US President Donald Trump has broken his silence on the mysterious deaths and disappearances of high-profile scientists. Ten people associated with top-secret space and nuclear research in the US have died or disappeared under strange or unexplained circumstances since 2023. Mr. Trump addressed the concerning pattern this week, telling reporters that he “hopes it will be random” but promised to figure it out “in the next week and a half.”
“I just left a meeting on that topic,” he said. “Quite a serious matter… some of them were very important people, and we will look into that over the next short period.” White House Press Secretary Carolyn Leavitt was also asked about the disappearance on Wednesday and acknowledged that she had not spoken to relevant agencies about it, but would do so.
Many scientists, who were associated with NASA, aerospace programs, and nuclear research, had access to sensitive information, including space missions, nuclear technology, and advanced defense systems. Metro Report.
The most recent high-profile person to disappear was 68-year-old retired Air Force General William Neil McCasland, who disappeared from his home on February 27 without a phone or glasses, carrying only a pistol. His wife told police it appeared he was trying “not to be found.”
Monica Jacinto Reza, 60, who worked under Mr. McCasland at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, disappeared while hiking with friends in California last June.
Steven Garcia, 48, a government contractor who held top security clearance at US nuclear weapons facilities, was also last seen carrying a handgun after leaving his home in August 2025.
Anthony Chavez, 79, and Melissa Cassius, 54, who both worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a major nuclear research site, were seen leaving their homes in New Mexico without their phones, keys or wallet before disappearing without a trace.
Five other scientists have died under mysterious circumstances in the past three years, including nuclear physicist Nuno Loureiro and astrophysicist Karl Grillmayer, who were shot in their homes in December 2025 and February 16, 2026, respectively.
NASA scientists Michael David Hicks, 59, and Frank Maiwald, 61, who worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab, also died under unknown circumstances in July 2023 and 2024, with no cause of death or autopsy reported.
And Jason Thomas, a pharmaceutical researcher testing cancer treatments at the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, was found dead in a Massachusetts lake on March 17 after disappearing in December. Local police said that there is no possibility of any foul play in this.
