dropped him off at the laboratory, a federal energy research institution where they were both employed, earlier on the day she disappeared.

He said that Casias told him she was going to another location within the lab to complete a work task but that she didn’t return as planned.

The couple’s daughter, Sierra, said she later found her mother’s belongings, including keys and a cellphone that had been reset to factory settings, in the family’s home in the town of Ranchos de Taos.

Also that afternoon, a family acquaintance spotted Melissa walking eastbound on State Road 518, State Police Sgt. Ricardo Breceda said last year.

Afterward, Mark said, he went through documents that showed Melissa was under immense stress at the time, though he declined to share details.

Although police didn’t rule out foul play — including the possibility she may have hopped into a vehicle that day — Breceda said last year that it “may be the case” that Casias disappeared of her own volition.

State Police said in their statement that they extend their “deepest condolences” to the Casiases’ loved ones. The investigation continues, they said.

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