Nine Scientists Tied to U.S. Defense and Space Programs Have Died or Vanished, and Congress Wants Answers

A troubling pattern has grabbed the attention of Congress, the FBI, and the American public. Since mid-2023, nine researchers, scientists, and defense-connected professionals in the United States have either died under unexplained circumstances or disappeared without a trace. Most of them share professional ties to NASA, nuclear research facilities, or classified aerospace programs. No official connection among the cases has been confirmed, but lawmakers are pushing hard for a federal investigation.

• Michael David Hicks, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist, died in 2023 with no public cause of death initially disclosed, becoming the ninth name on a growing list of deaths and disappearances among U.S. experts in space, defense, and nuclear fields.
• Representative Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, has requested the involvement of the FBI, calling the disappearances “deeply concerning.”
• Authorities have not established any concrete connection among the cases, but some lawmakers have called for closer scrutiny as incidents continue to draw attention.

Who Was Michael David Hicks?

Michael David Hicks, a longtime research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), died on July 30, 2023, at 59 years old. He worked at JPL from 1998 to 2022 and contributed to over 80 scientific papers, including roles on NASA’s Deep Space 1 mission and the DART asteroid-deflection project. His death went largely unnoticed at the time. Nearly three years later, news outlets began revisiting the case after noticing that Hicks is connected to three other scientists on the list who also worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab or participated in NASA missions there.

Men’s Journal determined that the Los Angeles County Coroner does list a cause of death for Hicks, stating he died of arteriosclerotic cardiovascular disease in his residence, with morbid obesity listed as a contributing condition and the manner of death listed as natural. Even so, the coroner’s case reportedly remains open.

The Full Timeline of Cases

The list of dead or missing scientists spans from 2023 to early 2026 and includes people from NASA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MIT, and the military.

Frank Maiwald, a NASA JPL researcher, died in Los Angeles on July 4, 2024, at age 61 with no cause of death disclosed. Daily Mail reported that an autopsy was not performed.

Anthony Chavez, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory employee, vanished on May 4, 2025. Monica Reza, a NASA scientist, went missing during a hike in the Angeles National Forest on June 22, 2025, reportedly disappearing just yards from others in her group. Melissa Casias, a Los Alamos administrative assistant, disappeared from her residence on June 26, 2025, and her mobile devices had been wiped.

Nuno Loureiro, the head of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was fatally attacked at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts on December 15, 2025. Police believe Loureiro was shot when he answered the door by Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, the suspect in the Brown University mass shooting, who later died of suicide. Investigators said Loureiro and the suspect knew each other from attending the same university program in Portugal.

Carl Grillmair, an astrophysicist, was shot on his front porch during the early morning on February 16, 2026. William Neil McCasland, a retired Air Force general, left his New Mexico home on February 27, 2026, and has not been seen since.

Congress Pushes for FBI Action

Following several high-profile disappearances, Representative Eric Burlison (R-MO) is demanding a federal investigation, citing the “deeply concerning” ties these individuals share with advanced research and requesting FBI involvement to determine if the incidents are connected or represent a targeted threat.

McCasland, 68, is said to have known about secret government programs that included information about “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAPs. McCasland’s wife has pushed back against speculation from the UFO community that his disappearance is related to classified information.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, which has been investigating McCasland’s disappearance, told Newsweek there had been no new developments but that his case remained a top priority.

Should We Expect Answers Anytime Soon?

The concentration of deaths and disappearances among researchers in sensitive fields is newsworthy and worth investigating, as lawmakers and reporters have urged. The available reporting, though, does not establish a verified, systematic campaign. The strongest factual takeaway is that a series of troubling incidents has prompted alarms from politicians and commentators. Without autopsy reports, investigative files, or official statements linking the cases, the claims of a coordinated campaign remain unproven.

What is clear is that public pressure isn’t going away. Members of Congress have held classified briefings. Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett told multiple outlets that the concentration of incidents in specific research fields is too high to ignore. The cases have generated discussion far beyond Washington, with people in communities like Lexington, KY and Albuquerque tracking developments online and questioning whether federal agencies are doing enough. Whether these cases turn out to be an unsettling coincidence or something darker, the families of these nine individuals and the broader American public deserve clear and transparent answers.