A String of Deaths among U.S. UFO and Aerospace Experts

In April 2026, the White House broke its silence and announced that, jointly with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), it was launching a comprehensive investigation into the bizarre deaths and disappearances of at least 11 American scientists in cutting-edge fields over the previous three years. Without exception, these scientists were involved in highly sensitive areas of research, including the U.S. military, nuclear energy, aerospace, and unidentified flying objects (UFO/UAP). White House spokesperson Leavitt stated that they would “spare no effort to get to the bottom of this,” while Trump called the matter “quite serious” and acknowledged that “very important people” were among those involved.

From 2022 to the present, this series of events has been tightly clustered in time. The manners of death varied—some were shootings, some were drownings, and some were ruled “suicides”—while those who disappeared, without exception, walked away from their homes alone, leaving phones, car keys, and other personal belongings behind in the house. Through research institutions, project funding, and even supervisor-subordinate relationships, they were quietly linked to one another, forming a network that is chilling to contemplate.

📋 Timeline of Events

Time	Person	Role	Status
June 2022	Amy Eskridge (Amy Eskridge)	Antigravity/extraterrestrial-life researcher, Institute for Exotic Science	Dead (gunshot to the head, ruled a suicide)
July 2023	Michael David Hicks (Michael Hicks)	NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), planetary defense	Dead (cause of death not released)
July 2024	Frank Maiwald (Frank Maiwald)	Principal investigator at NASA JPL, extraterrestrial life detection	Dead (cause of death not released)
May 2025	Anthony Chavez (Anthony Chavez)	Retiree of Los Alamos National Laboratory	Missing
June 2025	Monica Jacinto Reza (Monica Reza)	NASA JPL/rocket-engine manufacturer, inventor of an aerospace alloy	Missing (disappeared while hiking)
June 2025	Melissa Casias (Melissa Casias)	Administrative staff member at Los Alamos National Laboratory	Missing (phone restored to factory settings)
August 2025	Steven Garcia (Steven Garcia)	Government contractor for non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons	Missing
December 2025	Nuno Loureiro (Nuno Loureiro)	Director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center	Dead (shot at home)
December 2025	Jason Thomas (Jason Thomas)	Researcher at Novartis	Missing (body found in a lake three months later)
February 2026	Carl Grillmair (Carl Grillmair)	Astrophysicist at Caltech	Dead (shot on the front porch)
February 2026	Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland (Neil McCasland)	Retired Air Force major general, former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory	Missing

🔍 In-Depth Profiles of the Key Figures: What Secrets Did They Hold?

1. Amy Eskridge (Amy Eskridge) — the “whistleblower” on antigravity technology

Identity:Co-founder of the Institute for Exotic Science, she long worked on antigravity technology, unidentified flying objects, and extraterrestrial life. Her father, Richard Eskridge, is a retired NASA engineer specializing in plasma physics and fusion technology.

Cause of death:On June 11, 2022, she was found dead of a gunshot to the head at her home in Huntsville, Alabama. Officials classified it as a “suicide.” She was only 34.

Secrets she may have held:

• Antigravity propulsion technology:Eskridge claimed that her team had “discovered antigravity technology,” which may have involved a disruptive break with the traditional paradigm of physics. If true, it would mean a craft could lift off and maneuver without propellant—precisely the classic behavior reported of craft in UFO sightings. Once made public, the technology would completely rewrite the global landscape of energy and aerospace.
• Secret antigravity-craft programs:In a public lecture in 2018, she and her father described “secret programs involving suspected antigravity craft.” These programs may have been tied directly to unpublished “black budget” research at the Pentagon.
• Systematic suppression of researchers:In a 2020 interview, she claimed that she had suffered ongoing threats and harassment for disclosing information about UFOs and extraterrestrial life, and said, “If you speak out in public, at least if something happens to you, someone will notice; but if you act in private, they will simply erase you.” The “pattern” she described—that scientists who claim a breakthrough tend to “disappear” from the public sphere—was borne out, one case after another, over the following three years.

Controversies and open questions:In 2023, Franz Milburn, a retired British intelligence officer, submitted findings to the U.S. Congress claiming that Eskridge did not die by suicide but was attacked with a “directed-energy weapon.” Independent journalists charged that she was killed by a private aerospace company for “developing advanced propulsion technology that could upend the existing architecture of energy and flight.” These claims have not been officially confirmed, yet they have been formally entered into written testimony before the U.S. Congress.

2. Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland (Maj. Gen. Neil McCasland) — the key gatekeeper of UFO secrets

Identity:A retired major general in the U.S. Air Force, he served as commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), with postings that included Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Since the Roswell incident of 1947, that base has long been regarded as the rumored repository of U.S. UFO wreckage and extraterrestrial remains. After retiring, McCasland served as technical director of the Applied Technology Association (ATA).

