Retired Air Force general vanishes in 1-hour window from home, gun and wallet missing
Retired Air Force Major Gen. William "Neil" McCasland vanished within a one-hour window while his wife was out for an appointment, leaving behind his phone and glasses — while a gun and his wallet remain unaccounted for, according to authorities in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office released a new timeline Thursday evening describing the 68-year-old aerospace engineer's last known movements, nearly two weeks after his disappearance and after the FBI joined the search effort.
He had an interaction with a home repairman around 10 a.m. on Feb. 27, the day he went missing.
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Then he vanished between 11 a.m. and noon, while his wife was out of the house for an appointment. His phone, glasses and "wearable devices" were found in the home. His wallet, hiking boots and a .38-caliber revolver are unaccounted for.
Search teams found a US Air Force sweatshirt just over a mile from the home, but authorities have not confirmed it belonged to McCasland.
The sheriff's office said he was last seen wearing a light green, button-up outdoor shirt with a button-down collar and two chest pockets.
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He is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall with white hair and blue eyes and is believed to have left his residence on foot. He is an avid outdoorsman and is known to often hike, run and cycle in the Northeast Heights and the Sandia Foothills.
In a statement, BCSO asked residents on Quail Run Court Northeast and roads leading to and from the area to "check and submit" home security video from between 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 27, and 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28.
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Hikers who may have been wearing GoPro-style cameras or taking phone footage in the Sandia Foothills of Albuquerque are also asked to check their footage and submit anything that could help find McCasland.
Video can be submitted through the BCSO Axon Portal. The number for the sheriff's missing persons unit is 505-468-7070. Anyone with information can also text "BCSO" to 847411.
The sheriff's office, FBI and other assisting agencies did not immediately see any signs of foul play, according to a statement released on March 6.
"There has been no indication whatsoever of where he might be," his wife, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, wrote in a Facebook post Friday. "There have been dozens of searchers on foot, both official and friends and neighbors of Neil's, who coordinate with the official sources. There have also been horseback searchers, drones with different capabilities, helicopters, three different types of search dogs, neighborhood canvassing and looking for Ring or wildlife videos."
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Although there is a silver alert out for McCasland, his wife said he does not have dementia or Alzheimer's.
She also downplayed his military record as a potential reason for his disappearance.
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"It is true that when Neil was in the Air Force, he had access to some highly classified programs and information," she wrote. "He retired from the AF almost 13 years ago and has had only very commonly held clearances since. It seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him."
Before his retirement in 2013, McCasland was the commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. The base served as the headquarters for a military program monitoring unidentified flying objects from 1947 to 1969, according to the government.
He has a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
However, he has no "special knowledge" about extraterrestrials or Roswell, New Mexico, according to his wife, who appeared frustrated with the search effort's lack of progress.
"Though at this point with absolutely no sign of him, maybe the best hypothesis is that aliens beamed him up to the mothership," she added. "However, no sightings of a mothership hovering above the Sandia Mountains have been reported."