Dead Scientists & The UAP Connection — Shiny Side Out
◆ UPDATE MAY 2026 ◆ 13 CASES ◆ JOSHUA LeBLANC: NASA NUCLEAR ENGINEER — FIERY TESLA CRASH JUL 2025 ◆ JAMES "TONY" MOFFATT & FAMILY — PLANE CRASH APR 17 2026 ◆ FBI FORMALLY SPEARHEADING INVESTIGATION ◆ HOUSE OVERSIGHT DEMANDS BRIEFINGS ◆ TRUMP: "PRETTY SERIOUS STUFF" ◆ McCASLAND STILL MISSING ◆ REZA / McCASLAND PROFESSIONAL LINK CONFIRMED ◆ JASON THOMAS BODY RECOVERED MAR 2026 ◆ LOUREIRO KILLER IDENTIFIED — BROWN UNIVERSITY MASS SHOOTER ◆ RESTRICTED DISTRIBUTION · SHINYSIDEOUT.COM.AU ◆
◆ PUBLIC INTEREST DOCUMENT ◆ SSO INTELLIGENCE BRIEF ◆ SERIES COMPILED APRIL 2026 ◆ UPDATED MAY 2026 ◆
File Ref
SSO-UAP-APR26-SERIES
Classification
Public Interest
Compiled
April 2026
Updated
May 2026 — 2 new cases, total now 13
FBI Status
ACTIVE — Spearheading investigation
Cases
13 — 2 resolved, 11 open
Official Links
None confirmed between cases
Congress
House Oversight formal letters — April 20, 2026
Science & National Security — Series

Dead Scientists & The UAP Connection

Thirteen cases linked to NASA, nuclear weapons research, anti-gravity propulsion, and classified defence programs. Dead or missing. Four years. The White House and Congress are now formally investigating.

◆ No law enforcement agency has officially connected these cases ◆ This series records documented facts from verified sources ◆ Readers are encouraged to consult primary sources and form their own view ◆
13
Dead or Missing
48
Months — Jun 2022 to Apr 2026
5
Still Missing
2
Cases Resolved
0
Official Links Confirmed
◆ Series Update — May 2026 ◆ Significant Developments Since Compilation ◆

Investigation formally escalated. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Subcommittee Chairman Eric Burlison sent formal letters April 20 to the FBI, NASA, Department of Energy, and Pentagon, demanding briefings by April 27. Comer: "Once you see the facts, it would suggest that something sinister could be happening. It's very unlikely that this is a coincidence. We view this as a national security threat." The Pentagon responded with no active investigations. The FBI confirmed it is "spearheading the effort to look for connections."

Trump confirmed personal briefings. "I just left a meeting on that subject. Pretty serious stuff. I hope it's random. We'll know in the next week and a half." Those weeks have passed. No public findings have been reported.

First confirmed professional link between two cases. Monica Reza and Gen. McCasland worked together on an Air Force–funded advanced materials program in the early 2000s. Reza's nickel super-alloy patent is incorporated into SpaceX Starship and Blue Origin New Glenn.

Two new cases — total now 13. Case 12: Joshua LeBlanc, 29, NASA nuclear thermal propulsion engineer, died July 22, 2025 in a fiery Tesla crash in Walker County, Alabama — phone and wallet left at home, Tesla sat at Huntsville Airport for four hours before the crash. Added to congressional list by Rep. Burlison, April 23, 2026. Case 13: James "Tony" Moffatt (60) — NASA payload specialist, experimental test pilot, 21-year Army career — killed April 17, 2026 alongside his wife Leasa (61) and sons Andrew (30) and William (28) when their Mooney M20 crashed near Union County Airport, South Carolina. NTSB and FAA investigating. No cause released.

Two cases resolved. Jason Thomas (Case 07): body recovered from Lake Quannapowitt, Massachusetts, March 17, 2026 when ice thawed — no foul play suspected. Nuno Loureiro (Case 08): killer identified as Cláudio Neves Valente, a jealous former engineering classmate from Portugal — subsequently identified as the Brown University mass shooter.