Disappearance:On February 27, 2026, McCasland, age 68, left his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, alone and disappeared. He carried no phone, wearable device, or glasses—only a .38-caliber revolver and a wallet. A large-scale search and rescue effort has so far found nothing.

Secrets he may have held:

• Extraterrestrial remains and wreckage at Wright-Patterson:As the senior commander who once ran the research laboratory at that base, McCasland was one of the very few military officers who might have had access to the legendary “Roswell crash remains.” A statement his wife, Susan, posted on Facebook is telling—she volunteered the clarification that “Neil has no special knowledge of the ET bodies and wreckage stored at Wright-Patterson”—a denial no one had asked for, which only prompted further speculation.
• The full picture of Special Access Programs (SAPs):McCasland served as executive secretary of the “Special Access Program Oversight Committee” (SAPOC), the central body that monitors, across the board, the United States’ most highly classified programs. If any “legacy programs” related to the recovery of UFO wreckage exist, SAPOC is one of the very few entities in a position to see the whole picture.
• Where the Air Force Research Laboratory’s $2.2 billion budget went:From 2011 to 2013, McCasland controlled AFRL’s annual science and technology budget of $2.2 billion, plus an additional $2.2 billion in customer-funded research and development. Investigative journalist Ross Coulthart has said that McCasland “held some of America’s most sensitive secrets.”
• UFO information through the Tom DeLonge channel:In the Podesta emails published by WikiLeaks in 2016, Blink-182 co-founder Tom DeLonge called McCasland his “number-one advisor” and described McCasland as someone who “not only knows what I’m doing, but also helped me put an advisory team together—he is a very important person.” The emails also mention that McCasland arranged for DeLonge to meet John Podesta, chair of the Clinton campaign.

A coincidence in timing:A few days before McCasland disappeared, Trump had just announced that he was directing the Pentagon to release government files related to extraterrestrial life and UFOs. People inside UFO research circles quickly connected the two.

3. Monica Jacinto Reza (Monica Jacinto Reza) — the “key” to the next generation of rockets

Identity:An aerospace engineer and materials-processing specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and at Aerojet Rocketdyne. She was a co-inventor of the Mondaloy aerospace alloy, a nickel-based superalloy used to manufacture critical components of the United States’ next-generation rocket engines.

Disappearance:On June 22, 2025, Reza, age 60, disappeared while hiking with friends in Angeles National Forest, California. According to a companion, when the two were about 10 meters apart she was still smiling and waving to indicate that everything was fine, but when the companion turned around again, she had vanished into thin air. A large search by multiple agencies working together has so far found nothing.

Secrets she may have held:

• The materials formula for next-generation rocket engines:The complete formula and manufacturing process for the Mondaloy alloy are classified at the level of national security. This nickel-based superalloy can withstand extreme temperatures and pressures and is a material foundation of U.S. deep-space exploration and military spaceflight.
• Related research at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base:While serving at AFRL, McCasland supervised and approved funding for a study by Reza on metals for space rocket engines. That means the two had a direct funder-and-funded relationship on a sensitive project. One of the two key figures went missing and the other vanished, prompting a great deal of outside speculation about the research project they shared.

4. Michael David Hicks (Michael David Hicks) — guardian of planetary defense

Identity:A senior research scientist at NASA JPL who served for 24 years (1998-2022), specializing in the physical properties of comets and asteroids. He was a member of the core science team for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART)—the historic mission in which humanity first succeeded in changing an asteroid’s orbit.

Death:He died on July 30, 2023, in Sunland, California, at the age of only 59. The cause of death has never been released to the public.

Secrets he may have held:

• Core planetary-defense technology:DART involved the full set of techniques by which a spacecraft strikes and deflects an asteroid—in essence, precision kinetic-weapon technology in space. The same set of techniques could also be used to intercept an adversary’s satellites or spacecraft.
• Near-Earth object tracking database:As a member of the “Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking” (NEAT) project, Hicks held complete tracking data and orbital models for near-Earth asteroids and comets, including objects with strange orbits that some researchers suspect are “alien probes disguised as asteroids.”
• Dawn mission data:He was a member of the science team for the Dawn mission, which made close-range observations of the largest asteroids in the solar system—Vesta and Ceres—and gathered a large body of data on anomalous structures in the asteroid belt.

5. Frank Maiwald (Frank Maiwald) — a pioneer in the search for extraterrestrial life

Identity:A principal investigator at NASA JPL, specializing in spacecraft instrument design and remote-sensing technology. Before his death he was leading the design of a key instrument for the “Surface Biology and Geology” (SBG) mission.

Death:He died in Los Angeles on July 4, 2024, at the age of 61. The cause of death was not released to the public.

