© legacy.comFrank Maiwald (pictured) was a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory before his death in 2024. His cause of death has not been revealed and NASA has not commented on the loss.
NASA scientist Frank Maiwald reportedly died on July 4, 2024 in Los Angeles at the age of 61, but the cause of death has never been made public and officials confirmed that an autopsy was never performed.
Maiwald had been a prominent researcher at the space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) since 1999 and worked on multiple projects tied to advanced satellite technology that could scan Earth and other planets.
In June 2023, just 13 months before his death, he was the lead researcher on a breakthrough that could help future space missions detect clear signs of life on other worlds, including Jupiter's moon Europa, Saturn's moon Enceladus, or the dwarf planet Ceres.
Despite Maiwald being a JPL Principal - an award given to scientists 'making outstanding individual contributions' in their fields - NASA has never commented publicly on the scientist's death, and the only public record marking his passing was an obituary posted online.
Anthony Chavez, a former employee at LANL until his retirement in 2017, vanished without a trace on May 4, 2025 - just seven weeks before a key assistant at the same lab disappeared.
The Los Alamos Police Department told the Daily Mail that the search for Chavez, 79, is still ongoing and no new information in the case has emerged, nearly one year later.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Maiwald's family and the County of Los Angeles for comment on the circumstances surrounding Maiwald's untimely death.
Strangely, the online obituary set up for Maiwald did not mention any health issues before the 61-year-old's death, and NASA JPL would neither confirm nor deny that Maiwald had been employed there for decades, despite records of his achievements listed on their website.
© Facebook.comAnthony Chavez (pictured) was an employee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory until 2017. He disappeared without a trace in May 2025.
The longtime LANL employee left his car locked in the driveway and did not take his wallet, keys or other personal items, which were all found inside Chavez's home.
Although friends considered him an avid hiker, investigators noted that Chavez was not dressed for a long outdoor walk and did not take a phone with him in case of emergency.
LANL has not returned the Daily Mail's request for comment on the nature of Chavez's work at the high-security nuclear lab.
The facility was founded by the famed Manhattan Project during World War II. It has been tied to nuclear weapons research ever since, and one woman feared to possess those secrets is also missing.
© GoFundMeMelissa Casias (pictured) was last seen walking alone in New Mexico after dropping off her husband at work at Los Alamos National Laboratory, but not reporting for work herself.
Her family said she uncharacteristically decided to work from home on the day of her disappearance, but was last spotted miles from their house, walking alone without her wallet, phone or keys.
Moreover, the administrative assistant's personal and work phones were both found inside the Casias' home, wiped clean after someone performed a factory reset on them.
Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker told the Daily Mail that even employees who do not work directly on top-secret scientific research could be targeted by foreign spy agencies, as they often have access to the same information nuclear scientists do.
'In a classified lab, or just a high clearance lab, they would basically be in the know on what's going on,' Swecker said. 'And it wouldn't be the first time their administrative assistant has been targeted.'
'I think you have to pull out all the resources necessary to look for links and look for potential espionage activities. That's where you start,' Swecker recommended.
The counterintelligence expert's warning came after another member of NASA JPL vanished without a trace last year.
© Aerojet RocketdyneMonica Reza (pictured) went missing during a hike in California in June 2025. Reza had worked on the creation of advanced rocket technology before becoming a director at NASA JPL.
Along with working in the same high-profile NASA lab as Maiwald, Reza has also been directly tied to the disappearance of retired Air Force General William Neil McCasland, who oversaw her work creating a revolutionary new metal for missiles and rocket engines.
© US Air ForceRetired Air Force General William Neil McCasland, 68, was last seen near Quail Run Court NE in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in February.
The former general left his New Mexico home with only a pair of boots and a handgun, and did not take his phone, smart devices or glasses.
Comment: For more on General McCasland:
- Retired Air Force general now missing for two weeks, consulted on UFOs for Blink-182's Tom DeLonge
- FBI joins search for missing retired Air Force general with ties to UFO-linked military base
- Scientist connected to missing Air Force general associated with UFOs disappeared last year under eerily similar circumstances
Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett said: 'There have been several others throughout the country that have disappeared under suspicious circumstances. I think we ought to be paying attention to it.'
Along with this growing list of missing person cases, Burchett referenced the string of recent deaths and murders among America's scientific elite.
Since Maiwald died in 2024, three other scientists have died, including another respected researcher tied to NASA and JPL.
Astrophysicist Carl Grillmair, 67, was killed at his home on February 16, 2026, after being shot on his front porch around 6am local time.
Before his murder, the California Institute of Technology researcher's work was heavily supported by NASA JPL, and Grillmair was personally involved with major space telescope missions led by NASA.
The scientist also worked on the NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor, infrared telescope projects that track asteroids but use the same physics as military systems for tracking satellites and hypersonic missiles.
These dual-use infrared sensors fell under McCasland's supervision while the general was in charge of the Air Force Research Lab's space surveillance work.
Two other respected researchers in Massachusetts have been found dead since December 2025. Nuno Loureiro, who was working on breakthroughs using nuclear fusion as an unlimited energy source, was shot dead in his Brookline home last year.
Meanwhile, Jason Thomas, a pharmaceutical researcher testing cancer treatments at Novartis, was found dead in a Wakefield lake on March 17, 2026, after disappearing without a trace three months earlier.
'You can say these are all suspicious,' Swecker said, 'and these are scientists who have worked in critical technology.'
