A married mother who went missing last year might be connected to a troubling trend involving the disappearances and deaths of U.S. scientists and military personnel who had access to sensitive information, a report suggests.
Melissa Casias worked alongside her husband as an administrative assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Known for her ties to the development of nuclear weapons during the Manhattan Project, she hasn’t been seen since delivering lunch to her daughter in New Mexico last summer.
The Daily Mail reported that Casias is one of four key investigators who have either died or vanished since June 2025, a group that includes retired Air Force General William McCasland, who vanished last month in connection with UFO sightings.
Chris Swecker, a former FBI Assistant Director, expressed concerns about a possible pattern emerging with Casias’ case, suggesting her role at LANL might have made her vulnerable to kidnapping.
“In a classified lab, you’re expected to be aware of everything happening around you,” Swecker, who has a 24-year background with the FBI, explained. “This isn’t the first instance where an administrative assistant has been targeted.”
He emphasized that the FBI can’t view these incidents as standalone cases, suggesting that they need to be seen as part of a larger issue.
Last seen on surveillance footage walking along the highway without her wallet, phone, or keys on June 25, 2025, Casias had told her family she’d be working from home that day.
Her family believes she might have had personal and financial matters to attend to and suspect she may have left with someone shortly after her video appearance.
The link between Casias’ work with LANL and McCasland’s disappearance is reinforced by the fact that McCasland had significant ties to LANL’s national security projects as a former commander at Kirtland Air Force Base.
Her disappearance occurred just days after NASA rocket scientist Monica Reza went missing while hiking in California’s Angeles National Forest.
McCasland, who last saw daylight with his wife Susan on February 27 in Albuquerque, has been the subject of a thorough search effort, with police indicating they don’t suspect foul play despite no results thus far.
Being deeply involved in the UFO community, sources have described McCasland as both a “gatekeeper” and a “participant.” Swecker insists that investigators must look into any potential connections among Casias, McCasland, and others, raising the alarm about the risk to critical technology and data.
“We should leverage every available resource to search for links and examine any potential espionage,” Swecker advised.
Adding to these concerns, in February, renowned astrophysicist Karl Grillmare was tragically killed in his California home. A suspect has been arrested and is currently behind bars.
Grillmare, affiliated with the California Institute of Technology’s IPAC Science Data Center, had also been engaged in a military technology telescope project under the oversight of the Air Force Research Laboratory, which McCasland managed.
“There are a lot of questions surrounding these cases, especially considering the significance of the work these scientists have undertaken,” Swecker remarked.
