American politicians are calling for an urgent federal inquiry after at least eleven leading scientists and researchers have either died or vanished under mysterious circumstances, with one congressman warning the pattern is "too coincidental" to ignore.
Representative Eric Burlison, a Republican from Missouri who sits on the House Oversight Committee, told Fox News that his office had been monitoring several of the cases well before President Trump announced on Thursday that he had ordered an investigation into the matter.
Burlison believes the disappearances are almost certainly connected to the sensitive work many of the scientists carried out, including research into classified aerospace, defence and UFO-related programmes. He suggested hostile foreign powers, China, Russia or Iran, could be involved.
"This is a rallying call to pay attention to this issue and make sure that our nation's top scientists are safe and secure," he said, adding that the FBI and every relevant agency should be examining the cases.
According to The New York Post, among those who have vanished is retired Air Force Major General William "Neil" McCasland, who disappeared from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico in February. Burlison said he had attempted to contact McCasland twice regarding his work on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, the official government term for UFOs, before the general went missing. Investigators noted he had suffered from "mental fog" beforehand.
A further case drawing attention is that of Amy Eskridge, 34, a researcher who had been investigating anti-gravity technology and extraterrestrial life. She was found dead at her home in Huntsville, Alabama in 2022 from a gunshot wound to the head, which was ruled a suicide. Before her death, Eskridge had spoken openly about receiving threats and said the harassment had been "escalating" for some time.
A retired British intelligence officer, Franc Milburn, who investigated the circumstances surrounding her death, submitted his findings to Congress in 2023, concluding that she did not take her own life.
Other scientists named in connection with the inquiry include workers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and MIT, as well as researchers in aerospace and nuclear components.
Officials have so far stated that no confirmed link between the cases has been established.
