What Happened To The 11 Dead Or Missing Scientists? Here’s What We Know
A growing sense of unease has emerged amid a string of deaths and disappearances involving prominent researchers, scientists and government personnel, tied to sensitive fields like aerospace, nuclear research, and military technology. Over the past several years, at least 11 researchers have either vanished or died under circumstances that, while often explained on a case-by-case basis, are drawing renewed scrutiny when viewed together. The question now being asked more urgently: why are there now 11 scientists or officials, many of whom worked closely on sensitive scientific projects in the U.S., who are dead or missing?
The FBI is investigating.
The latest case to intensify concern is the 2022 death of Alabama-based researcher Amy Eskridge. Authorities reported her death as a suicide caused by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Fox News. But as more cases have surfaced, her story has been pulled back into the spotlight, with online investigators and even political figures questioning whether something larger could be at play.
On April 20, the FBI announced it would lead an effort to examine whether any connections exist among these seemingly unrelated incidents, CBS News and Today reported. NASA is also cooperating with the investigation, according to an X post from the agency shared Monday.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump addressed the situation publicly, signaling that it had reached the highest levels of government attention in a “meeting.”
“Some of them were very important people and we’re going to look at it,” he added. “I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half,” Trump told reporters.
What happened to Amy Eskridge?
Eskridge had been a prominent figure in unconventional research. As president of the Institute for Exotic Science and co-founder of HoloChron LLC alongside her father, Richard Eskridge, she focused on experimental propulsion concepts, including what she described as “antigravity” research. Her company aimed to develop advanced technologies leveraging quantum phenomena, particularly in gravity modification.
In an April 22 interview with NTD, her ex-boyfriend Mark Sokol described her work as pushing boundaries that may have drawn attention as she was allegedly “taking technology that was developed at NASA and commercializing it.”
According to Sokol, as Eskridge made progress, her behavior began to shift. He noticed what he described as increasing “paranoia” and claimed there had been “attacks that happened” prior to her death, allegations that echoed statements Eskridge herself made in a 2020 interview with Sokol and YouTuber Jeremy Rys.
“Once you start looking for espionage, you start looking for hacking, you start finding it everywhere. It’s kind of like if you’re a hammer, everything looks like a nail,” he added during the interview.
Eskridge believed she was being targeted because of her research into what she considered suppressed technologies, including electrogravitics. She claimed her home had been broken into, with items moved but not stolen, and said strangers referenced personal details of her life to signal she was being watched. More alarmingly, she alleged she was subjected to “pain rays” or directed energy weapons that caused neurological symptoms, particularly when she worked on sensitive topics or reached research milestones, according to reports.
While those claims remain unverified, they have become part of the broader narrative now surrounding these cases.
The case of the 11 dead or missing scientists began in 2023.
The 11 dead-or-missing scientists case began in 2023, following the passing of NASA’s Michael David Hicks. U.S. Air Force Major General William “Neil” McCasland is another mysterious case among others.
The timeline of concern stretches back to 2023 with the death of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Michael David Hicks, who died at age 59. No cause of death was publicly released. His daughter, Julia Hicks, pushed back strongly against speculation linking her father to any broader pattern.
“From what I know of my dad, there’s no train of logic to follow that would implicate him in this potential federal investigation,” Hicks’ daughter told CNN on April 21. “I don’t understand the connection between my dad’s death and the other missing scientists.”
She also noted that, as of now, no government agency or elected official has contacted her regarding her father’s death.
Between 2024 and 2025, seven additional scientists were reported dead or missing, further fueling concern. Among the most recent is retired U.S. Air Force Major General William “Neil” McCasland, who disappeared on Feb. 27, 2026, from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His phone and glasses were left behind, and investigators believe he left on foot.
McCasland’s background as a former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has sparked intense online speculation about potential links to classified programs and even UFO-related research. The department has long been rumored to house extraterrestrial debris linked to the 1947 Roswell crash.
Notably, he is one of four individuals connected to sensitive sites who have gone missing in New Mexico within roughly the past year, CBS News reported. However, in March, his wife, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, wrote in a Facebook post that she does not believe he was abducted for that information.
“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,” she penned in part.
Another case involves 60-year-old NASA scientist Monica Jacinto Reza, who vanished during a hike in the Los Angeles area in 2025. She had served as director of the NASA Lab’s Materials Processing Group, according to CNN.
Other incidents include government contractor Steven Garcia, who disappeared after leaving his home in Albuquerque; astrophysicist Carl Grillmair, who was fatally shot at his California home on Feb. 16, 2026, by an alleged stalker; and MIT physicist Nuno Loureiro, who was killed in a separate shooting at his Massachusetts home in December 2025.
Additional deaths include NASA engineer Frank Maiwald, a space research specialist who died in Los Angeles in 2024 at age 61, as well as Los Alamos National Laboratory–linked employees Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez, who both worked at the leading nuclear research facility in New Mexico and both went missing last year. Pharmaceutical scientist Jason Thomas was also reported missing in December 2025.
Individually, many of these cases have explanations or are under ongoing investigation. Together, they are raising difficult questions.
The White House has acknowledged the growing concern. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that the administration is taking the matter seriously and coordinating across agencies.
“In light of the recent and legitimate questions about these troubling cases and President Trump’s commitment to the truth, 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,” Leavitt said. “No stone will be unturned in this effort, and the White House will provide updates when we have them.”
House Oversight Chair James Comer is also investigating the mysterious incidents. He claimed that the growing case was “very suspicious” during an interview with TMZ on Tuesday. He said he was concerned that the risk might be coming from international enemies “who want our nuclear intellectual property.”
For now, what remains is a collection of cases, some tragic, some mysterious, that are drawing increasing attention as investigators work to determine whether they are connected or simply an unsettling coincidence.
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