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Hi Crime Junkies, I'm your host Ashley
00:00:02
Flowers.
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>> And I'm Brit. You guys, last year I
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received an email from a Crime Junkie. A
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woman named Jasmine wanted help because
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her aunt had recently vanished from Taos
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County, New Mexico
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and no one could agree on what happened
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to her.
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But everyone did agree to speak with us
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because at the heart of it, they all say
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they want to know what happened to her.
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Her husband and her daughter think that
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she left on her own. Other family
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believes that she was a victim of foul
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play.
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To be honest with you,
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I don't know what to believe. Each side
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believes their theory so fervently that
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I'm afraid my recounting of the facts as
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I know them are going to upset everyone
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because even the facts don't make sense.
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But that usually means that we're
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missing [music] something, a piece of
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the puzzle that maybe one of you out
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there hearing this right now might have.
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And there is a small chance that missing
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piece has bigger implications than I
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could have ever imagined when I first
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read Jasmine's [music] email last year.
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This is the story of Melissa Casillas.
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On the afternoon of Thursday, June 26th,
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2025, 18-year-old Sierra Casillas is
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working at a coffee shop in Taos, New
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Mexico when she steps away to check a
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voicemail from her dad, Mark. Now his
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tone is tight, like something is off. He
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wanted her to know that he'd gotten a
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call from her mom's supervisor who told
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him that Melissa hadn't shown up for
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work [music] that day.
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Now to Mark, that seems impossible
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because he and Melissa both work at Los
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Alamos National Laboratory. He is a
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superintendent, she's an administrative
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assistant. They share a car and commute
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together every single day, including
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that day. So how could she not be there?
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But Sierra already knows something he
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doesn't, which is that Melissa drove the
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hour and 15 minutes back from the lab
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after dropping Mark off. So, she was
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there at the house at like 7:30,
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7:45-ish [music]
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when Sierra woke up that morning, which
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was way out of the norm, by the way.
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But, she told Sierra that she had
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forgotten her security badge. And since
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she was back home anyway, she would
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probably just work remotely or maybe
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even take the day off. Now, Sierra kind
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of assumes that she had done the latter
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because she saw her mom for a second
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time later in the day, just before 1:00
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when she'd stop by the coffee shop
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Sierra works at to bring her lunch.
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Plus, she'd texted her about a half an
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hour after that. So, all to say, like,
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even though her dad seems worried,
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Sierra wasn't. Now, since she's at least
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had some kind of communication with
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Melissa in the last hour, Mark asked her
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to text her mom. And she's surprised
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when that little message bubble turns
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green. iPhone users know what that
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means. That message didn't deliver like
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normal. Phone's like off or there is no
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like regular service, something.
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So, she opens up the location app where
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she can normally see her mom's face pop
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up. But, this time
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nothing loads. Melissa's location has
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just stopped transmitting. That's when
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the worry starts to creep in for her
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because her mom never lets her phone
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die.
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This is all concerning enough that
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Sierra decides to leave work early to
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make sure that her mom's okay. Their
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house is just a few miles away. She's
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there by like 3:30. The family's white
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Jetta is there in the driveway. Their
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dogs are outside alone. And that is a
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little bit odd since they're really
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protective and usually stick to Melissa
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like glue. But, inside things are even
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stranger.
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Melissa's not there, but lots of her
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stuff is. On the kitchen table, Sierra
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finds her mom's work phone and badge,
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[music]
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her keys, and this small gold chain that
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her mother-in-law gave her that she
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normally wears like every single day.
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Then, in the loft area of their house
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that what connects to her bedroom,
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Sierra sees a paycheck that she had
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given her mom that afternoon to deposit
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for her. And finally, she goes into her
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mom's office where she finds Melissa's
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purse, [music] her wallet, and both of
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her personal cell phones, her old phone
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and then her new one that she just
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replaced it with. When Sierra picks them
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up, like this is when panic sets in
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because
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both phones show a welcome screen. That
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backdrop that you see when a device is
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brand new, except we know these aren't
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new.
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And Sierra realizes that they have been
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factory reset, like wiped clean. And
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when she tries to log into Melissa's
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iCloud, it seems like the password has
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been changed. So, from the house, Sierra
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frantically calls her dad. He's not far
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behind. He'd caught a ride with a
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co-worker. So, whatever's going on, they
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can figure it out together when he gets
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home. And when he gets there, he walks
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through the property with a different
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lens. Mark told us that he is a hunter
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and a professional outfitter, someone
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who takes paying clients through back
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country terrain. So, he like knows how
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to read the land. And right away, he
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began looking for signs of a struggle.
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And Melissa's tough, and she's not
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someone who would have gone down without
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a fight. If someone forced her out of
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the house, there would be evidence of
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it.
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But there isn't. Nothing is missing, and
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the only thing that catches his eye is
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an unfamiliar set of tire tracks in the
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driveway, but they share that driveway
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with a neighbor. Now, from what he can
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tell, he says they're still unknown,
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maybe not the neighbor's car, but they
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look like they might have come from a
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Jeep. Not knowing what else to do, Mark
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picks up the phone and calls New Mexico
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State Police Dispatch right around 5:00
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[music] p.m. New Mexico State Police,
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this is Thomas.
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Yeah, this is uh Mark Cassias. Uh you
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know what, we're um we cannot locate my
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wife. Uh we haven't heard from her all
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day. Uh
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from work to work this morning was the
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last time I saw her work. She My
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daughter saw her
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around 1:00. All her stuff is here in
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the house, but she's not here and it's
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just not like her to not call or check
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in and and take her purse and her phone
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and it looks like her phone is been My
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daughter says it it looks like it's been
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reset, but there you know, so we looked
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all around the house everywhere on our
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property. We cannot find her or nothing
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and
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I don't know what to do. The car that
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she was in is parked here at the house.
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The keys are here. The house was locked.
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Uh everything everything was was
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is here. You know what I mean? So she
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she went from the plaza. She came home.
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The car was here parked in the yard. The
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keys are on the kitchen table. What's
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her name?
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Melissa Cassias.
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And we called the hospital to see
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because I mean, you know, if anyone No
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one There's no one in there
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you know, at all like that cuz we
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thought well, maybe if something
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happened to her. Her purse and
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everything's here, so no one would be
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able to identify her.
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And all you said was she took was her
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phone?
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She didn't take nothing. That's the
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thing is her phone and everything's here
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and she always takes her stuff with her.
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My daughter was trying to track her
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location and they always track each
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other.
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Mhm. But her But her phone's wiped. The
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thing is well, we can't get in she would
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never have wiped all the pictures off
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and all the information off of her
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phone.
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Officers are dispatched to the Cassias
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home and after getting a quick walk
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through of the house, they ask Mark and
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Sierra to lay out their day [music] in
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detail. Now Mark says that he and
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Melissa left for work early that morning
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as usual. And we're talking like early
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early. His shift starts at 6:30 in the
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morning. And And they live like over an
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hour away.
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>> Yeah, and Melissa was behind the wheel.
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And like she always did, she dropped him
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off at his building at around 6:15 and
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then she would drive to her building on
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campus and park her car there. But today
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Mark reminded Melissa that he needed to
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run to the bank at 11:00, so she agreed
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to bring the car back to him then. Now,
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what he didn't know is that she turned
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around and went home.
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We know Sierra woke up at 7:45 to find
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her mom there, which surprised her. But
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when Sierra mentions that Melissa's
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excuse about like being home was like
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her forgotten badge, Mark says, "Wait,
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that that can't be right." He had
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watched Melissa hand her badge to
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security at the guard check himself when
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they got to the lab that morning. Mark
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says that he started calling and texting
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Melissa at around 10:45, but he wasn't
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getting anything back, which he says
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concerned him cuz A, they normally talk
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throughout the day. B, more than needing
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to go to the bank at 11:00, like she was
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his ride home, but she seemed to be MIA.
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So he eventually asked Sierra to pass
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along a question to her mom. Should he
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just find another ride home?
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>> And did they often communicate through
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Sierra like that?
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>> No, never. So that stood out even if she
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didn't think too much of it at the time,
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but like now it does. And so Sierra
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reaches out and she gets a response from
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her mom. Yes, tell him to find a ride
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home. That was at 1:33 p.m. Not too long
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after she'd stopped by to bring Sierra
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lunch.
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>> And why isn't she just answering Mark?
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This is the thing, I couldn't tell you.
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>> I mean, I'd be pissed. Well, Mark says
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that it wasn't unheard of for him to get
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rides home with a colleague, so he says
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that like I mean, he doesn't say he was
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pissed or whatever, he just says he
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makes this plan, didn't think much more
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of it until Melissa's supervisor called
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him at around 2:00 saying that she'd
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been a no call, no show, which he says
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that is what totally threw him for a
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loop. Now, on the phone with dispatch,
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Mark had said that Melissa didn't take
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anything with her. But when he and
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Sierra actually look more carefully, a
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few small things are missing.
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Melissa's toothbrush, her reading
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glasses, and sunglasses. And most
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significantly, what they calculate to be
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a 90-day supply of her thyroid
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medication.
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>> That doesn't exactly scream foul play.
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No, but Melissa just leaving without a
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word to her family does not make sense
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either. Mark tells police that they were
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supposed to leave the next morning for a
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camping trip. And beyond that, Melissa
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is a devoted mother. Mark has three
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daughters from a previous marriage, but
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Sierra is Melissa's only child, and the
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two of them are close in a way that is
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hard to overstate. Especially after
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Sierra survived a car accident in 2022
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that killed her best friend, a girl who
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had been like a sister to her. And from
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that, Sierra suffered serious injuries,
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and the emotional damage lingered for
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longer than the physical. Like it had
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been a rough few years.
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But things were finally looking up.
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Sierra had just graduated high school.
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She was set to move to Albuquerque in
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the fall for beauty school so she could
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become an aesthetician. And Melissa had
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planned to rent a two-bedroom apartment
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there to like stay with her for the
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first couple of months just to like get
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her settled. And Mark told us that he
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planned to kind of go back and forth.
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Plus, he tells police that they have a
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strong marriage. Melissa has never
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mentioned wanting to leave him, like
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never mentioned wanting to leave the
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girls, none of it. Like this just
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doesn't make sense.
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>> Right, so why would she walk away from
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all of that? That's the question that
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hangs in the air as family members who
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had gotten word about her being missing
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start arriving. Like Melissa's parents
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[music] and her brother, her sister
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Trudy, and Trudy's daughter Jasmine.
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Melissa's parents, Jose and Joanne
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Mondragon, live nearby, although they
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had been in Albuquerque visiting Trudy
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that day. But once they heard what was
00:11:27
going on from Sierra, they were in the
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car. And these are long-time Crime
00:11:32
Junkie listeners. So, even in shock,
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they said that they felt like they were
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prepared and knew what to do. They
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worked the phones during the 2 and 1/2
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hour drive to Taos, calling relatives
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and hospitals, hoping that Melissa would
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be home safe by the time that they got
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there. Instead, they pulled up to a
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property bathed in police lights.
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[music] And they were told to wait
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outside, away from Mark and Sierra. Now,
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they don't believe for a second that
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Melissa left on her own. Something bad
00:12:01
must have happened. And they already
00:12:03
have someone in mind, Diego Martinez,
00:12:06
who is Sierra's ex-boyfriend. Now, Diego
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had been behind the wheel in the crash
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[music] that killed Sierra's best
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friend. He suffered a traumatic brain
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injury in the crash, and according to
00:12:18
the family, his behavior became
00:12:20
frightening.
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In 2024, Sierra took out a restraining
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order against him, citing physical
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abuse, break-ins, stolen keys, and
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threats against her and loved ones,
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including specific threats against
00:12:32
Melissa. Diego had also sent Melissa
00:12:35
sexually explicit text messages. And did
00:12:37
Mark and Sierra bring him up at any
00:12:39
point, too? Not that I know of. Still
00:12:42
though, from the very first night,
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Diego's name is already on the table.
00:12:46
But before that thread can even go
00:12:48
anywhere, something else comes up.
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Jasmine has been blasting [music]
00:12:52
missing person posts on social media
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since the moment she understood what was
00:12:55
happening. And almost immediately,
00:12:58
someone had reached out. And this isn't
00:13:00
just anybody. This is a guy named Lloyd,
00:13:03
who has known both Melissa and Mark
00:13:04
since they were children.
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And he tells Melissa's brother that he
00:13:09
saw Melissa earlier that afternoon
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walking along a highway close to her
00:13:13
house, highway 518, in a spot that is
00:13:16
just a couple of miles away. He says
00:13:18
that she was wearing a white sweater,
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and she was kind of like stumbling or
00:13:21
staggering. And there was this old blue
00:13:24
Dodge truck nearby, sort of lurking.
00:13:28
Now,
00:13:29
this is where the cohesive story I wish
00:13:32
I could tell you fractures right down
00:13:35
the middle. Because from this point on,
00:13:38
almost every significant moment in this
00:13:40
case is going to come in at least two
00:13:42
versions, with plenty of contradictions
00:13:45
along the way. So, let me just lay out
00:13:47
the sides for you right now.
00:13:49
In one corner, you have Mark and all
00:13:52
four of his daughters, including Sierra.
