Conspiracy theories about missing or dead scientists boil over

Conspiracy theories that connect missing or dead scientists surged from online forums into U.S. political attention, prompting inquiries and high-profile questions. The theories began circulating in niche online communities and then widened over a matter of weeks, with both the FBI and Congress investigating whether there are possible connections among the cases, according to the Associated Press. As the speculation spread, U.S. officials were repeatedly asked about whether the deaths or disappearances might be linked to sensitive scientific work.

At a White House press event April 16, Trump was asked about “10 missing scientists with access to classified stuff, nuclear material, aerospace” and whether they had “gone missing or turned up dead in the last couple of months,” and if he believed there were “ties among them.” Trump responded, “Well, I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half,” according to the AP report.

In subsequent remarks, FBI Director Kash Patel reiterated the focus on connections between cases. In comments on Fox News Sunday, Patel emphasized the importance of looking for possible links, the AP said, as attention continued to mount around the expanding list that had been tracked online.

Congress also stepped in. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is conducting its own investigation, the AP reported, further linking what started as internet speculation to formal scrutiny in Washington.

The conspiracy narratives typically argue that scientists are targeted because of the sensitivity of their research, including areas such as astrophysics, nuclear weapons and pharmaceuticals. The AP report also noted, however, that so far no evidence had been found that definitively links the incidents or establishes coordinated foul play.

Researchers and media literacy specialists say the pattern-seeking dynamic is longstanding. Jen Golbeck, a University of Maryland professor who studies conspiracy theories, told the AP that the idea of a sinister connection between tragedies involving scientists is a common trope and that many cases can be grouped as “something sinister if you wanted to,” given that people working at national labs, universities and government research centers can “go missing or commit suicide or die.” Callie Kalny, co-director of the Center of Media Psychology and Social Influence at Northwestern University, said such claims often spread from niche venues into national conversation and then “embeds” into people’s minds through repeat exposure without critical scrutiny of where it originated.

The AP report said the online lists include details that can appear to fit together but also contain reasons to doubt the claims. Some people named in the circulating accounts were already the subject of investigations, with suspects identified or charged, while other cases lacked convincing evidence of connection, according to the report. In one example cited by AP, Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a physicist and fusion scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was fatally shot on Dec. 15 by Claudio Manuel Neves Valente, who also had been responsible for a mass shooting at Brown University days earlier; Valente then took his own life, and AP said no motive had been established. The report said Loureiro and Valente knew each other decades earlier in Portugal when they studied physics.

Another case cited by AP involved Carl Grillmair, an astrophysicist at the California Institute of Technology who discovered water on a distant planet. AP reported that Grillmair was fatally shot on Feb. 16, and that authorities charged 29-year-old Freddy Snyder with Grillmair’s murder and carjacking; AP said Snyder was being held on a multimillion-dollar bond. The AP report also cited Melissa Casias, then 53, who went missing on June 26 in New Mexico; AP said she worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory but that, according to her LinkedIn profile, she was an administrative assistant rather than a scientist.

For William “Neil” McCasland, AP reported that the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said he left home without his phone, prescription glasses and wearable devices, and that hiking boots, a wallet and a .38 caliber revolver could not be found at the house. AP also reported that there was no evidence indicating foul play and that he remains missing.

McCasland’s wife, Susan Wilkerson, also responded to rumors that circulated online. AP reported that she wrote in a Facebook post on March 6 that since his retirement 13 years ago, McCasland “has had only very commonly held clearances” and that “it seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him,” adding that he had only a “brief association with the UFO community” and did not have privileged knowledge about aliens.

A key argument in the AP report is that uncertainty can make pattern-based explanations feel compelling even without evidence. Donnell Probst, executive director of the National Association for Media Literacy Education, told AP that in the face of tragedy or uncertainty, people seek patterns and explanations rather than accepting ambiguity or coincidence, and that narratives suggesting hidden connections or intentional wrongdoing can feel more satisfying “even without supporting evidence.”