Tag: mysterious disappearances

Rocket scientist and Air Force general linked to UFOs vanish under similar strange circumstances five months apart

A retired Air Force general known in UFO circles has gone missing during a hike in New Mexico, just months after a former colleague disappeared in a nearly identical case. 

US Major General William Neil McCasland, 68, was last seen on the morning of February 27 as he left his Albuquerque home with only a backpack, wallet and .38-caliber revolver for a trail run, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

Sources previously told The New York Post that McCasland was a ‘gatekeeper’ and ‘participant’ in the UFO community.

His disappearance has only fueled speculation around the disappearance of 60-year-old Monica Reza, who had worked on a rocket project overseen by McCasland, who also went missing in June 2025. 

In a chillingly similar case, Reza was last seen hiking in a California forest with a colleague, smiling and waving moments before she ‘vanished off the face of the earth,’ according to NewsNation. 

For months, authorities and volunteers have combed the area using every resource at their disposal, but the aerospace engineer remains missing without a trace. 

At a recent press conference, Sheriff John Allen said a Silver Alert was issued for McCasland after reports of a ‘mental fog’ in the months before his disappearance, adding that he had no other known health problems. 

Yet despite an intensive search involving drones, helicopters, ground crews and K-9 units, the avid outdoorsman – and any trace of his belongings – also remains missing. 

‘Let me be straight. We’ve had a lot of tips, and we will go through every tip. But there are some tips with some outlandish theories, conspiracy theories,’ the sheriff said.

‘We will look into everything, but we are trying as a law enforcement agency and entity,’ he added.

The general’s wife, Susan McCasland, posted on Facebook to set the record straight amid what she described as ‘misinformation’ about her husband’s disappearance. 

‘It is true that Neil had a brief association with the UFO community,’ she wrote. ‘This connection is not a reason for someone to abduct Neil.

‘Though at this point with absolutely no sign of him, maybe the best hypothesis is that aliens beamed him up to the mothership. However, no sightings of a mothership hovering above the Sandia Mountains have been reported.’

Just nine months ago, Reza – known professionally as Monica Jacinto at Aerojet Rocketdyne as a material scientist – was last seen hiking on the popular Mount Waterman Trail in the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles. 

Like McCasland, she loved hiking. She was just 30ft behind the man she was with when she vanished on what was described as a ‘normal day,’ according to NewsNation.

‘He turned around, next thing you know, she was just completely gone,’ the outlet reported.

‘Rescue teams spent days looking for her, but actually never recovered her body.’

Reza worked for Aerojet Rocketdyne, a high-profile company funded for years by NASA and the Air Force Research Laboratory, according to SpaceNews.

In the 1990s, she engineered a nickel-based superalloy that could survive extreme oxygen environments without added weight – technology that helped create the AR1 engine, set to replace Russian RD-180 engines on United Launch Alliance rockets. 

Her patented invention brought her into McCasland’s sphere, as he oversaw the Air Force group that funded early-2000s research on advanced materials for reusable spacecraft and weapons systems. 

McCasland’s Air Force biography reveals he oversaw advanced materials as director of the Space Vehicle Directorate’s materials wing and commanded the Phillips Research Site at Kirtland Air Force Base from 2001 to 2004.

His roles ultimately had a direct connection to Reza’s highly successful research. 

The general had also led research at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which Marik Von Rennenkampff, a former Obama-era national security analyst, described as ‘where all the super-secret research happens,’ CNN reported. 

On the day he vanished, McCasland spoke with a repair person at his home at 10am, while his wife left around an hour later for a medical appointment, the sheriff’s office said. 

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Possible X account of missing general William McCasland claimed fellow general was murdered over nuclear material

Online sleuths think they have uncovered missing retired Air Force general William Neil McCasland’s anonymous social media account — which claimed another general was murdered for his dealings with nuclear material.

McCasland, 68, went missing from his Albuquerque, NM, home on Feb. 27 — which is the same day that the person behind a conspicuously credentialed X account centered on spacecraft and advanced science made their last post.

The account @tmbspaceships claims to be run by a “retired 38-year active duty” United States Air Force with a PhD in engineering — listing the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT), the Air Education Training Command (AETC), and Air Force Material Command (AETC) as places they’ve worked.

Both the AFIT and AFMC are located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which McCasland ran from 2011 to 2013. He attended the Air War College during his 34-year career, which is a subordinate to the AETC. McCasland attained a PhD in Astronautical Engineering from MIT in 1988.

The account shockingly claimed just months before McCasland’s disappearance that Maj. Gen. John Rossi, who allegedly committed suicide in 2016, was actually murdered because of refusal to hand over nuclear material to private contractors.

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Missing retired US Air Force general has ‘UFO community’ ties, his wife says amid kidnapping speculation

Missing retired US Air Force General William “Neil” McCasland had a “brief association with the UFO community” – but doesn’t have inside intel on “ET bodies” that would be worth kidnapping him over, his wife has said.

