Family of Los Alamos lab worker found dead near handgun rejects suicide theory, suspects foul play

The family of a worker at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico found dead next to a handgun over the weekend has rejected the idea that she would have killed herself, and some relatives believe foul play may have been involved. Melissa Casias, 54, vanished on June 26, 2025, from Taos, New Mexico, according to authorities. Relatives on her parents' side of the family wrote on Facebook that the area where she’d be found, in the McGaffey Ridge area of Carson National Forest, had been search