In four years, eleven researchers working on Space or nuclear at the heart of the largest American institutions have been killed or gone missing. A series of incidents that raises questions up to the White House and the cause of which is more than enigmatic
February 27, 2026, New Mexico. In Bernalillo County, in Albuquerque, Susan McCasland Wilkerson is in a hurry. It’s after 11 a.m. and the retiree is expected for a medical appointment. She slams the door of her home, leaving her 68-year-old husband William Neil inside. For some time now, this former senior officer of the US Air Force has been rambling: occasional memory loss, fatigue, mental fog… But this Friday, everything seems fine.
However, at 12:04 p.m., when Susan crosses the threshold of the house again, returning from her appointment, an absolute calm reigns. William is gone, surprisingly without warning. Even more strange, his glasses, cell phone, and smartwatch, which he usually takes with him everywhere, are strewn on the living room table. All the couple’s vehicles are neatly parked in the garage. Only a red backpack, a pair of hiking shoes, and a .38 caliber – one of the many weapons of the ex-military man – are missing. Quickly, Susan raises the alarm and law enforcement is deployed. They search the city without finding any trace of the sexagenarian, except for a gray sweatshirt stamped with the logo of the air force, picked up two kilometers away, according to the Albuquerque Journal.
More than a month and a half later, William Neil McCasland still has not shown any sign of life. The veteran vanished with the state secrets accumulated throughout his career. For several decades, he has held some of the most sensitive positions in the air force. In particular, heading the research laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, famous for allegedly harboring extraterrestrial debris.
Fantasy around UFOs
The case, which at first glance appears to be an isolated incident, has quickly been linked to other enigmatic disappearances. Over the past four years, eleven people – mainly scientists – have died under mysterious circumstances or disappeared on American soil. Their common denominator? They all worked for prestigious and confidential institutions of the country. From an ultra-secret atomic technology laboratory at NASA to the Departments of War, Energy, and the FBI, these individuals had access to crucial data in the fields of space conquest or nuclear technology.
Since the revelation of this dark series, numerous conspiracy theories have flourished on the other side of the Atlantic. Many internet users believe that the disappearances are linked to the work of the individuals, more or less related to extraterrestrial life issues. An assumption dismissed by Romuald Sciora, director of the Political and Geostrategic Observatory of the United States at IRIS. “We can fantasize that their disappearance is linked to UFOs but I don’t believe it at all,” he firmly states. While adding: “Let’s imagine that the United States is hiding things about extraterrestrials, they would have had to access extraordinary information to justify their elimination. For me, we are in the realm of science fiction. It seems more likely that they were killed for their knowledge in the field of nuclear.”
Suspicions of foreign interference
According to Romuald Sciora, the combination of all these events seems unlikely. “In my opinion, there are three possibilities. The first, their successive disappearances are a coincidence, but that seems a bit too much. The second, the scientists were eliminated as part of an internal operation of the United States, but I don’t believe it either,” he enumerates, skeptical.
“The most likely in my opinion is the idea of foreign interference. Defense and nuclear topics can be considered dangerous by other countries,” he explains. “This kind of series of killings can represent a strategy for the intelligence services of a competing power.”
The United States specialist imagines few nations with “considerable means” to carry out an operation of this magnitude. “Although hypothetical, my suspicions would turn first to China. It is the only power capable of doing this,” he emphasizes. He points out that several interventions of this kind have already been carried out on an international scale. Last June, Israel eliminated sixteen top researchers from the Iranian nuclear program.
An hypothesis of foreign interference also mentioned by James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee. The Republican lawmaker from Kentucky admitted to initially believing in “some kind of absurd conspiracy theory” the first time he heard about these disappearances, until the details of the cases were presented to him. “We know that many countries around the world would like to benefit from our expertise and nuclear capabilities. And these people who were at the forefront of this field are either dead or missing,” he warned. While stating that the issue had become one of the priorities of Congress and that it was a “threat to national security.”
Even Donald Trump declared to take these disappearances very seriously, during a speech last Thursday: “I hope it’s a coincidence,” he said. “But we will know within a week and a half.”
