Missing Scientist Found Dead in Chilling Forest Discovery

We know the government is looking into. these scientists and lab workers that. have died [music] or disappeared. We. know the FBI got involved. We know the. White House is now looking into this, but now one of those people [music] has. just reportedly been found. Her name is. Melissa Casias. She worked at Los. Alamos, and where she was reportedly. discovered and what was apparently found. with her is going to raise a whole lot. more questions, [music] but we're going. to try to separate fact from fiction. right now. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

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So, big development we got to talk. about. And by the way, I have to say, I. just came back from Crime Con in Las. Vegas. You guys are the best. You guys. are the best. Thank you so much for the. kind words that you're following us here. on Sidebar. You're invested in these. stories. You appreciate what we're. doing, and this is one of them. This is. one of the stories that when I was. speaking to you all out there, you want. to know more about. Let's talk about it, okay? This case. You have a hiker walking through Carson. National Forest. Nothing out of the ordinary.

And then they find something no one. expected. Human remains. And next to those human. remains, a handgun. Within days, the remains are identified as someone. we've talked about before here on. Sidebar, Melissa Casias, an. administrative assistant at Los Alamos. National Laboratory, missing for nearly. a year. And her disappearance back in. June of 2025 was strange from the start. Right? Her phone, she had more than one. left at home. One of them was factory. reset. Her purse, her keys, all still.

there. She was seen walking along a. highway, then nothing. Until this. And this discovery is definitely going. to raise a lot of questions. How did she. end up 6 miles from her home in a. national forest? Why was a handgun found. with her remains? And why, according to. her family, was she located in an area. that had already been searched? Melissa Casias wasn't a general, she. wasn't a rocket scientist, but she. worked at a lab that handles some of the. most sensitive nuclear secrets. And her case became part of a much. larger story, one that caught the.

attention of the FBI, the White House, the House Oversight Committee. You know, we've been covering this story from the. beginning, right? The missing scientist, the retired general who vanished, the. theories that are out there. But you go. back to Melissa and what this. development is telling us. Because. according to the New Mexico State. Police, on June 26, 2025, she fails to. show up for work at Los Alamos National. Laboratory. She doesn't return home that. night. Her husband, Mark, who also. worked at the lab, according to NBC. News, tells investigators she dropped.

him off at the lab earlier that day and. said she was going to another location. within the lab to complete a work task. But he said she never came back. Her family goes to the house, they find. her belongings, purse, keys, identification, the phones, all left. behind. Again, one of those phones. factory reset, wiped clean. Same. afternoon, a family acquaintance spots. Melissa walking eastbound on State Road. 518 518, a a highway runs through the. mountains northeast of Taos. This is the. last confirmed sighting of her. There's.

apparently surveillance footage of this. The state police launched an. investigation. They don't rule out foul. play, but a spokesperson says it could. be that she disappeared voluntarily. And nearly a year passes and we don't. hear anything. And then you go to May 28th of this. year. A hiker reportedly discovers human. remains in the Maguffy Ridge area of. Carson National Forest. It's about 6 miles from Melissa's home. and a handgun is found alongside the. remains. The office of the medical.

investigator positively identifies the. remains as Melissa Cacias. And which by. the way, I'm going to bring on Ashton. Pack in a little bit to understand how. they were able to confirm this was in. fact Melissa. Cause and manner of death, I have a lot. of questions. But her family released a. statement online and it has some. information in it that could be. significant to talk about. I mentioned. this before because it says, quote, "We confirm that the remains found in. Rio Chiquito are Melissa. There will be more information to come, but what we can tell you now is she was.

located in area previously searched. This is a lot to process. Our hearts are. heavy and we fully intend to continue to. pursue answers for justice.". Located in an area previously searched. I mean, they're saying that the initial. search teams looked there. They found. nothing and then nearly a year later a. hiker. stumbles across her remains in that same. area. There's a gun. So, either the search missed her or. maybe she wasn't there yet, which I want. to explore.

