The Trump administration is investigating the deaths and disappearances of nine highly qualified American scientists and researchers and two others linked to top security US scientific research facilities.
They all had various levels of access to classified information tied to military, nuclear, or aerospace research.
“In light of the recent and legitimate questions about these troubling cases, and President Trump’s commitment to the truth, the White House is actively working with all relevant agencies and the FBI to holistically review all of the cases together and identify any potential commonalities that may exist,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
“No stone will be unturned in this effort, and the White House will provide updates when we have them,” Ms. Leavitt added.
INVESTIGATIONS INTO MYSTERY DEATHS AND DISAPPEARANCES
President Trump commented: “I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half. Pretty serious stuff. Hopefully a coincidence.”
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration said it is “aware of reports related to employees of our labs, plants, and sites and is looking into the matter.”
“These are some of the most advanced scientists and researchers in our nation, working on critical national security efforts, and several have mysteriously disappeared,” said Republican Congressman Eric Burlison.
“This is too coincidental, and we have to be investigating this.”
A congressional probe has been launched into the cases.
AIR FORCE MAJOR GENERAL NEIL McCASLAND
Air Force Major General Neil McCasland vanished from his Albuquerque, New Mexico home on February 27.
The 68-year-old left his phone and prescription glasses behind, but his wallet, hiking boots and a revolver were missing.
General McCasland held senior roles at the Pentagon and in space research and acquisition, including leadership positions at the Air Force Research Laboratory and the National Reconnaissance Office.
He commanded the Phillips Research Site of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio — a facility linked to investigating UFOs and the 1947 Roswell incident.
“Neil does not have any special knowledge about the ET bodies and debris from the Roswell crash stored at Wright-Patt,” his wife, Susan, posted on social media shortly after his disappearance.
There were three other unexplained disappearances in New Mexico last year.
ANTHONY CHAVEZ
Anthony Chavez, a 78-year-old retired Los Alamos National Laboratory employee was last seen on May 4 at his home in Los Alamos.
He was reported missing four days later after a search of his house found his wallet, keys and other personal items left behind inside, while his car remained locked in the driveway.
There were no signs of forced entry or a struggle.
Investigators reviewed hours of surveillance footage, but have not publicly identified any confirmed sightings of Chavez since May 4.
He had worked for decades at Los Alamos National Laboratory where the atomic bomb was built and now has around 18,000 staff and contractors.
MELISSA CASIAS
Just a few weeks later, an administrative employee with relatively low security clearance at Los Alamos National Laboratory also disappeared without trace.
Melissa Casias, 53, was last seen on June 26 walking alone along a road near the community of Talpa.
She had left work earlier that day and spent time in the tourist town of Taos where she lived with her family.
When they returned home, they found her car, purse, keys and both her personal and work-issued phones inside.
“A MOTHER WHO WOULD NOT HAVE ABANDONED HER DAUGHTER”
The phones had been factory reset, wiping recent data and communications.
Family members have strongly pushed back on the idea that she left voluntarily.
“All of her friends keep telling us this is not like her. She wouldn’t leave her daughter,” her sister said.
Casias had also been preparing to care for their mother during an upcoming surgery.
STEVE GARCIA
Steve Garcia, 48, was last seen around 9 a.m. on August 28 leaving his Albuquerque home on foot while carrying a handgun.
He left behind his phone, wallet, keys and car, and has not been seen since.
Garcia was a government contractor tied to the Kansas City National Security Campus, a key facility responsible for producing the vast majority of non-nuclear components used in the US nuclear weapons arsenal.
His role gave him high-level security clearance and oversight of sensitive assets.
An anonymous source familiar with the case disputed suggestions he was suicidal or experiencing mental health issues.
JASON THOMAS
Pharmaceutical scientist Jason Thomas went missing last December and his body was recently discovered at the bottom of a Boston lake.
Surveillance footage captured him walking near train tracks shortly after midnight after he had left his phone and wallet at his suburban home.
The 45-year-old was an associate director of chemical biology at pharmaceutical company Novartis.
His work played a central role in modern drug discovery and the development of new treatments.
The cause and nature of his death have not been publicly disclosed.
NUNO LOUREIRO
Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist Nuno Loureiro was fatally shot at his Boston home in the same month.
The 47-year-old was director of the university’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center and recognised as a leading figure in fusion energy research, plasma physics and technologies aimed at harnessing near-limitless clean energy.
His murder was linked to a suspect wanted for a mass shooting at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island two days earlier.
Investigators said the suspect who had attended university with Loureiro in Portugal, took his own life, effectively closing the case.
CARL GRILLMAIR
California Institute of Technology astrophysicist Carl Grillmair was fatally shot on his front porch in Llano, just north of Los Angeles, on February 16 this year.
The 67-year-old was known for his work on exoplanets and the discovery of water on distant worlds.
He had spent decades working on major NASA-backed missions, including the Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, contributing to research on galactic structure, dark matter and the search for habitable planets.
A suspect who was charged with his murder had previously been reported for trespassing on Grillmair’s property.
MONICA REZA
Sixty-year-old NASA scientist and aerospace engineer Monica Jacinto Reza was hiking with a friend in the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles when she vanished on a well-traveled trail around 9 a.m. in June last year.
The friend who was about 10 metres ahead, told police he turned around to check on her, and she smiled and waved, indicating she was doing fine.
The friend turned back to continue hiking, and when he looked back again moments later, she was gone and never seen again.
She was the co-creator of Mondaloy, a nickel-based alloy capable of withstanding the extreme heat of rocket engines.
FRANK MAIWAD
Frank Maiwald, 61, a long-time engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles died on July 4, 2024.
No cause of death has been publicly disclosed, and reports indicate no autopsy was performed.
He had spent decades working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory developing advanced instruments used to study Earth and distant planetary environments, including tools capable of detecting chemical signatures such as water and organic molecules.
His work focused on building instruments capable of detecting chemical signatures including water, organic molecules and other indicators scientists use to assess whether environments beyond Earth could support life.
MICHAEL HICKS
Veteran NASA research scientist Michael Hicks died in the Los Angeles district of Sunland in July 2023 at the age of 59, without any details being released about the cause of death or an autopsy.
He had worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 24-years, specialising in the physical properties of comets and asteroids.
He served on high-profile science teams for the DART Project (the mission that successfully redirected an asteroid), the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) Project, the NASA Deep Space 1 Mission and the Dawn Mission.
AMY ESKRIDGE
Amy Eskridge is the 11th name to be added to the list of mysterious deaths and disappearances.
The 34-year-old was found to have died in a shooting suicide in 2022 in Huntsville, Alabama where she worked on developing antigravity technology at the institute for Exotic Science which she co-founded.
She reportedly expressed that her life was in danger in 2020, telling a YouTuber about receiving “harassment, threats,” and sabotage of her research.
Notably, she suggested at one point that scientists who had breakthroughs in their work would “disappear” or stop working.Her father, a former NASA employee said he does not think her death was suspicious.
NOTHING TO LINK THE CASES
The overlap in timing and profession has fueled questions about whether something more is at play.
But so far investigators have found no evidence to link the cases, however strange they may be.
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