In the span of about four years, around ten scientists or employees of sensitive American sites have disappeared or died under suspicious circumstances. The FBI has announced the opening of an investigation to determine if there is a connection between these various cases.
Are American scientists being targeted by a mysterious enemy? Since 2023, about ten of them have died or disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Initially discussed mainly on social media, the issue eventually caught the attention of the Trump administration, to the point that the FBI launched an investigation.
On Monday, April 20, the Federal Bureau of Investigation indicated that they are “leading efforts to establish links between the missing and deceased scientists. We are collaborating with the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, and our state and local law enforcement partners to find answers.”
Last week, Donald Trump himself reacted, telling a journalist that he was coming out of “a meeting on this subject.” “I hope it’s a coincidence… but some of them were very important people and we are going to look into it.”
James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, was even more alarmist. “It seems very likely that something sinister is happening here,” he told Fox News. “Congress is very concerned about this matter. Our committee now considers it one of its priorities as we see it as a threat to national security.”
An ex-air force commander
The question now is whether this succession of deaths and disappearances is a coincidence or if it hides a possible intention to harm American nuclear or space programs. For now, there is no evidence of a link between these various events.
Among the scientists involved, the case of William “Neil” McCasland is the most recent and probably the most debated. This former 68-year-old commander disappeared on February 27 after leaving his home in Albuquerque on foot.
According to CBS News, he left with only his wallet and a .38 caliber revolver, leaving behind his glasses, phone, or any other connected devices. Retired high-ranking William McCasland held the most sensitive positions in the Air Force and notably directed the research laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, rumored to have housed extraterrestrial debris.
The drones and dogs deployed to find him came up empty, detecting nothing more than a gray U.S. Air Force sweatshirt about two kilometers from his home. His disappearance gained more attention as it occurred a few days after Donald Trump ordered the release of government documents related to extraterrestrial life and UFOs.
William McCasland’s wife emphasizes that her husband had been retired for over 12 years and believes it is “highly improbable that he was abducted to extract very old secrets.”
The fate of three NASA researchers also raises questions. Michael David Hicks, 59, Frank Maiwald, 61, and Monica Jacinto Reza, 60, were all part of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory program of the American space agency dedicated to space exploration. Within two years between July 2023 and June 2025, the first two died from “unspecified causes,” and the third disappeared while hiking near Los Angeles.
Two scientists shot at home
The dark series continues. Carl Grillmair, a 47-year-old astrophysicist, was shot dead outside his Los Angeles home in February last year. A 29-year-old man is suspected of the murder without a clear motive being identified. However, he had already been arrested once near the scientist’s house a few weeks before.
Nuno Loureiro, a 47-year-old physicist from MIT, was also shot dead at his home near Boston last December. The shooter, Claudio Neves Valente, was a former classmate who had followed the same engineering course twenty years earlier. The day before, he had already opened fire on the Brown University campus, killing two and injuring nine.
In March, a 45-year-old pharmaceutical researcher, Jason Thomas, was found drowned in a Massachusetts lake three months after his disappearance. His wife told NBC News that he was greatly affected by the deaths of his parents.
Other unexplained deaths or disappearances concern profiles less scientific but likely to have been in contact with sensitive data. This is the case of Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez, both employees of the confidential Los Alamos laboratory in New Mexico.
The former, a 53-year-old administrative assistant, was last seen on June 26, 2025, walking alone on a highway with a backpack. The latter, a 79-year-old retired employee, has not been heard from since he left his home on foot on May 4, 2025.
The story of Steven Garcia, 48, is quite similar. He also disappeared without a trace after leaving his home in August 2025. This government-contracted subcontractor had a high-level security clearance at the Kansas City National Security Campus, a facility of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Finally, Amy Eskridge is sometimes added to this long list. This 34-year-old experimental propulsion researcher was found dead at her home in Alabama in 2022. She had suffered a gunshot wound to the head, and the investigation into her death concluded it was a suicide. However, her case is now being questioned again due to these other deaths and disappearances.
