OAN Staff Lillian Mann
4:40 PM – Thursday, April 9, 2026
A notable list of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists have mysteriously died or “vanished” without any cause of death recorded or autopsy performed, increasing speculation on the possible connections between the growing list of unexplained deaths and disappearances tied to those involved with U.S. space agency and its nuclear projects.
Michael Hicks, a NASA scientist who worked on several space science missions and projects for the agency — died back in 2023 at the age of 59. He had also worked at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 1998 to 2022.
Why The Spotlight Now?
The recent surge in reporting regarding these incidents is primarily driven by the emergence of a broader pattern rather than a single new event. While cases such as Hicks stretch back to July 2023, they only began to be viewed as part of a larger pattern after investigative reporting and social media attention in early 2026.
The so-called “clustering effect” gained momentum after the high-profile disappearance of retired Air Force General William “Neil” McCasland in February 2026. His senior rank and professional ties to other missing or deceased scientists — including Monica Reza, a rocket materials expert who vanished during a hike in 2025 — linked what had previously been believed to be separate tragedies.
Meanwhile, limited transparency surrounding the cases has fueled renewed scrutiny. Reports from outlets like the Daily Mail and The Economic Times have highlighted that for scientists like Hicks and Frank Maiwald, who died in July 2024, no cause of death was ever publicly disclosed and no autopsies were reportedly performed.
Since these individuals were involved in sensitive fields, ranging from NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) to advanced nuclear propulsion and life-detection technologies — the silence from official agencies like NASA and the Department of Energy has since created an information vacuum.
In the absence of “official” explanations, independent researchers and news agencies have reportedly spent months filing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and cross-referencing professional networks, leading to the “sudden” influx of detailed reports currently surfacing as these separate threads of investigation converge.
Prior to his death, Hicks had published over 80 scientific papers and was involved in the DART project, the Dawn Mission and the Deep Space 1 Mission. Notably, a series of online obituaries dedicated to Hicks did not mention he had any health issues before his death.
While there has been no reported evidence of foul play, Hicks’ case marks the ninth individual with links to U.S. space and nuclear research who has died or vanished in the past 3 years, grabbing the attention of U.S. national security officials and Americans alike. Three of these scientists had close links with Hicks as well, as all of them worked at the Jet Propulsion Lab or participated in NASA missions there.
Reza’s work at the JPL had been overseen by McCasland, who went missing in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on February 27th. The retired Air Force official reportedly “walked out of his home without his phone or glasses” and has not been seen since.
In June 2023, just 13 months before his death, Maiwald was the lead researcher on a breakthrough that could help future NASA missions detect clear signs of life on other planets and solar systems. However, there was no public comment from NASA, JPL, or authorities after the esteemed scientist’s death.
The second scientist, Carl Grillmair, an astrophysicist and California Institute of Technology researcher, was murdered on the front porch of his home on February 16, 2026, at the age of 67. The motive for the shooting has not been released, and officials believe that the shooter and Grillmair did not know each other.
The astrophysicist’s work was also heavily supported by NASA’s JPL, and he was personally involved with major space telescope missions led by the administration. Grillmair also contributed to the discovery of water on a distant planet, with research indicating signs of life within 160 light-years of Earth. His colleagues noted his work was “ingenious.”
Two other individuals, Anthony Chavez and Melissa Casias, both of whom worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and had ties to nuclear research, went missing just weeks apart.
Both LANL employees vanished from their homes in 2025 in nearly identical circumstances, as they both left their New Mexico homes on foot, leaving behind their phones, keys and wallets. Chavez, 79, worked at the nuclear research lab, while Casias, 54, was an active administrative assistant at the facility, and reportedly had top security clearance.
“You can say these are all suspicious, and these are scientists who have worked in critical technology,” Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker recently told the Daily Mail.
Swecker noted that for decades, both allied and adversarial foreign intelligence services have targeted Americans who hold the keys to the nation’s technological secrets.
“China, Russia, even some of our friends — Pakistan, India, Iran, North Korea — they target this type of technology,” he stated. “It’s been happening since the Cold War. Especially when nuclear technology and missile technology were first coming to the forefront.”
Neither the FBI nor NASA has confirmed an official link to these “connections,” at least as of Thursday.
Timeline of Unexplained Scientist Deaths and Disappearances (2023–2026)
- July 30, 2023: Michael David Hicks, a veteran research scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for over 20 years, Hicks passed away at age 59, roughly a year after leaving the agency. He was a key figure in the DART Project (asteroid deflection). No cause of death was publicly released, and no record of an autopsy was found.
- July 4, 2024: Frank Maiwald, the prominent NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) researcher, died in Los Angeles at age 61. Despite his senior role, no cause of death was disclosed, no autopsy was performed, and NASA has issued no public comment.
- May 4, 2025: Anthony Chavez, the former Los Alamos National Laboratory worker, disappeared without a trace.
- June 22, 2025: Monica Reza, the NASA scientist, vanished while hiking in the Angeles National Forest, reportedly while only thirty feet away from her companions.
- June 26, 2025: Melissa Casias, the Los Alamos administrative assistant, vanished from her home; her phones were later discovered factory-reset.
- December 12, 2025: Jason Thomas, the Novartis researcher, disappeared, beginning a three-month search until his body was recovered from a lake on March 17th 2026.
- December 15, 2025: Nuno Loureiro, the director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts.
- February 16, 2026: Carl Grillmair, the astrophysicist, was fatally shot on his front porch in the early morning hours.
- February 27, 2026: Maj. Gen. Neil McCasland, the retired Air Force official, walked out of his New Mexico home without his phone or glasses and has not been seen since.
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