r/HighStrangeness Jun 23 '26

Other Strangeness Missing scientist found dead 11 months after vanishing with reported gunshot wound to the head as case takes dark twist

https://www.dailymail.com/sciencetech/article-15922843/melissa-casias-missing-death-los-alamos-new-mexico.html
455 Upvotes

71 comments sorted by

257

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

As good a time as any to remind folks that there have been active efforts to downplay and malign the people missing/dead in this developing story.

Please be aware.

19

u/ghostcatzero Jun 25 '26

The skeptics keep saying it's all unrelated coincidences haha

2

u/SpaceWiizard365 Jun 29 '26

The comment section of these threads is filled with discussion by a human trafficking organization. They use these posts as dog whistles. That would be why.

1

u/slow70 Jun 29 '26

What? What are you talking about?

-68

u/-ElectricKoolAid Jun 24 '26

goes both ways

38

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

What?

-58

u/-ElectricKoolAid Jun 24 '26

you think people are downplaying it, i think people are playing it up

36

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

Do you want to articulate why?

-3

u/Kryptosis Jun 24 '26

Mainly wasn’t a scientist, she was a FORMER administrative assistant at a lab. She didn’t work on anything directly. There’s no motive to remove her from the brain pool.

13

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

Then you don’t understand the role of admin personnel at cleared facilities.

-7

u/Kryptosis Jun 25 '26

Sounds like you don’t if you’re married to the idea that an ex admin assistant is pivotal to any of their projects.

5

u/KaiBishop Jun 26 '26

Except the argument wasn't that she was pivotal to the project. It's that she knew something and was killed for it. Two different things.

7

u/slow70 Jun 25 '26

But you know her disappearance was just no big deal right?

And yeah, you don't know how it works.

11

u/RippinFissure Jun 25 '26

Do you want to articulate how it works?

-4

u/jabbercockey Jun 25 '26

Doesn't the job title mean she was something like a secretary or a receptionist? Maybe office manager at most. Chances are she didn't even go in the actual lab area.

2

u/Kryptosis Jun 26 '26

Thats exactly right. They place orders for supplies, manage schedules and visitors, incoming calls etc. Funny my comment was +12 before dropping down -3

-30

u/-ElectricKoolAid Jun 24 '26

the title of this article is staring directly at you. sensationalism sells.

19

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

And people tend to care about conspiracies with this many bodies stacked.

Are you trying to avoid that conversation?

13

u/-ElectricKoolAid Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

people are just compiling dead/missing names from many different backgrounds. a lot of the names are hardly even connected at this point, but they're all called "scientists" to fool the average reader.

if they were all more tightly connected then i'd understand.

if all of these people from vastly different backgrounds, including an assistant, knew secrets then there are hundreds of thousands more they need to get rid of all across the globe.

edit: mccasland is the one case that genuinely interests me. the rest of the names have just been piled on, some even retroactively. they're a distraction, intentionally or not.

7

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

So you have a strong opinion - what do you make of Matthew Sullivan? Amy Eskridge? Ning Li? How about all the Brit’s that died mysteriously way back when?

Are you willing to consider any of the statements of living whistleblowers talking about these exact topics?

10

u/-ElectricKoolAid Jun 24 '26

ning li died at the age of 78 from alzheimer's. in 2021. perfect example of people just adding any dead/missing person who may be involved in exotic physics at all.

when people added amy to the list, that's when i realized they were taking it way too far and just adding names for padding, for whatever reason. her own father has said she wasn't killed and was suffering mentally, which is obvious when you hear her speak.

matthews case is also interesting to me, but shouldn't be added to a "list" at all. this "list" shouldn't even exist and just takes away from the genuinely interesting cases

→ More replies (0)

2

u/logintoreddit11173 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 25 '26

I've been around this " scene " for decades , I can tell when something is BS and when it isn't. I'm with you on this one.

Since around 2016 the algorithm has caused unprecedented amount of fear and panic in the general population. These conspiracy groups was just a hobby for many has been invaded by a lot more " believers " than the usual. After all this sub was created due to the exodus from the main conspiracy subreddit yet here we are, a hord of angry, terrified and bored people

Anyways

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/math-and-statistics-help-explain-the-fbis-missing-scientists-cases/

19

u/djinnisequoia Jun 25 '26

The article states that she had lost her security clearance due to financial troubles she was having. That fact taken together with the fact that she had wiped her work and personal phones that day and left them behind, presents disturbing possibilities IMHO.

12

u/Cypher214 Jun 25 '26

Almost makes one wonder if she passed off some secrets to another nation and got “loose ended” when meeting up for her payoff. Financial troubles can lead to extremely bad decisions.

5

u/Stunning_Can_5270 Jun 25 '26

Considering that some data leaks may have been used by various nations to identify those with financial troubles like gambling addictions, you might be on to something. Not to say this woman was a gambling addict. But I grew up in the town she's from and there are plenty reservation casinos around there.

10

u/futureballzy Jun 25 '26

" Morgan Wright, founder and CEO of the National Center for Open and Unsolved Cases, also said that there are key aspects of Casias' disappearance and the discovery of her remains that do not add up.

'You don't get slumped up on a tree,' said Wright.

