Pressure Mounts For Government Inquiry As UFO Experts Vanish
on Apr 16, 2026
As Many As 10 Officials With Access To Classified UFO Data Have Gone Missing Or Died Since 2023
Over the past month, reports of scientists and U.S. military officials going missing or mysteriously dying have seen pressure rise among the American public for a proper government investigation.
Linking all of the incidents surrounding their disappearances or deaths has been their purported access to intelligence pertaining to UFOs, also known as UAPs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.
Reports indicate there could be anywhere from eight to 10 scientists or military officials who have gone missing or been killed since 2023.
On Thursday, April 16, President Donald Trump was asked asked about the circumstances under which “10 American scientists have either gone missing or died since mid-2024 (sic),” with it being noted that they all “reportedly had access to classified nuclear or aerospace material.”
Asked if the disappearances and deaths are connected, President Trump revealed he had just left a briefing on the developing situation, and said, “Well, I hope it’s random, but we’re gonna know in the next week and a half.”
He added that it’s “pretty serious stuff,” and then said, “Hopefully, I don’t know, coincidence — whatever you want to call it. Some of them were very important people and we’re gonna look at it.”
Watch Trump speak on the situation, here:
BREAKING: President Trump vows to look into the 10 scientists who have gone missing or turned up dead:
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 16, 2026
"I hope it's random, but we're going to know in the next week and a half."
"I just left a meeting on that subject."
"Pretty serious stuff… Some of them were very important… pic.twitter.com/VMgeZyayXl
The day before, on April 15, the same question was posed by Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy to White House Press Sec. Karoline Leavitt.
Responding, Leavitt said she had “seen the report,” but admitted she hadn’t communicated with relevant agencies about it.
Leavitt then stated that she will pursue an answer, adding, “If true, of course, that’s definitely something this government and administration would deem worth looking into.”
Presented in chronological order, here is the full list of the missing scientists and military personnel at the center of this conspiracy, as listed by the International Business Times:
- Michael David Hicks (died on July 30, 2023) — research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory;
- Frank Maiwald (died on July 4, 2024) — principal researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory;
- Anthony Chavez (missing since May 8, 2025) — former employee of Los Alamos National Laboratory;
- Monica Reza (missing since June 22, 2025) — director of Materials Processing at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory;
- Melissa Casias (missing since June 26, 2025) — administrative worker for Los Alamos National Laboratory;
- Steven Garcia (missing since Aug. 28, 2025) — a government contractor with the Kansas City National Security Campus in Albuquerque;
- Nuno Loureiro (died on Dec. 16, 2025) — director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center;
- Carl Grillmair (died on Feb. 16, 2026) — Caltech astrophysicist;
- William “Neil” McCasland (missing since Feb. 27, 2026) — retired U.S. Air Force general; and
- Jason Thomas (died on March 17, 2026) —pharmaceutical researcher at Novartis.
RELATED: Kacey Musgraves Shares Creepy “UFO” Encounter On Flight Home To Nashville
President Trump Has Called For Government Documents On UFOs To Be Made Public
This comes a couple months after President Donald Trump announced in a February Truth Social post that he was directing Sec. of War Pete Hegseth and other relevant departments to “begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs).”
Trump noted he was making this decision as a result of “tremendous interest shown” by the public.
About a week after Trump announced these files were being prepared, retired Air Force General William Neil McCasland went missing on Feb. 27.
One week before McCasland’s disappearance, a scientist who worked with Caltech’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, named Carl Grillmair, 47, died of homicide.
Another scientist who has been linked to this string of disappearances and deaths is, Jason Thomas, 45, who died on March 17.
Since Trump’s Feb. 19 announcement, the government files have not yet been released, but Trump’s full post can be seen, here:
The release of government files of this nature has become a staple of Trump’s second term as president. Other files released by his administration include documents on:
- The assassination of President John F. Kennedy;
- The assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy;
- The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.;
- The disappearance of Amelia Earhart and her navigator; and
- The Epstein files.
Watch White House Press Sec. Karoline Leavitt speak on the missing scientists, here:
