The lawmaker leading a probe into strange disappearances of the nation’s top scientists says that particular cases share striking similarities that indicate the incidents are “not normal,” he tells Just the News. 

Rep. Eric Burlison, who chairs a subcommittee of the House Oversight Committee, wants Congress and the executive branch to get to the bottom of a slew of disappearances and deaths of scientists and government employees connected to sensitive research.  

These scientists and employees, at least five so far, were all connected to some of the facilities that carry out some of the government’s most sensitive research. Four of them disappeared in New Mexico, near the government’s Los Alamos National Laboratory. And, their disappearances bear striking similarities that merit a serious inquiry, Burlison told Just the News. 

“[E]ach one all left their belongings behind, left their phones, their keys, their cars, their wallets, which is just not normal,” Burlison told the John Solomon Reports podcast. 

“[T]here's a lot of these, while in and of themselves, are very mysterious or sometimes just tragic, it doesn't necessarily mean that there's a connection,” Burlison clarified. But, he said the similarities mean that the cases warrant a close look. 

“To me, what's really disturbing, of the people that have stepped out of their homes and disappeared, those are the ones that I'm keyed into, and I hope the FBI, and I know the FBI, is actually focused on,” he said. 

Last month, President Donald Trump said that the administration was looking into the deaths of at least 10 individuals associated with the most sensitive or cutting-edge scientific programs in the United States. 

"I hope it's random," Trump told reporters outside the White House. "We're going to know in the next week and a half. I just left a meeting on that subject." 

He added, "Some of them were very important people, and we are going to look at it." 

So far, there is no public evidence that the deaths or disappearances of 10 scientists linked to secret nuclear and aerospace research since 2023 are connected. However, speculation, including from lawmakers, has grown after several disappearances in recent months. 

Burlison is specifically interested in probing the disappearances of five scientists whose circumstances bear eerie similarities. 

“[T]hat begins with William Neil McCasland, who is the retired US Air Force General, who walked out of his home without anything except a handgun,” Burlison told Just the News. 

McCasland disappeared from his home in Albuquerque before noon on Feb. 27, leaving no trace. He left behind his cellphone, prescription glasses, and electronics, but reportedly took a .38-caliber revolver and his wallet. 

His wife, Susan Wilkerson, who had left for a doctor’s appointment earlier that morning, told police dispatchers in a 911 call that she believed her husband “planned not to be found,” The New York Post reported. 

McCasland served in senior Pentagon roles, including leading the Air Force Research Laboratory at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a $2.2 billion science and technology program. 

Police say there is no evidence of foul play, and continue to investigate the disappearance. In March, the FBI reportedly joined the investigation. 

The prior year, in May 2025, retired research and development engineer Anthony Chavez was also seen leaving his home near Los Alamos on foot. He left behind his wallet, keys, and cigarettes and his car was found parked in the driveway. 

Chavez worked at the Dual-Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) facility at Los Alamos, which is involved in nuclear weapons research. During his career, McCasland oversaw some of the nuclear research at Los Alamos. 

Three months later, a government contractor named Steven Garcia, 48, also disappeared from his home in Albuquerque, again leaving on foot and leaving little trace. He left behind his phone, wallet, keys, and car, but brought only a handgun. 

Garcia was a property custodian (a “high-level oversight role with top security clearance, per the New York Post) at the Kansas City National Security Campus’s Albuquerque facility, which builds non-nuclear components of the nuclear stockpile. Police say the investigation into Garcia’s disappearance is still active. 

Another missing employee of Los Alamos has also been linked to the disappearances. But, unlike the other cases, the 53-year-old Melissa Casias was an administrative assistant and not a scientist.

However, like the others, she was last seen walking alone. Casias reportedly left behind her car, keys, wallet, work cellphone, and personal cellphone. Both of her electronic devices were factory reset. 

A private investigator hired by the family believes that Casias was killed by someone close to her, and that it had nothing to do with where she worked, the New York Post reported.  

Burlison is also interested in another disappearance, though this one was in California. Aerospace engineer Monica Jacinto Reza was hiking with two companions in the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles last June when she disappeared. Reza reportedly vanished right behind her two companions, who have not been publicly identified. 

She worked at Aerojet Rocketdyne and is connected to projects at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

McCasland oversaw and funded Reza’s development of a “super-alloy” known as Mondaloy for use in rockets during his tenure at the head of the Air Force Research Laboratory. 

Burlison told Just the News that even if there is no connection between these disappearances, the government should still probe whether mental health issues played any role, especially if that stress stemmed from their employment at facilities vital to national security.

The lawmaker said that just because the cases are “extremely mysterious,” that does not “necessarily mean that there's something nefarious going on.” 

“It may be that we just have got a lot of stress, we place a lot of stress on these scientists, and as a result they, unfortunately, take their lives,” Burlison said. But, he believes that even if that is the case, it is something that merits “looking into.” 

Last month, the House Oversight Committee launched an investigation into the disappearances. Chairman James Comer said that his panel will probe the disappearances or deaths of at least 10 individuals who were linked to sensitive military, aerospace and physics research projects.

“We’re very concerned about this. This is a national security concern. This would suggest that something sinister may be happening,” Comer said last month.

Comer and Burlison sent letters to Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth, FBI Director Kash Patel, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman requesting a “staff-level briefing” on the disappearances by the end of last month.