Tag: new mexico

Autopsy reveals chilling new details in mysterious death of missing scientist found skeletonized in the woods

Shocking new details have emerged concerning the mysterious disappearance and death of a New Mexico woman who worked at a secretive US nuclear lab.

Authorities have revealed that Melissa Casias, whose body was discovered on May 28, was shot in the head at or around the time of her death, but it remains unclear if this was murder or a suicide. Her body was found well after her death.

Casias, an administrative assistant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, vanished without a trace on June 26, 2025 after strangely walking out of her home without any identification, keys or way of contacting her.

Her skeletal remains were discovered 11 months later in Carson National Forest, propped up against a tree with a handgun near the body.

The official autopsy noted that Casias had been shot through the base of the skull, with the bullet exiting through the left side of her head. However, the Office of the Medical Investigator could not say if this wound was what killed the 53-year-old.

Due to the amount of decomposition of Casias’s remains when she was found, the medical examiner could only say that the gunshot occurred ‘perimortem,’ meaning it took place around the time she died but may not have been the actual cause.

The medical examiner’s report added that the woman’s left hand and left leg were both found about 20 feet away from the body and showed signs of being attacked by wildlife who likely scavenged through the remains after death.

While the medical examiner could not tell if Casias’s death was a suicide or involved foul play, an anonymous law enforcement source told the Daily Mail the new details in the case point to murder.

The newly released autopsy noted that the bullet was fired into the right side of Casias’s cranial base, hitting the bottom of the skull near the large hole where the spinal cord connects to the brain.

It also damaged the topmost neck bone, known as the C1 vertebra, before exiting through the left side of the head, through the flat, thin part of the temple.

‘There’s no way this was suicide, not from that angle,’ the law enforcement source claimed, noting the reported position of the bullet when it entered Casias’s skull. 

The source believed that, if Casias was really holding the handgun at that angle, the gun would have recoiled, causing the bullet to change direction instead of passing straight through her skull.

‘The kickback would have made the gun go straight up. That’s ridiculous. She was murdered,’ the source alleged.

Officially, the medical examiner has labeled Casias’s cause of death as ‘undetermined,’ adding that the autopsy could not even determine how close the gun was to the nuclear lab worker’s head when it was fired.

New Mexico State Police told the Daily Mail that their investigation is still active, but did not reveal if investigators have interviewed any new suspects in the case.

Casias’ husband, Mark, was one of the last people to see his wife alive in 2025, when he was dropped off at LANL for work on the morning of her disappearance.

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What’s The DOJ HIDING At Epstein’s Zorro Ranch?

New Mexico has had enough of the federal runaround on Jeffrey Epstein’s secrets. On Wednesday the state’s attorney general hauled the Justice Department and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche into federal court, demanding the full, unredacted files that could finally expose what really happened at the predator’s sprawling Zorro Ranch.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez filed the 40-page complaint in Washington, accusing the DOJ of “stonewalling” a legitimate state criminal investigation into trafficking, abuse, and worse on New Mexico soil.

Publicly released Epstein material already contains more than 13,000 references to Zorro Ranch and roughly 5,000 to the state itself. Torrez says the redactions are blocking the identification of victims, witnesses, staff, and members of Epstein’s inner circle who may still face state charges.

“New Mexico has a duty to protect survivors and investigate crimes committed in our state so that perpetrators can be held accountable,” Torrez said.

He continued, “We asked the Department of Justice to cooperate by providing access to records that may be critical to identifying victims, witnesses, and additional criminal conduct at Zorro Ranch. Their delay is actively hurting our criminal investigation and delaying justice Epstein survivors deserve.”

The lawsuit claims New Mexico is one of the few jurisdictions still positioned to deliver any justice. Federal prosecutors never even searched the ranch. Now the state is trying to finish the job and is being blocked at every turn.

Torrez told reporters his office has made at least ten formal requests since reopening the probe in February. Informal outreach was met with promises of cooperation, then instructions to file Touhy requests—only for those to be rejected. A July 14 letter warned that legal action would follow if the materials were not produced by July 31. They were not.

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Court Orders Meta to Pay $567 Million Over Child Harm

A court on Thursday ordered Meta to pay $567 million into a fund over child harm.

New Mexico Judge Bryan Biedscheid compared Meta to air pollution and called it a “public nuisance.”

“Although Meta is not alone in this regard, its social media platforms are a significant contributing factor to the current mental health crisis among New Mexico’s youth established by the substantial evidence in this case,” Judge Bryan Biedscheid wrote in the ruling on Thursday, CNBC reported.

