A New Mexico mom has gone missing. Melissa Casias, who is a government employee, decided to work from home one day in June, and brought her daughter lunch at her job in a nearby mall. Sadly, that was the last time anyone in her family saw her. When her daughter returned home from work, her mother was missing. But there were things left behind that didn’t quite add up. Now, her family is working alongside law enforcement to make sure that the woman is found safely.
Melissa Casias, 53, was last seen on June 26, 2025, at approximately 2:15 p.m. in Talpa, New Mexico, an advisory from the New Mexico State Police said. The advisory has listed her as “missing endangered.”
According to the family, Casias was last seen taking lunch to her daughter at the John Dunn Shops in Taos. “That’s the last that we know about where she was that day,” Casias’ niece, Jazmin McMillen told KRQE. “She got back in her car, she left,” McMillen explained. “We have surveillance footage that shows what she was seen last wearing.”
When her daughter got home from work, her mother was gone. However, she had left behind all of her belongings. This includes her personal and work phones, her car, her keys, her wallet, and her purse. The family did not say what time Casias’ daughter got home, so it’s unclear how many hours had passed between when she was last seen and when she may have gone missing.
But the family did get a tip from someone who had seen her walking alone on Highway 518 in Talpa. She was also seen on neighbors’ doorbell cameras. The family confirmed that it was likely Casias based on the clothes she was wearing, a white and turquoise top and jeans.
The family provided additional information about Casias’ day up until she went missing. Reportedly, Casias, an administrative assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory, drove to work in the morning, but she forgot the badge she needed to be granted entry and went home. Once there, she decided to work from home instead.
In an effort to find Casias, her family has enlisted the help of hundreds of volunteers to assist law enforcement in looking for her. According to McMillen, the family set up maps of the search area. “We divided that into quadrants and sub-quadrants, so we had 16 grid areas where we sent volunteers.”
It’s been more than a week since her disappearance, and the family is still desperate for answers. They have set up a Facebook page to share updates and a GoFundMe to raise funds for a reward.
“We’re really just trying to kind of keep it top of mind for people in the area,” McMillen said.