00:13:54
I'm going to call them the Casillas
00:13:56
household, even though they don't all
00:13:58
live there. In the other corner, you
00:14:00
have Melissa's parents, some siblings,
00:14:02
her niece Jasmine, some friends, and I'm
00:14:04
going to call them the Mondragons, even
00:14:06
though not everyone on that side carries
00:14:08
that name. And as far as the Mondragons
00:14:11
are concerned, this moment, when this
00:14:14
tip from Lloyd comes in, is the exact
00:14:17
moment that they begin to become
00:14:20
suspicious.
00:14:22
Not of Diego, who they'd first told
00:14:24
police about,
00:14:25
but of Mark.
00:14:31
When that tip from Lloyd comes in,
00:14:33
Jasmine rushes to tell police what he
00:14:36
saw. They have to check this out, go to
00:14:38
where he saw her. She could be hurt, she
00:14:41
could be
00:14:42
Jasmine doesn't know, but this at least
00:14:43
is a trail that they can follow, right?
00:14:46
But instead of being excited about the
00:14:48
lead, Mark immediately shuts it down. He
00:14:52
tells officers there's no way that this
00:14:54
was Melissa, because she wasn't wearing
00:14:56
a white sweater that day. Sierra
00:14:58
remembers that she had on a light
00:14:59
turquoise top when she saw her like
00:15:01
around lunchtime.
00:15:02
>> Okay, she could have changed. And also,
00:15:05
he says, Melissa doesn't have a limp.
00:15:08
So, in his mind, the top's neither here
00:15:10
nor there, because he's like, whoever
00:15:11
this woman is that's like stumbling or
00:15:13
staggering, this is definitely not my
00:15:16
wife.
00:15:16
>> Unless it is and she got hurt, which is
00:15:19
like all the more reason to go check it
00:15:20
out and make sure it's not her.
00:15:23
>> Listen, I know. But like, here's the
00:15:25
thing, the biggest WTF moment for me is
00:15:28
that
00:15:29
police just go along with it. No need to
00:15:32
check that out. Mark says it's not her,
00:15:34
we're moving on. You're kidding me. I
00:15:36
wish I was exaggerating. But no. What if
00:15:39
she got the limp because she like jumped
00:15:41
out of her car? I mean, she could have
00:15:42
been drugged.
00:15:43
>> The girl could have tripped over a
00:15:45
pebble while just like out on a walk.
00:15:47
Like, I could talk about this for hours
00:15:49
and we're going to get into it more
00:15:51
later, I promise. But
00:15:53
they decide not to look. And in the
00:15:55
meantime, that night, when the
00:15:57
Mondragons get to talk to Mark, they're
00:16:00
expecting a husband out of his mind with
00:16:03
worry.
00:16:04
>> Yeah. Instead, what they get is anger.
00:16:07
Mark tells them that he and Melissa had
00:16:10
gotten into an argument that morning
00:16:12
before they left for [music] work. He
00:16:14
had caught her vaping. They bickered
00:16:17
throughout the entire drive to the lab.
00:16:19
[music] And when she dropped him off,
00:16:21
she told him to find his own effing ride
00:16:24
home. Wait.
00:16:26
Mark didn't mention any of that to
00:16:28
police.
00:16:29
>> Oh, no. And he doesn't for a while. But
00:16:32
if the Mondragons' account is accurate,
00:16:34
it means that Mark knew from the jump
00:16:36
that Melissa wasn't planning to drive
00:16:38
him home. Not because of anything that
00:16:40
Sierra later relayed in the day. And on
00:16:43
top of that, they say that Mark starts
00:16:46
badmouthing Melissa almost immediately,
00:16:49
telling them that Melissa had been on a
00:16:51
roll with eff-ups lately, that she had
00:16:53
destroyed their finances, accumulating
00:16:56
debt, getting backed up on tax payments,
00:16:59
And are police searching the place at
00:17:00
all, or are they just taking all these
00:17:02
statements that first night? No, they
00:17:04
they searched. Mark lets police,
00:17:07
including lead investigator Agent
00:17:09
Ezekiel Esquivel Mata. He goes through
00:17:11
the house and like they take
00:17:13
photographs. And while there was nothing
00:17:15
that stood out to the first responding
00:17:17
officer who did that like once over of
00:17:19
the place.
00:17:20
You know, when you come at it with an
00:17:21
investigator's eye and you like zoom in,
00:17:24
there is more that you pick up on. Like
00:17:27
they hone in on a pair of Mark's hunting
00:17:29
boots sitting [music] on his and
00:17:30
Melissa's bedroom floor next to a fish
00:17:32
tank. Some of the mud on them look
00:17:34
fresh, but Mark insists [music] that he
00:17:37
hadn't worn those boots in ages. And he
00:17:39
points to what he says is proof, a
00:17:40
spider web inside. Nobody put their foot
00:17:43
in there recently. Except when agents
00:17:46
look, they don't see any spider webs.
00:17:49
For a man who says that he's been at
00:17:50
work at Inside all day, fresh mud on
00:17:53
hunting boots is a hard thing to explain
00:17:56
away. Then, when agents review the scene
00:17:59
photos the next [music] morning, this is
00:18:01
now Friday, June 27th, they get more
00:18:05
suspicious.
00:18:06
Right next to one of those boots is a
00:18:09
dried drop
00:18:12
of something. Something that looks an
00:18:14
awful lot like it could be blood. So
00:18:17
when the Mondragons and Melissa's
00:18:19
friends are out canvassing neighborhoods
00:18:22
and hanging out missing person flyers,
00:18:24
Mark goes in to talk to police. Agents
00:18:27
put the photos in front of him. They ask
00:18:29
him about the stain, but Mark says he's
00:18:31
sure that's not blood. But he's getting
00:18:34
like more and more agitated as the
00:18:36
questioning continues until finally he
00:18:38
asks if he should get a lawyer and he
00:18:41
just ends it right there. But they
00:18:43
detain him and seize his phone, which is
00:18:47
worth noting because despite what he
00:18:48
apparently later tells his daughters, he
00:18:51
did not hand it over voluntarily
00:18:53
according to what police told us. They
00:18:55
have to apply for a search warrant to
00:18:57
get its contents by doing a forensic
00:18:59
download, which that's going to take
00:19:01
some time. But one thing they're able to
00:19:03
do really quickly while he's at the
00:19:05
station that day is verify his alibi.
00:19:09
The lab confirms that he was at work
00:19:11
that day And even his drive home is
00:19:14
accounted for because of that co-worker
00:19:15
who gave him a ride. He confirms that
00:19:17
trip. However, that doesn't close
00:19:20
anything out. No, it doesn't seem like
00:19:22
he could have physically done anything
00:19:23
to Melissa, but that doesn't prove that
00:19:26
he wasn't involved or that he doesn't
00:19:28
know more than he's letting on. So,
00:19:30
police get a search warrant for the
00:19:32
comb. They take Melissa's phones, they
00:19:34
take Mark's boots, and they run a
00:19:35
presumptive test on that stain by the
00:19:38
fish tank,
00:19:39
which comes back positive for blood. So,
00:19:43
they send out swabs of that for further
00:19:45
testing. Meanwhile, the Mondragons
00:19:48
decide to organize a search party, which
00:19:51
kicks off at Melissa's parents' house on
00:19:53
Saturday, June 28th. Now, Mark says he
00:19:55
didn't even know that that was
00:19:57
happening. I guess he stumbled across
00:19:59
news of it on Facebook. But once he
00:20:01
does, he shows up. Not to help them look
00:20:04
for his missing wife, though.
00:20:06
According to the Mondragons, he comes to
00:20:08
tell them that he's figured it all out,
00:20:11
and he is sure that Melissa left on her
00:20:13
own. He says he'd spent some time going
00:20:16
through her paperwork and discovered
00:20:18
that their finances were in far worse
00:20:20
shape than he had actually realized.
00:20:23
>> I mean, is he basically showing up and
00:20:25
saying, "Don't look for her again?" I
00:20:27
don't think those words, "Don't look for
00:20:29
her," came out of his mouth, but he is
00:20:32
there to tell them why he thinks she
00:20:34
left on her own. He already told them
00:20:36
about the finances, though. Like, he
00:20:37
mentioned it that very first night.
00:20:40
>> Right, but he now he wants them to
00:20:41
understand like the severity of it,
00:20:43
which he says he is just now finally
00:20:46
like getting a good grasp of. Though,
00:20:47
like the signs seem to have been there.
00:20:50
So, starting a couple of years back,
00:20:52
that's when Mark says he got this
00:20:55
humiliating wake-up call. He had taken
00:20:57
some co-workers out to lunch, tried to
00:20:59
pay, and his cards were declined. He
00:21:01
looked into it and learned that his
00:21:03
checking and credit accounts were
00:21:04
overdrawn, and that his savings account
00:21:07
had been drained. When he confronted
00:21:09
Melissa about it, she told him that
00:21:11
she'd used the savings to pay their
00:21:13
taxes. An explanation that he accepted.
00:21:16
But it rattled him enough that he
00:21:18
decided to separate their finances. He
00:21:22
told us that he took over the major
00:21:23
bills like vehicle payments, health
00:21:26
insurance, and he left Melissa to handle
00:21:28
the smaller monthly expenses. But by
00:21:30
June of 2025, there were at least two
00:21:34
huge signs that things had only gotten
00:21:37
worse. One, their wages were being
00:21:40
garnished.
00:21:41
And two, their security clearances at
00:21:45
the lab had been suspended because of
00:21:47
their deteriorating financial situation.
00:21:50
Melissa even had to move workspaces
00:21:51
because she no longer had the clearance
00:21:53
required for the office where she'd been
00:21:56
working. Then
00:21:57
how can he claim that he didn't know how
00:22:01
bad things were? Well, I mean, he's more
00:22:02
saying that he didn't realize how
00:22:05
catastrophic it had gotten, which is
00:22:07
kind of hard for the Mondragons to
00:22:09
believe because the couple had been hit
00:22:11
with more than a dozen lawsuits or
00:22:13
claims over the years. Mostly tied to
00:22:15
unpaid debts, business disputes, and
00:22:17
family matters.
00:22:19
But he maintains that he was in the dark
00:22:20
on a lot of this stuff. That Melissa was
00:22:22
like intercepting legal paperwork and
00:22:25
hiding letters from attorneys or
00:22:26
whatever.
00:22:27
>> doesn't make any sense. Like why would
00:22:28
she want to do that? I have no idea. But
00:22:32
either way, like it seems like all of
00:22:34
this financial stuff was coming to a
00:22:36
head because he says that when he
00:22:38
confronted her about the wage
00:22:40
garnishment and asked how they were
00:22:42
going to afford Sierra's beauty school,
00:22:44
Melissa told him that she had gotten a
00:22:45
lawyer and that they had an upcoming
00:22:48
court date to appeal a lawsuit judgment.
00:22:50
But now, he just found out apparently
00:22:53
that wasn't true. There was no ongoing
00:22:56
appeal. And in all her paperwork, he'd
00:22:59
also discovered that she had applied for
00:23:01
a personal loan to cover Sierra's
00:23:02
tuition and been rejected. And based on
00:23:06
the dates of things, it looks like she
00:23:08
had just gotten that rejection days
00:23:11
before she disappeared. Now, on top of
00:23:13
that, Mark tells everyone that things
00:23:16
weren't going well for Melissa
00:23:18
professionally. Besides the clearance
00:23:20
issue, she had also been flagged for
00:23:22
performance problems at work. So,
00:23:25
Mark's theory, the one that he's telling
00:23:27
everyone,
00:23:29
is that the pressure must have finally
00:23:31
just reached a boiling point and Melissa
00:23:33
bolted before it all came crashing down.
00:23:36
But, but, he also predicts that she's
00:23:38
going to be home before the weekend is
00:23:39
over because she has an important work
00:23:42
meeting on Monday.
00:23:44
Or, you know what? He floats another
00:23:46
idea. Maybe Melissa loved Sierra so much
00:23:49
that she left on purpose so that Mark
00:23:50
could declare her dead in a few months
00:23:52
and then collect her life insurance and
00:23:54
like set Sierra up financially. What?
00:23:58
>> Or, maybe she's just hiding out at her
00:24:01
best friend's house. Someone should
00:24:03
probably check there. So, his theory is
00:24:05
what? Everything? Everything but foul
00:24:08
play, it seems. Where is he saying he
00:24:10
thinks she actually is though? Like, the
00:24:13
most likely place? I don't think anyone
00:24:15
gets like a clear answer about that.
00:24:17
That's the thing. To the Mondragons, the
00:24:19
whole thing sounds less like a husband
00:24:21
trying to find his wife and more like
00:24:23
somebody trying to rapidly workshop
00:24:26
explanations. On top of that, while he's
00:24:28
coming up with all of the ways that she
00:24:30
could have just walked off on her own,
00:24:32
he finds time to criticize their search
00:24:35
efforts, saying that they're looking in
00:24:36
the wrong places, places Melissa
00:24:38
wouldn't go because she didn't know them
00:24:40
well. And he keeps bringing up his
00:24:42
confirmed alibi, even though nobody is
00:24:45
asking him about it. So, being the crime
00:24:49
junkies that the Mondragons are,
00:24:52
they start recording their interactions
00:24:55
with Mark in the one-party consent state
00:24:58
of New Mexico.
00:24:59
Starting with a call that Trudy made to
00:25:01
check on Sierra the next day, Sunday.
00:25:04
And she shared that recording
00:25:06
>> [music]
00:25:06
>> with us. I'm going to play you a snippet
00:25:09
of that call.
