The list is growing: dead and missing scientists and the city that keeps coming up...
- fearandwinepod
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
More than a dozen researchers tied to NASA, nuclear propulsion, and classified defense programs are dead or missing. The FBI is investigating. Congress has used the word sinister. And one city appears again and again in the timeline.
By Kristin & Kelli | Fear & Wine | April 2026 | Updated continuously
We started this series because a man named William Neil McCasland walked out of his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico on February 27th, 2026, and did not come back. He left his phone. He left his wallet. He left his glasses. He was a retired Air Force Major General who commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory and held an MIT doctorate. He ran America's most sensitive aerospace research programs for over thirty years. He has not been found.
We thought that was one story. It is not one story. It is a pattern. And the pattern has been growing for four years, largely without coordinated mainstream coverage, while the people closest to it kept dying or disappearing.
Who is on the list
The following names have been publicly documented through verified reporting from Fox News, Newsweek, NewsNation, Congressional records, and law enforcement statements. This is not a conspiracy forum compilation. These are real people, verified cases, with federal agencies now on the record investigating whether they are connected.
Documented deaths and disappearances — scientists and researchers — 2022 to 2026
William Neil McCasland Retired Air Force Major General /Commander, AFRL /MIT PhD/Albuquerque, NM
Missing
Monica Jacinto Reza NASA Aerospace Engineer/JPL Materials Research Director/California Missing
Melissa Casias Los Alamos National Laboratory/Top Security Clearance/New Mexico
Missing
Anthony Chavez Los Alamos National Laboratory/New Mexico
Missing
Steven Garcia Defense Contractor
Dead
Jacob Prichard AFRL Sensors Directorate/Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
Dead
Carl Grillmair Astrophysicist Caltech/NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Dead
Nuno Loureiro MIT Physicist/Plasma Physics
Dead
Frank Maiwald NASA Engineer
Dead
Michael David Hicks NASA Researcher/DART Project/ Deep Space 1
Dead
Jason Thomas Pharmaceutical Scientist/Defense-adjacent research/Found in Massachusetts lake
Dead
Matthew Sullivan UAP Whistleblower/ NSA/NASIC /Died two weeks before scheduled Congressional testimony
Dead
Amy Eskridge Antigravity Researcher/Institute for Exotic Science/Huntsville, Alabama/2022
Dead
James "Tony" Moffatt and family Aerospace Engineer/Experimental Test Pilot/NASA /UAH/Huntsville, Alabama /April 2026
Dead
Joshua Kyle LeBlanc NASA Nuclear Propulsion Engineer/ DRACO Mars Program/Huntsville, Alabama/July 2025
Dead
Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri has named multiple people from this list publicly on the Congressional record. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has said publicly there is a "high possibility something sinister is taking place" and described the pattern as a national security threat. The FBI has confirmed it is leading a multi-agency investigation. The White House press secretary has said no stone will go unturned. President Trump told reporters he hoped the deaths were random. He said he hoped.
The two names you need to know right now
Amy Eskridge was 34 years old when she was found dead in Huntsville, Alabama on June 11th, 2022. The Madison County Coroner ruled it a suicide by self-inflicted gunshot wound. Her family has asked people to respect that ruling and their grief. We honor that request.
We are also going to tell you that on May 13th, 2022 -- one month before her death -- Eskridge sent a text message to her business partner Samuel Reed. It read: "If you see any report that I killed myself, I most definitely did not. If you see any report that I overdosed, I most definitely did not. If anything happens to me, suicide or an accident, it wasn't. It's suspicious. Treat it as such."
"If you stick your neck out in public, at least someone notices if your head gets chopped off. If you stick your neck out in private, they will bury you."Amy Eskridge, 2020 — two years before her death
Eskridge co-founded the Institute for Exotic Science in Huntsville and worked with her father, retired NASA engineer Richard Eskridge, on antigravity propulsion research. In a 2020 YouTube interview with researcher Jeremy Rys, she described harassment, threats, and sabotage around her work. She said being visible in public was her protection strategy. Videos resurfaced in 2026 showing her describing burn injuries she attributed to a directed energy device. Former British intelligence officer Franc Milburn corroborated the account. Rep. Burlison stated there is "significant evidence" she was targeted. The FBI's multi-agency review includes her case.
