OAN Staff Lillian Mann
12:32 PM – Friday, April 3, 2026
The list of U.S. scientists and military personnel who have gone missing has grown in recent months, beginning with the July 4, 2024 disappearance of Frank Maiwald, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher.
Following several more high-profile disappearances—including a senior aerospace engineer and a retired Air Force General, Representative Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) is demanding a federal investigation. Citing the
“deeply concerning” ties these individuals share with advanced research, Burlison revealed that he has asked for the involvement of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to determine if these incidents are connected or represent a targeted threat to national security.
“The disappearance of multiple scientists and military personnel with ties to advanced research is deeply concerning. I’ve already requested FBI involvement, and we will keep pressing for answers,” Burlison said Monday on X.
Most recently, William Neil McCasland, a retired Air Force general, went missing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 27th. He previously held a senior leadership role in the U.S. Air Force, overseeing technology and space research.
However, McCasland’s wife, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, said in a Facebook post on March 12th that she did not believe her husband’s disappearance was related to the classified information he had access to.
“It is true that when Neil was in the Air Force, he had access to some highly classified programs and information. He retired from the AF almost 13 years ago and has had only very commonly held clearances since. It seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him,” she wrote.
His disappearance has drawn significant attention to the case of Monica Reza, who vanished just months earlier while hiking. Notably, Reza had worked on a government-funded rocket materials project that had been overseen by McCasland.
“It’s remarkable that General McCasland apparently walked out of his home, left all of his devices and never came back,” Burlison told Fox News. “And Monica Reza, she was on a hike as well and mysteriously disappeared. And I’ve heard of others.”
When asked if authorities believe something nefarious may have happened on the disappearance of McCasland, Lieutenant Kyle Woods of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office stated, “We haven’t ruled anything out, but we have nothing pointing to it either.”
Congressman Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a member of the House Oversight Committee investigating UFO reports, weighed in, saying he believes the number of deaths in these research fields is too high to be coincidental.
“There have been several others throughout the country that have disappeared under suspicious circumstances. I think we ought to be paying attention to it,” said Congressman Burchett.
Timeline of Disappearances and Deaths (2025–2026)
- July 4th 2024: Frank Maiwald The prominent NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) researcher died in Los Angeles at age 61. Despite his senior role, no cause of death was disclosed, no autopsy was performed, and NASA has issued no public comment.
- May 4th 2025: Anthony Chavez The former Los Alamos National Laboratory worker disappeared without a trace.
- June 22nd 2025: Monica Reza The NASA scientist vanished while hiking in the Angeles National Forest, reportedly while only thirty feet away from her companions.
- June 26, 2025: Melissa Casias The Los Alamos administrative assistant vanished from her home; her phones were later discovered factory-reset.
- December 12th 2025: Jason Thomas The Novartis researcher disappeared, beginning a three-month search until his body was recovered from a lake on March 17th 2026.
- December 15th 2025: Nuno Loureiro The director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center was killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.
- February 16th 2026: Carl Grillmair The astrophysicist was fatally shot on his front porch in the early morning hours.
- February 27th 2026: Maj. Gen. Neil McCasland The retired Air Force official walked out of his New Mexico home without his phone or glasses and has not been seen since.
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