Investigative journalists have connected two more cases to a mystery surrounding the deaths or disappearances of U.S. scientists and lab workers. One was a prominent researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Another worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), one of America’s critical nuclear research facilities.
This new report comes on the heels of the mysterious disappearances of retired U.S. Air Force Major General William Neil McCasland and McCasland’s former colleague, aerospace engineer Monica Reza.
Several prominent American scientists have disappeared or died mysteriously since July 2024
According to the report, published on Tuesday by DailyMail.com, Frank Maiwald, a NASA scientist who worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reportedly passed away in Los Angeles on July 4, 2024. However, no one has ever disclosed his cause of death, and authorities have confirmed that they never carried out an autopsy. NASA has also never commented publicly on the scientist’s death.
On May 4, 2025, Anthony Chavez, a former worker at Los Alamos National Laboratory, disappeared without a trace. The Los Alamos Police Department told DailyMail.com that the search for Chavez is still ongoing, and that almost a year later, no new information in the case has emerged.
Two months later, Melissa Casias, believed to have security clearance for sensitive data at Los Alamos National Laboratory, also disappeared without a trace under almost identical circumstances. Authorities last saw her miles from her house walking alone without her wallet, phone, or keys after she uncharacteristically worked from home that day.
Monica Reza, JPL’s Director of the Materials Processing Group, disappeared just four days before Casias. She reportedly worked on developing a special metal for rockets as part of a U.S. government project overseen by General McCasland. McCasland, who was last seen on February 27, 2026, disappeared in nearly the same manner as Chavez and Casias.
Each year, more American scientists and researchers go missing without a trace
Also, last year, someone shot and killed Nuno Loureiro, who was developing nuclear fusion as a limitless energy source.
Another unknown assailant shot and killed astrophysicist Carl Grillmair, a California Institute of Technology researcher, on the front porch of his home on February 16, 2026. He contributed to the NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor infrared telescope projects, which track asteroids using the same physics as military satellite and hypersonic missile tracking systems.
Then, on March 17, 2026, someone discovered Jason Thomas, a pharmaceutical researcher at Novartis testing cancer treatments, dead in a lake after he had gone missing three months prior.
Congressman Tim Burchett has been fueling conspiracy theories
“Something dark is going on. I know these scientists and researchers. They have testified. We’ve got to get to the bottom of it,” Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett said in a recent interview. “It’s just too much, too much is going on right now, and by the way, I’m not suicidal.”
The Congressman added, “There have been several others throughout the country that have disappeared under suspicious circumstances. I think we ought to be paying attention to it.
“The numbers seem very high in these certain areas of research. I think we’d better be paying attention, and I don’t think we should trust our government.”
When asked why there aren’t more whistleblowers willing to come forward with what they know about UFOs in another March interview, Tim Burchett responded that he thinks it is because “they’re afraid someone will disappear them.”
“I think being murdered is what they’re afraid of,” he said. “I think some of them truly are because of things they’ve seen.”