§ 01 — About This Series

The Record

Since July 2023, Americans with documented ties to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Air Force Research Laboratory, MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, and the Kansas City National Security Campus have died or gone missing under circumstances that have not been publicly explained. The total documented case count has grown to thirteen.

Each case has been treated as a standalone matter by local authorities. No coordinated federal investigation was announced until April 2026, when Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy raised the cases at a White House briefing and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed the administration would investigate. The FBI has since confirmed it is formally spearheading the investigation for connections. The House Oversight Committee has issued formal letters to four federal agencies demanding briefings.

Some of America's top scientists and military officials have gone missing or mysteriously died, with some allegedly tied to UFO research. Does law and order protect the public, or the patronage networks within the institutions meant to serve them? — Fox News, April 2026

Each profile in this series examines one person: their background, their work, their institution, their location, and the documented circumstances of their death or disappearance. Every claim is drawn from verified sources — official law enforcement statements, institutional communications, congressional records, and verified reporting from major outlets. Nothing has been fabricated. All sources are verifiable.

§ 02 — Chronological Record

All 13 Cases — Timeline

11 Jun 2022 · Ruled Suicide — Contested
Amy Eskridge — Case 01
Co-Founder & President · Institute for Exotic Science · HoloChron Engineering · Father: Retired NASA Marshall Plasma Physicist. Age 34. Found dead at home, gunshot wound to head. Officially ruled suicide. No investigation report publicly released. Had publicly stated her life was in danger. Alleged multi-year harassment including directed-energy weapon attacks. Anti-gravity propulsion researcher. Body cremated shortly after death. Independent findings presented to Congress allege murder. Official ruling unchanged. ◆ Huntsville, Alabama
30 Jul 2023 · Dead
Michael David Hicks — Case 02
Research Scientist · NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1998–2022) · DART Project · Deep Space 1. Age 59. No cause of death released. No autopsy on record. JPL issued no statement. 80+ peer-reviewed papers. Medical examiner case still listed as open. ◆ Sunland, California
4 Jul 2024 · Dead
Frank Maiwald — Case 03
JPL Principal Researcher · NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · Europa & Enceladus subsurface ocean detection. Age 61. No autopsy performed. No cause released. No statement from NASA or JPL. Only public record: a single online obituary. ◆ Los Angeles, California
4 May 2025 · Missing
Anthony Chavez — Case 04
Retired Employee · Los Alamos National Laboratory. Age 78. Left home on foot. Wallet, keys, cigarettes, phone left behind. Car in driveway. Cadaver dogs, exhaustive search — nothing. Bank account went silent the next day. Still missing. ◆ Los Alamos, New Mexico
22 Jun 2025 · Missing
Monica Reza — Case 05
Director of Materials Processing · NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · Rocket engine alloy co-creator · Air Force Research Lab funding. Age 60. Hiking with companion 30 feet ahead. He turned back — she smiled and waved. Looked again seconds later. She was gone. No trace found. UPDATE: Confirmed professional link to McCasland — they worked together on an Air Force-funded advanced materials program in the early 2000s. Her nickel super-alloy patent incorporated into SpaceX Starship and Blue Origin New Glenn. ◆ Angeles National Forest, California
26 Jun 2025 · Missing
Melissa Casias — Case 06
Administrative Employee · Los Alamos National Laboratory · Top Security Clearance. Age 53. Last seen roadside in Taos County. Car, purse, keys at home. Both phones found factory-reset — all communications wiped. Family says she was planning mother's care for upcoming surgery. Still missing. ◆ Taos County, New Mexico
22 Jul 2025 · Dead
Joshua LeBlanc — Case 12
