'We're looking at connections': Mystery as 10 scientists linked to top secret research dead or missing
The FBI has launched an investigation into the deaths and disappearances of 10 American scientists who possessed access to sensitive government research programmes.
Director Kash Patel confirmed the bureau would examine potential links between the cases.
He said: "We’re going to look for connections."
Mr Patel told Fox News that investigators would scrutinise the researchers' "access to classified information" and "foreign actors".
He added: "If there’s any connection that leads to nefarious conduct or conspiracy, this FBI will make the appropriate arrest."
The scientists' expertise covered nuclear research, astrophysics and aeronautics, prompting widespread speculation about the link between the disappearances.
Four of the researchers had been employed by Nasa, with three serving together on the same team at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Michael David Hicks died in the summer of 2023, aged 59, from an undisclosed cause, marking the first death of a scientist.
He had spent nearly a quarter of a century at the laboratory, focusing on comets and asteroids, and participated in the Deep Space 1 mission in 1998.
His daughter, Julia, told CNN: "I don't understand the connection between my dad's death and the other missing scientists."
A year later, his 61-year-old German-born colleague Frank Maiwald was discovered dead at his Los Angeles residence.
Monica Reza, another Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist, vanished during a California hiking trip in June 2025, with searches of the area finding no trace of her.
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Some of Ms Reza's earlier work had reportedly received funding from the Air Force Research Laboratory, an institution later commanded by William Neil McCasland.
The retired general disappeared on February 27 after departing his home with hiking boots, wallet and a holstered firearm, leaving behind his mobile phone and prescription glasses.
His wife, Susan Wilkerson, wrote on Facebook: "When Neil was in the Air Force, he had access to some highly classified programs and information."
Following his 2013 retirement, Mr McCasland served as an unpaid consultant on military and scientific matters for Blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge, who maintains a strong interest in UFOs.
Steven Garcia, a 48-year-old government contractor with top-level security clearance, vanished from Albuquerque last August under strikingly similar circumstances, also leaving on foot carrying only a handgun.
The House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told Fox News: "It's very unlikely that this is a coincidence."
The committee dispatched letters to the departments of energy and defence, Nasa and the FBI seeking information about "a possible sinister connection between a string of mysterious deaths and disappearances".
Republican congressman Eric Burlison raised questions about Matthew James Sullivan, a former Air Force intelligence officer who died by suicide in 2024.
Mr Burlison said: "He was scheduled to come in for an interview. Within two weeks, he had suspiciously committed suicide."
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