00:25:13
In the parks and forests you love, there
00:25:15
are stories waiting to be told. I'm
00:25:17
Dilia D'Ambra, the host of Park
00:25:19
Predators, [music]
00:25:20
a true crime podcast that reminds you
00:25:22
sometimes the most beautiful places hide
00:25:25
the darkest secrets. Listen now wherever
00:25:27
you get your podcasts.
00:25:30
We know exactly what's going on, but I'm
00:25:32
not telling no one [ __ ] Okay. Well, as
00:25:34
long as you're sharing that with the
00:25:35
police, that's amazing. Well, you know
00:25:38
what I told the cops today I that we
00:25:39
have information. They're not even
00:25:41
calling me. I I sat there and knocked on
00:25:43
their door yesterday, would not answer
00:25:44
the thing, and I finally told the
00:25:45
detective, "If you're going to go over
00:25:47
there," I said, "I have a lot of
00:25:48
information, but if I'm going to go over
00:25:50
there and you're going to start
00:25:51
interrogating me again, I'm not going."
00:25:53
Well, we need to be concentrating on We
00:25:57
need to be concentrating on finding her.
00:25:59
What's that? We need to find her.
00:26:01
>> there, Trudy. You understand? NO, NO,
00:26:03
NO. I'M saying No, what I'm saying is
00:26:06
it doesn't help if you're locked up at
00:26:08
the police station. You need You need to
00:26:10
be out there
00:26:12
Well, you need to be out there doing I
00:26:14
went over there. I didn't know. You guys
00:26:16
never told me that this was going on
00:26:17
that this legal search was going on
00:26:19
yesterday. I'm like, "What the [ __ ] is
00:26:22
going on over here?" I never knew about
00:26:23
that. You I never knew about any of
00:26:25
that. No one's telling me what you guys
00:26:27
are doing. I could be directing and
00:26:28
saying, "No, focus on this area. Focus
00:26:30
like I did the other day." You're
00:26:32
telling people all over that don't make
00:26:33
no sense. Well, we're
00:26:35
We are very open for you to share with
00:26:38
us what you what you want, what you're
00:26:40
willing to. Because, you know what? We
00:26:43
awesome.
00:26:46
I I understand that that that they that
00:26:49
they said there was some sort of a drop
00:26:51
of blood in here. [ __ ] there's no
00:26:52
blood in here. And besides, like I told
00:26:54
you
00:26:55
the time frame does not match. The only
00:26:58
time she could have been hurt by me
00:27:00
because I was identified in Los Alamos
00:27:03
No, you were at work. Mark
00:27:05
>> Mark, watch Trudy. Let me say something
00:27:06
so maybe you'll understand this. It's so
00:27:09
simple. If there was a drop of blood and
00:27:12
there was blood in this house, that
00:27:13
means I would have had to have hurt
00:27:14
Melissa before we left to work, right?
00:27:17
Correct? No. That's why they let me out
00:27:20
of over there when they had me over
00:27:21
there. Up I was up in Los Alamos.
00:27:24
Obviously, they determined everything
00:27:26
was in the time
00:27:27
>> I know you were at work.
00:27:29
Melissa was fine at 1:00 in the
00:27:32
afternoon in Los Alamos.
00:27:33
>> You were at work.
00:27:35
No, no. I know that. They said I had a
00:27:37
gallon of blood on the floor and it's
00:27:40
irrelevant to Melissa.
00:27:42
>> Right. No, and it makes sense.
00:27:43
>> This call goes on for a little while
00:27:46
longer. No matter how upset Mark gets,
00:27:49
Trudy [music] tries to keep calm. And
00:27:51
she, you know, she's not being
00:27:52
confrontational at all. She is in
00:27:54
information gathering mode. She wants to
00:27:57
keep him talking. And that's when he
00:27:59
says something that catches her really
00:28:01
off guard. Honestly, one of her biggest
00:28:03
takeaways is this.
00:28:05
>> And then so I changed the locks to all
00:28:06
the doors so she would have to she
00:28:08
cannot come in with the key and grab her
00:28:09
stuff and bail. She would have to
00:28:11
contact Sierra to open up the thing. We
00:28:14
put cameras up and everything to to see
00:28:15
if she was coming in.
00:28:17
>> Okay. And you know what? That's a good
00:28:18
idea. The cameras. He changed the locks
00:28:24
3 days after she vanished.
00:28:25
>> Yeah.
00:28:26
Which like, why would he even need to do
00:28:29
that if she left her keys behind?
00:28:30
>> Dude, that's the thing. Like, I don't
00:28:32
think he ever explains that. I'm like,
00:28:33
she left her keys. She couldn't get in
00:28:34
anyway.
00:28:35
>> I know.
00:28:36
>> Also, I I still don't get where she
00:28:38
would go. Like, she didn't take her
00:28:39
phone. It sounds like she couldn't have
00:28:41
taken any money. She's got nothing with
00:28:44
her.
00:28:45
>> not nothing. Remember, she Well,
00:28:46
according to Mark and Sierra, she's
00:28:48
missing from the house is what her
00:28:49
toothbrush, her reading glasses, her
00:28:51
sunglasses, and then that 90-day supply
00:28:53
of her thyroid medication.
00:28:54
>> Even that is like a little weird though,
00:28:56
right? Like that's not exactly like a
00:28:58
disappearing packing list. Well, the
00:29:01
Mondragons say that from the start they
00:29:03
think that Mark was trying to plant the
00:29:05
idea that someone came to get Melissa
00:29:09
pointing to those unfamiliar tire tracks
00:29:11
in the driveway. Remember as evidence
00:29:12
that another man had picked her up. But
00:29:15
the thing is like he doesn't say who
00:29:17
that would be though. I mean is he
00:29:18
implying that she like left him for
00:29:21
another man?
00:29:23
>> It's hard to tell what he's saying
00:29:25
because Mark has offered a lot of
00:29:27
theories over the months about where she
00:29:30
might have gone. Florida, Arizona,
00:29:31
Washington, maybe she left with the help
00:29:33
from a contractor that she was having an
00:29:35
affair with.
00:29:36
>> Wait, she was having an affair? No,
00:29:37
that's the thing not that anyone knows
00:29:39
of. I think he's just guessing. Says,
00:29:41
you know, it could have been a
00:29:41
contractor or maybe a hunter she knew or
00:29:43
a photographer from Colorado. Sometimes
00:29:45
he insinuates to the family that he
00:29:47
knows exactly where she is or who she's
00:29:49
with, but he won't give names which
00:29:52
feels so weird to them and weird to me.
00:29:55
Even the theory that she would leave him
00:29:58
for another man in general though, I
00:30:00
can't really get my head around from his
00:30:02
telling. Because in his first interview
00:30:04
he told detectives that their marriage
00:30:06
was great. There was nothing wrong
00:30:08
there. But that's not what police heard
00:30:11
from other people. Some of whom
00:30:13
described Mark as egotistical and
00:30:16
controlling. A man who allegedly
00:30:18
emotionally and financially abused
00:30:20
Melissa. And people have different
00:30:21
understandings of Mark and Melissa's
00:30:23
finances. Some say that she was burdened
00:30:26
with paying for everything even though
00:30:28
Mark made more money. So sure, she might
00:30:30
have been in debt, but like in their
00:30:32
eyes that's really Mark's fault. And
00:30:35
yeah, there were lawsuits and stuff, but
00:30:37
records show that the majority of those
00:30:39
were against Mark alone. Some people
00:30:41
even say that the couple had talked
00:30:43
about splitting up after Sierra
00:30:46
graduated. And Mark had basically said
00:30:48
that everything was his, so Melissa
00:30:50
should be ready to just move out. So,
00:30:53
when Melissa was talking about her plans
00:30:55
to stay in Albuquerque with Sierra,
00:30:58
it sounded to them more like a marital
00:31:00
separation than than just like this mom
00:31:03
helping her daughter get settled, which
00:31:04
is what Mark was saying.
00:31:05
>> And Sierra had just graduated, right?
00:31:07
>> Like like nearly a month before this.
00:31:09
So, the timing is interesting,
00:31:12
which police obviously confront him
00:31:15
with. Now, initially, he tells them none
00:31:17
of this is true. And he told us the same
00:31:19
thing. Though he acknowledges that
00:31:21
Melissa had told people that stuff. But
00:31:25
according to Agent Mata, Mark ultimately
00:31:28
confirmed it to police, admitted that he
00:31:31
had encouraged Melissa to leave if she
00:31:33
wasn't happy. I mean, so
00:31:36
maybe this is why he seems so confident
00:31:39
in this walking away theory? Like he
00:31:41
told her to go.
00:31:43
>> Maybe, but then why won't he tell people
00:31:44
who he thinks she's with if he thinks
00:31:46
that he even has like a sliver of an
00:31:48
idea? I mean, here's one of like the
00:31:50
stranger parts of this story. Mark
00:31:52
starts putting up these mysterious posts
00:31:54
on social media. Coded language he says
00:31:57
that only Melissa could understand. A
00:32:00
way to let her know that he's tracking
00:32:02
her. Tracking her how? Or to where? I
00:32:06
don't know. He is not an easy guy to get
00:32:10
a straight answer from. Well, I'm like
00:32:12
thinking back, is he talking about like
00:32:14
a hunting tracking? Like he's like
00:32:16
on to her trail somehow? That, yes. And
00:32:18
listen, some of her trail that day has
00:32:21
already been confirmed by police. The
00:32:24
Cassias' home didn't have surveillance
00:32:25
cameras or anything like that, but there
00:32:27
were some outside the shopping plaza
00:32:29
where Sierra worked. And there is
00:32:31
footage of Melissa alone, seemingly
00:32:34
fine, going to drop off lunch for her
00:32:36
daughter. At 12:56 p.m., Melissa's white
00:32:39
sedan comes in hot to a handicap parking
00:32:42
spot. Like she bumps into that I don't
00:32:45
know what I want to call it a guardrail,
00:32:46
but you Like a parking stop.
00:32:47
>> Yeah, like and it's so hard that the
00:32:48
whole car kind of shakes. So, she like
00:32:50
backs up a little bit. And then like 10
00:32:52
seconds later, she gets out of the car
00:32:54
and calmly starts walking down the
00:32:56
sidewalk with a sandwich for Sierra in
00:32:58
one hand.
00:32:59
Then another camera picks her up in the
00:33:01
plaza. We get a better look at her.
00:33:03
She's in that turquoise T-shirt with a
00:33:05
sweatshirt or something like that tied
00:33:06
around her waist and jeans. And then a
00:33:08
minute later, she is back on that same
00:33:10
camera walking back to her car. No
00:33:12
sandwich anymore, but she's holding a
00:33:13
piece of paper in her hand, that check
00:33:16
that Sierra asked her to cash for her.
00:33:18
Now, the parking lot camera picks her
00:33:20
back up getting into her car. But the
00:33:22
video cuts off before we actually see
00:33:25
her pulling away.
00:33:27
So,
00:33:28
I don't know what direction she went in,
00:33:30
but she had to have made it home after
00:33:32
this since her car, her keys, her
00:33:34
wallet, everything was
00:33:35
back there at the house, right?
00:33:37
>> But I don't think Mark believes anything
00:33:40
happened to Melissa there, like at the
00:33:42
house. His searches seem to be more
00:33:45
focused in the spot along Highway 518
00:33:49
where Lloyd spotted Melissa. Wait, I
00:33:52
thought he was adamant that that could
00:33:54
not have been Melissa. Okay. So,
00:33:57
Mark told us that when that lead came in
00:34:01
that first night when police were there,
00:34:02
he was totally unaware that the tipster
00:34:06
was someone who actually knew Melissa.
00:34:09
So, that's like he dismissed it because
00:34:11
like he didn't want investigators going
00:34:13
on this like wild goose chase. Again, I
00:34:15
still think the reason he dismissed it
00:34:16
doesn't make sense, but whatever. But
00:34:18
then he says at some point over the
00:34:20
first couple of days, he learned that
00:34:22
Lloyd was the caller. And so I guess by
00:34:24
Tuesday, July 1st, enough time had
00:34:26
passed that he's at least willing to
00:34:28
entertain the idea that maybe it could
00:34:30
have been. So, he drives out to that
00:34:33
stretch of highway looking for circling
00:34:36
birds, which is like a potential sign of
00:34:38
human remains.
00:34:39
>> Right, but that means he's now on board
00:34:41
with a foul play theory. No.
00:34:44
>> [laughter]
00:34:45
>> I know. Mark told our reporter Nina that
00:34:47
he never thought Melissa met with foul
00:34:50
play.
00:34:51
But, if Lloyd's tip is true and if
00:34:55
Melissa had been injured or abducted,
00:34:57
she wouldn't have made it far from that
00:34:59
spot. Like it's summer, it's hot,
00:35:01
remains attract scavenging birds. So,
00:35:03
that's why he looked there on that
00:35:05
Tuesday morning. Like, you know, in an
00:35:07
absence of knowing what happened, maybe
00:35:09
everything's possible even if it's not
00:35:10
what he believed. Now, he told us that
00:35:13
when he went out that way, he happened
00:35:15
to see Lloyd outside in his yard. And
00:35:18
so, he decided to stop by and speak with
00:35:20
him. Now, police still haven't reached
00:35:21
out to Lloyd at that point, by the way.