The New Mexico State Police, they. haven't explained what's going on here. Medical Investigator's Office hasn't. released a cause or manner of death. The. investigation's still active. I want to. talk about it. Okay, so I want to bring. in somebody who's going to walk us. through what we should make of this, what is happening behind the scenes, what we can expect next. Somebody I just. saw in person at CrimeCon in Las Vegas. Now I'm back to, you know, the boxed. version of him. Private investigator. Ashton Pack. Ashton, good to see you. It. was a great to see you in person.

>> Yes, Jesse, it was really great meeting. you guys and everyone over at Law &. Crime. I really appreciate all that. support. >> You got it. All right, so let's go. through this. Um first of all, how do. you think that they ID'd her? Remember, this is the office of the medical. investigator that confirmed. that this is Kasia. How how how how did. they know this is Melissa? >> Well, I'm going to go out on a limb and. say probably were able to obtain some. kind of DNA. And then you also have um. dental records, which is often used. I. know a firearm was located in proximity.

to the body. Uh that that's another. record that could be used to collate, you know, or at least try to identify. her body. >> If it wasn't and we'll get into this a. little bit more. I don't know the state. of her body. I don't know the state of. decomposition if it existed. Is there a. way. Are there tools or is there a a. technique that they do if they can just. visually identify her in a way? >> You know, the technology is constantly. expanding when it comes to you know, tech you know, technology for evidential.

use and for crime scenes. I can tell you if your body's down in. the New Mexico high desert for a modicum. of time, there's probably nothing left. other than skeletal remains. But things that don't degrade as fast as. the biologic side of our of our vessels, you know, things like the purse, the. clothing, the ID maybe in the pocket. I. think I read somewhere that she had. actually left a bunch of things at home. >> Yep. Yep. >> But the clothing you you you're not. you're not going to you know, if you're.

seen running down a highway, you're not. doing that with no clothes on. >> And the dental records. The dental records. >> Correct. Dental records. And and there's. >> That's. >> I'm not sure how fast they can get them. back, but it's it's definitely something. that they can use. They're probably, you. know, I. I always say we love to get to 100% when. we're in law enforcement. When I was. working investigations as a cop, sometimes we can get to about 95 pretty. quick and it takes us a couple more days. or weeks to get to that 100% mark in an. investigation or or the identification.

of a body. >> As we're talking about this, now it goes. into the ME going to be determining. cause and manner of death. I I imagine. it's going to be complicated, maybe. maybe not. If you talk about the. handgun, you're speculating about what. might have happened to her, but at the. same time if you're talking about level. of decomposition or the state of her. remains, what should we be thinking. about in terms of cause and manner of. death and how they're going to be able. to determine that? >> Well, just from reading everything in my. based on my training and experience, I I. have a bad feeling that this young lady.

chose to take her own life. Um. so I I I I think ultimately, you know, if that was the case, they're. going to be able to show that fairly. quickly. Because that evidence will be there. Gunshot gunshot, you know, wounds they they don't they don't. disappear with time if there's a. skeletal remains that are intact, so. >> Well, let's focus on the the handgun. The handgun reportedly found next to her. remains. State police confirm it is. there. They don't say who it belongs to. They haven't said officially that it's. connected to her death, but they did.

make that statement. What does that say. to you as an investigator? >> Uh that tells me that she probably. utilized that firearm as the as the tool. to, you know, end her life herself. >> I don't I and I'll go to the big. question. I'll just go to it right now. This is the biggest thing. How was she not found earlier? I mean, her family says she was found in a area. that was already searched. This is um. you know, you maybe you know this. terrain. You can tell us more about it, but just to let everybody know and give. everybody an idea. I was just reading. this from People magazine. This is a.

