Federal authorities are reportedly investigating the deaths and disappearances of at least 10 American scientists and staff connected to sensitive U.S. government laboratories with possible access to classified nuclear, aerospace, and defense information.
CBS News reported that the FBI is examining whether the cases are connected and is coordinating with the Departments of Energy and Defense, as well as state and local law enforcement.
Many of the cases involve personnel affiliated with high-security institutions, including NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory, both of which handle classified information, according to CBS News.
The investigation follows mounting public and lawmaker concern over the incidents. The House Oversight Committee announced in an April 20 press release that it has opened its own probe into what it called a “possible sinister connection” among the incidents.
According to the release, which cited public reports, the series of deaths and disappearances dates back to 2023, beginning with the death of Michael David Hicks, a former NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist who worked there from 1998 to 2022. In June 2025, another employee of the lab, Monia Reza, the director of the lab’s processing group, disappeared while hiking in California and remains missing. The release also named retired Air Force General William Neil McCasland, who reportedly disappeared from his home in New Mexico in 2026 with a .38 caliber revolver and has not been found.
The committee, citing reports, said that others among the missing or deceased include two more individuals linked to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, two affiliated with the Los Alamos lab, a scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology working on nuclear fusion, a pharmaceutical researcher, and a government contractor who worked at a nuclear weapons component facility.
FOX News also reported that an 11th scientist, Amy Eskridge, an Alabama-based researcher who died in 2022 at age 34, is now being included on the list.
“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,” the committee lawmakers wrote in the release. “We request a briefing on any information regarding these deaths and disappearances, as well as the processes and procedures in place to protect American scientific secrets and ensure personnel safety.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said April 17 on social media that the White House is working with federal agencies “to holistically review all of the cases together and identify any potential commonalities that may exist.”
In light of the recent and legitimate questions about these troubling cases, and President Trump’s commitment to the truth, the White House is actively working with all relevant agencies and the FBI to holistically review all of the cases together and identify any potential… pic.twitter.com/SJ9thaFegh
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) April 17, 2026
“No stone will be unturned in this effort, and the White House will provide updates when we have them.”
President Donald Trump said on April 16 that he had “just left a meeting” about the situation, which he called “pretty serious stuff.”
“I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half,” Trump said at the time.
According to FOX, the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration said in a statement that it is “aware of reports related to employees of our labs, plants, and sites and is looking into the matter.”
Officials have not publicly identified a single cause or pattern linking the cases, and several energy security and law enforcement officials interviewed by CBS News said they saw no obvious link. Still, the number and proximity of the cases have intensified public speculation and drawn questions from lawmakers.