KCRA reported:

A New Mexico court has ordered Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta to pay $567 million to address harms to young people from its platforms in the second phase of a landmark trial the social media giant lost in March.

In a ruling late Thursday, Judge Bryan Biedcheid said the bulk of the money — $420 million — will be used for treatment services for young people. The rest will go toward awareness and prevention, screening services and other costs over the next five years.

In the first phase, jurors had ordered $375 million in civil penalties against Meta, determining that it knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

In the second phase, prosecutors had asked the judge to impose fundamental changes at Meta aimed at reining in addictive features, improving age verification and preventing child sexual exploitation through default privacy settings and closer oversight.

In March, a Los Angeles, California, jury found that Meta and YouTube were liable for a teen’s mental health and awarded her $3 million in damages.

The plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman identified as KGM or “Kaley,” said she became addicted to Meta’s app Instagram and Google’s YouTube as a child.

KGM said she developed body dysmorphia and had suicidal ideations because of her addiction to the social media platforms.

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BUSTED: Democrat Rep. Gabe Vasquez’s Account Made It Look Like He Was Working in New Mexico — While He Was on $11,535 Alaska Backpacking Trip Sponsored by Anti-Drilling Group

Democrat Rep. Gabe Vasquez is facing fresh scrutiny after his congressional office published a steady stream of New Mexico district content while the vulnerable congressman was thousands of miles away on a privately sponsored backpacking trip.

According to a report from the Santa Fe New Mexican, Vasquez’s official X account posted on August 10, 2025, about a supposed visit to Hobbs High School.

“I visited Hobbs High School to help serve lunch and hear about how school meals are keeping kids healthy and focused,” the post read.

There was just one problem. Vasquez was not in Hobbs that day.

Official House travel records show that Vasquez departed El Paso at 7 a.m., flew through Denver, and arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska, later that evening for a weeklong trip sponsored by the American Lands Project.

The trip, which ran from August 10 through August 16, was valued at approximately $11,535 and included transportation, lodging, meals, air-taxi flights, guided hikes, camping, and other expenses.

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Former New Mexico AG Drop Epstein BOMBSHELL

New Mexico’s former Attorney General is calling out the Justice Department for systematically undermining the state’s long-running effort to probe Jeffrey Epstein’s isolated Zorro Ranch, revealing a pattern of interference that began in 2019 and continues to this day. 

Hector Balderas says federal prosecutors struck an informal deal, took the state’s evidence, then ghosted New Mexico while the elite predator’s desert compound remained largely untouched.

In an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation, Balderas detailed how the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York persuaded his office to halt interviews of witnesses and persons of interest in exchange for a promise to return any state-related materials once the federal case wrapped. That promise, he says, was never kept.

A newly surfaced handwritten note from July 23, 2019, captures the arrangement: “Agreed NMDOJ will stop interviews + refer all matters to SDNY. SDNY will refer any state-related matters to NMAG @ [the] conclusion of SDNY case.” 

An email from then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey days later confirmed the conversation, stating New Mexico had agreed to “cease any investigation into sex trafficking and share whatever they had gathered to date” while the federal side pledged to pass along state crime information later. 

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Chilling new clues missed by cops challenge suicide theory on missing scientist found dead in woods

Shocking new evidence has been found at the site where a missing nuclear lab assistant was found dead, raising serious concerns about the state of the investigation.

A lawyer for the family of Melissa Casias, who vanished in June 2025 and was found dead 11 months later, told the Daily Mail several red flags involving law enforcement led the woman’s loved ones to start their own search for answers – with stunning results.

David Adams of Parnall and Adams Law revealed that a trove of evidence was discovered nearly a month after New Mexico State Police had officially declared the crime scene clear and removed Casias’s skeletal remains for medical examination.

That independent search of New Mexico’s Carson National Forest in late June uncovered bones, torn and bloody clothing, orange peels and strands of hair that were not collected by police when the 53-year-old’s body was found on May 28.

The lawyer also revealed that the family strongly believed Casias did not commit suicide and had no reason to disappear.

Adams explained: ‘There seemed to be a separate narrative taking place that somehow she wanted to be missing and that she had other places that she would be.’

Although the origins of the hair found at the scene have not been determined yet, the attorney noted that it appeared to be horse hair and theorized that the body of Casias may have been taken to this location by an unknown suspect.

‘In my mind, when you see that, you kind of go, okay, well, I could see that you would need a horse to get her up there if you were moving a body, for instance, because how you would otherwise do that,’ Adams said.

