Trump Vows to Get to Bottom of Startling Rise in Deaths and Disappearances of Government Scientists
President Donald Trump said Thursday his administration is moving quickly to investigate a troubling pattern involving the deaths and disappearances of scientists who worked for the government or in government-sponsored projects.
The issue, raised by Fox News reporter Peter Doocy at the White House, has drawn increasing attention as cases continue to stack up.
Trump confirmed he had just left a meeting focused on the matter and expects answers soon.
“Well, I hope it’s random,” Trump said. “But we’re going to know in the next week and a half.”
He added that some of the individuals involved were “very important people.”
BREAKING: President Trump vows to look into the 10 scientists who have gone missing or turned up dead:
“I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half.”
“I just left a meeting on that subject.”
“Pretty serious stuff… Some of them were very important… pic.twitter.com/VMgeZyayXl
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 16, 2026
The president suggested the situation could be a coincidence, and assured Doocy that officials are taking it seriously.
“Pretty serious stuff,” Trump concluded.
The concern stems from a series of incidents involving scientists, researchers, and government-affiliated personnel who have been killed or have gone missing in recent years.
According to a report Friday from NewsNation, multiple scientists tied to sensitive or high-level work have either died unexpectedly or vanished without any clear explanation.
The report identified them as:
Steven Garcia, a government contractor, was last seen leaving his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home on Aug. 28, 2025.
Garcia worked at the Kansas City National Security Campus, a National Nuclear Security Administration site that manufactures non-nuclear components for nuclear weapons.
Police reportedly warned he may have been a danger to himself.
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory researcher Frank Maiwald, who died on July 4, 2024, in Los Angeles at age 61.
No public cause of death has been provided.
Carl Grillmair, an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology who worked in collaboration with NASA, was shot to death on his front porch on Feb. 16.
Michael David Hicks, another physicist tied to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is administered by CalTech, died in July 2023 after working on major space missions, including NASA’s Dart Project.
Retired Air Force Gen. William Neil McCasland disappeared on Feb. 26, 2026, after leaving his New Mexico home.
Questions have circulated about his alleged connections to UFO-related programs.
Monica Jacinto Reza, a former colleague of McCasland, vanished while hiking in a Los Angeles forest in June 2025. Search teams never recovered her body.
Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez, both connected to New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, also disappeared in 2025.
Casias was last seen walking along a highway on June 26, 2025.
Chavez was last ween walking from his home on May 4, 2024.
Nuclear physicist and Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Nuno Loureiro was shot to death at his home in December 2025. He was a victim of Brown University gunman Neves Valente.
Novartis researcher Jason Thomas disappeared from his Massachusetts hom in December 2025. His body was found in a nearby lake in March 2026.
Investigators located his body after the ice on the lake thawed. NewsNation did not explain his link to government research.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