00:35:23
This is 5 days after Melissa was last
00:35:25
seen. And when Lloyd lays out what he
00:35:28
actually saw for Mark, this is when
00:35:30
something shifts for Mark. Because Lloyd
00:35:32
says that he never described Melissa as
00:35:34
stumbling or staggering when he spoke
00:35:36
[music] to her brother. He tells Mark
00:35:38
that Melissa was just there 1 minute,
00:35:41
gone the next.
00:35:43
And Lloyd didn't actually see her get
00:35:44
into that blue truck that he saw or
00:35:45
anything like that. But like, that is
00:35:47
kind of the implication that he's
00:35:48
making.
00:35:49
>> Wait. So, does Mark think this was
00:35:52
Melissa or not?
00:35:54
>> Well, now he seems more convinced that
00:35:57
that was her. And if she wasn't injured
00:36:00
or acting odd, it actually plays into
00:36:03
his theory that she wasn't in distress.
00:36:05
She just like left. And what do the
00:36:07
Mondragons think? They've always felt
00:36:09
like this could have been her stumbling
00:36:12
or not. But even if she wasn't
00:36:14
stumbling, the Mondragons still believe
00:36:17
that she could have been in danger when
00:36:18
she was out there. They think everything
00:36:20
about this is screaming foul play. They
00:36:23
don't believe for a second that she left
00:36:25
willingly. Every theory that Mark has
00:36:27
about her walking away is just that, a
00:36:29
theory and a constantly changing one at
00:36:32
that with no proof. So, after this
00:36:35
search when Mark comes to them again and
00:36:36
he's like, "I found something that makes
00:36:38
me even more positive that she left on
00:36:40
her own."
00:36:41
I imagine that they're pretty skeptical.
00:36:44
But this time it's not just stories or
00:36:47
his word. This time Mark has proof.
00:36:52
Armed with information from Lloyd about
00:36:54
exactly where he last saw Melissa and
00:36:56
the blue truck, Mark had taken Sierra
00:36:59
out to retrace Lloyd's steps. And in
00:37:01
essence, he's trying to retrace
00:37:03
Melissa's. Not with old school hunting
00:37:05
tactics, he was looking for any house
00:37:08
with a surveillance camera pointed at
00:37:10
the road. And dude hit paydirt. He finds
00:37:13
a video from a house off of Highway 518
00:37:17
that you have to see to believe. The
00:37:20
timestamp is 2:18 p.m. on June 26th when
00:37:24
Melissa, alive and well, not stumbling,
00:37:27
comes onto frame. She's alone and
00:37:29
walking at a brisk pace. Not as if she's
00:37:31
scared or anything, just purposefully.
00:37:33
She's wearing what looks to me like the
00:37:35
same outfit we saw her in when she
00:37:36
dropped lunch off to Sierra. But now her
00:37:38
hair is pulled back and she's carrying a
00:37:41
small backpack on her shoulders.
00:37:44
For the Casillas side, this video is
00:37:46
proof that Melissa walked away on her
00:37:49
own two feet by choice.
00:37:52
And Mark told us he wasn't thinking
00:37:53
about vindication or exonerating himself
00:37:56
at that moment, but it's hard to ignore
00:37:58
what this video means. That there might
00:38:01
be a whole 'nother side to this story. A
00:38:05
completely different narrative about how
00:38:08
and why Melissa went missing
00:38:11
that will have you questioning
00:38:13
everything.
00:38:20
Melissa Casillas part two, take two, ABC
00:38:24
marker.
00:38:25
Just when everyone was beginning to
00:38:28
believe that something happened to
00:38:29
Melissa in her home, even, video footage
00:38:32
emerged that proved Melissa was out of
00:38:35
her house and walking down Highway 518
00:38:39
alive and well. Something her husband,
00:38:42
Mark Cassias, has been saying since
00:38:44
early on. And his version of events
00:38:47
reads like a completely different book.
00:38:50
Not a shady, callous husband who had his
00:38:52
wife killed, but a frustrated one who
00:38:55
says that his wife abandoned him and
00:38:57
their daughter, leaving behind not so
00:38:59
much as a note or explanation. [music]
00:39:02
Even then, though, Mark says that some
00:39:04
of the allegations against him aren't
00:39:06
just misinterpreted, they're downright
00:39:08
wrong. So, let's go back to that first
00:39:10
night when police were there and the
00:39:12
Mondragons showed up and told us that
00:39:15
Mark was hostile and bad-mouthing
00:39:16
Melissa. Mark told us that never
00:39:19
happened. He says that he didn't speak
00:39:21
with them at all that night. [music] He
00:39:23
was completely focused on dealing with
00:39:25
police. Then there's that argument that
00:39:27
we're told he and Melissa had that
00:39:28
morning about the e-cigarette, right? He
00:39:30
like caught her vaping.
00:39:31
>> Mhm. It takes him a few interviews to
00:39:33
come clean about any relationship issues
00:39:35
to police, but he says that he only
00:39:37
withheld that information because he
00:39:39
wanted them focused on finding Melissa,
00:39:41
not eyeballing him. He also says that
00:39:44
this like fight or argument wasn't some
00:39:45
big blow-up, just this like minor like
00:39:48
marital spat. And he denies that Melissa
00:39:51
ever cursed at him or told him to find
00:39:53
his own ride home.
00:39:54
>> Well, didn't that come from him in the
00:39:55
first place?
00:39:56
>> Well, that's what the Mondragons say,
00:39:57
that he told them that. But, when we
00:40:00
talked to him, he said, "No, that's not
00:40:02
true. He never said anything like that."
00:40:04
We also asked him about an early theory
00:40:06
he apparently mentioned, the one that
00:40:08
really rubbed some people the wrong way,
00:40:10
right? About Melissa making herself
00:40:12
disappear so that he could declare her
00:40:13
dead and then get the life insurance
00:40:15
money for Sierra. Now, Mark, to us never
00:40:17
really confirmed or denied whether or
00:40:20
not he said that, but what he did tell
00:40:22
us is that he knows a person has to be
00:40:24
[music] missing for years before any of
00:40:26
that becomes legally relevant anyway.
00:40:28
And actually, police come to learn that
00:40:30
Melissa didn't even have a life
00:40:32
insurance policy anymore. I mean, she
00:40:34
used to, but that policy expired years
00:40:38
ago. Though, I'm not really sure if Mark
00:40:40
knew that. And Melissa's financial
00:40:42
records showed just how bad things had
00:40:45
gotten. Investigators find out that she
00:40:47
had negative account balances that
00:40:49
swallowed up half her paycheck the
00:40:50
second they hit and maxed out credit
00:40:53
cards that she hadn't made payments on
00:40:55
in months. And let's talk about the
00:40:57
physical evidence, like the muddy boots,
00:41:00
right? Mark says that he had recently
00:41:02
asked Melissa to refill the fish tank,
00:41:04
which was right above where the boots
00:41:06
were sitting. And so, he thinks that
00:41:07
maybe she might have spilled [music]
00:41:08
water and re-wetted like old dried mud
00:41:12
that was already on them from like a
00:41:13
previous hunt. Which investigators think
00:41:15
is plausible.
00:41:17
>> And the boots mattered like a lot less
00:41:19
once his alibi was confirmed though,
00:41:20
right?
00:41:21
>> Yeah, and like the same logic I think
00:41:23
then extends to the blood if it's even
00:41:26
human blood.
00:41:28
We actually still don't know that for
00:41:30
sure because what we know is they did
00:41:32
that presumptive test. It is blood.
00:41:34
Police still didn't have the lab results
00:41:37
back when we last spoke to them. But
00:41:39
Mark is saying, "Listen, that could have
00:41:41
come from processing game or even from
00:41:43
their dog." But either way, it's hard to
00:41:45
make it mean much when we now know, to
00:41:48
your point, Melissa was clearly alive
00:41:50
and walking on her own after she left
00:41:53
the house.
00:41:53
>> Well, and even if it does come back as
00:41:55
her blood, like she lived there. And
00:41:59
there's that, right? It's not like it's
00:42:00
like this pool or anything.
00:42:01
>> Right. So, blood and boots, put those
00:42:04
aside.
00:42:05
>> Mhm.
00:42:05
There's also the tech of it all.
00:42:08
Investigators find out that Melissa
00:42:09
emailed a coworker the morning of the
00:42:11
26th saying that she was going to be
00:42:12
late because something had come up with
00:42:15
her daughter Sierra. That wasn't true.
00:42:17
So, it seems like Melissa was telling
00:42:20
[music] everyone a different story so
00:42:22
that she could make herself free that
00:42:24
day.
00:42:25
>> Mhm. Mark, TBD exactly what she said to
00:42:27
him in the car on the drive there, but
00:42:29
like he seemed to think that she was
00:42:31
going to be at work.
00:42:31
>> Mhm. She told Sierra that she'd come
00:42:33
home because she forgot her badge, which
00:42:35
she had with her, we know. But, she told
00:42:38
her job something was up with her
00:42:39
daughter. And then, what they pull from
00:42:41
her phones, this is the detail more than
00:42:45
anything else that makes me think
00:42:47
Melissa had some kind of plan. Cuz
00:42:50
forensic downloads show that both of her
00:42:53
phones, they weren't wiped clean at the
00:42:56
same time. The older phone that she had,
00:42:59
the one that she'd already replaced,
00:43:00
that was factory reset at 8:02 a.m.
00:43:04
And then, her newer phone was wiped at
00:43:07
1:38 p.m. I obsessed over this because
00:43:12
my gut tells me that if someone else
00:43:14
wiped the phones, I would think that
00:43:16
they would have wiped them both at the
00:43:18
same time, right? I mean,
00:43:21
unless they didn't know that she had two
00:43:23
phones. Like, wiped one thinking it was
00:43:25
the phone, realized their mistake, and
00:43:27
had to come back and wipe the second
00:43:28
one.
00:43:29
>> we know that Melissa must have reset
00:43:30
that first phone at home, right? Because
00:43:32
remember, she's there when Sierra woke
00:43:33
up at around 7:45, right? So, the one
00:43:36
that she doesn't use, like in my mind,
00:43:38
the one she doesn't use or she's not
00:43:39
going to need that day gets reset in the
00:43:41
morning.
00:43:41
>> Mhm. Just get it over with. Then, she
00:43:43
has her phone through the day as she's
00:43:44
like bringing Sierra lunch, right? You
00:43:46
can't even say someone else has her
00:43:47
phone is like sending these messages. We
00:43:48
have her on video bringing Sierra lunch
00:43:51
at 1:00. Then, Melissa sent her daughter
00:43:53
that last text message at 1:33.
00:43:56
And I mapped everything. Like, all of
00:43:59
that lines up to where if Melissa is at
00:44:01
home when that reset happens at 1:38,
00:44:05
then she could have very realistically
00:44:08
left then and then been at the spot she
00:44:10
is seen at on Highway 518 on camera at
00:44:14
2:18. That's all the things that make me
00:44:16
believe like it had to be her who reset
00:44:18
them. But
00:44:20
why did she reset them? This is the
00:44:23
thing. I don't know.
00:44:26
I mean there
00:44:27
I mean I I I feel like there's two
00:44:28
scenarios, right? Like if if she reset
00:44:30
them, two scenarios. And like in those
00:44:31
scenarios, it's her walking away, right?
00:44:33
Like so one, she took her own life, in
00:44:37
which case I don't know why you would
00:44:39
have to wipe all of your devices.
00:44:40
>> I mean, unless you were hiding stuff you
00:44:42
didn't want anyone to ever find out
00:44:45
about.
00:44:45
>> when you leave a note for that? Like it
00:44:47
to me this is like if you're if if
00:44:48
you're so overwhelmed by like your
00:44:50
marriage or your financial situation or
00:44:52
whatever, like why do you have to like
00:44:54
why would you leave this mystery behind?
00:44:55
Like so it to me this doesn't make a ton
00:44:57
of sense. So the second option is she
00:44:59
walked away to start over, to live
00:45:02
somewhere else, be with someone else,
00:45:05
whatever that looks like. And in that
00:45:07
scenario, maybe something on those
00:45:10
phones would have told people exactly
00:45:12
where she was going or like given away a
00:45:14
plan that she didn't want found out. And
00:45:17
have police pulled her iCloud data? Oh,
00:45:20
this is where it goes like a layer
00:45:22
deeper. They tried. Okay. She didn't
00:45:25
just wipe her phones. Apple told them
00:45:28
>> [music]
00:45:28
>> that her backup had been completely
00:45:31
scrubbed, too. Like her iCloud with
00:45:33
nothing left to recover.
00:45:36
I didn't even realize that was possible.
00:45:39
Is that actually possible? Agent Ezekiel
00:45:41
Esquivel Mata says that that level of
00:45:43
digital erasure takes intention. Like
00:45:46
it's more than just hitting a few
00:45:47
buttons on an iPhone.
00:45:48
>> Yeah. So, he does think though that like
00:45:51
Melissa would know how to do it or I
00:45:54
assume at a minimum could Google it.
00:45:56
This is not like an impossible thing to
00:45:57
do. It's like supposed to be your data.
00:45:59
You should be able to erase it.
00:46:01
>> Right. So, is everyone pretty much in
00:46:03
agreement that Melissa is the one that
00:46:06
wiped everything?