massive search. You had hundreds of. volunteers. You had authorities. You had. family members. They were all looking. for her. There was a push on social. media to try to find her. There was a. GoFundMe page that was formed to raise. money here. How is it possible she wasn't found. earlier? >> Well, when you're dealing with places. like New Mexico, massive rural high desert, you know, hundreds of thousands of acres of. undeveloped land,

um it is not you it is very difficult. to, you know, to say with 100% certainty. that the search was, you know, you can. conduct an exhaustive search and still. miss that, you know, potential needle in. a haystack. Another thing to think about. is, um if this young lady unfortunately. chose to take her own life in one. location, um animals, coyotes, mountain lions, the. the kind of the the the the cleaning. system of our, you know, with the. forests and the deserts, you know, that. could have.

changed the location of her body. I'm. trying to find the right words to. articulate to say it, you know, without. being too so, you know, brutal about it, but the fact is mother nature doesn't. care about, you know, us as a species. If we go out into the desert and we. don't have the right shelter and the. right. weapon system to protect ourselves, and. if we go down out there either injured. or hurt, it it has a system in place to, you know, clean it up and so to speak. So, it could have it could have been. that in all reality. >> That's 100% true. I mean, that could be. the situation. I have to address the.

other theory, right? So, the other. theory would be, you and I both know. that she is connected to a larger story. There are those out there who will say, you know, all of a sudden her body shows. up, handgun placed there. Can investigators determine whether or. not her body was moved to that specific. area, not by wildlife, but by human. beings? What would be the telltale signs. that that could be a possibility and. that the scene was staged in some way? I'm not saying that's the case. I want. to To I'm not saying that's the case,

but I know where people are where their. mind is going to go on this and because. there's a lot of speculation, there's a. lot of confusion about uh her and and. her connection to everything else. So, you just tell me. >> Sure. Again, Jesse, it's a great. question and we have to address it. Uh. it's the elephant in the room. We live. in the day and age of everything's a. conspiracy. Um. my pushback to that is there are true. conspiracies, but when everything is a. conspiracy, then really nothing can be a. conspiracy. Yes, investigators, law enforcement, they're going to be able to determine uh.

fairly quickly if a a a year-old body. has been moved or it was placed there. You're looking for things like tire. tracks, foot tracks, abnormal You know, if a if if a body is. in the in the ex- you know, outside in. the in the rural parts of our country, it's going to show it's going to be. you're going to see it. It's going to. you know, indentations. It's going to be. set settling into the ground. You'll probably see some scattering of. the body from wildlife. You know, you'll you'll be able to tell. pretty quickly. The gun isn't going to. be sitting there pristine. It's going to. have wear and tear on it and as well as.

well the body that's that's there. So, if it was brought there and placed, you. know, if there's some major grand. conspiracy, I don't know. You know, in my world, looking at you know, if you wanted to. some bad to go away, just you would. eliminate the body altogether. There. would be questions and then that would. be it. If I was a bad guy, I wouldn't go. a year later and place the body. If I. was a terrorist nation, foreign actor, some bad guy who's, you know, part of a. a global mass conspiracy against our. nuclear scientists. I just it's just it. violates Occam's razor. It's just not.

the simplest explanation, which is. usually the right one. >> When would authorities release more. information when they have it? I mean, a. lot of eyeballs are on this case as well. as the other ones. When would they release information to. the family? When would they release. information to the public and the media? >> They're probably in good communication. with the family and they'll probably. give the family information uh faster. than we'll get it. Of course, you know, you get the information generally. speaking when they get the information. They have a time, you know, law. enforcement has to make sure it's right. They have to have to vet and they have.

to sometimes double-check, double-test. because we don't want to make a mistake. because again, you know, if you make one mistake, it. gets blown into some massive conspiracy. on Twitter or on social media and it's. it just it's a it can be a black eye in. the you know, in the in the on the. investigators and so they just don't. want that, but family will get the. information probably fairly quickly and. they probably have an agreement that you. know, the family isn't and you know, the. family's likely not incentivized to go. out and share this information before. it's ready, but law enforcement and the. investigators they'll share with media.

