The body of a missing nuclear laboratory worker who disappeared last year was found “skeletonized” with a gunshot wound to the skull in a remote area of New Mexico’s Carson National Forest.

Melissa Casias, 54, was discovered on Monday in a remote section of the forest, according to local authorities. She had been missing since June 26, 2025.

Thomas McNally, a former homicide detective hired by Casias’ family to investigate her disappearance, told the Daily Mail that the mother-of-one’s remains were found propped up against a tree, with an abandoned gun lying nearby.

McNally noted that the body showed no signs of animal scavenging or disturbance, despite having been left in the forest for nearly a year.

The investigator believes foul play was involved in Casias’ death. He indicated that her family plans to file a civil lawsuit against the New Mexico State Police, accusing them of mishandling the case.

Casias worked as an administrative assistant at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the historic facility established during World War II for the Manhattan Project and long associated with U.S. nuclear weapons research.

On the day she vanished, the married mother wiped all data from her phones, left them along with her identification at home, and walked out of her residence in Ranchos de Taos, a remote community located about 70 miles northeast of Santa Fe.

She had driven her husband, Mark — also a Los Alamos employee — to the laboratory that morning. During the commute, the couple reportedly argued over a vape pen. Casias later told her husband she had forgotten her badge and needed to return home.

The couple’s 19-year-old daughter, Sierra, told police that her mother did return to the house, dropped off a sandwich, and said she planned to work from home.

“She looked totally normal. Sierra said everything was fine. She didn’t look weird,” McNally recounted.

Casias was last seen walking alone eastward along State Road 518, approximately three miles from her home, around 2:20 p.m. local time.

McNally believes Casias “was fleeing somebody” when she disappeared.

During the initial investigation, her husband reportedly told police that Casias “was running around with a boyfriend somewhere,” a claim authorities appeared to accept.

Casias is one of several individuals with ties to U.S. defense and nuclear programs who have gone missing — or died unexpectedly — in recent years.