00:46:07
>> Not necessarily. No, like the Mondragons
00:46:09
really wanted investigators to geofence
00:46:12
the Cacias' home to see if maybe other
00:46:14
devices connected, like either to her
00:46:16
device or the internet or whatever
00:46:18
Google around that time. But, Google
00:46:21
actually stopped providing that data to
00:46:22
law enforcement in 2024. But, they're
00:46:25
really adamant they don't think that
00:46:27
Melissa would have done this. They say
00:46:28
that she was very sentimental, like
00:46:31
person who held on to every photo and
00:46:33
every memory. And so, they can't imagine
00:46:35
a world where she would decide to erase
00:46:38
all of that. And really, that
00:46:41
disagreement over what Melissa would or
00:46:44
wouldn't do, over who she really was, I
00:46:48
think that's really at the heart of
00:46:50
everything. Because the tension between
00:46:52
the two sides in this case goes way
00:46:55
beyond the investigation. [music]
00:46:56
Mark and his daughters say that the
00:46:58
Mondragons spent years shunning Melissa
00:47:00
over her separation from the Jehovah's
00:47:02
Witness faith. That they barely knew
00:47:04
Sierra, didn't even meet her until she
00:47:06
was a few years old. And they claim that
00:47:09
they are only now presenting themselves
00:47:10
as people who were like central to her
00:47:13
life. But, we asked the Mondragons about
00:47:15
this and they totally deny that. They
00:47:17
say that Melissa was very present in
00:47:19
their lives. There's regular calls,
00:47:20
overnight visits, helping with medical
00:47:22
appointments. Like, Melissa had taken
00:47:24
time off work to take her mom to the
00:47:26
hospital for a knee replacement and then
00:47:28
she was going to take care of her after
00:47:29
that. That appointment was scheduled for
00:47:32
June 30th, four days after she vanished.
00:47:36
But, whatever the truth is about those
00:47:39
relationships before June 26th, the
00:47:42
aftermath made everything worse. Mark
00:47:44
and his daughters say that the extended
00:47:46
family cut them out of the search
00:47:48
entirely, withholding incoming tips,
00:47:50
blocking them from the Find Melissa
00:47:52
Facebook page, and launching a GoFundMe
00:47:55
without ever consulting them. Now, the
00:47:57
Mondragons say that donations will fund
00:47:59
a reward for information leading to
00:48:00
Melissa's safe return, but Sierra feels
00:48:03
like they exploited the tragedy,
00:48:05
basically. The Casillas side also says
00:48:07
that the Mondragons fueled rumors that
00:48:09
Mark was abusive and directly involved
00:48:11
in Melissa's disappearance. Both things
00:48:13
that he and his daughters vehemently
00:48:15
deny.
00:48:17
Then there are the search efforts
00:48:18
themselves, which the Casillas side
00:48:20
thinks the Mondragons wasted critical
00:48:22
resources on, directing people to places
00:48:24
Melissa would never go, they say. And
00:48:27
they blame her brother for bungling that
00:48:30
whole Lloyd tip early on. I mean, the
00:48:32
whole stumbling, staggering description,
00:48:34
Agent Mata says that was the reason
00:48:37
investigators didn't follow up, not a
00:48:39
contributing factor, the deciding
00:48:43
factor. And more than that, according to
00:48:45
Mark, Lloyd told him that the blue truck
00:48:48
that he saw was a newer model, not an
00:48:50
older one like the family had originally
00:48:52
relayed. So, like Mark, Agent Mata
00:48:54
blames a chain of bad details that cost
00:48:56
them days.
00:48:57
>> But let's be real here, it was still
00:48:59
Mark who told police not to check it out
00:49:01
in the first place. And like
00:49:03
>> Yeah. since when does the missing
00:49:05
person's spouse call the shots during an
00:49:07
investigation? Like the responsibility's
00:49:09
on the police here. I completely agree
00:49:11
with that. And remember, they didn't
00:49:12
interview Lloyd until after Mark talked
00:49:15
to him. And I also have to say like a
00:49:17
huge part of why I think there is such a
00:49:19
great divide between families
00:49:22
is that the investigation has not felt
00:49:24
robust. Like it leaves each family
00:49:27
feeling like enough isn't being done,
00:49:29
which leaves so much room for suspicion
00:49:33
and speculation. Like forget the Lloyd
00:49:35
of it all, right? Like you took Mark's
00:49:36
word, you didn't talk to Lloyd until
00:49:38
like after Mark did, days later, fine.
00:49:41
There was this other tip that came in,
00:49:45
and I was
00:49:46
shocked at how it was handled.
00:49:50
So, a couple of days after Melissa
00:49:52
disappeared, this tourist was near a
00:49:55
church in Taos, New Mexico, when she
00:49:58
noticed a man on horseback who appeared
00:50:00
to be praying. It was an interesting
00:50:02
sight, so she decided to take a photo of
00:50:05
him.
00:50:06
But then she noticed that he seemed to
00:50:07
be crying and apparently was
00:50:10
intoxicated. So, she approached him and
00:50:12
asked if he was okay, and he told her
00:50:14
that they had been searching for his
00:50:16
missing cousin up in the mountains
00:50:18
[music] and that he'd found her body
00:50:20
decapitated. Now,
00:50:22
I don't know if he gave a name for this
00:50:25
so-called cousin before he rode off, and
00:50:27
that tourist didn't know what to make of
00:50:30
that interaction. She like didn't have
00:50:32
any context. But later that night, she
00:50:34
saw a missing person poster for Melissa,
00:50:37
and I guess she put two and two
00:50:38
together, so she reported the encounter
00:50:40
to police and gave them a copy of the
00:50:43
photo that she had taken.
00:50:45
Investigators showed them to Melissa's
00:50:47
family, and they weren't related to the
00:50:50
man, but they did know him. Her brother
00:50:54
recognized the guy as 64-year-old Rick
00:50:57
Valerio, known as Wild. He works with
00:51:00
horses near a local golf course.
00:51:03
And guess what he drives?
00:51:05
A blue Dodge truck. Agent Mata went to
00:51:09
speak with Rick on Monday, July 21st.
00:51:13
>> When did they know about this tip? So,
00:51:14
that part's unclear. The family seems to
00:51:17
think that it was right away, but Mata
00:51:20
insinuates that it was later, which is
00:51:22
why they're not talking to him for like
00:51:24
a month. But I don't want to get hung up
00:51:26
on the police response time, because I
00:51:28
think the proper thing to get hung up on
00:51:31
is the interview itself. Because
00:51:32
according to police, once they talked to
00:51:34
Rick, he admitted that he helped with
00:51:36
search efforts, but he denied everything
00:51:38
else. So, they just dismissed the lead.
00:51:40
They think Rick concocted the story for
00:51:42
attention.
00:51:43
So, the Mondragons actually got the body
00:51:46
cam footage of this interview that makes
00:51:49
them like rule him out. And be prepared
00:51:52
to scream.
00:51:58
I'm going to play you the entire
00:52:00
interaction between Agent Mata and Rick
00:52:03
Valerio so you can make your own
00:52:05
determinations about the questions asked
00:52:08
and the answers Rick gave and the
00:52:10
conclusion that those led police to.
00:52:14
It's still daylight when Agent Mata
00:52:16
pulls up to Rick's home and calls out to
00:52:18
him. Valerio, state police.
00:52:21
Mata won't ever enter Rick's home and
00:52:23
Rick never fully comes outside. As far
00:52:25
as we know, the whole interaction takes
00:52:27
place with Rick fully or partially
00:52:29
behind his metal gate door.
00:52:31
>> Richard home? Yeah, I'm Richard. Hey
00:52:33
Richard, how you doing bro? I'm Agent
00:52:34
Mata, we're state police, bro. Uh You're
00:52:36
not in any trouble, bro. I'm here just
00:52:38
doing some follow-up with you.
00:52:40
No. Yeah, we we heard, bro, that uh you
00:52:42
were talking about finding a decapitated
00:52:44
body out in the Monte, bro.
00:52:46
Or what?
00:52:47
That you found a uh decapitated body
00:52:49
without its head there in the Monte. No,
00:52:51
no, I didn't.
00:52:53
Are you sure?
00:52:53
>> I'm sure.
00:52:55
Cuz I tracked it down to you, bro. The
00:52:56
people that heard it took a picture of
00:52:58
you on a horse there in the plaza.
00:53:00
You're cruising around on your on your
00:53:01
caballo on rojo. Yeah, but I'm going to
00:53:04
plaza.
00:53:06
Yeah, here right here in the church,
00:53:07
bro. Yeah. No, I don't think I know.
00:53:10
I was I was helping with our search here
00:53:12
over here. Yeah.
00:53:15
When uh
00:53:15
you were there, I guess, you know.
00:53:17
Uh one of one of the days over here in
00:53:19
the search and rescue. Yeah. A couple of
00:53:22
weeks ago. Yeah. I was helping with them
00:53:24
there. Yeah, but you didn't find anybody
00:53:26
without their head, bro, cuz that's what
00:53:27
I'm hear- hearing and that's why I'm
00:53:29
here No. to see what's going on with
00:53:30
that, bro. No, no, I don't. Are you
00:53:33
sure?
00:53:33
>> I'm sure, bro. Yeah, cuz I wouldn't be
00:53:35
bugging, bro, if the information didn't
00:53:36
sound pretty serious. That's why I'm
00:53:37
here wanting to hear it from you. Mata,
00:53:41
but I'm Agent Mata, Mr. Richard.
00:53:43
Nothing. Uh what what would I hear that
00:53:45
then? I don't know, bro.
00:53:48
And and and this is what I heard, bro,
00:53:50
that you're you're cousin to Melissa and
00:53:51
that she's been missing for a few days.
00:53:53
And and that you were up in the Monte
00:53:55
and that you were all sad because you
00:53:57
you found her you found a a dead body
00:54:00
without its head and that the head was
00:54:01
just tossed there to the side, bro.
00:54:03
>> I don't even know her. You don't know
00:54:04
her? You were just helping with the
00:54:06
search. Well, yeah, I work I work for
00:54:08
the state guys over here.
00:54:09
>> Yeah.
00:54:10
No, I don't even know her.
00:54:12
I'm not even related to her, nothing.
00:54:14
Okay. Uh do you remember what you were
00:54:15
doing on the 26th of last month, bro?
00:54:18
That's a Thursday.
00:54:21
I think I was in Albuquerque, actually.
00:54:23
You're in Albuquerque and that blue
00:54:25
Dodge is is yours? Yeah. Okay. So, you
00:54:27
didn't go picking up no girls or
00:54:29
anything down there on 518, bro? Nada.
00:54:31
Nada. Okay.
00:54:33
No, I swear. No, no, you're good. I'm
00:54:35
just trying to sort it out, bro, porque
00:54:37
ya sabes, man, people freaking talk and
00:54:39
your name came up, bro. Your name came
00:54:41
up that you had information about a dead
00:54:42
body and stuff. So, I'm like, okay,
00:54:44
well, let's talk, man. Let's see a ver
00:54:45
que. Cuz at the end of the day I got a
00:54:47
job to do, you know, and I just got to
00:54:48
try to follow up with everything that I
00:54:50
get. No, I don't even know nothing about
00:54:52
that. No. Nada, bro. Okay.
00:54:55
Richard, what's a good phone number for
00:54:56
you, bro, in case I have questions?
00:55:03
>> [snorts]
00:55:04
>> What have you heard, bro?
00:55:05
Nothing. You haven't heard anything?
00:55:07
>> know her, actually. Or he or the house.
00:55:10
Oh, you said you were helping out, bro.
00:55:11
I'm sure you heard something. I heard
00:55:13
about it. Yeah? But, uh I work for the
00:55:15
state guys, you know. Mhm. And we had
00:55:16
some problems with the beaver pond over
00:55:17
there. Yeah.
00:55:19
And uh I There was an officer over there
00:55:21
and the search and rescue. Mhm.
00:55:24
His name uh
00:55:26
What was the guy's name?
00:55:28
No, you guys had just showed up there. I
00:55:30
remember talking to you. Yeah. Yeah, but
00:55:32
you don't know anything about no dead
00:55:33
body, nada, bro?
00:55:34
>> Nada, bro. Are you sure?
00:55:36
Okay,
00:55:37
>> I just heard just checking bro like I
00:55:38
said this information was passed on to
00:55:40
me today and I was like well let's go
00:55:42
let's go knock on some doors and see
00:55:43
what's up. You can [snorts] give me a
00:55:44
call bro my number Okay, well I know Mr.
00:55:47
Richard I'll let you get back to it man.
00:55:48
Gracias.
00:55:50
That's it?
00:55:52
That's
00:55:53
it. It's tell me there was a follow up.
00:55:56
Agent Mata says that he did speak with
00:55:58
Rick again at some point but I don't
00:56:01
know what came of it and we don't really
00:56:04
know much about Rick even. Old court
00:56:07
records from the 90s mention multiple
00:56:09
DWI charges. I don't see anything
00:56:11
violent on his record but there is some
00:56:14
weirdness here right? But like I don't
00:56:16
know how you can ignore and pieces that
00:56:19
deserve I believe more investigating. I
00:56:22
mean this bizarre statement allegedly
00:56:25
about a decapitated body, the odd
00:56:27
behavior the blue truck I mean did they
00:56:28
look at the truck? Like what if he hit
00:56:30
Melissa? Yeah there's no looking into
00:56:32
the truck as far as I know. But I mean
00:56:34
like the idea of like him knowing he has
00:56:36
like DWIs hit her I think it's an
00:56:37
interesting theory like Rick related or
00:56:40
not. People said that Melissa used to
00:56:42
walk on highway 518 before. Is it
00:56:45
possible that she was just out there for
00:56:46
a walk and some kind of accident
00:56:48
happened? Yes maybe that's possible but
00:56:50
then even in that theory I come back to
00:56:53
the phones. You don't wipe your phone
00:56:55
and your iCloud if you're just going to
00:56:57
go on a walk. This Rick thing it might
00:56:59
be nothing but this whole interaction
00:57:02
that Mata had with Rick I think this is
00:57:04
what cast a shadow over everything now
00:57:06
to me because when they say that a lead
00:57:09
went nowhere or that they cleared
00:57:11
someone
00:57:12
I question what that means.