Reader Comments
Happy Easter!
First and foremost just on these two missing people. Cs say McCasland supposedly killed himself, yet no body has been found. Does blowing one's brains out send said person into 4D? Does the gun go along also?
Reza . Absolutely no trace of her in any shape or form. I could "might" accept the 4D thing if I were of said mindset. The C's take belief and/or faith to accept. I work on knowing, not quite there with Cs. If we're talking black ops that's another thing altogether but rather suspect they've not figured out 4D yet. Dunno, ask the Cs.
Maybe they're not really dead after all?
I spent many weeks reading the C's from the beginning. Actually started on LKJ's background, then into the C's progression from the beginning. At some point, I began reading past for hours, then spend more hours in their present. Again, very interesting but we diverged at times. Not saying who's right or wrong, just have to look at this from my perspective–having no faith nor belief systems. I know or don't know, with not knowing being a journey to be taken....
My "connection" with the Law of One and the Cs is all but literal in that in the mid-70s a walk-in soul from Edmonton AB, some 200 miles distant from my then home in Calgary, came literally looking for me; I was the reason she'd "walked in". I say "she" bc because the physical shell "she" reanimated was female. Quite soon after she arrived in Calgary we got to work with a Ouija board and while were able to get what seems in retrospect decent signal to noise, I had no. idea. what we were up against in terms of STS interference; I was 25.
We worked together off and on for about three years, she wanted to get married, I didn't and she went on to marry the man who was the third participant in all our sessions. We were always told the he was more "earthbound" than either of us, solid soul that he certainly was/is.
We were many times told about our adversaries, then called The Nine who were a variant on what is now known as the satanic Order of Nine Angles [Link] but evil has always been here, it's nothing new.
I could go on about this but will close off for the moment by saying that in the closing years of the '90s Laura and I talked several times and swapped some e-mail wherein we agreed that what we had experienced was remarkably like what she was experiencing with the Cs.
I've neither seen nor spoken with my walk-in friend in decades, and more's the pity. I should send her an e-mail.
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And more really is the pity, I would love to get back to that work and have been open a "board partner" for some 40 years by now, but no one has come along.
Happy to read your response, especially since it was so interesting. Have never toyed with an Ouija board and if we weren’t so far apart, I’d certainly entertain the concept. Don’t think our arms are long enough, though! I’m in Florida.
Ironically, I was 24 when I started to play with and “push” my mind. It started with a meditation “seminar” a friend asked me to go to with her. This event was the culmination of the dawning of, “things aren’t quite as they seem.” This gorgeous woman gets up on a small riser stage and begins her “talk.” All the both of us can see is an amazing aura around her. Then the guru follows her on stage, also with massive aura. The two of us were mesmerized. But to me, something was amiss about the “auras.” Then the gauntlet fell. Along came the “for only $ down and $$ a month this guru will teach you this mind changing way to change your life and the world. We both walked out sorely disappointed but wiser.
Traded in some old books for one on transcendental meditation and taught myself. It was life changing indeed and blossomed into other activities. Including out of body experiences, telepathy and premonitions. I was also into macro photography and seeing something as simple as a dirty old penny blown up was truly intriguing. Wanted to reach into the coin and imagined the many hands it had been in. Had a small crystal pyramid, put a filthy penny under it, then set my mind to energize the crud off it. It worked. Could go outside, pick a cloud in the sky and dissipate it. It was truly amazing experience—until my girlfriend told me for her Christmas present it was a diamond or we were done. Came to the proverbial fork in the road. Go right—do the right thing. Go left—explore what I had started, which was setting me free. Did the “right thing,” which was the wrong thing and regretted it. Marriage didn’t last and finding my way back took ages. Still cannot meditate like I used to. Out of body experiences now are closer to poltergeists than what were first encountered. Somewhat joking, somewhat not.
I was more fascinated by Laura’s use of channeling when helping people, before the Cs. Though she had some harrowing instances even with that. Did spend an inordinate amount of time on the Cs site but never felt close to it. The why of which I cannot answer.
Would love to continue this conversation but feel this is not the right place to do so. These are truly personal experiences that had profound impacts on our being. Some wonderful and others, not so much. Gotta find another means of communication. Smoke signals are probably not gonna work….
Monica Reza was hiking with a friend and literally disappeared into thin air. Her vanishing would be the most likely in the 4D realm. Since she was the main part of the alloy for rocket propulsion. Her “teammate” on that discovery died of cancer a while ago. The second missing woman, Melissa Casias was the dead woman’s trusted assistant. All had high clearance. She too, is seen walking alone without her wallet, phone or keys.
Reza is the only one I could try to imagine as going 4D.
Would like also, another (higher) dimension, as this one is far too confining and basically sucks.
It sounds like they may have felt danger and were being tracked, so they took some precautions. However, if they were under active surveillance, then they needed to go back to old tech and how to recognize a 'floating box'.
The point I was trying to make was that they likely felt they were under some sort of surveillance as they left their phones at home. I used to do that myself when I wanted to make a convert connection with someone. I didn't call ahead of time as everything is monitored, I just showed up out of the blue and had my conversation and then went back home and made a simple call to someone about whatever.
I found my biggest problem was all the morons that I had to try and work with. If there was a meeting, I would tell them not to bring their phones, so they would leave them in their cars (duh!), so the spooks would just see where their phones were located. THEN, the morons would get back on their phones and tell someone about the meeting and what we were going to do. - I finally had to go it alone.