Joshua LeBlanc was 29 years old. He graduated in electrical engineering in 2019 and immediately joined NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. In five years he became team lead for the Space Nuclear Propulsion program and then advanced to lead DRACO: the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations. He was building the nuclear thermal propulsion engine designed to get human beings to Mars.
On July 22nd, 2025, his family reported him missing at 4:32 a.m. He had not shown up for work. He had left his phone at home. His wallet. His dog. Tesla Sentry Mode data showed his car sat at Huntsville International Airport for four hours that morning before driving west on rural backroads. His family said that trip was not part of any plan he had told them about.
Verified facts — Joshua LeBlanc
LeBlanc's Tesla was found on a rural road outside Huntsville at approximately 2:45 p.m. It had struck a guardrail and several trees before catching fire. His body was burned beyond recognition. The Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences confirmed his identity three days later.
His death is officially classified as a traffic accident. No evidence of external involvement has been publicly released. The FBI's multi-agency review is ongoing.
Rep. Burlison added LeBlanc to the official list on April 29th, 2026: "A young scientist named Joshua, working on the nuclear propulsion technology we'd need to reach Mars, just turned up dead in a Tesla crash after his car drove two hours by itself on rural Missouri-style backroads. Body burnt beyond recognition. This is not normal."
Huntsville, Alabama is called the Rocket City. It is home to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Arsenal, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, which has deep ties to both NASA and the Department of Defense. Amy Eskridge worked and died there in 2022. Joshua LeBlanc worked and died there in 2025. On April 17th, 2026, aerospace engineer James "Tony" Moffatt, a decorated Army veteran, experimental test pilot, and NASA payload specialist based in Huntsville, died in a plane crash in South Carolina along with his wife and two sons. They were flying home to Huntsville. The NTSB is investigating and has not released a cause.
Three years. Three deaths connected to Huntsville's aerospace and defense ecosystem. No official link has been established between any of them. The FBI's review continues. We are not asserting they are connected. We are saying the question has not been answered, and that someone should be answering it.
Where the investigation stands
As of April 2026, the FBI has publicly confirmed it is leading a multi-agency investigation. The NNSA has said it is looking into cases involving its lab employees. NASA has said it is coordinating with relevant agencies. The House Oversight Committee has sent formal letters requesting information from the FBI, NASA, DOE, and the Department of Defense. No arrests have been made. No official connections between the cases have been publicly confirmed. General McCasland has not been found.
If you have information — active cases
General William Neil McCasland: Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office — (505) 468-7070 | Text BCSO to 847411
Monica Jacinto Reza: LASD Homicide Bureau, Detectives Rincon and Sanchez — (323) 890-5500 | Anonymous: LA Crime Stoppers 1-800-222-8477
Melissa Casias: New Mexico State Police — (505) 425-6771 | Crime Stoppers: 505-843-STOP | $5,000 reward active
FBI tip line: tips.fbi.gov
The full story will be on Patreon soon
The blog posts and public episodes are the beginning. The deep research, full case analyses, verified timelines, and complete episode scripts for The List Grows and The Huntsville Frequency will be Patreon exclusives. We will go all the way in: Amy Eskridge's 2020 interviews and what she said on camera, the Luis Elizondo meeting that didn't happen and who it may have involved, the Moffatt family and what their deaths add to the Huntsville thread, and a full two-host breakdown of every case on this list with sourced fact boxes and clearly labeled speculation.
We label everything. Verified fact is labeled as such. Speculation is labeled as such. We are not here to sell you a narrative. We are here to do the work and hand you the information so you can decide what you think. We have been in contact with The Sentinel Network and with Ross Coulthart. If you have something, our DMs are open.
The full investigation is coming soon.
Two exclusive episodes. Full sourced research. Verified timelines. The Huntsville thread. Everything we couldn't say here.
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All facts sourced from Fox News, Newsweek, NewsNation, Congressional records, and verified law enforcement statements. Speculation is labeled throughout our full episodes. If you or someone you know is in crisis: 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988.
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