A nuclear physicist and MIT professor fatally shot exterior his Massachusetts residence. A retired Air Force basic lacking from his New Mexico dwelling. An aerospace engineer who disappeared throughout a hike in Los Angeles.
These are amongst a minimum of 10 people related to delicate US nuclear and aerospace analysis who’ve died or disappeared in recent times, prompting issues whether or not they’re related and fueling hypothesis on-line in regards to the risk of nefarious exercise.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee announced Monday it’s going to examine reviews of the deaths and disappearances of the people, who it stated had entry to delicate scientific data.
The reviews “raise questions about a possible sinister connection” between the deaths and disappearances, the committee stated in its assertion, searching for briefings on the matter from the FBI, the Defense Department, the Department of Energy and NASA.
NCS reached out to every company for touch upon the committee’s investigation.
The FBI declined to remark. The Defense Department stated solely that it might reply to the committee straight, and the Department of Energy referred inquiries to the White House.
In a post on X, NASA stated it’s “coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies” in relation to the scientists.
“At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,” NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens stated.
The instances range extensively in circumstance. Some contain unsolved homicides, whereas others are lacking individuals instances with no indicators of foul play. In a minimum of two situations, households have pointed to preexisting medical circumstances or private struggles as explanations. Authorities haven’t established any hyperlinks between the instances.
The White House stated final week it is usually working with federal businesses to probe any potential hyperlinks between the deaths and disappearances, with President Donald Trump referring to the matter as “pretty serious stuff.”
“It’s very unlikely that this is a coincidence,” House Oversight Chair James Comer, a Republican, informed Fox News Sunday. “Congress is very concerned about this. Our committee is making this one of our priorities now because we view this as a national security threat.”
The string of mysterious deaths and disappearances started in 2023, lawmakers say, with the dying of Michael David Hicks, a scientist who labored at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for almost 25 years.
Hicks, 59, died July 30, 2023. During his profession at JPL, he specialised in comets and asteroids, in line with the American Astronomical Society. His trigger of dying was not disclosed.
His daughter, Julia Hicks, informed NCS her father had been battling recognized medical points and that the latest hypothesis has her “shaken up.”
“From what I know of my dad, there’s no train of logic to follow that would implicate him in this potential federal investigation,” she stated. “I don’t understand the connection between my dad’s death and the other missing scientists.”
“I can’t help but laugh about it, but at the same time, it’s getting serious,” Hicks stated.
In the years since, a number of others related to JPL have additionally died or disappeared: Frank Maiwald, a specialist in area analysis, died in Los Angeles in 2024 at 61. Monica Reza, a 60-year-old aerospace engineer, disappeared whereas climbing in a Los Angeles forest in June 2025. She served because the director of the NASA Lab’s Materials Processing Group, the House Oversight Committee stated.
Also lacking is William Neil McCasland, a retired Air Force main basic, who hasn’t been seen since he walked out of his Albuquerque, New Mexico, dwelling on February 27, forsaking his telephone, prescription glasses and wearable units. The FBI is now concerned within the search.
McCasland was on the heart of some of the Pentagon’s most superior aerospace analysis and as soon as commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Months after the 68-year-old went lacking, officers nonetheless can’t say the place he went, why he left or whether or not another person was concerned.
His spouse, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, disputed on the time hypothesis that his disappearance was tied to his work on the base – lengthy rumored to deal with extraterrestrial particles linked to the alleged “Roswell incident,” regardless of Air Force denials.
“It is true that Neil had a brief association with the UFO community,” McCasland Wilkerson stated in a Facebook post. “This connection is not a reason for someone to abduct Neil. Neil does not have any special knowledge about the ET bodies and debris from the Roswell crash stored at Wright-Patt.”
“No sightings of a mothership hovering above the Sandia Mountains have been reported,” she added.
McCasland Wilkerson didn’t reply this week to NCS’s request for touch upon this story.
Two others lacking, Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez, labored on the Los Alamos National Laboratory, a number one nuclear analysis facility in New Mexico.
Casias, 53, was final seen strolling on a freeway close to Talpa, New Mexico, in June 2025, according to New Mexico State Police, leaving her belongings at dwelling and a telephone that had been factory-reset, NBC News reported.
Chavez, a 78-year-old retiree who labored as a foreman supervising development on the website, additionally disappeared in May 2025, in line with Los Alamos police. A detective informed NCS there aren’t any indicators of foul play, however exhaustive searches have yielded no indicators of exercise or indications he was planning to depart.
His good friend, Carl Buckland, informed NCS he’s glad authorities are wanting into the case: “It’s about time.”
In latest months, the deaths of a number of acclaimed scientists have additionally fueled hypothesis.
A professor on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nuno F.G. Loureiro, was fatally shot at his home close to Boston in December 2025 by a gunman who additionally opened fireplace on Brown University’s campus, killing two college students. The 47-year-old physicist and fusion scientist had led MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, the place he aimed to advance clear power expertise and different analysis.
Carl Grillmair was fatally shot on the age of 67 at his dwelling exterior Los Angeles in February. Authorities arrested a suspect whom they don’t imagine knew Grillmair, in line with KABC. The astrophysicist labored on the California Institute of Technology, collaborated with NASA and was famend for his research on the seek for water on planets exterior our photo voltaic system.
Former US Air Force intelligence officer Matthew James Sullivan, 39, additionally died in 2024 earlier than he may testify in a federal whistleblower case about UFOs, Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri stated, urging the FBI to research. His public obituary didn’t state how he died. NCS has reached out to his household.
Burlison, nevertheless, informed Fox News that Sullivan died by suicide, calling it suspicious.
“He was scheduled to come in for an interview. Within two weeks, he had suspiciously committed suicide,” Burlison, a Republican, informed Fox News.
In latest days, the 2022 dying of Amy Eskridge has gained consideration. Eskridge, 34, co-founded the Institute for Exotic Science in Huntsville, Alabama, in line with her obituary.
Eskridge’s household stated in an announcement to NCS she was a “marvelously intelligent person” and suffered from “chronic pain.”
“People should realize that scientists die also and not make too much of this,” the household stated.
Trump stated he hopes the disappearances and deaths are only a coincidence.
“I hope it is random, but we are going to know in the next week and a half,” Trump informed reporters Thursday, including he had a latest assembly on the topic.
The White House declined to elaborate on the assembly.
The White House is “actively working with all relevant agencies and the FBI to holistically review all of the cases together and identify any potential commonalities that may exist,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated in an announcement on X Friday.
The investigation is being carried out “in light of the recent and legitimate questions” relating to the latest instances and “no stone will be unturned,” she stated.
“We’re going to look for connections … on whether there are connections to classified access, access to classified information, and or foreign actors,” FBI Director Kash Patel informed Fox News on Sunday. “If there’s any connections that lead to nefarious conduct or conspiracy, this FBI will make the appropriate arrest.”
NCS’s Jason Morris, Annie Grayer and Kit Maher contributed to this report.