Aerospace Technologies Electrical Engineer · NASA Marshall Space Flight Center · Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) I&C Maturation lead · DRACO Nuclear Thermal Propulsion lead. Age 29. Found dead in burned Tesla after single-vehicle crash in Walker County, Alabama. Left phone, wallet, and pet dog at home. Tesla Sentry Mode data placed the vehicle at Huntsville International Airport for four hours that morning — a stop his family said was completely unplanned. Vehicle then drove west on rural backroads for approximately two hours before crashing into a guardrail and trees and erupting in flames. Body burned beyond initial recognition — identity confirmed days later by Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. Family reported him missing at 4:32 a.m. and believed he had been abducted. Rep. Burlison added him to the congressional list April 23, 2026. Notable: second NASA-connected death in Huntsville — same city as Case 01, Amy Eskridge, whose father was also a NASA Marshall physicist. ◆ Huntsville / Walker County, Alabama
28 Aug 2025 · Missing
Steven Garcia — Case 10
Government Contractor · Kansas City National Security Campus · Nuclear weapons non-nuclear components · High-level security clearance. Age 48. Surveillance footage shows him leaving on foot carrying a handgun. Phone, wallet, keys, car left behind. Police initially suggested he may be a danger to himself — anonymous source familiar with the case described him as "a very stable person" and disputed this. Still missing. ◆ Albuquerque, New Mexico
12 Dec 2025 · Missing → Body Recovered Mar 2026
Jason Thomas — Case 07
Associate Director, Chemical Biology · Novartis · Active Department of Defense Contracts. Age 45. Left home at midnight on foot. Phone, wallet, Apple Watch left behind. Last seen near train tracks. Body recovered from Lake Quannapowitt, Massachusetts, March 17, 2026 when ice thawed. No foul play suspected. No cause of death publicly disclosed. ◆ Wakefield, Massachusetts
15–16 Dec 2025 · Dead — Killer Identified
Nuno Loureiro — Case 08
Director · MIT Plasma Science & Fusion Center · Presidential Early Career Award 2025. Age 47. Shot in foyer of home while family was inside. Died in hospital next morning. Killer identified: Cláudio Neves Valente, a jealous former engineering classmate who had studied in the same programme in Portugal two decades earlier. Valente subsequently identified as the Brown University mass shooter. Motive for specifically targeting Loureiro not publicly established. ◆ Brookline, Massachusetts
16 Feb 2026 · Dead
Carl Grillmair — Case 09
Astronomer · Caltech IPAC · NEOWISE / Hubble / Spitzer · NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal 2011. Age 67. Shot on his front porch at 6:10 a.m. Single bullet to torso. Suspect (Freddy Snyder, 29) had been previously reported trespassing on Grillmair's property in the weeks prior. No known prior connection between them. No motive established. Caltech's obituary omitted cause of death. ◆ Llano, Antelope Valley, California
27 Feb 2026 · Missing — FBI Homicide Bureau Involved
Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland — Case 11
Retired Major General, USAF · Commander AFRL Wright-Patterson · Director of Special Programs, Pentagon. Age 68. Left home on foot. Phone, prescription glasses, wearables left behind. Missing: hiking boots, wallet, .38 calibre revolver. WikiLeaks emails describe him as "very, very aware" of classified UAP programs. Disappeared days after Trump ordered UAP file release. UPDATE: Wife posted publicly on Facebook dismissing UAP connection, confirming he had been experiencing "mental fog." Albuquerque PD stated he would still be "the most intelligent person in the room" — not disoriented at time of disappearance. FBI Homicide Bureau now actively involved. Confirmed professional connection to Monica Reza through Air Force advanced materials program. Still missing. ◆ Albuquerque, New Mexico
17 Apr 2026 · Dead — Entire Family of Four
James "Tony" Moffatt, Leasa, Andrew & William Moffatt — Case 13
Payload & Flight Crew Specialist · NASA Johnson Space Center · 14 Space Shuttle ISS Missions · Army Lt. Colonel (Ret.) · Founder, Moffatt Systems Inc. · UAH Principal Research Engineer. Tony Moffatt (60), his wife Leasa (61), and sons Andrew (30) and William (28) were all killed when their Mooney M20 single-engine aircraft crashed in a wooded area near Union County Airport, South Carolina, at approximately 6:30 p.m. The family was returning home to Huntsville from North Carolina and had stopped to refuel. All four killed. Tony: 21-year Army career, master's degree in aerospace engineering (Georgia Tech), experimental test pilot (US Naval Test Pilot School), payload and flight crew support specialist at NASA Johnson Space Center on 14 Space Shuttle ISS construction missions. Andrew: research engineer and scientist at UAH's Research and Engineering Support Center. William: cloud security administrator and defence IT professional. NTSB and FAA investigating. No cause released. The White House, US Army and NASA did not respond to questions about whether the crash is being investigated alongside the other cases. ◆ Union County, South Carolina