The Casias family and volunteers from the group 4Corners K-9 Search and Rescue also unearthed shredded paper, which relatives believe has Casias’s handwriting on it and what appears to be a tobacco pouch. Casias reportedly did not use tobacco.

Adams said: ‘The family really wasn’t expecting to find any additional information, other than to just kind of finally have an idea of where her last resting grounds were, so they could kind of go pay their own respects, and it certainly turned out to be something much, much more.’ 

The shocking crime scene find has turned the case on its head, with Adams claiming investigators in New Mexico have seriously damaged their credibility if it is found that Casias was the victim of foul play and a suspect is brought to trial.

‘There becomes a question of a chain of custody… Could law enforcement have spat a tobacco pouch in the crime scene? I mean, certainly possible. I mean, that would be an example of just poor training,’ Adams explained.

‘If somebody actually did do that, I mean, it defeats every best practice regarding the crime scene and protecting the integrity of a crime scene.’

The Daily Mail has reached out to the New Mexico State Police for comment regarding the situation. A spokesperson said the matter was being brought to investigators for further response.

Adams, who is a former federal prosecutor, said his firm was hired by Casias’s parents and siblings after multiple red flags were raised by legal observers looking at the case who suspected foul play.

‘There [were] enough phone calls coming in, where people were providing information that they thought was relevant based upon how they knew Melissa, and observations that they have made regarding it, and a lot of it has come to be information that I would undoubtedly dive deep into investigating,’ he revealed.

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New Mexico says US Justice Dept hindering probe of former Epstein ranch

New Mexico’s top law enforcement official on Thursday accused the U.S. Department of Justice of hindering the state’s investigation into ​Jeffrey Epstein by withholding unredacted files on the late sex ‌offender.

The Democratic-run state re-opened an investigation in February into activities at Epstein’s former ranch south of state capital Santa Fe, where he is accused of abusing women and ​girls for nearly three decades.

Nearly five months into the investigation, New ​Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez has yet to announce any ⁠results.

Political pressure to release U.S. Department of Justice files on Epstein has dogged ​President Donald Trump during his second term. He has suggested the country move on ​from investigating the late financier’s crimes.

In a June 30 letter, opens new tab to Acting U.S. Attorney Todd Blanche, Torrez said the Justice Department had failed to respond to a state request ​in February for unredacted files containing names of Epstein survivors, witnesses, co-conspirators, ​and other individuals essential to the New Mexico probe.

In a statement on Thursday, Torrez said ‌the ⁠delay, which has now lasted 130 days, was “unreasonable under any rule of reason.”

In response, a U.S. Justice Department spokesperson said the agency responded to the New Mexico request in June.

“The DOJ reiterates that it welcomes New ​Mexico undertaking additional ​investigation of the ⁠Zorro Ranch and stands ready to provide necessary assistance with New Mexico’s investigation,” the spokesperson said, adding that ​the agency was ready to investigate and possibly prosecute ​any federal ⁠crimes the New Mexico investigation uncovered.

In March, Torrez said investigators faced significant obstacles in the Zorro Ranch probe. He cited the years that had passed ⁠since ​Epstein’s alleged crimes, possible deterioration or disappearance ​of evidence at the ranch which was sold in 2023, and possible jurisdictional issues surrounding any ​potential prosecutions.

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Roswell’s biggest mystery might not be the UFO

Four University of New Mexico students are revisiting one of New Mexico’s most enduring mysteries, the notorious 1947 Roswell UFO Incident.

Not to determine whether aliens landed near Roswell, but to examine what the incident reveals about the law, government transparency and public trust.

UNM constitutional law/pre-law students Nicole Osborne, Caden Salazar, Tatiana James and Miguel Serna recently participated in an online panel discussing the Roswell incident through a legal lens, setting aside the long-running debate over whether the debris found approximately 75 miles northwest of Roswell was extraterrestrial.

That debate began in 1947, when something crashed onto William Ware “Mac” Brazel’s ranch near Corona.

Brazel reported the incident, and personnel from Roswell Army Air Field traveled to the ranch to retrieve the debris.

Soon afterward, the U.S. Army Air Force announced that it had “come into the possession of a flying saucer.”

Less than a day later, the military retracted the statement, saying the recovered object was a weather balloon.

The abrupt reversal fueled decades of speculation about a government cover-up.

“While there is this alien background to everything and a conspiracy background to everything, we’re also able to look at this incident from a legal lens and view the relationship between the people and their government and understand why it’s so applicable to our day-to-day life,” Osborne said.