00:57:14
>> Yeah. How deep did they really go? Like
00:57:16
another example remember Diego? The very
00:57:19
first person that Melissa's family was
00:57:21
suspicious of before they ever were
00:57:24
questioning Mark. This is Sierra's
00:57:26
ex-boyfriend who after the car accident
00:57:29
had like some brain damage and
00:57:30
apparently had been making threats,
00:57:31
sending Melissa like sexually explicit
00:57:34
text messages. Well, another agent who
00:57:36
worked the case said that Diego wouldn't
00:57:39
speak to them at all. But then agent
00:57:41
Mata says that Diego did give an initial
00:57:43
statement by phone. And I guess he
00:57:45
explained away the explicit text that he
00:57:47
sent Melissa. He told police that he
00:57:48
meant to send it to someone else. But
00:57:50
then when investigators tried to get him
00:57:51
to give a formal statement, Diego said
00:57:53
that he couldn't [music] make it. Then
00:57:55
he told them that he wanted his attorney
00:57:56
to be with him. But he never said who
00:57:58
his attorney even was. And it doesn't
00:58:01
seem like police are pushing. Now, we
00:58:02
couldn't get in touch with Diego, and
00:58:04
I'm not saying that he's involved. I
00:58:07
just want to be able to close the loop
00:58:10
on some [music] of these things. But I
00:58:11
keep finding that really hard to do.
00:58:14
Though for what it's worth, Sierra
00:58:16
doesn't think that Diego had anything to
00:58:19
do with her mom going missing. She
00:58:21
doesn't see how he could pull something
00:58:23
like that off.
00:58:24
Now, for all the things that I think may
00:58:26
not have been done, I do want to
00:58:29
highlight the things that were. [music]
00:58:31
Police poured a lot of resources into
00:58:34
the physical search for Melissa. They
00:58:36
used helicopters, drones, tracking and
00:58:39
sent canines all through the dense
00:58:42
mountainous terrain around Highway 518.
00:58:44
Although official searches didn't start
00:58:46
until days after she disappeared. But
00:58:48
they ran facial recognition alerts
00:58:50
across the nation. But to date, nothing
00:58:52
has ever come of that. And there's been
00:58:55
no bank activity, no passport
00:58:57
applications in Melissa's name, no
00:59:00
driver's license changes, no
00:59:02
prescription refills for her thyroid
00:59:04
medication, which she needs as a thyroid
00:59:07
cancer survivor. So, there is just no
00:59:10
trace of her
00:59:12
anywhere. But the Casillas side, they do
00:59:15
still think that she's out there living
00:59:17
a new life. Mark's most developed theory
00:59:20
to date is that Melissa connected with
00:59:22
someone through a job that she had
00:59:23
applied for shortly before she
00:59:25
disappeared. A position with a Los
00:59:27
Alamos subcontractor. He thinks that
00:59:29
whoever she met through that process
00:59:32
offered to help her escape her financial
00:59:34
situation, like gave her a job, helped
00:59:36
her disappear. And to Mark, that idea
00:59:39
gets some fuel from someone commenting
00:59:42
on social media claiming that Melissa is
00:59:44
safe in Seattle where that company has
00:59:46
ties. [music] Now, investigators confirm
00:59:49
that she did apply for this job. She was
00:59:52
even selected for the position, but the
00:59:55
company told police that they never
00:59:56
managed to reach Melissa to even extend
00:59:58
the offer. She had already vanished by
01:00:01
then. And according to Melissa's sister
01:00:03
Trudy and her daughter Jasmine, they say
01:00:05
the position was actually based at the
01:00:07
same Los Alamos site that she had
01:00:09
already worked at. So, she wouldn't have
01:00:11
needed to go anywhere for it. And
01:00:13
there's one more thing that makes Mark
01:00:15
certain that Melissa is fine. It was a
01:00:19
weird interaction that Sierra had with a
01:00:22
woman not too long after her mom
01:00:25
vanished.
01:00:29
According to Mark and Sierra,
01:00:31
not too long after Melissa went missing,
01:00:34
this woman and her fiance, or maybe it
01:00:36
was her husband, showed up at Sierra's
01:00:38
work out of nowhere. Apparently, the
01:00:40
woman was a long-time friend of
01:00:43
Melissa's and she and the guy had driven
01:00:45
all the way from Colorado where they
01:00:47
live to see [music] Sierra, who, by the
01:00:50
way, didn't even recognize this woman
01:00:51
because if the two of them ever met at
01:00:53
all, it was when Sierra was really
01:00:55
little. [music] And that's the part of
01:00:57
why this whole encounter is so bizarre.
01:01:00
So, supposedly, the woman made this 300
01:01:03
or so mile trip to Taos, New Mexico to
01:01:06
give [music] Sierra a $50 high school
01:01:09
graduation gift,
01:01:12
which I feel like you could have mailed.
01:01:13
Yeah. But while she's there, she makes
01:01:16
sure to get a photo of her and Sierra
01:01:18
together.
01:01:20
And she makes these cryptic comments
01:01:22
like I have psychic abilities and I feel
01:01:25
like Melissa is fine.
01:01:27
And if your mom really left on her own,
01:01:30
she always knows where to find me. She
01:01:33
also told Sierra to keep her visit a
01:01:35
secret from Mark, which obviously she
01:01:38
did not.
01:01:39
>> Mhm.
01:01:39
So Mark starts thinking, maybe Melissa
01:01:42
sent [music] this woman as a proxy of
01:01:45
sorts to check on Sierra. They were
01:01:48
super close. She really loved Sierra. So
01:01:50
like hence the photo. Maybe Melissa
01:01:53
wanted to know that Sierra was okay
01:01:55
after her mom vanished into thin air.
01:01:58
Now, the kind of strange part to me is
01:02:01
that Mark didn't bring this to police
01:02:03
[music] right away. He said that he
01:02:05
wanted to wait and see if Melissa would
01:02:07
contact them. But after like a week goes
01:02:10
by and there is no contact, he finally
01:02:12
lets them know. I mean, was she in
01:02:14
contact with that friend before she went
01:02:17
missing? Well, Sierra says that Melissa
01:02:19
had reached out to this woman with an
01:02:21
invite to [music] Sierra's graduation
01:02:23
party, but I don't know if that's
01:02:24
something that the woman told her or if
01:02:27
Melissa had relayed that to Sierra at
01:02:29
some point. Okay, and like I know
01:02:32
Melissa's
01:02:33
phone, both of them, were wiped, but
01:02:35
they can still get like call and text
01:02:36
records from like the cell service
01:02:39
provider. So we should be able to see
01:02:40
like who she was in contact with before
01:02:43
she was vanished, regardless if the
01:02:44
phones were factory reset or not, right?
01:02:47
>> Yes, theoretically, yes, but last I
01:02:49
heard, her records, and mind you, she
01:02:51
went missing June 2025,
01:02:53
>> Uh-huh. those records are still under
01:02:55
review.
01:02:56
>> [snorts]
01:02:57
>> So, I don't know. Ok- okay, and did they
01:03:00
get anything from Mark's phone? Agent
01:03:02
Mata told us that there is nothing on
01:03:04
Mark's phone that suggests he was
01:03:06
plotting against Melissa.
01:03:09
I don't know.
01:03:09
>> not an answer. [laughter]
01:03:10
>> Well, and I also don't know, like, wait,
01:03:12
so you know, you've been through Mark's
01:03:13
phone completely, but not the person who
01:03:15
actually went missing. And I know, like
01:03:17
right Mark had his physical phone. I
01:03:19
don't know, priorities? Yeah, I don't
01:03:22
know I don't know what's going on there.
01:03:23
Obviously they would have to get a
01:03:24
warrant from the cell provider, but like
01:03:26
all this time later I I feel like we
01:03:29
should be able to like have some answers
01:03:30
about what was on her phone. Now, all in
01:03:33
all, Agent Matta's interpretation of all
01:03:36
that he has so far is that Melissa
01:03:39
probably left on her own. Police have
01:03:41
not officially ruled out foul play, but
01:03:44
Matta's gut says that she's alive.
01:03:47
Legally, she's classified as missing and
01:03:49
endangered because of the risk of her
01:03:51
being without her thyroid medication,
01:03:53
but as far as law enforcement is
01:03:55
concerned,
01:03:57
there's no suspect, there's no crime
01:03:59
scene, and no evidence that anything
01:04:00
[music]
01:04:01
happened to her after that camera caught
01:04:03
her on Highway 518. But the Mondragons
01:04:07
think that is dead wrong.
01:04:10
And the dominant [music] theory among
01:04:11
them still is that Mark is somehow
01:04:15
connected to whatever happened to
01:04:18
Melissa in some way. [music] Though they
01:04:20
haven't ruled out other possibilities
01:04:23
including a random abduction while
01:04:25
Melissa was out walking. The only thing
01:04:27
that they feel certain of is that
01:04:29
Melissa would not willingly abandon the
01:04:31
daughter that she loved so much without
01:04:33
a word. Now Mark denies any involvement
01:04:37
and he got pissed when our reporter Nina
01:04:39
asked him point blank if he killed
01:04:40
Melissa.
01:04:42
He said that no one has ever asked him
01:04:43
that before. No one, not even the
01:04:46
police? I guess not.
01:04:48
But considering the interview that we
01:04:51
saw and heard with Rick, like I
01:04:53
honestly, that wouldn't surprise me.
01:04:55
Okay.
01:04:56
I I don't know.
01:04:58
I don't usually ask this
01:05:00
cuz normally I can tell. Uh
01:05:03
but I'm kind of dying to know like what
01:05:05
what do you think? This one genuinely
01:05:08
has me in knots. Like there are very few
01:05:10
cases that have me flip-flopping back
01:05:14
and forth by the day the way that this
01:05:16
one does. You cannot argue with that
01:05:18
video. Like she
01:05:20
left her house on her own. She
01:05:23
had a backpack. She lied to everyone
01:05:25
about what she was doing that day.
01:05:28
I do believe that she wiped her phones.
01:05:31
It is so easy to look at this and say
01:05:34
that she left. Especially the more
01:05:36
stories we hear about other women who
01:05:39
have done the same. I feel like mothers
01:05:41
have this different societal expectation
01:05:44
than [music] father or like men do and
01:05:45
it's hard for us to wrap our minds
01:05:48
around a mom leaving. But it does
01:05:50
happen. The story that like everyone is
01:05:52
recently passing around about that woman
01:05:54
in North Carolina, that mom who went
01:05:55
missing in like 2001.
01:05:56
>> Yeah, um Michelle Michelle Hunley Smith.
01:05:59
>> Mhm. So like her husband reported her
01:06:01
missing, suspicion fell on him. Everyone
01:06:04
assumed the worst. And then Michelle
01:06:06
turned up alive in February of 2026
01:06:09
having quietly built a whole new life
01:06:11
somewhere else for more than two
01:06:13
decades.
01:06:15
So it's not beyond the realm of
01:06:17
possibility. If everything was closing
01:06:20
in on her the way people are describing,
01:06:22
is it possible she took her own life?
01:06:24
That's the like the one theory that no
01:06:26
one seems to really buy into. Like
01:06:27
Sierra is willing to believe that her
01:06:29
mom left, but she doesn't think that she
01:06:32
would ever do that to her. She thinks
01:06:33
that like kind of what I said earlier,
01:06:35
like at least she would have left a
01:06:36
note. She's not going to leave them
01:06:37
wondering. And I mean if you're still
01:06:38
like asking what I think, I agree with
01:06:42
that, right? Like
01:06:43
I keep going back to the phones. Like I
01:06:45
don't think you need to wipe your phone
01:06:47
and your iCloud if your plan is just to
01:06:50
take your own life. Yeah, but you also
01:06:52
don't really need to do that if you're
01:06:54
just walking away. Like just leave them
01:06:56
behind. Well, un unless like I said,
01:06:58
like there's something on the phone.
01:07:00
There's like communications with someone
01:07:02
or
01:07:03
something that has to do with a plan.
01:07:05
Now,
01:07:06
I'm about to go way out there for a
01:07:09
second, so stay with me. Have you seen
01:07:12
the connections that people are making
01:07:14
recently around the missing scientists,
01:07:17
researchers, [music]
01:07:18
military officials? Yeah. So,
01:07:21
for those who are not in the know,
01:07:23
this is something to pay attention to.
