Almost a dozen scientists tied to America’s nuclear and space programs have vanished or died under mysterious circumstances over the past three years, a pattern so alarming that the Trump administration has launched an investigation.
All told, 11 scientists have died or disappeared. Two researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory died suddenly, and a third researcher disappeared while on a hike. Two employees of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and a retired Air Force general disappeared last year, and a leading astrophysicist was fatally shot on his porch by a total stranger.
A White House official told The Washington Times that “multiple equities” across the administration, including the FBI, Pentagon and Department of Energy, are examining the cases. The FBI said in a statement that it is working with other federal agencies as well as “state and local law enforcement partners to find answers.”
The strange circumstances of the deaths and disappearances, as well as the scientists’ work on UFO and related research, have fueled theories that foul play or a foreign adversary might be involved.
No link has been established in the cases, but the White House has expressed concern.
President Trump recently told reporters that he had just left a meeting about the situation. He called the mystery “pretty serious stuff.”
“I hope it’s random,” he said. “Hopefully, I don’t know, coincidence, whatever you want to call it. But some of them were very important people, and we’re going to look at it over the next short period.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that “no stone will be unturned” and updates will be provided.
Congress is also getting involved.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer, Kentucky Republican, said he plans to bring those involved in the investigation to testify before Congress as long as their testimony does not compromise national security.
Kenneth Gray, who teaches criminal justice and forensic sciences at the University of New Haven, said investigators have their work cut out for them.
“The problem is that you don’t know which ones to rule in and which ones to rule out,” he said. “It might be that some of these deaths are not related to some type of national security risk, though there may be a connection because of their field of speciality.
“You have to figure out which ones are in and which ones are out before you can determine if there is some overall threat involved,” he said. “There is enough reason to believe they are connected, but it’s hard to draw conclusions.”
Mr. Comer told Fox News that he initially thought the case was “some kind of crazy conspiracy theory,” but the details of the deaths and disappearances have prompted him to probe deeper. His committee has sent letters to the heads of the Defense and Energy departments, NASA and the FBI asking for a staff-level briefing by April 27.
The 11 missing or deceased scientists are:
• Amy Eskridge, a 34-year-old aerospace researcher who worked on anti-gravity propulsion, died in June 2022 from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Neither the police nor the medical examiners have publicly released a full investigative report or detailed case file.
• Michael David Hicks, a top scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California who researched planetary defense missions, died in July 2023 at age 59. No cause of death has been released.
• Frank Maiwald, a systems engineer and researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who worked on spaceflight instrumentation and remote sensing technologies, died on July 4, 2024, at age 61 in Los Angeles. No cause of death was made public, and reports indicate no autopsy was conducted.
• Anthony Chavez, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory employee, disappeared on May 8, 2025, according to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety’s missing person record. The Los Alamos Police Department has investigated the case but has not explained the disappearance.
• Monica Reza, a 60-year-old aerospace engineer affiliated with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, vanished on June 22, 2025, while hiking near the Mount Waterman area of California’s Angeles National Forest. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department classified her as an “at-risk missing person” and launched an investigation into her disappearance. The case remains under investigation.
• Melissa Casias, a 53-year-old administrative assistant at Los Alamos National Laboratory, disappeared on June 26, 2025, while walking eastbound on New Mexico 518 near Talpa. Her personal and work phones were found reset to factory settings, and her purse, wallet and keys were left behind. The case is under investigation.
• Steven Garcia, a 47-year-old government contractor employed at the Kansas City National Security Campus, which manufactures non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons, disappeared on Aug. 28, 2025. He was last seen leaving his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
• Nuno Loureiro, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was fatally shot at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, on Dec. 15, 2025. Authorities say the 47-year-old nuclear physicist was shot by Claudio Neves Valente, a Portuguese national who also killed two students and wounded nine others at Brown University before killing himself. The two men were in the same academic program in Lisbon, Portugal, from 1995 to 2000. Authorities say Valente’s motive remains unclear.
• Carl Grillmair, a 67-year-old Caltech astrophysicist who was known for his research on galaxy collisions and the search for water on exoplanets, was fatally shot on the porch of his home in Llano, California, on Feb. 16. Freddy Snyder, 29, was arrested on murder charges, but authorities said the two men likely did not know each other. No motive has been disclosed. Snyder had been arrested in December after trespassing on Grillmair’s property while carrying a rifle.
• William “Neil” McCasland, a 68-year-old retired U.S. Air Force major general, was last seen at his Albuquerque residence on Feb. 27. The investigation into his disappearance is continuing, but personal items, including his wallet and a .38-caliber revolver, were missing from his home. A phone and prescription glasses were left behind.
• Jason Thomas, a pharmaceutical researcher who reportedly worked at Novartis, disappeared from his home in Wakefield, Massachusetts, on Dec. 12, 2025. A body believed to be his was recovered last month from Lake Quannapowitt after the lake thawed; it had been frozen most of the winter. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office said foul play was not suspected. The matter has been turned over to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to determine the identity and cause of death.