The four UNM constitutional law/pre-law students are looking at it from a legal angle.

The panel stemmed from an assignment from their professor, Lawrence R. Jones, intended to help students apply constitutional knowledge to real-world scenarios.

“It’s not just about whether there were aliens or not, but there are a whole lot of other issues here on Earth that matter and should matter,” Jones said.

The panel was sponsored by the New Mexico State Library, the New Mexico Museum of Space History and the University of New Mexico Political Science Department.

Moderators asked the students several questions about the crash. They were asked background and summary questions and whether the government or military has the right to enforce a citizen’s silence on what they consider classified material.

Students discussed government secrecy, free speech, property rights, military authority and constitutional protections.

The panelists had been preparing since May and researching the Roswell crash before that.

“I actually invite the whole community to learn about the whole Roswell incident, because it just opens up opportunities for them to learn about their constitutional rights,” Serna said. “I think that one of the most important things that you have is your rights.”

Katherine Miles, bureau chief of the public services bureau at the New Mexico State Library, served as a mediator for the program.

“The Roswell incident has become a pop culture staple, fueling endless speculation about aliens and their intentions,” she said. “But in all the noise, we often lose sight of the human story at its core. These students, with their deep curiosity and insight, have brought that humanity back into focus. Their work reminds us to look at the everyday world around us with a wider, more thoughtful lens.”

You can watch the panel on the New Mexico State Library’s website. https://libguides.nmstatelibrary.org/UFOs

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She Took Two KEY Items: New Details Raise Doubts Over Los Alamos Lab Assistant’s Death

Fresh reporting reveals that Melissa Casias, administrative assistant at the Los Alamos nuclear lab, left home with everyday possessions that suggest she intended to survive — not end her life — raising new questions in the widening pattern of mysterious deaths among nuclear and UFO-linked personnel.

Some have suggested that Casias committed suicide, yet new details about her final moments show that before walking out the door of her Ranchos de Taos home on June 26, 2025, Casias took her toothbrush and thyroid medication with her.

Los Angeles Magazine contributor Lauren Conlin, who has followed the case closely, told NewsNation that these are “things that might indicate you’re planning to stay alive.”

She also returned home to drop off both her work and personal phones — which were later found wiped clean of all data. Her skeletal remains were discovered nearly a year later next to a handgun her family has stated did not belong to her. No bullet was recovered despite reports of a gunshot wound to the head.

Investigator Morgan Wright put it plainly: “You don’t get slumped up on a tree… Most of the time, in every crime scene I’ve worked on, there are skeletonized remains, and there’s no connective tissue left. Everything’s on the ground in pieces.”

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Former FBI Agent Claims Nuclear Lab Worker May Have Been Killed With DIRECT ENERGY WEAPON

A former FBI agent has advanced a bombshell theory that the Los Alamos National Laboratory worker whose remains were recovered from a New Mexico forest was eliminated using a direct energy weapon, complete with psychological manipulation technology that could explain her sudden, out-of-character departure from home.

The claims inject a technological dimension into the pattern of mysterious deaths and disappearances among those with access to nuclear and classified aerospace secrets—suggesting outside actors may be deploying exotic tools to silence key personnel and block public knowledge.

Melissa Casias, a 53-year-old administrative assistant at the elite lab, vanished on June 26, 2025 after dropping her husband, a lab superintendent, at work.

Her actions that day were atypical: she claimed she needed to retrieve a forgotten security badge even though she had it, visited her daughter to drop off a sandwich while saying she would work from home, then returned to the house, wiped both phones clean of all data, and walked away without keys, identification or purse.

Surveillance last placed her walking alone eastward on State Road 518 roughly three miles from the family home in Ranchos de Taos around 2:20 p.m.

Her skeletal remains turned up on May 28, 2026 in the Carson National Forest, discovered by a hiker near a handgun the family said did not belong to her. As previously reported, identification followed in early June.

Forensic teams reconstructed the skull from fragments found at the scene. New Mexico State Police confirmed that “the initial CT scan did not reveal any projectiles in the skull.” No official cause of death has yet been issued by the medical examiner.

Former FBI agent Ben Hansen examined the details shared so far and concluded they point strongly away from suicide. “Just what they have shared is highly highly suspicious,” he stated on the Brian Entin Investigates podcast. “I don’t know if I give a percentage but it’s kind of more like an 80 percent foul play versus someone who’s depressed is the way I see it.”

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