DISAPPEARANCES OF GENERAL TIED TO UFO RESEARCH AND TOP SCIENTISTS BAFFLE AUTHORITIES

The recent deaths and disappearances of several individuals, including a retired Air Force General associated with UFOs along with a number of prominent scientists have puzzled local and federal authorities and prompted calls for an FBI investigation.

General William Neil McCasland disappeared on February 27, 2026 and was last seen hiking in the Sandia Heights area near Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Items including his wallet, a .38-caliber revolver and a backpack were reported missing and were presumably in McCasland’s possession when he went on the hike.  A shirt and a pair of hiking boots were subsequently discovered at his second home in Pagosa Springs, Colorado.  Reports indicate that he may have been suffering from “mental fog” prior to his disappearance.

Prior to his retirement McCasland had been commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio where he oversaw various research and development projects.  Rumors abound in the UFO community that this was the site where alien technology recovered from the 1947 Roswell, New Mexico crash is warehoused.  He had previously served as director of Space Acquisition in the office of the Secretary of the Air Force and as Director of Special Programs for the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition Technology and Logistics, roles that placed him at the center of national defense, space and technology research initiatives at the Pentagon.

After his retirement in 2013, McCasland was associated with Tom De Longe, former Blink-182 band member and founder of the To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science, a now defunct UFO investigative group.  In a series of emails between De Longe and John Podesta, Former White House Chief of Staff to President Bill Clinton released by Wikileaks in 2016, De Longe indicated that McCasland was providing advice on how to proceed with his UFO disclosure program.  He further intimated that the general was helping him assemble and select individuals who would assist him with the disclosure process.  De Longe claimed that McCasland had previously been “in charge of the laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base where the Roswell wreckage was shipped.”

McCasland never confirmed or denied his involvement with De Longe, and there are no official records of his connection with De Longe’s investigative group.  The general’s wife, Susan Wilkerson, stated that her husband “does not have any special knowledge” about UFOs.  She also joked that a UFO “mothership” had beamed her husband up and was responsible for his disappearance.  Investigators say they have not discovered any evidence of foul play in their missing person probe.

The general’s disappearance is just one example of a troubling pattern of unexplained disappearances or mysterious deaths of a number of prominent scientists linked to the American space program.  McCasland’s colleague, scientist Monica Reza, who had worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) inventing an advanced metal alloy for space rockets, vanished without a trace on June 23, 2025 while hiking along Angel’s Crest Highway in Los Angeles County.  Another one of McCasland’s associates, Melissa Casias, who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, disappeared on June 26, 2025 while walking a few miles from her home in Rancho de Taos.  Casias left her vehicle containing her keys, work and personal cellphones, purse and money in her abandoned vehicle, and both her phones were found to be reset to factory settings in the wake of her disappearance.    

Retired nuclear scientist Anthony Chavez, who also worked at Los Alamos vanished while taking a walk on May, 4, 2025.  He left his car locked in the driveway and left his wallet, keys and other personal items at home.  A senior scientist at JPL, Frank Maiwald, passed away from unknown causes on July 4, 2024.  Maiwald was involved in studies aimed at detecting extraterrestrial life on Jupiter’s moon Europa and Saturn’s moon Enceladus.  California Institute of Technology astrophysicist Carl Grillmair was shot to death by an unknown assailant on the front porch of his home on February 16, 2026.  He contributed to infrared telescope projects at CIT that tracked asteroids.  

“Something dark is going on,” opined Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett, “I know these scientists and researchers.  They have testified.  We’ve got to get to the bottom of it.”  When asked why there aren’t more whistleblowers willing to come forward with information about UFOs, Burchett responded, “they’re afraid someone will disappear them,” meaning that they would be murdered.  FBI investigators fear that these deaths may be linked to assassinations being conducted by adversary foreign powers such as Russia or China, while UFO researchers speculate that aliens may be involved.

This is a developing story, and further updates are in progress.

Sources:

• Newsweek, 3/3/26
• Yahoo.com, 4/6/26
• Men’s Journal 4/4/26