§ 03 — All 13 Cases

Select a Profile

01
Ruled Suicide
Amy Eskridge
Institute for Exotic Science · Anti-gravity propulsion · Father: NASA Marshall physicist

Died 11 June 2022 · Age 34 · Huntsville, Alabama. Ruled self-inflicted gunshot. No investigation report released. Publicly stated her life was in danger. Contested — findings presented to Congress.

No report releasedContested READ PROFILE →
02
Dead
Michael David Hicks
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · DART Project · Deep Space 1

Died 30 July 2023 · Age 59 · Sunland, California. No cause of death released. No autopsy on public record. 80+ peer-reviewed papers.

No cause releasedNo autopsy READ PROFILE →
03
Dead
Frank Maiwald
NASA JPL · Principal Researcher · Europa / Enceladus subsurface ocean detection

Died 4 July 2024 · Age 61 · Los Angeles, California. No autopsy performed. No cause released. No NASA statement.

No cause releasedNo autopsy READ PROFILE →
04
Missing
Anthony Chavez
Los Alamos National Laboratory (Retired)

Missing since 4 May 2025 · Age 78 · Los Alamos, New Mexico. Left home on foot. Wallet, keys, phone left behind. Cadaver dogs, exhaustive search — nothing. Bank account silent next day.

Still missing READ PROFILE →
05
Missing
Monica Reza
NASA JPL · Director of Materials Processing · Rocket alloy patent

Missing since 22 June 2025 · Age 60 · Angeles National Forest, California. Vanished in seconds while hiking. Confirmed professional link to McCasland through Air Force advanced materials program. Alloy used in Starship and New Glenn.

Still missing◆ Link to McCasland confirmed READ PROFILE →
06
Missing
Melissa Casias
Los Alamos National Laboratory · Security Clearance Holder

Missing since 26 June 2025 · Age 53 · Taos County, New Mexico. Both personal and work phones found factory-reset at home. Family says she was planning to care for her mother.

Still missingBoth phones wiped READ PROFILE →
07
Resolved
Jason Thomas
Novartis · Associate Director Chemical Biology · Active DoD Contracts

Missing 12 December 2025 · Body recovered 17 March 2026 · Age 45 · Wakefield, Massachusetts. Body recovered from Lake Quannapowitt when ice thawed. No foul play suspected.

Body recovered Mar 2026No foul play READ PROFILE →
08
Resolved
Nuno Loureiro
MIT · Director, Plasma Science & Fusion Center · Presidential Early Career Award 2025

Shot 15 Dec 2025, died 16 Dec 2025 · Age 47 · Brookline, Massachusetts. Killer identified: Cláudio Valente — jealous former classmate, also the Brown University mass shooter.

Killer identifiedBrown Univ. mass shooter READ PROFILE →
09
Dead
Carl Grillmair
Caltech · Astrophysicist · NEOWISE / Hubble / Spitzer · NASA Medal 2011

Shot dead 16 February 2026 · Age 67 · Llano, California. Shot on front porch at 6am. Suspect had previously trespassed on property. No motive established.

Suspect arrestedNo motive READ PROFILE →
10
Missing
Steven Garcia
Kansas City National Security Campus · Nuclear weapons contractor · Top security clearance

Missing since 28 August 2025 · Age 48 · Albuquerque, New Mexico. Produced non-nuclear components for nuclear warheads. Left on foot carrying only a handgun. Phone, wallet, keys, car left behind.

Still missingLeft with handgun READ PROFILE →
11
Missing
Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland
USAF (Ret.) · Commander AFRL Wright-Patterson · Pentagon Special Programs · FBI Homicide involved

Missing since 27 February 2026 · Age 68 · Albuquerque, New Mexico. FBI Homicide Bureau involved. Referenced in WikiLeaks as "very, very aware" of classified UAP programs. Confirmed professional link to Monica Reza.

