Overview
- Media reports Thursday added NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Michael David Hicks as the ninth name, noting his July 30, 2023 death at age 59 lacked a publicly disclosed cause and no autopsy record was found.
- Authorities have not tied the incidents together, and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said there were no new developments in the February disappearance of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland.
- The compiled timeline mixes outcomes, including confirmed killings such as Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair in February 2026 and MIT fusion leader Nuno Loureiro in December 2025, as well as recovered remains in the Novartis researcher Jason Thomas case.
- Other entries remain unexplained, including JPL researcher Frank Maiwald’s July 2024 death with no public cause and missing-person cases where phones and wallets were left behind or later wiped, such as Los Alamos staffers Anthony Chavez and Melissa Casias.
- Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker called the pattern “suspicious,” and members of Congress including Rep. Eric Burlison and Rep. Tim Burchett have pressed for closer scrutiny, even as officials have not identified a coordinated effort.