Secrets he may have held:

• Instruments for detecting extraterrestrial life:The VSWIR (visible to short-wave infrared) imaging spectrometer designed by Maiwald was originally intended to map Earth’s “colors of life,” but the same core technology has been applied to detecting possible signs of life on icy moons such as Europa and Enceladus. Instruments of this kind are sensitive enough to distinguish the spectral signatures of organic molecules.
• Icy-moon detection data:Projects he took part in were aimed at “helping astronauts identify signs of life on icy moons.” If NASA has already detected any anomalous signals on these moons—distributions of organic molecules distinct from natural geological processes—Maiwald was very likely among the first to know.
• Space Shuttle remote-sensing technology:He also worked on Space Shuttle instruments, which means he may have had access to military-grade Earth-imaging data, including imagery of extremely high resolution that has never been made public.

6. Nuno Loureiro (Nuno Loureiro) — the man who would realize an “artificial sun”

Identity:Director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he led a team of more than 250 researchers working on nuclear fusion energy—commonly called an “artificial sun.” He received the “Presidential Award for Young Scientists and Engineers” from former President Biden, the highest honor the U.S. government confers on young researchers; fewer than 400 people have received it in its history.

Death:On December 15, 2025, Loureiro, age 47, was shot and killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts. Two days later, the suspect, Neves Valente—a Portuguese man who had studied in the same academic program as Loureiro—was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot at a storage facility in New Hampshire. Authorities acknowledged that there was “a great deal that remains unknown” about his motive.

Secrets he may have held:

• The core theory of magnetic reconnection and magnetic-field generation:The field in which Loureiro was honored was “magnetic-field generation and amplification.” Magnetic reconnection is a key process in plasma physics and the energy source of solar flares and coronal mass ejections. The same theory also applies to the “electromagnetic effects” described in some UFO sightings—a glow around the craft, the failure of electronic equipment, and similar phenomena.
• An energy revolution from a fusion breakthrough:As a leading figure in fusion worldwide, the deuterium-tritium fusion ignition conditions and confinement techniques held by Loureiro’s team would, once commercialized, bring the fossil-fuel era to a complete end. That is enough to touch vested interests worth several trillion dollars in the global energy order.
• Fusion research cooperation between MIT and the military:MIT has long worked closely with the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense on plasma physics. Some research projects at the PSFC center directed by Loureiro may have served military applications directly or indirectly—including directed-energy weapons and new propulsion systems.

7. Carl Grillmair (Carl Grillmair) — a pathfinder of the dark universe

Identity:An astrophysicist at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), a center that works closely with NASA. He was known for discovering water on distant exoplanets.

Death:On February 16, 2026, Grillmair, age 67, was shot and killed on the porch of his home in Llano, in California’s Antelope Valley. The suspect, Freddy Snyder (age 29), was arrested. The investigation found that several months earlier he had been arrested for unlawfully entering Grillmair’s property while carrying a rifle, but the specific motive for the murder has still not been released.

Secrets he may have held:

• Data on water signals from exoplanets:Infrared observations from the Spitzer Space Telescope were Grillmair’s core research tool. His discovery of water on exoplanets suggests that environments suitable for life exist beyond Earth—a frontier in the search for extraterrestrial civilizations.
• Dark matter and the structure of the Milky Way:His research on the distribution of dark matter and on models of the Milky Way’s evolution involved mapping the invisible mass in the universe—”dark matter.” Although the data look like basic research, within a national-security framework certain deep-space observation capabilities are themselves classified.
• Space-based infrared detection technology:Infrared data processed by IPAC can also be used for military purposes—detecting the heat signature of a missile launch, tracking objects in space, and so on. Grillmair’s killing—the perpetrator had targeted him repeatedly—has prompted wide speculation about whether the motive went beyond ordinary crime.

🧩 A Shared Pattern Among the Missing

It is worth noting that the five missing people (McCasland, Reza, Chavez, Casias, and Garcia) behaved in a strikingly consistent way at the time they disappeared:

• Each walked away from home alone
• Phones, car keys, wallets, and other personal items were left at home——which means they were not “planning a trip”
• Melissa Casias‘s personal and work phones had even been restored to factory settings, but her family insists her disappearance was not voluntary—she was then preparing for her mother’s upcoming surgery
• Steven Garciawas captured on surveillance leaving while carrying a handgun, but people familiar with the matter denied the claim that he was “mentally unstable”
• McCasland’s wifesaid her husband “seemed to want not to be found,” but investigators noted that he had shown symptoms of “clouded consciousness” before he disappeared

This almost template-like pattern of disappearance—carrying no tracking device, walking away, and leaving no trace—has prompted wide speculation about whether some kind of “targeted elimination mechanism” exists.