01:07:26
The short version of this is that a
01:07:28
handful of US people connected to places
01:07:32
like Los Alamos and NASA have either
01:07:35
died or disappeared over the last few
01:07:38
years. At the time that we're recording
01:07:40
this, the running list is at 11, and
01:07:43
there's this theory that these are
01:07:45
somehow connected to
01:07:48
maybe foreign espionage, that like
01:07:50
countries like China or Russia are
01:07:52
targeting people with access to
01:07:54
sensitive US technology. To me, that's
01:07:56
the least scary scenario. The scarier
01:07:59
one is that the call is coming from
01:08:01
inside the house, or even that private
01:08:04
corporations who make a lot of money and
01:08:06
energy don't want us figuring out an
01:08:08
unlock for free energy. And I I'm not
01:08:11
just pulling this out of a hat on my
01:08:13
own. So, a former FBI assistant director
01:08:16
named Chris Swecker has been vocal about
01:08:20
the links that these people have. All
01:08:22
mostly connected, not directly, but like
01:08:25
in the type of work that they do. Now,
01:08:27
he's not claiming specific knowledge of
01:08:29
any of these individual cases, but he
01:08:31
believes that the patterns are
01:08:33
suspicious enough that the FBI needs to
01:08:35
stop treating them as isolated incidents
01:08:37
and start pulling resources to look for
01:08:39
links. And the feds are apparently
01:08:42
involved now. Newsweek reported that the
01:08:44
FBI is investigating the series of cases
01:08:47
as of late April. And I bring this all
01:08:50
back because Melissa's name has appeared
01:08:53
on this list circulating in news
01:08:55
coverage of this pattern. So, we reached
01:08:58
out to Swecker directly to see if he
01:09:01
knew anything beyond what was making
01:09:03
kind of like the rounds in the tabloids
01:09:05
and stuff.
01:09:06
He didn't, but he did clarify that he's
01:09:08
not suggesting that all of the cases are
01:09:11
connected, which I feel like is like
01:09:12
what they were saying.
01:09:13
>> to say which [laughter] is yeah, feels
01:09:15
confusing. According to various news
01:09:17
coverage, on paper a few of these cases
01:09:20
have already been explained away.
01:09:22
A drowning, a murder by a former
01:09:24
classmate, cardiovascular disease, a
01:09:26
suicide. But Swecker's bigger point was
01:09:29
more like they might not all be
01:09:31
connected, but like everyone counted in
01:09:32
this potential group worked near or with
01:09:35
sensitive stuff. And he says that
01:09:37
foreign intelligence services will go
01:09:39
after people in those positions, even
01:09:43
admins, because they like know who's in
01:09:46
what meetings. They know who works
01:09:47
where. They know what schedules look
01:09:49
like. Melissa Cacias, that was her role.
01:09:52
She was an assistant admin. So, what
01:09:55
information would she have had access
01:09:58
to? As you can imagine, I don't have the
01:10:00
clearance to know that. I don't even
01:10:02
know, truthfully, if police could get
01:10:05
clearance to know that.
01:10:06
>> Right. And listen, the timing
01:10:08
is weird around when she goes missing.
01:10:11
Like we don't have time to go down the
01:10:13
whole list, but I'll give you like a few
01:10:15
examples so you kind of get a sense of
01:10:17
what people are talking about online.
01:10:19
So, on May 4th, 2025, this is a month
01:10:21
and a half before Melissa goes missing,
01:10:23
a retired Los Alamos employee named
01:10:26
Anthony Chavez walks out of his home
01:10:28
leaving behind his wallet, his keys, his
01:10:31
cigarettes, car in the driveway, no cell
01:10:33
phone, disappears. Then, on June 22nd,
01:10:36
2025, this is just a few days before
01:10:39
Melissa goes missing, 60-year-old Monica
01:10:42
Reza went hiking with two companions. At
01:10:45
some point, one of her companions was
01:10:47
like 30 ft ahead of her. He turns
01:10:48
around, gestures to show her like which
01:10:50
direction to go in. She acknowledges
01:10:52
him. Moments later, when he looked back
01:10:54
again, she's gone. Has not been seen
01:10:57
since. What? Now, that was in
01:10:59
California, not New Mexico. And Monica
01:11:01
worked for NASA, not Los Alamos. But
01:11:04
then you have Melissa going missing June
01:11:06
26th, and then closer to Melissa's home,
01:11:09
William Neil McCasland, a retired Air
01:11:12
Force Major General who once oversaw the
01:11:15
lab that funds work in the same
01:11:18
aerospace field that Monica worked in,
01:11:21
he goes missing February 27th, 2026.
01:11:25
Walks out of his Albuquerque, New Mexico
01:11:27
home with a gun and his wallet while
01:11:30
leaving behind his phone and other
01:11:32
belongings. And then poof, gone. Now, I
01:11:35
mean, you can see this is very tenuous.
01:11:38
>> Mhm. But the coincidences have people
01:11:41
asking questions. Melissa especially
01:11:45
could have been an easy target if she
01:11:47
had the right information or
01:11:50
connections, right? Like she was in a
01:11:51
bad financial spot. Someone promises her
01:11:56
a new life or a new start. Okay, but
01:11:58
she's identified as a good target by
01:12:02
someone. They see all the trouble she's
01:12:04
in, they offer her a way out, she takes
01:12:05
it.
01:12:07
What, leaving her family behind to clean
01:12:09
up the mess?
01:12:11
Yes. But like I mean, she Her family's
01:12:13
going to have to clean up the mess if
01:12:13
she just walked away on her own. Like so
01:12:15
I mean, to me that's not like any less
01:12:17
of a reason why she wouldn't have have
01:12:18
done it. And remember, her and her
01:12:20
husband, they just got their clearance
01:12:21
taken away. I'm telling you like, I
01:12:23
don't know. And this could like
01:12:25
begin to explain how she could start
01:12:26
over without her ID ever popping up.
01:12:28
Like how she'd get more meds. Like she
01:12:29
would have this whole new identity. Like
01:12:33
in a way easier way if someone's helping
01:12:34
you, right? Like I, no matter what, if
01:12:37
she walked away, I think she needed
01:12:39
someone's help to do that. But then,
01:12:42
come back to the phones. It's always
01:12:43
like the phones for me.
01:12:45
If she walked away,
01:12:47
connected to this thing or not, why
01:12:49
wouldn't she just take her phones and
01:12:50
get rid of them? Like I know
01:12:52
I like
01:12:54
I know you don't want to keep them.
01:12:55
>> Well, like right, like keeping them
01:12:57
keeping them active, tracking, right? So
01:12:59
like factory reset them, but toss them
01:13:01
in your bag and get rid of them
01:13:02
somewhere else.
01:13:02
>> Dump them in in some water, like put
01:13:04
them in like in the mountains, like put
01:13:07
them in a dumpster. Like there's
01:13:08
something
01:13:10
about that part that like or even like
01:13:12
leaving her phones is like is that like
01:13:14
a plant? Is this like a a a weird red
01:13:17
herring? Why do you leave them? I mean I
01:13:18
guess unless you want your like them to
01:13:19
have like phones are expensive. You
01:13:21
leave them behind cuz they're free
01:13:21
phones. So you can get like
01:13:23
conspiratorial.
01:13:25
But then, you know, you remember that we
01:13:28
see her on camera walking alone after
01:13:31
the phones are wiped.
01:13:34
And then I don't know, you just keep
01:13:35
going around and like where was she
01:13:36
going? Like I just
01:13:38
I don't know. I mean I mean maybe
01:13:40
whatever instructions she got for wiping
01:13:41
the phone like from we were saying
01:13:43
Googling it, but maybe from someone,
01:13:45
whatever. Maybe they said it was better
01:13:47
if she left them behind so there was
01:13:49
like no way to track
01:13:51
the actual like hardware device itself.
01:13:54
Maybe. Listen, it doesn't have to be
01:13:57
connected to all these other cases. In
01:13:59
fact, one thing that everyone we spoke
01:14:02
to seems to actually agree on, and there
01:14:04
are like few of those things, they do
01:14:07
not believe that Melissa is connected to
01:14:10
these other scientists or or whatever
01:14:12
else is going on. Mark told us that he
01:14:14
thought the theory was BS. Jasmine does
01:14:17
not think it holds up either. Mata said
01:14:20
specifically didn't even know anything
01:14:21
about Anthony Chavez, who was like the
01:14:23
one person I mentioned who was connected
01:14:25
to Los Alamos directly, right? But it
01:14:29
would be a completely different
01:14:30
jurisdiction cuz he lived in Los Alamos.
01:14:33
And when Mata talked about it, he said,
01:14:35
you know, I'll look into it, but he's
01:14:36
like, you know, those places are
01:14:38
compartmentalized by design. They're set
01:14:40
up so people only know what they need to
01:14:42
know for their job. So I am I think he
01:14:44
was saying that implying that it's like
01:14:46
unlikely that Anthony and Melissa were
01:14:48
on the same thing or
01:14:49
>> ever crossed paths, yeah. But I I don't
01:14:51
I again, I don't know anything about the
01:14:53
work that she did. And I highly doubt I
01:14:55
will ever know about the work that she
01:14:56
did because until her clearance just
01:14:59
recently got revoked, like she I think
01:15:01
was working on like high clearance
01:15:02
stuff. So, I don't know. Like this
01:15:05
missing or deceased scientist thing
01:15:08
it has me down like a genuine rabbit
01:15:11
hole. Like I mean, I hope to come back
01:15:13
out of it someday with like a more
01:15:15
complete episode on it. But like one,
01:15:18
it's a hard nut to crack when
01:15:19
practically everyone was working on top
01:15:22
secret
01:15:23
and two, I actually think I've already
01:15:25
like tripped some wires and
01:15:28
you laugh, but like genuinely have
01:15:29
people monitoring what I'm like getting
01:15:31
my nose in.
01:15:32
So, this is always my reminder to you,
01:15:34
to everyone that like I know how to
01:15:36
swim, I love my life, I'm as safe as
01:15:38
safe can be. So, like if I so much as
01:15:40
get in a fender bender right now, it
01:15:42
should be considered suspicious. Like
01:15:44
there was this one scientist who's on
01:15:46
this list, Amy Eckridge, and her case is
01:15:48
wild. People should go look it up, but
01:15:50
she was on a Zoom call with somebody
01:15:53
that got recorded. And she's like, "The
01:15:54
reason I stick my neck out is because at
01:15:57
least if my head gets chopped off,
01:15:59
people will take notice. If you don't do
01:16:00
that, they bury you and nobody talks
01:16:03
about it." So,
01:16:05
in the spirit of sticking my neck out,
01:16:06
any Crime Junkies out there who want to
01:16:08
point me in the right direction,
01:16:10
01:16:12
And listen, while I absolutely believe
01:16:15
that something scary is happening to
01:16:17
people who work in aerospace sciences,
01:16:20
it's probably not the solution that
01:16:23
we're looking for in Melissa's case.
01:16:24
Right? Like if we go Occam's razor,
01:16:27
that would suggest that the simplest
01:16:29
answer is likely the right one. Melissa
01:16:32
was in a bad financial spot.
01:16:34
She was planning to move away when her
01:16:36
daughter went off to beauty school, but
01:16:38
the loan application for that had just
01:16:39
gotten rejected.
01:16:41
What was she going to do now? She very
01:16:43
clearly told everyone different stories
01:16:45
about the day that she went missing. Her
01:16:48
phones were wiped. Her iCloud was wiped.
01:16:51
And after that, she is seen walking
01:16:54
alone down Highway 518. The simplest
01:16:57
explanation is that she chose to walk
01:16:59
away and did it on her own. And some
01:17:02
days, I really believe that.
01:17:05
But then other days, I'll get a new
01:17:07
tidbit of info that makes no freaking
01:17:11
sense. Like we've been talking to family
01:17:14
and reporting on this for months and
01:17:16
months and months, but right as I was
01:17:19
finalizing this episode, Nina pinged me
01:17:22
with another curveball. You know that
01:17:24
friend from Colorado that checked in on
01:17:26
Sierra? Super randomly with like $50 for
01:17:28
high school graduation gift. We just
01:17:30
found out that police did find and talk
01:17:33
to that woman. She denied the entire
01:17:35
thing.
01:17:36
What? She says she hasn't been to Taos
01:17:39
since 2014. She didn't visit Sierra,
01:17:42
denied even knowing Melissa or Sierra,
01:17:47
and said that she was confused as to how
01:17:49
or why her name was even being brought
01:17:51
up in the investigation.
01:17:52
>> Wait. [laughter]
01:17:54
Dude, this is But there's like But a-
01:17:56
What? This is the weirdest thing to me.
01:18:00
Now, we tried reaching out to this
01:18:01
woman, but as of this recording, we've
01:18:03
been unsuccessful. If she hears this, I
01:18:06
would love to talk to you. Again, my
01:18:09
email [email protected].
01:18:12
>> Wait, so so this visit didn't happen? I
01:18:15
don't know. This is like Mark and Sierra
01:18:17
both still say that this thing happened.
01:18:20
I just can't get to the bottom of who
01:18:23
this woman is. Like did she have ties to
01:18:26
Melissa? And now she's distancing
01:18:28
herself. Did she like
01:18:30
make up ties to Melissa? And she's
01:18:34
connected to something or someone. If
01:18:36
you don't believe that this woman,
01:18:39
whoever she is, if you don't believe
01:18:40
she's lying and you want to say that
01:18:42
like Mark made the story up, you have to
01:18:44
remember
01:18:45
>> Sierra is in on it. Sierra is the one
01:18:47
who saw her. Like say whatever you will
01:18:49
about Mark and Melissa's relationship,
01:18:51
Sierra and her mom were so close. I
01:18:54
cannot imagine why on earth she would
01:18:58
ever make anything like that up. I don't
01:18:59
think that that happened. So, are we
01:19:01
like circling back to the conspiracy
01:19:04
theory then? I mean like [laughter]
01:19:06
It crossed my mind. I don't know what to
01:19:08
believe about this woman. I am just
01:19:10
hoping she reaches out so we can sort
01:19:13
all this out. Again, I mean we know that
01:19:15
like interviews are quick, maybe they're
01:19:17
not thorough, maybe something's lost in
01:19:18
translation or missing like a very
01:19:20
simple explanation.