Susan McCasland Wilkerson attempted to clear up what she called “misinformation” around her husband’s nearly two-week disappearance after he was last spotted in Albuquerque on Feb. 27.

McCasland, 68, led the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson base in Ohio, which is long rumored to hold extraterrestrial debris tied to the 1947 Roswell crash.

“Neil does not have any special knowledge about the ET bodies and debris from the Roswell crash stored at Wright-Patt,” Wilkerson wrote on Facebook on March 6.

However, Wilkerson revealed that McCasland had a “brief association” after his retirement with former Blink-182 front man Tom DeLonge, who co-founded a company that studies information about unidentified aerial phenomena, according to CNN.

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Former General Linked to Top-Secret UFO Lab Goes Missing

The FBI is searching for the former head of an infamous and classified research laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. William Neil McCasland, a retired US general, disappeared on Friday in Albuquerque after leaving home without his watch or phone. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has issued a Silver Alert for the 68-year-old man, whom one Facebook user claimed to have spotted on the Whitewash trailhead in Piedra Lisa Canyon. McCasland is also reported to have an unspecified medical condition. “Our priority is finding Mr. McCasland safely,” Sheriff John Allen said in a press release. “Our investigators and search teams are working continuously, and we’re coordinating closely with our local, state, and federal partners.”

UFO experts speculate that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has access to extraterrestrial materials and technology, as it houses the lab that analyzed debris from the 1947 Roswell Incident. McCasland took command of the laboratory from 2011 until his retirement in 2013. After WikiLeaks released thousands of documents in 2016, his name appeared in yet another UFO context among emails sent to John Podesta, manager of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The author of those emails, Blink-182 guitarist and frontman Tom DeLonge, told Podesta that McCasland provided advice on how to handle disclosure in relation to DeLonge’s company, To The Stars, Inc.

The FBI and local sheriff’s department are urging Albuquerque residents to review security camera footage and contact them immediately upon discovering any clues.

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FBI Joins Search for Missing Retired Air Force General Who Led U.S. Military Research Lab That Develops Directed-Energy Technology

The FBI has now joined the search for retired Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, who was reported missing in New Mexico.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, retired Maj. Gen. McCasland, who previously commanded the Phillips Research Site at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, has been reported missing since Friday.

McCasland served three years as the commander of the Phillips Research Site at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, which is notable for its directed-energy weapons and advanced space technologies.

The investigation into McCasland’s disappearance is being led by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, and on Tuesday afternoon, the office announced it has partnered with the FBI Albuquerque Field Office.

In a post on X, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office stated, “Due to his background and established partnerships, BCSO is coordinating closely with multiple agencies, including the FBI Albuquerque Field Office, which is assisting as standard practice when it has a tool, tactic, or technique that may benefit the investigation. BCSO remains the lead agency.”

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Retired Air Force General Who Led U.S. Military Research Lab That Develops Directed Energy Technology Goes Missing in New Mexico

A retired U.S. Air Force general was reported missing in New Mexico on Friday.

Retired Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, who previously commanded the Phillips Research Site at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, has been reported missing after being last seen on Friday at 11 a.m.

The Phillips Research Site at Kirtland Air Force Base is notable for its research into advanced space and directed-energy weapons technology.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, which is leading the search for McCasland, has issued a Silver Alert for his disappearance.

Per The New York Post:

A retired U.S. Air Force general was reported missing in New Mexico, with authorities warning that medical concerns have heightened fears for his safety.

Retired Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, was last seen around 11 a.m. Friday near Quail Run Court NE in Albuquerque, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said.

Officials said they do not know what McCasland was wearing or in which direction he may have traveled. The sheriff’s office has issued a Silver Alert. “Due to his medical issues, law enforcement is concerned for his safety,” the sheriff’s office said.

McCasland was a longtime leader at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico and previously commanded Kirtland’s Phillips Research Site and Air Force Research Laboratory.

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New Epstein docs mention Madeleine McCann – here’s what a witness saw

Buried deep in the newly released Epstein files is a 2009 witness report that describes the sighting of a young girl who “looked like Madeline McCann,” allegedly walking with a woman “looked just like Ghislaine Maxwell.”

Madeleine McCann was just 3 years old when she vanished on May 3, 2007, while on holiday with her family at the Ocean Club resort in Praia da Luz, Portugal.

Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann – 40 and 39 respectively at the time – had gone to dinner with friends at a restaurant roughly 100 yards from the apartment where Madeleine and her two-year-old twin siblings were sleeping. When Kate returned to check on the children, Madeleine was gone.

Police were called immediately, and staff and guests began searching through the night as border authorities and airport personnel were placed on alert.

Portuguese investigators initially said they believed Madeleine had been kidnapped and issued a description of a man reportedly seen carrying a child that evening.

The case quickly became “the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history,” drawing global media attention, extensive police resources, and years of follow-up inquiries. Despite international cooperation and multiple leads, the child has never been found.

