Major Update in the Melissa Casias Case | Forensic Files

What did I tell you crime junkies? More answers in the Melissa Casias case inevitably leads to more questions.
But things are getting interesting. So, I wanted to bring you some stuff hot off
the press. I got a couple of things to hit on and I'm going to save the strangest for
last. So, stick with me. So, update number one, public pressure and the PI. There has been a ton of intensity
heating up around this case. A lot has to do with the press attention resulting from Melissa being connected to these
missing or dead scientists. Which, by the way, not sure if you clocked this, but at the time we recorded our episode,
there was a list of 11 if you included Melissa. Well, Fox News published an article April 21st about a family who
died in a plane crash just recently. On board was a quote decorated veteran pilot, aerospace engineer, and defense
researcher James Tony Moffett. And also his son who was up and coming in the field, Andrew Moffett. Their plane
crashed in South Carolina, but they were from Huntsville, Alabama. The same city that chemist and
entrepreneur Amy Esrig called home. Now, Amy's 2022 death was ruled a suicide, but she has been grouped in with that
list of scientists. And before her death, she said in an interview that Huntsville was the biggest deal you've
never heard of. It's home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center where Amy's father, Richard Esrig, spent his career
as an engineer. He and Amy co-founded a research institute together before she died. Now, it's worth saying though that
he told NewsNation he does not believe that her death was suspicious. Though, an interview Amy gave a couple of years
before her death and texts that she supposedly sent in the weeks before she died make it clear that she felt
targeted and that her life was in danger. So, that is all blowing up bringing more attention to Melissa's
case. So much so that Agent Mata told us that the FBI had reached out to him given the media attention and he's
working something out with them for assistance. But at the same time, there are other driving forces stirring things
up. Namely, the Mondragon family has a PI working on their behalf who they met through a missing person support event.
This man, Thomas McNally, is licensed to practice in Arizona, but according to New Mexico's Regulation and Licensing
Department, he's not licensed in the state of New Mexico where Melissa went missing. And McNally's tactics have been
aggressive. He has been making a series of strongly worded public Facebook posts
calling for Mark to be investigated as a person of interest and naming other members of the Casillas family. And
that's kind of putting it lightly. Now, because of the backlash, the Casillas family says that they have become
worried for their own safety and not just Mark, but his daughters as well. Now, we talked to Agent Mata about this
and he was aware of the PI, but he had not heard anything about McNally's tactics being aggressive. Now, on to
update number two. Rick Valerio. Now, remember, this is the guy who was sitting on his horse crying
in front of a church, the one who told the tourist that he had just found his cousin decapitated in the mountains.
Now, Mata confirmed more about that second interview he did with him after the body cam one that you saw in our
episode. But there wasn't much more. He said that in that follow-up, Valerio admitted that he is intoxicated every
time he's on a horse, but not much else came from the interview. Other than Mata
says he has not been able to establish any connection between Rick Valerio and Melissa. And as for it, the the truck
that he had, in our episode we were interested to know if anyone had searched it, knowing
that there was a sighting of a blue truck near Melissa when she was last seen walking down Highway 518.
And the answer is, kind of. So, Mata told us he did look at it, but only visually. Like, he walked around
it. And he noted old-looking rusty damage on it. Valerio said that the truck had been out of commission for
several months and had not been driven, but I don't know if Mata managed to confirm that.
He did confirm for us, though, that there were no license plate readers on the relevant stretch of Highway 518 to
help him out in identifying whose blue truck that was that was seen near Melissa.
Now, update number three. And here's where you need to buckle up. So, toward the end of Melissa's episode, I
told you about a strange encounter that Sierra had with a woman who came to her work not long after her mom went missing
to give her $50 in graduation money. Supposedly, this woman was a long-time friend of Melissa's, so she drove 300
miles from where she lived in Colorado with her fiance or her husband to give her this 50 bucks, no card, that yes,
she could have mailed. There is something to this encounter that I believe is really important. I just need
to get to the bottom of it. But, that is somehow getting harder to do, even though I now have more details.
So, let me just kind of like re-tell you the story filling in more information. So, originally, when we talked to
Sierra, she thought that that interaction happened in September, about 3 months after Melissa went missing.
Mark, though, he remembered it happening in July. Well, they were both slightly off. And
Sierra confirmed for us that she checked the notes on her phone, and now she is confident that that interaction happened
on exactly August 8th. Now, Sierra had a note in her phone because this woman, Wendy is her name, gave Sierra her phone
number. Now, is it even weirder that this woman gave her her number then would go on to deny knowing her? Thank
you for asking. Yes, it is, but let me keep going. Sierra told us that it wasn't actually
just Wendy and one man that showed up. Sierra recalls there being three people with Wendy when she came to her job.
There was that man who was Wendy's husband or fiance, and then another man and woman. Now, when we originally
talked to Mark and Sierra, they didn't give us the phone number that they had for Wendy. They just gave us her first
