A nuclear physicist and MIT professor shot lifeless outdoors his Massachusetts house. A retired Air Power normal lacking from his residence in New Mexico. An aerospace engineer vanished throughout a hike in Los Angeles.
They’re amongst at the very least 10 people tied to delicate US nuclear and aerospace analysis who’ve died or disappeared lately, based on a CNN report.
The instances are actually underneath federal scanner, elevating questions on potential hyperlinks, and fueling on-line hypothesis about foul play.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says it “is spearheading the trouble to search for connections into the lacking and deceased scientists,” including that it “is working with the Division of Power, Division of Warfare, and with our state … and native regulation enforcement companions to seek out solutions.”
Individually, the Republican-led Home Oversight Committee introduced Monday it is going to examine stories surrounding the deaths and disappearances of those people, noting that they had entry to extremely delicate scientific data, the report talked about.
The stories “increase questions on a potential sinister connection” between the deaths and disappearances, the committee mentioned, requesting briefings from the FBI, the Defence Division, the Division of Power and Nationwide Aeronautics and Area Administration (NASA), unbiased US authorities house company.
The Defence Division mentioned solely that it could reply on to the committee, whereas the Division of Power referred inquiries to the White Home.
In a put up on X, NASA mentioned it’s “coordinating and cooperating with the related companies” in relation to the scientists.
“Right now, nothing associated to NASA signifies a nationwide safety risk,” NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens mentioned.
The thriller instances
The mysterious instances themselves differ broadly. Some contain unsolved homicides; others are lacking individuals instances with no clear indicators of foul play. In at the very least two situations, households have cited preexisting medical circumstances or private struggles, per the CNN report.
Authorities haven’t established any confirmed hyperlinks between the instances.
The White Home reportedly mentioned final week it’s also working with federal companies to look at any potential connections, with President Donald Trump calling the state of affairs “fairly severe stuff.”
“It is not possible that this can be a coincidence,” Home Oversight Chair James Comer, a Republican, instructed ‘Fox Information Sunday.’
“Congress may be very involved about this. Our committee is making this one in all our priorities now as a result of we view this as a nationwide safety risk.”
Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Democrat on the Oversight Committee, agreed an investigation is warranted however cautioned towards assuming coordination.
“The USA has 1000’s of nuclear scientists and nuclear consultants,” Walkinshaw instructed CNN’s Erin Burnett on Tuesday. “It isn’t the type of nuclear programme that probably a international adversary may considerably influence by focusing on 10 people.”
‘It’s getting severe’
Lawmakers hint the timeline again to 2023, starting with the dying of Michael David Hicks, a longtime NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist.
Hicks, 59, died July 30, 2023. Over practically 25 years at JPL, he specialised in comets and asteroids, based on the American Astronomical Society. His reason for dying was not disclosed.
His daughter, Julia Hicks, instructed CNN her father had been coping with recognized medical points and mentioned the current hypothesis has left her uneasy.
“From what I do know of my dad, there isn’t any practice of logic to observe that may implicate him on this potential federal investigation… I do not perceive the connection between my dad’s dying and the opposite lacking scientists,” she was quoted as saying.
“I am unable to assist however snigger about it, however on the similar time, it is getting severe,” Hicks mentioned.
She added that as of Tuesday afternoon, nobody from authorities or federal companies had contacted her about her father’s dying.
Extra thriller deaths, lacking instances
Within the years since, others related to JPL have additionally died or gone lacking. Frank Maiwald, an area analysis specialist, died in Los Angeles in 2024 at age 61. Monica Reza, a 60-year-old aerospace engineer, disappeared whereas mountaineering in a Los Angeles forest in June 2025. She had served as director of the lab’s Supplies Processing Group, based on the Home Oversight Committee.
Additionally lacking is William Neil McCasland, a retired Air Power main normal who has not been seen since February 27, when he left his house in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with out his cellphone, glasses or wearable units. The FBI is now helping within the search.
McCasland had overseen among the Pentagon’s most superior aerospace packages and beforehand commanded the Air Power Analysis Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Power Base. Months after his disappearance, officers nonetheless can’t decide the place he went, why he left, or whether or not anybody else was concerned.
