Families of Missing, Dead Scientists Call Bull on Possible Connections

The FBI says it plans to dig into possible connections between the disappearances and/or deaths of at least 10 scientists and government workers over the last few years ... but their family members say it's all a bunch of baloney.

The House Oversight Committee announced Monday they're probing any possible connections between 10 cases dating back to 2023 ... but family members of Melissa Casias, Carl Grillmair, Michael Hicks and Jason Thomas all say there's no way they're linked -- and some have proof.

Melissa was an administrative assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico who vanished in June 2025. A family member, Paul, tells TMZ ... he believes Melissa wanted to go MIA and "does not want to be found."

He adds there's no reason she'd be part of some targeted mission -- considering her main duty was answering phone calls -- and says she wasn't near classified documents. He's also confident her disappearance isn't linked to Anthony Chavez's, who also worked at Los Alamos and vanished a month earlier.

Paul, who also works at the lab, says the government hasn't contacted him about any investigation.

Meanwhile, Michael's brother, Steve, tells TMZ ... his family knows the truth behind Michael's July 2023 death, but they're choosing to keep it private.

He calls linking Michael to the other cases "a bunch of silliness," adding ... "He's had great scientific achievements and contributions to the field, and now he's going to be remembered for some baloney, Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot conspiracy theory."

Michael worked as a research scientist with JPL for more than two decades.

Carl was an astronomer with Caltech's Infrared Processing & Analysis Center ... he was shot on his porch in Llano, CA, on February 16, 2026.

Carl was an astronomer with CalTech's Infrared Processing & Analysis Center ... he was shot on his porch in Llano, CA on February 16, 2026.

Carl’s wife, Mary, tells TMZ ... her husband's killing was an "isolated incident." She says ... "The perp had been arrested previously on our property in December. He was out for revenge, thinking my husband was the one who called 911 ... so he came back and shot my husband."

She adds statistics suggest the cases aren't connected ... so she's sticking with that.

We also spoke to Jason Thomas' wife, Kristen. Jason walked out of their Massachusetts home in December 2025, and his body was found in a lake on March 1, 2026.

Kristen says she's stayed away from social media and the news while grieving ... but tells us Jason's death is "probably not connected" to the others.

She says Jason had been struggling after the deaths of his parents -- his mom died of dementia, and his father died of a heart attack an hour later. He spent November going through their belongings and had a tough time once they returned home to Boston.

She says he walked out while she was filling the dogs' water bowl ... something she only knows from security camera footage. She still doesn't know why he left, and the medical examiner hasn’t provided details about his death.