01:19:23
I don't know.
01:19:24
Do you think that
01:19:26
there's any world where Sierra would
01:19:28
protect her dad if he [music] asked her
01:19:30
to go along with something? Like she's
01:19:32
she's already lost one parent and if
01:19:35
everyone is trying to come down on your
01:19:36
dad and you believe in your heart of
01:19:39
hearts that he's innocent like if he
01:19:41
asked you to do something
01:19:42
>> where you're going but no, like it
01:19:43
doesn't it doesn't seem like she would
01:19:46
do something like that from talking to
01:19:47
her.
01:19:48
But I will say like there is something
01:19:50
about Mark that I still just can't quite
01:19:52
figure out. Like I tried to tell this
01:19:54
story in as streamlined a way as
01:19:57
possible, but there were all these
01:19:59
rabbit holes along the way that often
01:20:01
came from stuff that he said or did that
01:20:04
was odd but then ultimately led nowhere.
01:20:07
Cuz that kind of like unresolved
01:20:08
weirdness is all over this case casting
01:20:11
a shadow.
01:20:13
Like for instance and like I didn't even
01:20:15
get into this earlier
01:20:17
Mark had originally told a story about
01:20:20
the morning of the 26th when he and
01:20:22
Melissa drove to work that involved them
01:20:25
stopping at this particular gas station
01:20:27
on their way. And so in part of like
01:20:30
looking for Melissa and looking into
01:20:31
this, police pulled footage, they were
01:20:33
never there. Which seems fishy as hell,
01:20:37
except security footage put them both to
01:20:39
like going through the gate at Los
01:20:41
Alamos after this, like when she's
01:20:43
dropping Mark off at work.
01:20:44
>> Yeah, and like we also see her like the
01:20:46
rest of the day until 2:00.
01:20:48
>> Yeah, bring She brings her daughter
01:20:50
lunch. She's on camera. She's by
01:20:51
herself. She seems fine. So, it it's why
01:20:54
I didn't bring it up earlier, it means
01:20:55
nothing.
01:20:56
But then you're like, well then where
01:20:57
did this even come from? Cuz you're not
01:20:59
talking Mark like a year later. Like
01:21:01
it's right when it happened. And then
01:21:03
also like what's with him being so
01:21:04
defensive and aggressive? Like I
01:21:07
honestly get him acting like that
01:21:09
towards us. Like we flat out asked the
01:21:10
guy if he killed his wife, like who he
01:21:12
believes walked out on him.
01:21:14
But he was like this with her family
01:21:16
long before we came along. I mean, do
01:21:19
you think her bringing Sierra lunch
01:21:22
was like a little way of saying goodbye?
01:21:23
Like we haven't really talked about like
01:21:25
if that was something normal for her to
01:21:27
do. Like if she brought Sierra lunch
01:21:29
often, if it was something that they did
01:21:30
together. I assume no, because like she
01:21:32
would normally be at work, right? Like
01:21:34
we She just doesn't go to work today and
01:21:35
that's why she's doing this. And so I
01:21:37
think it's easy to be like, oh yeah, she
01:21:38
wanted to see her one more time. But
01:21:40
like if this was a goodbye, it was the
01:21:42
shortest goodbye ever. Like she is
01:21:44
literally in and out giving her the
01:21:46
sandwich in like a minute.
01:21:48
So, maybe maybe she wanted to see her
01:21:51
one time, maybe not. Like I feel like
01:21:53
this is one of those things you could
01:21:54
read either way. Was this just like a
01:21:56
mom doing something nice for her
01:21:57
daughter real quick because that's just
01:21:59
the kind of mom she was, and it wasn't a
01:22:01
long interaction because she planned on
01:22:02
seeing her later at home, or was this a
01:22:04
goodbye? One more look at her baby girl
01:22:07
who she knew she might never see again.
01:22:08
One quick glance hurried because she had
01:22:11
to get moving before her family started
01:22:14
coming home.
01:22:15
>> Mhm.
01:22:15
Then even that doesn't make sense
01:22:17
because why would she wait so long to
01:22:19
leave? Like we haven't talked about
01:22:21
that. Like she could have gotten a way
01:22:24
better head start if she had left in the
01:22:26
morning.
01:22:26
>> Right, cuz she had told so many stories
01:22:29
to kind of free up the day, explain
01:22:31
where she was.
01:22:32
>> goes to work, she doesn't have to be, as
01:22:34
far as I know, seen by anyone. Right. I
01:22:37
am really obsessed with trying to figure
01:22:39
out where Melissa was for the rest of
01:22:42
the day.
01:22:43
I'm convinced that that has to hold some
01:22:46
kind of clue. And interestingly, while
01:22:49
we know geofencing is no longer an
01:22:51
option for police like about phone data
01:22:53
and who was maybe like around her house,
01:22:55
I don't think phone data is totally off
01:22:56
the table. Agent Mata says that there
01:22:58
was another company who offered to do
01:23:00
something similar to geofencing for a
01:23:02
fee of about 5 grand. But the agency
01:23:05
actually decided against it for now.
01:23:07
They said it was partly over the cost,
01:23:10
partly because they don't know how it
01:23:12
would hold up in court if this case ever
01:23:15
becomes criminal. And I know our
01:23:18
listeners are like, "Show up." I'll even
01:23:20
talk to the family. I'm like, "Listen,
01:23:21
do we need to like fundraise? Do you
01:23:22
guys need the funds?" Like, even if my
01:23:24
mom even if you pulled it up in court,
01:23:25
like does it give you something when you
01:23:27
have nothing? Either an answer or like a
01:23:29
non-answer, like Right.
01:23:31
>> to rule something out, right?
01:23:33
>> But I actually think there's like a
01:23:33
better option. So, it sounds like what
01:23:36
they were looking at, if it's close to
01:23:37
geofencing, is about putting other
01:23:40
phones in proximity to hers or like an
01:23:42
area. I am more interested in where her
01:23:45
phone was before it was wiped. And I
01:23:48
know that that data is still available.
01:23:51
You see, I got schooled recently. I was
01:23:54
out in the desert hanging out with some
01:23:56
cadaver dogs and their amazing handlers,
01:23:58
as one does.
01:24:00
>> [laughter]
01:24:00
>> And the woman who was organizing this
01:24:02
search, her name is Candice Cooley.
01:24:06
She is a badass. She was always a canine
01:24:09
handler, but after her son Dylan was
01:24:11
murdered in 2022, she took her work to
01:24:14
the next level. And she created an
01:24:16
nonprofit called Dylan's Legacy after
01:24:18
that. And while her work is mostly
01:24:20
around dog searches,
01:24:22
when you're doing a dog search, you have
01:24:24
to figure out where to start your
01:24:26
search, your cadaver search, right?
01:24:28
>> And she learned something that she is
01:24:30
now on a mission to share with every law
01:24:33
enforcement officer who will listen
01:24:35
because it has the potential to be a
01:24:37
huge unlock for investigating cases in
01:24:41
the digital [music] age. When it comes
01:24:43
to phones, everyone's always thinking
01:24:45
about cell phone providers, towers,
01:24:47
pings. And yeah, that usually requires a
01:24:51
warrant. But by the way,
01:24:53
all of those apps on your phone,
01:24:55
Facebook, Instagram, AccuWeather, you've
01:24:58
been giving all of them permission to
01:25:02
follow every step you take if like
01:25:04
cookies are accepted. Honestly,
01:25:06
sometimes they're doing it anyways.
01:25:08
And that data doesn't just live in your
01:25:10
phone. The companies collect it, the
01:25:12
companies store it, and in some cases,
01:25:15
they're sharing it or selling portions
01:25:18
of it, which means that it's not private
01:25:21
data, right? That means that
01:25:24
investigators don't have to rely on cell
01:25:27
towers only. They can go to these
01:25:29
companies and even though like there's
01:25:31
this common belief that you have to have
01:25:33
a warrant to get that data from those
01:25:35
companies, that is not true. There are
01:25:39
actually what they call exigent
01:25:40
circumstances
01:25:42
where you do not have to have a warrant.
01:25:44
You contact these companies, tell them
01:25:46
there are exigent circumstances, right?
01:25:47
You have a missing person, you're
01:25:49
investigating a homicide,
01:25:50
>> Mhm.
01:25:50
>> and they can get you
01:25:53
like I don't know how much, but for sure
01:25:55
location data that can map where someone
01:25:59
was, where were they moving. So take
01:26:02
Melissa's case, right? We know she had
01:26:04
Facebook. Mata could request data from
01:26:08
Meta, which depending on her settings
01:26:09
might include location-related
01:26:12
information from that day, which might
01:26:15
clear up a lot.
01:26:18
But, knowing this case, it also might
01:26:22
throw a massive curveball into it.
01:26:24
>> Honestly, it probably would throw a
01:26:25
massive curveball, [laughter] but like
01:26:26
at least we'd be one step closer to the
01:26:28
truth.
01:26:29
>> Right. Now, the thing is
01:26:31
another thing I I need to make sure
01:26:32
people are hearing this mention if this
01:26:34
is a new concept to anyone, especially
01:26:35
if you're in law enforcement or have a
01:26:36
family who's missing. Even if you get
01:26:38
there, right? Like even if you do the
01:26:41
exigent circumstances, they give you the
01:26:42
data, what you'll end up with is this
01:26:44
massive pile of data points, likely in
01:26:46
some kind of spreadsheet. Now,
01:26:48
traditionally, that means that someone
01:26:50
has to like sit down, analyze it, which
01:26:53
can take time. I mean, we're still
01:26:55
waiting on test results a year later to
01:26:56
know what blood was in Melissa's house.
01:26:58
>> Right. I don't have high hopes that
01:26:59
police just have like someone on deck to
01:27:01
go through data. But good news, it is
01:27:04
easier now than it's ever been. There is
01:27:07
a platform called Badger that lets
01:27:08
investigators map phone data from
01:27:11
carriers, from Google, Snapchat, and
01:27:13
more, track phones in real time, and
01:27:15
manage the whole legal process in one
01:27:17
place. So, I would encourage anyone
01:27:20
whose loved one vanished with their
01:27:22
phone in the social media age to press
01:27:25
their detective to look into this. Maybe
01:27:27
it will lead to answers.
01:27:29
Maybe it will just lead to more
01:27:30
questions, and that's kind of where I am
01:27:32
with this whole case. Every time I think
01:27:35
I have a handle on it, something shifts.
01:27:38
A new detail that doesn't quite fit, or
01:27:40
a conspiracy theory sweeping the
01:27:42
internet that of course has some kind of
01:27:45
Maybe tie or cast a shadow over this
01:27:46
case, cuz why wouldn't it? It feels like
01:27:49
the farther we get out from June 26,
01:27:52
2025,
01:27:53
the further we are from any real
01:27:56
answers. But I think real answers are
01:27:58
there if we can get more real facts. We
01:28:02
don't know if Melissa walked away from a
01:28:04
life that had become unbearable. We
01:28:07
don't know if someone made sure she
01:28:09
couldn't come back. We don't even know
01:28:12
why she was on Highway 518 on the
01:28:14
afternoon of June 26th, 2025.
01:28:18
We just know that she was there and then
01:28:20
she vanished. We spoke to a lot of
01:28:22
people for this episode. Mark, Sierra,
01:28:26
Melissa's parents and siblings, her
01:28:27
stepdaughters, her niece Jasmine, some
01:28:29
friends,
01:28:31
and the two sides disagree on almost
01:28:33
everything. But strip it all away and
01:28:35
everyone says some version of the same
01:28:37
thing. They just want to find Melissa.
01:28:40
And if she is out there,
01:28:42
all they're asking is that she lets them
01:28:44
know that she's okay.
01:28:46
Cuz no matter which side they're on,
01:28:49
that is the part that's eating them
01:28:51
alive, the not knowing.
01:28:54
So if anyone out there knows anything
01:28:56
about what happened to Melissa Casillas,
01:28:58
New Mexico State Police want to hear
01:29:00
from you. There is a reward available
01:29:02
for information. You can reach them at
01:29:04
505-425-6771.
01:29:07
And that goes for Melissa, too. If she's
01:29:10
out there.
01:29:14
Camera Ashley, check your texts.
01:29:16
Marilyn, you sent me more
01:29:19
Get the [ __ ] out of here. No, I'm
01:29:21
Jared, I got
01:29:22
>> [laughter]
01:29:23
>> a lot. Jared, and that's how it
01:29:25
basically went after we were done
01:29:26
recording. You what?
01:29:29
It's a jumble. I'm confused.
01:29:32
>> [laughter]
01:29:32
>> We have a This has been like basically
01:29:34
me the whole me.
01:29:37
I don't really understand all this. I
01:29:39
don't even start to understand it.
01:29:41
Oh my god.
01:29:43
Is this related to Melissa Casillas?
01:29:45
Yes. Yes.
01:29:46
Of course it is. Oh, no.