⚡ A Nuclear-Facility Connection: The “Green Fireballs” of Los Alamos

Three of the missing—Casias, Chavez, and Garcia—were directly connected both to Los Alamos National Laboratory, the holy ground of U.S. nuclear-weapons research, and to the Kansas City National Security Campus. The laboratory’s first director was Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb.” In the late 1940s, unexplained “green fireball” phenomena appeared repeatedly near the laboratory, and the site later became one of the important U.S. institutions studying UFOs.

What is special about Los Alamos is that it was not only a center of nuclear-weapons design but also an early collection point for UFO reports. Between 1948 and 1951, “green fireball” phenomena over the laboratory were formally recorded and prompted a secret investigation by the Atomic Energy Commission. The fireballs were described as “bright green luminous spheres whose flight paths do not follow a ballistic curve”—flight characteristics clearly different from those of conventional ballistic missiles.

If these “green fireballs” were neither a natural phenomenon nor terrestrial technology, then Los Alamos—one of America’s most sensitive nuclear facilities—may in fact have been under surveillance by some non-human intelligence all along. The disappearance of three people connected to Los Alamos may mean that someone is trying to cut off that chain of information.

🔗 The Hidden Lines Between the Figures

A relationship map drawn by the British newspaper The Sun shows that these scientists were not isolated individuals:

• McCasland → Reza:While serving at AFRL, McCasland directly supervised and approved funding for Reza’s research on rocket-engine metals
• Reza → her colleagues at JPL:Worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory alongside Hicks and Maiwald
• The Los Alamos triangle:Casias, Chavez, and Garcia were all connected to the Los Alamos nuclear-weapons design establishment, and the pattern of their disappearances was highly consistent
• McCasland → DeLonge → Podesta:Connected, through UFO-disclosure channels, with the highest political circles in Washington
• Eskridge → Milburn → Congress:After her death, entered the congressional record through the testimony of an intelligence officer

Among these connections, McCasland is the common denominator—he ties together UFO research circles, military special access programs, NASA rocket-materials research, and the political disclosure channels in Washington.

🏛️ The Official Response: From Silence to a “Full Investigation”

Facing ever-rising public doubt, the U.S. government finally made a systematic response in April 2026:

• The White House:Spokesperson Leavitt announced that the White House was conducting a comprehensive investigation jointly with all relevant agencies and the FBI, “sparing no effort”
• House Oversight Committee:Representatives James Comer and Eric Burlison issued a joint statement pointing directly to the claim that “these disappearances and deaths may pose a serious threat to U.S. national security”
• National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA):Said it was reviewing the relevant circumstances at the laboratories, plants, and sites under it
• NASA：Spokesperson Bethany Stevens stated that “there is currently no indication of a national security threat,” while promising to “maintain transparency”

Yet the complaint of Tim Burchett, a Republican representative from Tennessee, comes closer to how many people actually feel: “They keep leading me down one dead end after another… The number of scientists in certain fields of research who go missing or die under unclear circumstances seems very high. I think we had better take this seriously, and I don’t think we should trust our government.”

🤔 Conclusion: Coincidence or Conspiracy?

In less than four years, 11 scientists tied to the most sensitive areas of American science and technology have died unnatural deaths or disappeared.

Set that number in a longer historical context—from UFO expert William Milton Cooper being shot and killed by police at his home in 2001, to recent rumors of scientists in “sensitive fields” suddenly resigning or falling silent—and an unsettling pattern emerges: people who try to understand, or to make public, science and knowledge that “go beyond the current paradigm” seem to face some kind of systematic risk.

In an interview two years before she was killed, Amy Eskridge predicted with precision: “If you speak out in public, at least if something happens to you, someone will notice; but if you act in private, they will simply erase you.” Those words—read now—sound like a prophecy.

Asked whether there was a connection among these events, Trump answered: “I hope this is just a coincidence.”

Eleven cases, similar patterns, touching the most sensitive boundaries of human knowledge. If it is not a coincidence—then what is it?

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Sources:

• CNN: “Deaths and disappearances of scientists spark federal probe” (April 2026)
• Fox News / FOX LA: “11 missing or dead scientists draw federal scrutiny” (April 2026)
• Guancha: “Ten People in Cutting-Edge U.S. Research Fields Die or Disappear, One After Another, Under Bizarre Circumstances” (April 2026)
• Hindustan Times: “Who are the UFO scientists in focus?” (April 2026)
• UAP Digest: “Missing General Neil McCasland: The UFO Connection” (March 2026)
• NewsNation: “Missing ex-Air Force general has UFO connections” (2026)
• The Paper: “The Series of Deaths and Disappearances of Scientists in Cutting-Edge U.S. Fields” (May 2026)
• Baidu Baike: “The Series of Deaths and Disappearances of Scientists in Cutting-Edge U.S. Fields, 2022—2026”
• U.S. House Oversight Committee Statement (April 2026)
• WikiLeaks Podesta Emails (2016)