FBI probes possible link between deaths, disappearances of nuclear scientists

The FBI is now weighing whether 10 deaths and disappearances among scientists and staff tied to nuclear and space technology labs share a real connection, a startling concentration that has pulled in Congress, the White House and multiple federal agencies.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said in an April 20 press release that it was seeking briefings from the Department of Energy, the Department of War, the FBI and NASA. The committee said the reported pattern may represent “a grave threat” to U.S. national security if the claims hold up, and identified the cases as a mix of dead and missing workers linked to some of the country’s most sensitive research sites.

The committee said the string began in 2023 with Michael David Hicks, who worked at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1998 to 2022. It also pointed to Monica Jacinto Reza’s disappearance in June 2025 and the February 2026 disappearance of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as key parts of the pattern. The other reported cases include two more people tied to JPL, two tied to Los Alamos National Laboratory, an MIT scientist working on nuclear fusion, a pharmaceutical researcher and a contractor at a nuclear weapons component production facility.

By April 21, the FBI was leading the review and working with the Department of Energy, the Department of War and state and local law enforcement. The agency’s involvement is significant because it moves the matter beyond online speculation and into an active federal review, even as officials have not publicly said they have proof of a coordinated plot.

The White House also stepped in after the discussion spread online. Donald Trump said he had just left a meeting on the matter, while NASA said it was coordinating and cooperating with relevant agencies and that nothing related to NASA indicated a national security threat at that time. The balance has been delicate: officials are examining possible links, but they have not announced a single explanation for the cases.

Los Angeles County has emerged as a key geography in the reporting. Fox 11 Los Angeles said at least four of the cases are tied to the county, including Carl Grillmair, Michael David Hicks, Frank Maiwald and Monica Jacinto Reza. Reza disappeared while hiking in the Angeles National Forest in June 2025 and has not been found.

Rep. Tim Burchett added another layer of intrigue, saying intelligence agencies had stymied his attempts to learn what happened in some of the cases. With the earliest known case now stretching back to 2023, the inquiry has shifted from scattered alarm to a formal federal effort to determine whether the similarities are meaningful or just coincidence.