FBI Investigates Cluster of Deaths and Disappearances Among Government-Linked Scientists

The FBI is leading an active inquiry into a series of deaths and disappearances involving at least ten scientists and engineers with government ties over the past four years, officials and reporting say. The investigation intensified after retired Air Force Research Laboratory commander William Neil McCasland went missing on Feb. 27 after leaving his Albuquerque home.

Federal and congressional attention has focused on whether the cases are related or coincidental. Scientific American reported the cluster of cases, and the FBI issued a statement saying it is “spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists.” A House Oversight Committee press release said it is seeking information from the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, the FBI and NASA about personnel linked to nuclear secrets or rocket technology who have died or vanished in recent years.

Who Is Reportedly Involved?

Reporting and public notices name a number of scientists and engineers whose deaths or disappearances have attracted scrutiny. Many of the circumstances remain under investigation or unconfirmed; the following list summarizes reported cases and should not be read as proof of related wrongdoing:

• William Neil McCasland — Retired Air Force Research Laboratory commander. Reported missing on Feb. 27 after leaving his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Michael David Hicks — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) scientist who studied comets and asteroids; died in July 2023 of an undetermined cause.
• Frank Maiwald — JPL-associated space-research specialist and author on mass spectrometry and remote sensing; reported dead in 2024.
• Monica Reza — Aerospace metallurgist and materials engineer linked to JPL; reported missing while hiking in Los Angeles in 2025.
• Nuno Loureiro — Theoretical physicist and former director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center; murdered in December at his Brookline, Massachusetts home, according to reports.
• Carl Grillmair — Caltech astronomer known for work on distant exoplanets; reported shot and killed near his Los Angeles-area residence in February.
• Other individuals have been mentioned in media coverage and tabloid reporting, including an alleged “eleventh” figure identified by some outlets.

“I don’t understand the connection between my dad’s death and the other missing scientists,”

— Julia Hicks, daughter of Michael David Hicks, speaking to CNN.

Family members of several people named have expressed bewilderment and sorrow, and some have pushed back against sensational or conspiratorial claims. McCasland’s wife said he had a brief association with the UFO community but denied that he possessed special knowledge about alleged extraterrestrial debris at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

Conspiracy Claims and Media Coverage

Online conspiracy communities and some tabloid outlets have amplified alleged connections, ranging from nuclear secrets to speculative claims about anti-gravity research. Major media outlets and lawmakers caution that reporting remains preliminary and that sensational threads do not substitute for evidence. The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, reported an additional figure — Amy Eskridge, who died by suicide in 2022 — and claimed she was linked to research into “anti-gravity technology”; that characterization is based on tabloid reporting and is unverified.

Investigators, congressional staff, families and the public continue to seek clarity. The FBI says it is coordinating efforts to determine whether there are substantive links among the cases; investigators have not publicly announced any confirmed criminal nexus tying the deaths and disappearances together.

What to watch: updates from the FBI, official statements from the House Oversight Committee, and reporting from established news outlets as investigations progress.