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A famed theoretical physicist, bestselling author and physics professor is alarmed by the documented trend of high-level scientists, some related to UFO research, who have oddly disappeared or died over the past several years
“If a scientist disappears, it’s a matter of some concern. But if 10 scientists suddenly die or vanish who all have advanced security clearance with access to sensitive research, this is cause for national concern,” Dr. Michio Kaku told Fox News Digital.
“This is unheard of,” he said. “This has never happened before. The next step is to determine if there is a single, common thread to their research that ties them to a specific aspect of national security.”
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Kaku is also a well known television personality. He has appeared on cable news, late night and talk shows, along with several episodes of the History Channel’s “Universe” and “Ancient Aliens” series. In 2009, he began hosting a weekly television series for the Science Channel “Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible.”
The most recent and prominent example of this trend is the mysterious disappearance of Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland (Ret.). He went missing from his New Mexico home on Feb. 27, bringing only a handgun and a pair of boots with him. He left his phone, keys and glasses behind,
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McCasland, 68, was the former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, and reportedly possessed top secret information on UFOs.
He had ties to the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the state. The lab famously developed nuclear weapons during the WWII-era Manhattan Project. It is a Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) facility and prides itself on breakthroughs in the nuclear technology space.
Two other former employees of the lab have also gone missing.
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Anthony Chavez, 79, worked there until he retired in 2017, according to the Daily Mail. He was last seen leaving his house in Los Alamos on foot on May 8, 2025, with his car locked in his driveway. He did not bring his phone, wallet or keys on his walk.
So, too, did missing woman Melissa Casias, who disappeared less than a month after Chavez.
On the day she disappeared, she dropped off lunch for her daughter and was never seen again.
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The NNSA told Fox News Digital it is investigating the deaths and disappearances.
“NNSA is aware of reports related to employees of our labs, plants and sites and is looking into the matter,” a statement from the department said.
Scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory have also conspicuously vanished or died.
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Monica Reza, an aerospace engineer, reportedly overseeing the lab’s Materials Processing Group, which “focuses on developing new materials and advanced manufacturing technologies for spacecraft, specializing in bulk metallic glass alloys and metal additive manufacturing,” disappeared last year while on a hike in the Angeles National Forest in California.
Michael David Hicks died on July 30, 2023 at the age of 59.
He worked at the lab from 1998 to 2022, on the space program’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) project, which focused on understanding the physical properties of asteroids and comets, and whether they could be re-directed in outer space.
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His cause of death has not been released.
The next year, Frank Maiwald of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory also died. He was only 61, and his cause of death is unknown.
He designed a critical instrument for a project called Surface Biology and Geology (SBG) – Visible to Shortwave Infrared (VSWIR), a future NASA mission to launch a satellite into space and map the “living color” of the Earth in far greater detail than can be observed by the human eye, according to his obituary.
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Just over a year before he died, he was working on a program to help astronauts on space missions identify signs of life on other planets, including Jupiter’s moon, Europa, Saturn’s moon, Enceladus, or the dwarf planet Ceres.
Carl Grillmair, also linked to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was shot and killed outside of his home in February. He was 47. A man named Freddy Snyder, 29, has been charged with his murder.
Grillmair was an astrophysicist and renowned research scientist at Caltech’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, which partners with NASA’s lab to provide “science operations, user support, archives and data services, and scientific vision to maximize discovery with observatories both in space and on the ground.”
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Steven Garcia was a contractor at the Kansas City National Security Campus, which develops most of the nonnuclear components that go into building nuclear weapons. He had a top secret security clearance. He went missing last August.
He was only 48.
Amy Eskridge, a Huntsville, Alabama–based researcher, co-founded the Institute for Exotic Science. She said her work focused on experimental propulsion concepts, including what she referred to as “antigravity” research.
She died on June 11, 2022 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 34. Further details are scant.
She was apparently spooked before her death.
“We discovered antigravity, and our lives went to (expletive) and people started sabotaging us,” she said in a 2020 interview with YouTuber Jeremy Rys. “It’s harassment, threats. It’s awful.
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“If you stick your neck out in public, at least someone notices if your head gets chopped off,” she continued. “If you stick your neck out in private, they will bury you. They will burn down your house while you’re sleeping in your bed, and it won’t even make the news.”
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News of the pattern of disappearances has made its way to the White House, which addressed it on Friday.
“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,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a Friday X post.
“No stone will be unturned in this effort, and the White House will provide updates when we have them.”
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On Thursday, President Donald Trump said he had a meeting regarding the strange occurrences, and described the situation as “pretty serious.”
So far, there is no official link between any of the deaths or disappearances.
