In the United States, eleven deaths and disappearances among scientists and researchers in recent years have turned on a federal investigative spotlight. The FBI confirmed that it had opened an investigation to verify the possible existence of a common thread between the cases, many of which concern figures linked to sensitive sectors such as nuclear power and aerospace research.
The investigation, coordinated with the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and local authorities, was also born in the wake of public and political attention. President Donald Trump defined the matter as “pretty serious”, underlining how we hope that it is just a coincidence. At the moment, however, investigators have not identified direct links between the episodes.
The cases under investigation
Four episodes focus on Los Angeles County and involve researchers linked to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology. Among these, the astrophysicist Carl Grillmair, who died last February at the age of 67, and three JPL experts: Michael David Hicks (died in 2023), Frank Maiwald (2024) and Monica Jacinto Reza, who disappeared in June 2025 during an excursion in a forest in the area.
Among the most delicate cases there is also that of retired general William Neil McCasland, former head of the Air Force Research Laboratory, who disappeared at the end of February from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. McCasland had led some of the most advanced programs in U.S. military aerospace research.
The death of Jason Thomas, a Novartis executive, is also mysterious: he disappeared last December in Massachusetts, his body was found three months later. The authorities, at least so far, have not detected any elements that suggest a murder.
Amy Eskridge, a researcher who died in 2022 in Alabama from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, also appears in the FBI dossier. Before his death he had publicly denounced alleged pressure and “psychological warfare” linked to his research on antigravity.
Another case is that of the Portuguese scientist Nuno Loureiro, director of the Center for Plasma Science and Fusion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was shot dead in December 2025 in Massachusetts, during an attack linked to the shooting at Brown University.
The list is completed by the disappearances of Melissa Casias, Anthony Chavez and Steven Garcia, on which information remains limited and fragmentary.
Between investigations and theories
Despite the absence of concrete evidence on a link between the cases, the story has fueled numerous online speculations, with hypotheses ranging from industrial conspiracies to foreign interference in US scientific programs.
Precisely this wave of theories has contributed to increasing the pressure on the federal authorities, now forced to verify every possible coincidence, also in light of the profile of the victims: many were involved in strategic areas for national security and technological innovation.
For now, however, the official line remains cautious: no unifying element, no privileged path. Just a series of episodes yet to be clarified which, put together, continue to fuel doubts and questions.