name, and then when we pressed them for the last name, Sierra passed along from Mark the name that he thought it was.
So, we were using public records to call a woman who matched that name in Colorado.
Well, it turns out we were calling the wrong Wendy. Mark had the last name wrong by one letter, which would explain
why that woman never called us back. Now, remember, Mata is the one who said that he spoke with Wendy, and she denied
knowing Melissa or Sierra or Mark. Said that she hadn't driven to Taos, hadn't been there in years. So, at first, when
I learned that we were contacting the wrong Wendy, I was like, "Oh crap, maybe he called the wrong person, too."
But no, we confirmed Mata called the number Sierra got from the woman. He didn't find her by using the wrong last
name. So, he is confident he spoke to the right Wendy. So, for some reason, she gave her phone number to Sierra, but
then is denying knowing the family. It's not lost on anyone how weird this is, right? Like, I mean, actually think
about it. There is no way Sierra or Mark just pulled a name and matching phone number out of their hat. And I know
you're probably like, "Oh, okay, well, you know, they could have found somebody who had their number published online,
and it was like some long con." But you mean to tell me that they just randomly found someone who actually did
have ties to Taos, New Mexico? I mean, she admitted to Mata she had been to Taos, just not for years. And you can't
even say like, "Oh, you know, hey, they just found some old name and number of a
friend of Melissa's and then made up this encounter." Because then why is this woman claiming not to know Melissa?
Mark says that he has known this woman for years. And Mata is clear that he absolutely believes Sierra is telling
the truth. And he is just as shocked and can't explain why Wendy is denying knowing them. But still
it gets weirder. So, when we finally got the real number for Wendy from Sierra we did a reverse
number search in some of the databases that we use. The number does come back to Wendy but
it's also connected to another couple. Which is very interesting knowing that Sierra said that there was another
couple with Wendy when she showed up, right? Well, this is where you need to lock in or you might lose me. Are you
ready? So, working on these updates with me were my reporter Nina and our booking
producer Marilyn. Marilyn is the one who finds out about the other couple tied to
the phone number. Now, this is all happening fast and in real time. So, as this pops up, she tells Nina, like, "Oh,
weird, there's two more people." And I'm going to call these people John and Jane
Smith. So, Nina just types John Smith, Colorado in to Google and starts seeing if she can find this guy. And one pops
up and he's pictured with a woman. So, we shot that picture over to Sierra, "Did this look like the couple you saw?"
And she said she is 99% sure that the other man and woman who came with Wendy that day are these
people that we sent her. >> [snorts] >> So, we thought we were one step closer. But we obviously have to check and
recheck things, right? Before we're going to publish an update. And we quickly realized something. The
phone number was connected to a John S. Smith. The picture that Nina found was for John A. Smith. Nina was able to find
pictures of John S. Smith, and they are not the same people. But, she had Marilyn send those photos over to
Sierra, too, of John S. Smith. And Sierra said that she didn't recognize him. And I don't know if your brain is
breaking the way that mine was, but like this doesn't make sense. Wendy is real.
Wendy is connected to John S. Smith, but Wendy showed up to visit Sierra in tandem with a completely different John
A. Smith. What is happening in this case? And you want to know the strangest part of all?
John S. Smith, the one who was actually tied to the number connected to Wendy, he is connected to a company called
Caterpillar Inc. According to their website, Caterpillar Inc. is shaping the future as the world's leading
manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas
turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives. Backed by one of the largest independent global dealer
networks and financing services through Cat Financial, the company's primary business segments power and energy,
construction industries, and resource industries are solving customers' toughest challenges through a commitment
to commercial excellence and advanced technology. So, are you ready for it? Caterpillar Inc. has mad contracts with
the Department of Defense. On April 29th, 2025, Caterpillar got a 1-year contract that totaled 83.4 million
dollars for earthmoving and excavating equipment. On May 21st, 2025, they were awarded a contract that runs slightly
over 1 year that as of today has paid out 97.1 million for earthmoving and excavating
equipment. Now, these are just two of the most recent contracts I found on a government website. There are more that
go back even further, but again, John S. Smith is not who Sierra saw. But, he is
the one connected to the phone number that is also connected to Wendy who showed up to give Sierra 50 bucks, but
now claims she doesn't know her. When we spoke to Mata, he did not remember hearing about the Smiths before we
brought it up. He said that it might have popped up when he searched Wendy's number, but he wasn't at his desk when
he called and he couldn't check his notes. So, he wrote it down during the call and he sounded intrigued.
We're intrigued, too. I found an old presentation from 2011 that was made by Los Alamos National
Laboratory for its work with the National Nuclear Security Administration and Caterpillar Inc. was a contributor
on the study. So, I know the 2011 connection between Los Alamos and Caterpillar was years before Melissa
went missing. But, maybe Mark's idea that Melissa got help from some subcontractor of the lab
isn't that far-fetched after all. Or, maybe there is still information to be found.
So, if you have anything you want to share with us, you can email us at tips@audiochuck.com.

