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White House Orders FBI Review as DOE Probes Cluster of Lab Staff Deaths and Disappearances
The White House has ordered a review with the FBI into a cluster of deaths and disappearances of U.S. lab staff and scientists. President Trump said he had "just left a meeting" on the cases and called the situation "pretty serious." The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration said it is aware of reports and is looking into the matter. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration is reviewing the cases with "all relevant agencies and the FBI" and promised that "no stone will be unturned."
Fox News has identified as many as 11 cases, adding Huntsville researcher Amy Eskridge, who died in 2022 and had said she faced harassment after claiming an "antigravity" breakthrough. Republicans on the House Oversight Committee, including Rep. Eric Burlison, have pressed for FBI and inspector general probes and called some referrals "credible and urgent." Social media has amplified the story, with users pointing to a possible pattern and naming figures like retired Gen. William McCasland and Monica Jacinto Reza. Multiple energy security and law enforcement experts called social-media theories conspiratorial and said they saw no obvious link between the individual cases.
Coverage has shifted from alarm toward skepticism as more reporting and expert comment questioned whether the cases are connected. Early stories emphasized an alarming cluster of scientists with access to classified work and urged coordinated probes. Later reporting, notably from CBS, stressed that the FBI was not leading a unified pattern investigation and that many lab employees hold routine jobs, reducing the case for a single explanation. That divergence matters because it frames whether agencies treat the incidents as isolated tragedies or as a national security problem requiring a joint FBI-led inquiry.
National Security and Intelligence
Scientific Community and Defense Research
U.S. Defense Research and Science
U.S. Defense Scientists Deaths and Disappearances
Trump Administration
This story is compiled from 5 sources using AI-assisted curation and analysis. Original reporting is attributed below. Learn about our methodology.
đź“Ś Key Facts
- The White House says it is reviewing the deaths and disappearances with "all relevant agencies and the FBI"; Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt promised "no stone will be unturned," and President Trump said he had "just left a meeting," called the situation "pretty serious," hoped it was a coincidence, and expected answers within roughly a week and a half.
- CBS reports the FBI is not currently leading a unified pattern investigation but is "aware and providing all assistance requested" as local cases proceed; Rep. Eric Burlison has publicly called for an FBI probe and said his office referred the Matthew Sullivan case to the Office of Inspector General and the FBI, which Burlison says deemed the referral "credible and urgent."
- The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued a statement saying it is "aware of reports related to employees of our labs, plants, and sites and is looking into the matter."
- Fox News reports the list of related cases has grown to 11 with the addition of Huntsville-based researcher Amy Eskridge, and has previously highlighted at least 10 U.S. researchers with access to high-level secrets who have gone missing or turned up dead since 2023.
- Amy Eskridge died June 11, 2022, of a reported self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 34; she co-founded the Institute for Exotic Science, publicly claimed in 2020 to have discovered "antigravity," and said she had faced escalating harassment, threats and sabotage and worried unconventional researchers can be forced out of public view.
- Fox named and highlighted additional people tied to the cluster, including contractor Steven Garcia, Los Alamos–linked employees Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez, pharmaceutical scientist Jason Thomas, Monica Jacinto Reza, Matthew Sullivan, and retired Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland; McCasland, 68, has been missing from the Albuquerque area since late February and is one of four current or former sensitive-site employees who have gone missing in New Mexico over roughly the last year, though his wife has expressed skepticism that he was taken for secrets.
- A former DOE official and multiple energy-security and law-enforcement experts interviewed by CBS said there is no evidence the cases are linked, noted that many lab employees hold mundane, non-sensitive jobs despite "sketchy sounding" titles, and viewed social-media theories about a coordinated campaign as conspiratorial.
đź“° Source Timeline (5)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
April 17, 2026
9:19 PM
What we know about deaths, disappearances of staff at government labs
New information:
- President Trump told reporters he had 'just left a meeting' on the disappearances and deaths and called it 'pretty serious stuff,' while adding he hopes it is a coincidence.
- CBS reports the FBI is not currently leading a unified pattern investigation but is 'aware and providing all assistance requested' as local cases proceed.
- The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration issued a statement saying it is 'aware of reports related to employees of our labs, plants, and sites and is looking into the matter.'
- Retired Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, has been missing from the Albuquerque area since late February and is one of four current or former employees at sensitive sites who have gone missing in New Mexico over roughly the last year.
- A former Department of Energy official told CBS there is no evidence the cases are linked and emphasized that many lab employees hold mundane, non-sensitive jobs despite 'sketchy sounding' titles.
- Multiple energy security and law enforcement experts interviewed by CBS said they see no obvious link between the individual cases and viewed social-media theories as conspiratorial.
7:02 PM
White House reviewing cases of missing, dead scientists for possible links as 11th person identified
New information:
- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says the Trump administration is working with "all relevant agencies and the FBI" to review all identified cases together for possible links.
- Leavitt issued a written statement on X promising that "no stone will be unturned" and that the White House will provide updates.
- President Trump said he had "just left a meeting" on the cases, called the situation "pretty serious," and predicted answers within about a week and a half.
- Fox News reports the list of cases has grown to 11 with the addition of Huntsville-based researcher Amy Eskridge, who died in 2022 at age 34.
- The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration acknowledged awareness of reports involving employees at its labs, plants and sites and said it is "looking into the matter."
5:40 PM
Rep Burlison demands FBI probe after top US scientists vanish or turn up dead
New information:
- House Oversight Committee member Rep. Eric Burlison has publicly called for the FBI and 'every agency' to investigate the cluster of scientists' deaths and disappearances.
- Burlison says his office referred the case of Matthew Sullivan, who died by suicide under what he calls suspicious circumstances, to the Office of Inspector General and the FBI, and that the FBI deemed the referral 'credible and urgent.'
- The piece recounts that McCasland's wife publicly posted on Facebook that he retired years ago and that it is 'quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him,' injecting skepticism about espionage motives.
- The Fox hit reinforces that at least 10 U.S. researchers with access to top-level secrets have gone missing or turned up dead since 2023, and highlights that several (including Monica Jacinto Reza, Anthony Chavez, Melissa Casias, Steven Garcia, and McCasland) reportedly walked out of their homes before vanishing.
- President Trump is quoted saying he has just left a briefing on the cases, hopes they are 'coincidence,' and will know more soon, but he does not say whether he believes the cases are connected.
3:37 PM
11th scientist death emerges in string of missing, dead officials with access to US secrets
New information:
- Amy Eskridge, a Huntsville-based experimental propulsion researcher who died by reported self-inflicted gunshot on June 11, 2022, is now being cited as the 11th case in the cluster.
- Eskridge co-founded the Institute for Exotic Science and publicly claimed in 2020 that she and colleagues had discovered 'antigravity,' after which she described escalating harassment, threats and sabotage.
- She warned in a recorded interview that researchers who report unconventional breakthroughs can be pressured out of public view or 'disappear' from publishing, and said she felt forced to publish to protect herself.
- The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration gave Fox News a statement confirming it is aware of reports about employees at its labs, plants and sites and is 'looking into the matter.'
- President Trump told reporters he had 'just left a meeting' on the string of cases, called the situation 'pretty serious,' and said he hoped it was random but expected answers within roughly a week and a half.
- Fox names and visually highlights additional individuals in the cluster, including contractor Steven Garcia, Los Alamos–linked employees Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez, and pharmaceutical scientist Jason Thomas, alongside previously noted names like Gen. McCasland and Monica Jacinto Reza.
April 16, 2026