when they're prepared to share it and. that they've they've really vetted it. and made sure that they got everything. right. >> Do you find it strange that her remains. were found 6 miles from the family home? >> No. I mean, uh honestly, she was seen. walking down the road by I want to say. either a family member or a co-worker. I. think this woman was having a very bad. day. >> caught on surveillance, too. >> Yeah. Yeah, on surveillance. >> the I guess that's the question, right? Like, you know, on one hand, her husband. said that she was under. uh immense stress, that she was.

reportedly walking on State Road 518. You talked to me also about the idea. that um, you know, what was found at her. home, right? I thought what was found at. her home was very, very interesting as. well. I think that's a a big part of the. conversation, the factory reset on the. phone. Police say that it was a phone. that was wiped clean and um, you know, and then. this is what's leading you to believe. that this was self-inflicted? >> Well, I mean, you know, she's.

you know, if if you're in a in a if. you're in that suicidal mindset, let's. just assume for a moment, maybe she's [clears throat] thinking. like, I want to make it as. you know, as easy for my husband to pick. up the pieces as it can be. So, I'm not. going to do this at home. I'm going to reset the phone so that. they can be kind of, you know, maybe resold or just refurbished and get. you know, that that she's kind of. erasing herself in a way. You know, there's there's a million. psychological avenues we could go down. at.

>> [clears throat]. >> Of course, investigators will probably. have a little bit more information. There's probably some things that we. just don't know about what is also in. the home, what happened. But she's under. an immense amount of pressure. She's. under stress. You know, she she says, you know, I'll. I'll see I got to go to another part of. the lab to get some other work done. And then later that day she's seen. walking down the road. So I I me. personally, from everything that I'm. seeing, you know, I'm I'm I'm far into. the 85-90%. range that she chose to end her life. herself and and and just a very a very. unfortunate, you know, circumstance for.

her family. >> And it's not unusual for you that. someone like her would would do this. without giving any. any kind of advance warning to her. family, a goodbye of some sort, a note, um. hold on a little bit longer for a hug, make some sort of clue as to what she. was about to do. That's That wouldn't. surprise you? >> Well, she might have left a note and. they just haven't released the. information yet. Or she might have. something out there that, you know, was. her way of saying goodbye that isn't.

being construed in the traditional. sense. But no, it doesn't surprise me, Jesse. You know, people make these decisions. every day. Um she just happens to be a high-level, you know, scientist with a security. clearance working in, you know, critical. space of our nation's national security. space. >> Mhm. >> And so, you know, it's unfortunate. I. think there's a lot of. You [clears throat] know, I worked in. government. I worked on federal task. forces and I worked, you know, within. the with the intelligence community as. well, not just a front-line street. investigator and cop.

And there was a lot of pressure because. there's so many threats out there. There's so much happening that everyday. Joe citizen, Jane citizen, they they're. just not aware of it. And so, I know a. lot of people who work in the. intelligence community and federal. spaces, and the weight of the world is on their. shoulders, you know, because there are. some legit bad guys out there that want. to do our country and our our our. families and our kids harm. And that responsibility lies on their. shoulders to get it right. You know, bad. guys can get it right once, we can never. get it right. We can never be wrong. You. know, I always tell my cops and my. trainers.

when I was training, you cannot get it. wrong. They get it wrong, they can be. wrong they get it right one time and. it's mass devastation, so. >> Ashton, can you stay with me for a. little bit? I want to I want to just put. this into context of the other cases and. the other stories that people are making. connections to and try to see if this is. determined to be, you know, her remains. and let's say you are correct or your. theory or your your belief at this point. is correct that she did this to herself. I want to know how that's going to. affect the investigation into the other. cases. So, just let me lay this out,

stay with me for a second. So, as I. mentioned, according to the House. Oversight Committee, Melissa's. disappearance was one of several people. several involving people with ties to. Los Alamos. Again, to the research, the. Air Force research, to classified. technology. There are some dead, some. missing. Enough of them that the House. Oversight Committee started asking. questions. And according to the. committee's April 2026 press release, at. least 10 individuals with ties to US. nuclear secrets or rocket technology had. either died or vanished in recent years. And by the end of that month, you had. Congressman Eric Burleson put the number.

at 13. Now, the committee's statement. read, quote, "These deaths and. disappearances may represent a grave. threat to US national security and to US. personnel with access to scientific. secrets." And the FBI announced that it. was spearheading the effort to look for. these connections. The White House said. it was investigating. So, Ashton, you've. got this you got these multiple. investigations, right? You got the House. Oversight Committee investigation, you. have the FBI involved, you have the. White House paying attention. You're. looking at that.

