It’s gotten to the point where President Donald Trump had to be briefed on it. Such is the mysterious case of the 11 missing or dead US science experts. What began as internet speculation has now reached the executive branch and may be headed to a congressional committee hearing. So exactly what is going on here?
On Thursday, April 16, during pool coverage of the president, Trump called the odd occurrence “pretty serious stuff.” He added that he hoped the bizarre circumstance was a coincidence, but he did not sound convinced, noting that the growing list includes some “very important people.”* Newsweek referred to the list as “involving specialists in aerospace, defense and laboratory research.” And the list just keeps on growing.
On Friday, April 17, multiple news outlets ran with the story of a potential 11th victim in this mysterious case. Amy Eskridge, 34, of Huntsville, Alabama, was said to have committed suicide. The New York Post reported that Eskridge “was involved in extensive research into anti-gravity technology, UFOs and extraterrestrial life …” Prior to her death, the young scientist revealed in an interview that she was receiving threats. Though from whom is unclear: “I need to disclose soon, man. I need to publish soon because it’s like escalating. It’s getting more and more aggressive. This has been going on for like four or five years, and over the past 12 months, it’s been escalating, like more aggressive, more invasive digging through my underwear drawer and sexual threats.”
11 Scientists and A Lot of Question Marks
For some time, the mysterious deaths and disappearances were the topic of internet chatter, with the primary speculation that there was a connection to US UFO research. The disappearance of Air Force General William McCasland (Ret.) appeared to be the turning point of the story because of his prominence in the US Military.
According to those familiar with the case, McCasland left his home one day, leaving his smartphone behind, and never returned. However, authorities discovered that missing from his home were his wallet and a .38 caliber revolver. Eerily, McCasland vanished the week after President Trump put out a Truth Social post directing Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to start “identifying and releasing any government files related to unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and aliens …”
The general also had worked with Monica Reza, who vanished while hiking. Reza disappeared in June of 2025, and McCasland in February of ’26. Other news reports say four of the missing scientists worked with or under the command of General McCasland. These connections have stirred the conspiracy pot exponentially.
A week after her husband was reported missing, Susan McCasland Wilkerson wrote on Facebook:
“It is true that when Neil was in the Air Force, he had access to some highly classified programs and information. 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. It is true that Neil had a brief association with the UFO community through Tom DeLonge, former frontman for Blink-182 and founder of the organization To The Stars …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. Though at this point with absolutely no sign of him, maybe the best hypothesis is that aliens beamed him up to the mothership. However, no sightings of a mothership hovering above the Sandia Mountains have been reported.”
It’s assumed Wilkerson’s last two sentences were tongue-in-cheek. Meanwhile, at a Turning Point USA event this week, the president took a moment to address the release of UFO-related documents to the public. Trump called the information “interesting” and remarked: “[T]he first releases will begin very, very soon so you can go out and see if that phenomena is correct.” But for now, conspiracy theorists have something new to sink their teeth into, and since it has captured the attention of the president and Congress, there’s no telling how far and wide the investigation will go.
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*The deaths or disappearances that are included on the “list.”
- 6.11.22 Amy Eskridge, co-founder of Exotic Science said to have committed suicide.
- 7.30.2023 – Michael Hicks was a 59-year-old NASA Jet Propulsion Lab scientist. He is listed as dying from arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
- 7.4.24 – Frank Maiwald, a NASA Jet Propulsion Lab researcher who died at age 61 of unknown causes.
- 5.4.25 – Anthony Chavez, who worked at the Los Alamos National Lab.
- 6.22.25 – Monica Reza went missing while hiking. She is a NASA aerospace engineer.
- 6.26.25 – Melissa Casias disappeared from her home, and her smartphone was found wiped clean. She was an administrative assistant at Los Alamos.
- 3.28.25 Steven Garcia, 48, was last seen leaving his Albuquerque home with a firearm. Garcia worked as a custodian at a National Security Campus.
- 12.12.25 – Jason Thomas was a Novartis researcher who disappeared. Novartis is a large, international pharmaceutical company. His body was found later in a lake.
- 12.15.25 – Nuno Loureiro was found dead after an attack in his Brookline, MA home. He led the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
- 2.16.26 – Carl Grillmair was shot on his front porch. He was an astrophysicist.
- 2.27.26 – William Neil McCasland was a retired Air Force general. One day, he left his home in New Mexico and never returned.