Every new detail in the case of Melissa Casias only leads to more questions. And ow, there are major updates that change everything.

On June 26, 2025, 48-year-old Melissa Casias vanished from her home in Taos County, New Mexico. She was last seen walking along Highway 518. Her phones were wiped. Her belongings were left behind. And since then… the case has only grown more complicated.

In this update, Ashley Flowers breaks down the latest developments, including increased national attention surrounding Melissa Casias’ disappearance, new involvement from federal investigators, the growing role of a private investigator hired by Melissa’s family, follow-up findings related to Richard “Rick” Valerio, the man linked to a reported sighting near a blue truck, and a deeply confusing new lead involving a woman named Wendy, whose identity and connections raise more questions than answers

One of the most puzzling elements remains the reported encounter involving Melissa’s daughter, Sierra Casias, and a group of individuals who may hold critical information, but whose stories don’t align. Investigators have confirmed that the interaction likely did happen, but key individuals involved are now denying any connection. At the same time, online discussions and media coverage have drawn attention to a broader pattern involving individuals connected to Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and other research institutions. Authorities caution that these cases are not confirmed to be connected, but the timing has raised questions.

Despite all of this, there is still no confirmed explanation for what happened to Melissa Casias, no verified sightings, no financial activity, and no clear conclusion.

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About Ashley Flowers Ashley Flowers is the top female podcaster in the U.S. and the host of Crime Junkie, the #1 podcast among women and the #1 true crime podcast globally. As the Founder of Audiochuck, she has built a top-tier podcast production company that has garnered over 2.6 billion downloads, captivating audiences with its gripping storytelling through 10+ chart topping podcasts. Ashley and her team are dedicated to creating responsible true crime content that respects victims and their families.

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Check out these other great crime channels: @kallmekris The Plot Twist Kidnapping That Exposed A Serial Killer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFv74NQXtAQ @annieelise Murdered USF Students, D4vd 40TB of Evidence & Influencer Dies After Proposal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxiWI__BPDk @KendallRae Police Find Murder Plot Crumpled In Trash?! The Case Of Patrick De La Cerda https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaSUhwtjJvw @bellafiori The Bizarre Case of Amy Mullis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rYma3Zzw_U

Brief Summary

Updates on Melissa Casias case reveal connections to missing scientists and a mysterious woman named Wendy.

Key points

Public Pressure Mounts. Intense media attention is surrounding the Melissa Casias case, linking her to missing scientists.
Mysterious Encounter. Sierra recalls a strange encounter with a woman named Wendy who gave her money after her mother went missing.
Confusing Connections. The investigation reveals conflicting identities tied to a mysterious woman and her associates.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Things are getting interesting.

0:09WatchApr 30, 2026

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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