Where does this death of Melissa, where. does potentially you know, finding her. remains, how does that affect the other. cases? >> It's a great question. I mean, ultimately the [clears throat] FBI's. going to be the the lead investigative. agency on this and they will provide the. information and intelligence to the. oversight committees as well as the. White House. I I think the FBI will. it'll be a no-brainer for them to come. in and take this case and look at it. with a fine-tooth comb and with a. microscope, as they should. Again, when.

we spoke earlier and I've spoken about. these missing scientists and people tied. to our national security apparatus, I. don't think there should not be an. investigation. I think there should. absolutely be an investigation because. we have to know with beyond any shadow. of doubt that there isn't a foreign. nation-state. or anything like that uh. going on going on here at. terrorist organizations, foreign actors, nation-states that are trying to to to. gain access to our secrets. Again,

the United States of America is so. technologically advanced that unless. it's a revenge thing, I I don't see where you're going to get. out of 13 scientists the ability to to. forward your or to diminish our ability. to conduct, you know, nuclear technology. and build nuclear weapons or advanced. weaponry. Maybe it's not even nuclear. We're so technologically advanced. There. are things out there that are so. unbelievably advanced that if you saw. them, you would it would be like taking. an iPhone to a Neanderthal. You know, we.

would look at it and go the. Sometimes I think what we see in the. skies that we can't explain that are so. these are anomalous things that's really. it could be something absolutely that we. can't explain, but I think sometimes. it's our technology. So, we've already. got it. We know the United States of. America has how many thousands of. nuclear weapons you know, I I killing our unless it's a revenge. thing that you're going to target our. our our scientists and then the people. who have access to them. So, I I I I question that motive, that.

reason to to target our people. Um But, FBI will conduct the investigation. I. think they should absolutely look into. everything that the state cops and the. local cops there and the medical. examiner are looking into. That whole. case file. I hope is shared with FBI and that they. are able to use their investigative and. their incredible evidence lab. Should I. hope they're assisting with this and and. looking at everything from from their. perspective as well to to confirm that. this young lady, you know, did what we. think I I what I believe she. unfortunately did. >> Let me just lay this out a little bit. because I want your thoughts on.

something else. So, these cases that. we're we're talking about, they span. more than 3 years. They stretch across. multiple states. The circumstances are. all over the map. There's There's. Michael David Hicks, a NASA JPL. scientist who studied comets and. asteroids. He died in 2023. The cause of. death never publicly disclosed. Monica. Reza, rocket scientist, vanished while. hiking in California. Her work was. funded by the Air Force Research. Laboratory. Nuno Loureiro, an MIT fusion. physicist, shot to death in his own.

home. 12-year-old daughter found them. We know that death was connected to the. brown shooter. Charles Gilmer, astrophysicist, shot dead on his front. porch in the desert, according to the LA. County Sheriff's Department. Deputies. responded to the scene, also responded. to a carjacking nearby, and that all led. to the arrest of a suspect, 29-year-old. Freddy Snyder. He's been charged with. murder, a separate burglary related to. an alleged trespass at Gilmer's home 2. months earlier. There's Anthony Chavez, retiree who worked as a foreman at Los. Alamos. He disappeared from his New.