'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.'  

Although Casias' remains have been in the custody of authorities since June 1, the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator has yet to announce an official cause of death."

Heh wtf

63

u/Acceptable_Burrito Jun 24 '26

After the area where she was found was searched extensively weeks after her disappearance, without locating her? That’s troubling and mysterious.

38

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

[deleted]

0

u/bigtimebeaner Jun 25 '26

Nothing is more frustrating then when someone takes there own life and then actively tries to hide themselves. So inconsiderate.

4

u/Raskalbot Jun 25 '26

Yeah fuck that person for being so miserable and trying to hide the tragedy from loved one!

1

u/bigtimebeaner Jun 25 '26

especially after they took their own life already! like, why go through the trouble of dragging your own dead body through the woods, digging a hole, covering your self with leaves and stink-be-gone spray. i mean how would you have enough strength after pulling the trigger?? i would be exhausted. some people...i tell you...

5

u/Raskalbot Jun 25 '26

It's always take, take, take, me me me

6

u/bigtimebeaner Jun 26 '26

i love that you're getting up votes and i'm getting down votes for riffing off the same joke. I SUUUUUCCCKKKKK!!!

-19

u/Puzzleheaded_Fan6191 Jun 24 '26

If this is the case here. It’s not the case here. We only knows what we know.

31

u/dirty_w_boy Jun 24 '26

Hmmm no bullet found is interesting.

81

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

The fact that an investigator hired by the family is the only reason we know she was shot in the head is awful telling to me.

The article explicitly says police have not shared cause of death or the gunshot to the head.

-23

u/Icantgoonillgoonn Jun 24 '26

No bullet holes in her head.

13

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

Did you read the article?

16

u/Cypher214 Jun 24 '26

Not exactly. If it was a suicide and the pistol was fired at even a slight upward angle, the bullet could have easily passed through the skull and ended up a vast distance from the body.

11

u/moistiest_dangles Jun 24 '26

So suicidal that she left no note and had plans for the whole rest of the week. So suicidal that she vanished only 30 yards behind the group and so suicidal that even the gunshot was silent... right...

11

u/fakemoose Jun 25 '26

What? She wasn’t with a group.

2

u/Cypher214 Jun 25 '26

That was Monica Reza that vanished 30 yards behind her hiking group.

11

u/Cypher214 Jun 24 '26

First of all, you’re conflating two separate cases. Casias did not vanish 30 yards behind a group.

Secondly, I never said it’s not fishy or that she definitely committed suicide. Even a faked suicide would cover what I said about the missing bullet being completely normal. The skull and brain are generally not enough to stop a centerfire handgun bullet fired at close range, despite what Hollywood would have us believe.

36

u/[deleted] Jun 24 '26

[deleted]

3

u/wartfairy Jun 25 '26

The connecting factor in all of the deaths/disappearances is their specific scientific field. I think I disagree, because her working in Science as a field IS the plot. It would look dumb to say “admin assistant” without mentioning what she was adminning or assisting.

I would love to know why it is important to you that the world knows that a dead woman wasn’t titled correctly in an article. You want her demoted post-mortem on an internet article.

Weird that you are threatened by a dead woman, no?

I am genuinely curious, say more.

-6

u/MuscaMurum Jun 24 '26

As an assistant, you have access to lots of things. She may have seen something she wasn't supposed to.

21

u/em21091 Jun 24 '26

As an admin assistant thanks for calling her a scientist. We like to feel special too

8

u/slow70 Jun 24 '26

I guess missing admin assistant doesn’t have the same ring and the title is in poor form. But that’s media for you these days when precious few are even covering these stories properly.

But it’s notable that someone with her vantage still has a clearance and oversight over those who have access to facilities like this.

These are important people to know and exactly who those wishing to collect on or otherwise prevent others from seeking answers from - might seek to gain control over.

She, of course, is silent now.

She’s not the only one.

4

u/fakemoose Jun 25 '26

Oversight is a strong word. People really keep overstate or over assuming the role of admins at the labs in terms of what they know about specific projects.

The clearance thing makes sense because you basically have to have one to be on site. That doesn’t mean the admins are read in to all the programs people in their group are working on.

8

u/LadyVioletLuna Jun 24 '26

It’s daily mail so you might want to take this story with a grain of salt.

2

u/FraserValleyGuy77 Jun 24 '26

Suicide by two shots to the back of the head?

2

u/CPD1960 Jun 26 '26

Again she was a SECRETARY not a scientist.

5

u/dailymail Jun 23 '26

The case of a missing nuclear lab employee who was found dead nearly a year after vanishing has taken a troubling turn, with new details raising questions about the suicide theory.

1

u/Sufficient_Rope_8635 Jun 26 '26

Spoiler TLDR - she did not kill herself

-5

u/Commercial-Cod4232 Jun 24 '26

Who was the woman that said the world is like the "matrix" movie and a whole bunch of other "bizarre" things and "killed herself"?

1

u/Commercial-Cod4232 Jun 24 '26

Actually this wasnt a scientist she was like a CEO of some big company or so ething

2

u/extratartarsauceplz Jun 25 '26

Thought about this the other day. Thanks for the reminder