Still missingFBI Homicide involved◆ Link to Reza confirmed READ PROFILE →
12
Dead
Joshua LeBlanc
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center · Space Nuclear Propulsion · DRACO lead

Died 22 July 2025 · Age 29 · Walker County, Alabama. Found dead in burned Tesla. Left phone and wallet at home. Tesla sat at Huntsville Airport for four hours before crash. Family feared abduction. Body burned beyond recognition. Added by Rep. Burlison, April 23, 2026.

◆ Added April 2026Nuclear propulsionHuntsville — same city as Case 01 READ PROFILE →
13
Dead — Family
James "Tony" Moffatt & Family
NASA Johnson Space Center · 14 Shuttle ISS missions · Army Lt. Col. (Ret.) · UAH Research Engineer

Died 17 April 2026 · Union County, South Carolina. Tony (60), wife Leasa (61), sons Andrew (30) and William (28) killed in Mooney M20 plane crash during refuelling stop. Georgia Tech master's, US Naval Test Pilot School. NTSB and FAA investigating. No cause released.

◆ Added April 2026Entire family killedNTSB investigating READ PROFILE →

§ 04 — The Escalation

Congress Moves — May 2026

What began as online speculation had, by late April 2026, become a formal matter of congressional record. The House Committee on Oversight formally sent letters to four of the most powerful law enforcement and scientific agencies in the United States, using the language of national security — not conspiracy theory.

◆ Confirmed — House Oversight Committee, April 20, 2026 ◆

Chairman James Comer (R-KY) and Subcommittee Chairman Eric Burlison (R-MO) sent formal letters to FBI Director Kash Patel, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Deadline: April 27, 2026.

"If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets."

Comer: "Once you see the facts, it would suggest that something sinister could be happening. It's very unlikely that this is a coincidence. We view this as a national security threat."

The Pentagon responded: no active national security investigations of missing clearance holders. The FBI confirmed it "is spearheading the effort to look for connections." NASA said it is coordinating with agencies and that "nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat."

President Trump confirmed he had been personally briefed: "I just left a meeting on that subject. Pretty serious stuff. Some of them were very important. I hope it's random. We'll know in the next week and a half." Those weeks have now passed. No findings have been publicly reported.

§ 05 — The Question

What Can Be Documented

No authority has connected these cases. That must be stated plainly. Local police in each jurisdiction have treated each incident as isolated. The White House investigation was announced in April 2026 and has not reported findings. The Pentagon says no investigation is active. The FBI says it is looking. The gap between those two statements has not been explained.

What can be documented is the institutional overlap. Multiple individuals connected to the facilities that detect what moves through near-Earth space, build the materials and engines to reach it, hold the classified knowledge surrounding what the US government formally calls Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, and manufacture the components of nuclear warheads — have died or vanished across a 48-month window with no public explanation. The list has grown to thirteen cases. Two entire families — the Moffatts — are among the dead.

Two of those individuals — Monica Reza and Maj. Gen. McCasland — are now confirmed to have worked together on classified military aerospace materials. That is the first documented factual link between any two cases in this series. It does not prove a connection between their disappearances. It does mean they are not simply strangers who happened to share a professional category.

Does law and order protect the public, or the patronage networks within the institutions meant to serve them? — Fox News, April 2026

That question has not been answered. It is, however, now being asked — in the White House briefing room, in congressional offices, and in the public record. Read each profile. Check the sources. Form your own view.

◆ END TRANSMISSION ◆
◆ Source Note ◆

Sources: Fox News · CNN · NBC News · NewsNation · Daily Mail · Newsweek · Fortune · CBS News · Axios · Men's Journal · MIT News · Caltech News · IBTimes UK · White House press briefings (April 2026) · House Oversight Committee press releases (April 20, 2026) · Law enforcement statements · Congressional records · Wikipedia (verified citations) · Legacy.com obituaries · Alabama Law Enforcement Agency · NTSB · FAA · UAH official statements.

No official connections have been established between these cases. This series records documented facts from verified sources. What you do with it is your choice.