Mexico home, left behind his car, phone, wallet, keys. Searches apparently turned. up nothing. Steven Garcia, government contractor at the Kansas City. National Security Campus, manufactures. non-nuclear components for nuclear. weapons. He was last seen leaving his. Albuquerque home on foot carrying only a. handgun. Jason Thomas, pharmaceutical. researcher, his body was according to. police found in a lake in Massachusetts. Police say they didn't suspect foul. play. You look at all these names,

Ashton. You've been talking about a. little bit. You're skeptical to bundle. it all together, even though you. wouldn't be surprised that people are. making the connections or saying, you. know, what's going on here? >> Yeah, I'm not surprised at all. And when. you look at it on from a 30,000-ft. worldview, you know, it seems like it should. absolutely could be connected and that. it should absolutely be investigated. And I do believe that we, you know, the. I I do believe the FBI should and will. look into all of these. But again, I. think a lot of these cases are retired.

foreman. Why? What would be the motive for this? What what Unless revenge, and again, what does a foreman have to do? In all. reality, he has a security clearance. because he has access and proximity to. classified materials. What's the motive to hurt this man, you. know? Uh now, you know, this guy who was. killed in in the the hallway or the. entry of his apartment, the sheriff's. deputies arrested a guy connect, you. know, they they charged that person with. murder. Sure, let's get the details of. the case, let the case work its way. through court, and I hope hopefully the. FBI can come in and and do a deep dive, kind of like dig down into the.

background. Was a foreign nation-state. using this guy as a patsy? We know that. the government of Iran in the past has. used, uh you know, patsies and proxies. to do their dirty work. We they've had. plots in this country before. The FBI. will be able to determine that after the. investigation is done and the case is. adjudicated in court. So, yes, at the. top high level, when you're looking down. at it and and you're, you know, checking, you're seeing these stories on. social media, yeah, it seems really. weird. It seems like there could be some. kind of a conspiracy going on. I just. caution people like peel the onion back.

and let the investigators do their jobs. on this. And and I really hope that the. FBI investigators are able to peel the. onion back, utilize their technology. They have some of the most advanced. technology as far as analytics are. concerned. Let those. armies of FBI analysts start plugging in. all the data and come up with an. after-action report or some kind of a. report that can then go to the White. House, go to the the oversight. committees that can answer these. questions. Again, are we going to get. every question answered? I don't know. about that. That's going to be a hard. one. There's just sometimes you can get.

like I said you can get it to 98, 99%. but maybe we can't get to 100. But if. the investigators find that hey, it. looks like this is you know these are. all random acts and not really related. or we have these three over here that. they see appear to be possibly related. but everything else was just. happenstance then then that's what the. investigation will show. >> And let's be clear the one that started. all of this, arguably the one that got. the most attention, retired Air Force. General walked out of his house, never. came back so far. William Neil McCaslin, 68 years old, retired Major General, 34. years he worked on some of the most.

sensitive technology the US military. has, astronautical engineering, space. acquisition, National Reconnaissance. Office, spy satellite. He commanded the. Air Force Research Laboratory at. Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Again, that's the same base that you. have people theorizing have claimed for. decades stored the Roswell incident, the. debris from there. According to his wife. McCaslin had access to in her words some. highly classified programs and. information. So, when a guy like that. walks out and doesn't come back, it. obviously got a lot of attention. And.

then on February 27th of this year. McCaslin's wife, they'll just give you a. timeline, leaves for a doctor's. appointment at 11:10 a.m. She returns. just after noon, he's gone, his phone is. on the counter turned off, smart watch. is plugged in the bathroom, the shirt. that he was wearing when she left. hanging in the closet, changed in. apparently changed into something else. She doesn't know what. She calls 911. She says something that is just. stops you. >> Um my husband is missing.

