Main points
- In the US, nine scientists who possessed state secrets have mysteriously died or disappeared.
- Congressman Tim Burchett called for an open investigation, and the FBI suspects foreign intelligence agencies hunting for the technology.
Where and why do scientists disappear / Collage of Channel 24/Freepik
A series of mysterious incidents involving top American scientists is raising more and more questions among U.S. national security experts. Nine experts who were in possession of state secrets have mysteriously died or disappeared without a trace, and it is increasingly difficult to call it a coincidence.
How did it all start?
As we reported earlier, it all started with a high-profile series of incidents in which, in particular, two key figures associated with advanced aerospace developments disappeared without a trace. One of them is 68-year-old retired general William Neil McCasland , who previously headed the US Air Force Research Laboratory. His status allowed him access to the most protected state secrets, in particular those related to nuclear programs and the analysis of recovered technologies of unknown origin, writes 24 Channel .
This gave rise to many media outlets, including the New York Post, to talk about the fact that all the scientists were somehow connected to UFO research, and the disappearances began when American society began to talk about the disclosure of secret materials related to alleged contacts with extraterrestrial civilizations.
The circumstances of McCasland's disappearance seem extremely strange: on February 27, he left his home, leaving behind all his personal belongings, including his cell phone, wallet, and even his glasses. The only things he took with him were hiking boots and a .38 caliber revolver.
General William Neal McCasland / US Air Force Photo
A nearly identical fate befell 60-year-old NASA engineer Monica Jacinto Reza , who disappeared in June 2025 while hiking in the Angeles National Forest. Reza was not just a specialist, but a co-developer of Mondaloy, a unique, high-strength alloy that is critical to the creation of reusable spacecraft.
It is important to note that the activities of both missing persons were intertwined: at one time, it was the unit led by McCasland that provided funding for the scientific search for Reza. Despite the use of modern technology, such as thermal imaging drones and search dogs, no trace of the scientists was found.
Monica Jacinto Reza / Photo by Aerojet Rocketdyne
The situation was further mystified by the appearance on the memorial resource of a message about the engineer's death and her ecological burial, although her body was never found, and the page itself was later hastily deleted.
However, the disappearances were not limited to this, as the scientific community was soon shaken by a wave of deaths. In December 2025, the famous physicist Nuno Loureiro was murdered in his own apartment. He headed the prestigious Center for Plasma and Fusion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His scientific work was considered groundbreaking and could open the way to creating a virtually limitless source of clean energy. Some analysts indicate that his plasma research could be directly related to the development of engines based on devices of extraterrestrial origin.
The next victim was astrophysicist Karl Grillmayr , who was shot dead on the doorstep of his own home in February 2026. His field of interest included searching for signs of life on planets located up to 160 light-years from Earth. Although law enforcement was able to apprehend the suspect, the reasons for this brazen attack remain unknown.
The third on the tragic list was 45-year-old chemical biology specialist Jason Thomas . He disappeared in December 2025, leaving his Apple Watch in the mailbox, and his mobile phone and wallet at home. Only in March of the following year were his remains found in Lake Quannapowitt. It is known that the man was experiencing a difficult emotional state after the loss of his parents, but the details of his disappearance also fit into the general disturbing context.
Jason Thomas, who disappeared from his home in Massachusetts in December 2025 / Photo GoFundMe
US political circles have not remained aloof from these events. In particular, Congressman Tim Burchett directly states that such a number of tragedies among specialists in narrow fields of science cannot be a coincidence. The politician is convinced of the existence of a clear system and criticizes intelligence structures for their secrecy.
In his opinion, official Washington may be hiding the true state of affairs regarding the study of extraterrestrial technologies that the affected scientists were engaged in. Burchett called for an open investigation, as delay only contributes to the loss of important evidence and leaves society without answers to questions about the fate of the elite of American science.
Two more disappeared in early April
The list of tragedies among the American scientific community continued to grow in early April, when the Daily Mail wrote about two more scientists whose deaths occurred even earlier.
As it turned out, one of the first in this chain was Frank Maywald , a senior researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He passed away on July 4, 2024, in Los Angeles at the age of 61. Despite his high status and significant achievements, the cause of death was never made public, and officials confirmed that no autopsy was performed.
Frank Maywald / Photo Legacy.com
Maiwald had been with NASA since 1999 and was a key figure in the development of satellite technology for scanning planets. Just a year before his death, he led a team that made a breakthrough in methods for searching for life on Europa, Enceladus and Ceres.
It seems strange that the space agency has not commented in any way on the loss of a specialist of such a level, and information about his death was limited to a short obituary on the Internet.
An equally disturbing situation has developed around the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), which has been involved in nuclear development since the Manhattan Project. In May 2025, 79-year-old Anthony Chavez , who worked at this institution until 2017, went missing. His disappearance looks extremely suspicious: the man left his keys, wallet, and phone at home, and his car was left locked in the driveway.
Anthony Chavez / Facebook photo of Anthony Chavez
Although Chavez was an experienced hiker, he hadn't even dressed for a long walk that day. Almost a year passed, but the police still hadn't found any leads.
Two months after Chavez, another employee of the same laboratory, 54-year-old Melissa Casias, disappeared. She had access to classified information and disappeared under almost identical circumstances. The woman was last seen outside her home, walking without any personal belongings. The most surprising fact in this case was that her work and personal phones, found at home, had been completely wiped by factory reset.
Melissa Casillas was last seen on the street in New Mexico / Photo GoFundMe
Former FBI Deputy Director Chris Swecker notes that even administrative staff at such laboratories can be targets of foreign intelligence, as they often possess information about internal processes and secret research.
The tragic statistics were also supplemented by the deaths of scientists whose work was related to the defense sector. On February 16, 2026, 67-year-old astrophysicist Karl Grillmayr was shot dead on the doorstep of his own home. He worked on the NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor telescope projects, which, in addition to tracking asteroids, use technologies similar to hypersonic missile tracking systems. Interestingly, these developments were supervised by retired Air Force General William Neil McCasland, whom we mentioned first. The general allegedly possessed secrets regarding nuclear weapons and unidentified flying objects.
The ninth case does not look suspicious, but it is added to the list
The latest name on this list, which was mentioned by the media, in particular the Daily Mail, was a researcher from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , Michael David Gicks . For 24 years, he studied the physical properties of comets and asteroids, participated in the DART project, the purpose of which was to test the possibility of deflecting dangerous space objects from Earth, and also worked on the Deep Space 1 mission. Gicks passed away on July 30, 2023 at the age of 59. Despite his significant contribution to science, the circumstances of his death remained closed to the public, and there are no autopsy records.
Michael David Hicks / Photo Screenshot Daily Mail
As journalists write, it is surprising that numerous obituaries did not mention any health problems, and the death itself came suddenly, only a year after he left his job at NASA. However, the reason for the lack of information may be the banal desire of the family to maintain privacy.
Meanwhile, three missing or deceased scientists had a direct connection to Gicks through their work together at JPL, although this could be a simple coincidence, as Gicks died after working at NASA.
It is unclear what the US government is going to do about all this. However, experts, including the aforementioned FBI Director Chris Swecker, consider these cases suspicious. According to him, foreign intelligence services, including those of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, have been hunting American technological secrets for decades, so these cases may be related to attempts to steal technology or at least prevent the United States from obtaining its own.