An autopsy found missing Los Alamos worker Melissa Casias died from a gunshot wound to the head after a hiker found her remains in Carson National Forest. TAOS COUNTY, N.M. – An autopsy shows Melissa Casias died from a gunshot wound to the head, but the Office of the Medical Investigator marked her manner of death as undetermined. According to the autopsy, the Office of the Medical Investigator said Casias’ body was basically a skeleton with little flesh left. The autopsy said the bullet entered from the right side of the skull base, traveled right to left and then upward. A hiker found Casias’ remains in late May in a remote area of Taos County.