>> Okay. >> And he's it's been about 3 hours and I. have some indication that. he must have planned not to be found. >> Later we also obtained body cam footage. from the deputies who responded and in. it a colleague who apparently had dinner. with McCaslin the night before tells a. detective he wasn't his usual self. >> He wasn't his usual self. He was kind of. spacey and quiet. >> Is this. classified information? Does he carry.

like a security clearance or anything. like that? >> He has a very classified security. clearance. He was the head of Air Force Research. Lab. Um. He I mean, to the point the man's names. are in the the UFO documents that have. been newly released. >> [clears throat]. >> He's been vetted. That's So, he has a. very high security clearance. >> And by the way, you can check out the. rest of what investigators discovered in. our previous body cam breakdown where we. go through all that footage that we got. our hands on. But you go back to this timeline. Weeks.

turned into months. No sightings, no. videos, no answers. You go to March 7th. Investigators found a gray Air Force. sweatshirt about a mile from his home. Family couldn't confirm it was his. though. By the two-week mark, the. sheriff's office released the photo of. what they believed he was wearing, this. light green button-up shirt. They also. confirmed what was missing, his hiking. boots, his wallet, a .38 caliber. revolver with a leather holster. And as. of today, as I sit here, General. McCaslin is still missing. And. investigators, they haven't linked.

McCaslin's disappearance to Melissa's. death. There's no evidence connecting. the two. But again, both worked kind of. in the same orbit, right? McCaslin at. the Air Force Research Laboratory, um. Melissa at Los Alamos. Both cases became. a part of the same public conversation. Uh Ashton, let's just wrap this up real. quick about McCaslin. Do you. Do you think we're going to get an. answer there? And if we do get some sort. of answer there, um how's that going to change the story. of everything we've been talking about? >> Well, hopefully we can find out, you.

know, some of the items that the colonel. was or the general was wearing when he, you know, we can find either body or. parts of what he was wearing or the. the gun with the holster. That would, you know, open up a little bit more, you. know, idea of what happened to him. You. know, let me let me posit this, Jesse. You know, you're a 34-year retired. two-star, one, two, three-star. You're a. very one of the highest-ranking Air. Force officials. You were involved in some of the most. sensitive, classified uh things in your.

career. You had a You know, you're. you're working for the United States Air. Force. You're a You know, a decorated. part of the warrior class of keeping. this country, you know, safe. And then you retire, and then, you know, maybe you have, you know, some issues. with a mental health issue, and you meet. You know, you're meeting with friends, and they're telling you about the good. old You're You're reminiscing of those. glory days and those And then you have. dinner with a friend, and it's like. yeah, you can't really talk about. anything. You're no longer You know, you're you're Suddenly, you're in this. inner circle, and then you retire, and.

he probably still had a security. clearance to some level if he was doing. any kind of consulting work. But all of. a sudden, you're not in that inner. circle anymore. And that is a That can. be a very devastating thing for some of. our our veterans and the and the people. who are at the tip of the spear in. defending our country. I see this happen. in law enforcement officers. I myself. have You know, you know, you you walk. out of the police department after 23. years, and, you know, you're not there anymore. You're not in the know. You're not You. don't You don't get to go to have that. coffee every morning with all your. fellow detectives. You don't bump into. the the bosses who are Hey, I I had a.

You know, clarify questions, or Hey, great job on that case, or Oh man, you. guys did such a good job on that work. So, we just don't know what was going on. with this general, and maybe that was. part of what was happening in his life. Um and again, he leaves his house, you know, there. there it's it's it's suspicious. circumstances, for sure. And I think it. should be investigated. But again, let's. peel the onion back. Let's Let's try to. figure out what actually is going on. here before we jump to these. conclusions. He's retired. What would be. the point of targeting him outside of.

revenge? If he was a part of some. advanced weapon system, for example. So, >> Well, a lot of strange parts of this whole. saga. Ashton Pak, thank you so much for. taking the time breaking down this. development and um look this is a. devastating development and update for. Melissa's family just thinking of them. right now. Um. >> I hope they have some closure from this. and I know it's it's very sad but I I. hope the closure comes to them and I. hope that her her memory's always a. blessing to them. >> Yeah, it's well said. Ashton thank you. so much appreciate it. >> Thanks Jesse great to seeing you.

>> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar everybody thank you so. much for joining us and as always please. subscribe on YouTube, Apple podcast, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. You can also check us out on NBC's. Peacock as well if you want to follow me. X Instagram [music] my NewsNation show. Jesse Weber live Monday through Friday. 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you next. time everybody.