Maddie’s name in Epstein Files

Nearly 19 years later, Madeleine’s name emerged unexpectedly in documents related to Jeffrey Epstein’s prosecution and the 2021 conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell on child sex trafficking charges.

The reference appears in a single witness statement contained within millions of pages of filings unsealed by the U.S. Department of Justice.

The statement, dated July 7, 2020, was written by an unidentified witness in the UK who claimed to have seen the young girl in the fall of 2009, and reported it at the time to local police.

“In September 2009 I was living in [redacted] road. It was a Sunday and very quiet. I turned off from my street on the main road and found myself walking behind a woman and a little girl,” the person explained.

‘Held her hand over her right eye’

“There was also a middle-aged man with them, but he was walking much further ahead.

“When I got up close to the girl I noticed she looked like Madeline McCann. The woman was trying to hurry her along and seemed agitated that I was there. The little girl held her hand over her right eye the whole time we were walking along. She kept on turning round to look at me…”

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Video reignites interest in 20-year-old Columbus missing persons case

For nearly 20 years, one question has haunted many people in Columbus: How does someone walk into a building and never walk out? 

The disappearance of 27-year-old Ohio State medical student Brian Shaffer is back in the spotlight as surveillance video from the night he vanished circulates across social media. 

“It’s really important to continue to remind the public that this case exists, and we need the public’s assistance,” retired FBI Agent Harry Trombitas said.

Shaffer was caught on camera walking into the Ugly Tuna Saloon in the early morning of April 1, 2006, but was never recorded leaving. Columbus police said the video circulating is not new, and there’s no new evidence in the case file, but according to experts, this renewed attention could be the key in solving the case. 

“I appreciate whoever on the internet put that video back out on Brian because it gets people talking about it, gets it out in front of people and just the right person may see it and contact law enforcement,” Trombitas said. 

Over the past few days, videos have resurfaced claiming to show the final full hour of surveillance from the bar the night Shaffer went missing. His case, which has captured national attention, has once again exploded across social media. 

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Fears British woman, 71, who vanished while hiking in South Africa was killed for her body parts to be used in witchcraft

A British woman who vanished while hiking in South Africa may have been killed for her body parts to be used in witchcraft rituals, it is feared. 

Lorna McSorley, 71, went missing in September after she and her partner of 30 years, 81-year-old Leon, left their hotel to go for a short walk from the Ghost Mountain Inn in the KwaZulu-Natal province to search for local wildlife.

On the walk, Leon found the heat and distance too difficult and left his partner carry on on her own. 

He raised the alarm when she failed to return three hours later, with search parties scouring the nearby lake and banks for any sign of her.  

To this day, Lorna has still not been heard from. Locals in the region believe she may have been kidnapped and killed for use in ‘muti’ rituals. 

‘Muti’ is a type of traditional medicine or magic. Though most ‘muti’ rituals require parts from plants or animals, there are those who believe the most powerful charms and medicines require human body parts. 

These spells are often used by those with the wealth and contacts to procure human body part, be they businessmen closing a deal, a gangster wishing to protect themselves or a politician seeking high office.  

And KwaZulu-Natal, particularly the region’s north where Lorna went missing, is known for being a hotspot for strong ‘muti’ beliefs that locals told the Times put them above the law. 

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Savannah Guthrie’s mom’s disappearance now being investigated as crime: ‘She did not leave on her own’

The mysterious disappearance of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mom is now being investigated as a crime, authorities said Monday — citing “suspicious” circumstances at the 84-year-old woman’s home.

Nancy Guthrie was last seen around 9:45 p.m. Saturday at her million-dollar residence in the rural Catalina Foothills area near Tucson, where officials said they found a “very concerning” scene — and some of the grandma’s key personal items were reportedly left behind, including life-saving medicine.

“We know she didn’t just walk out of there. She did not leave on her own,” Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said at a press conference Monday.

He refused to elaborate further on exactly why cops think a crime was committed, saying, “It would be inappropriate at this time.”

But authorities said they recovered Nancy’s cellphone and are combing through it for possible clues — while a source told the Daily Mail that the missing woman left behind other basic crucial personal items, too.

“Her stuff was left behind at the house: keys, ID, purse, phone, everything,” someone close to the star told the outlet.

The elderly woman also apparently left behind medicine she needs to take daily to survive.

“It’s not a situation where she voluntarily went away because she didn’t take any of the things you would normally take if you voluntarily went out,” the source told the outlet.

Nanos told reporters, “We believe now, after we process that crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime scene, that we do, in fact, have a crime, and we’re asking the community’s help.”

Authorities have been searching for the elderly matriarch since she was reported missing by her family late Sunday morning.

Nancy was last seen Saturday night by at least one of her children, who dropped her off at the house, authorities said.

Savannah, who has an older brother and sister, is currently in the Tucson area, officials said.

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