Retired Air Force Major General William Neil McCasland walked out of his Albuquerque home on 27 February and hasn't been seen since, and UFO researchers believe his military background holds the answer.
The 68-year-old former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio vanished in under an hour while his wife was at a medical appointment.
He left behind his phone, prescription glasses, and wearable devices. His wallet, a .38 calibre revolver with a leather holster, and a red backpack remain unaccounted for.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office issued a Silver Alert the following day, noting concerns for McCasland's safety due to medical issues. But it's his career history that has drawn intense scrutiny from the UFO community online.
Why UFO Researchers Are Focused on McCasland
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base served as the headquarters of Project Blue Book, the military's official investigation into UFOs from 1952 to 1969. UFO researchers have long claimed the facility houses wreckage from the 1947 Roswell crash in New Mexico.
McCasland commanded that exact laboratory from 2011 to 2013.
His name resurfaced in UFO circles when Russian hackers leaked emails from Hillary Clinton's former campaign chairman, John Podesta, in 2016. In those messages, Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge wrote that McCasland was advising his UFO disclosure project and was 'very, very aware' of classified material.
'When Roswell crashed, they shipped it to the laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base,' DeLonge wrote to Podesta. 'General McCasland was in charge of that exact laboratory up to a couple years ago. He not only knows what I'm trying to achieve, he helped assemble my advisory team.'
His Wife Disputes the UFO Connection
Susan McCasland Wilkerson has pushed back against speculation tying her husband's disappearance to extraterrestrial secrets.
'Neil worked with Tom for a bit shortly after his Air Force retirement as an unpaid consultant on military and technical/scientific matters to lend verisimilitude to Tom's fiction book and media activities,' she wrote on Facebook. 'Neil does not have any special knowledge about the ET bodies and debris from the Roswell crash stored at Wright-Patt.'
She noted her husband retired nearly 13 years ago, making it 'quite unlikely' anyone would target him for dated secrets.
What Investigators Have Found
Authorities have canvassed more than 700 homes and deployed drones, helicopters, and K-9 units across the Sandia Mountain foothills near McCasland's neighbourhood.
A grey US Air Force sweatshirt was found about 1.25 miles (2 kilometres) from his home eight days after his disappearance, though family members haven't confirmed it belongs to him.
In newly released 911 audio obtained by the Law&Crime Network, Wilkerson told dispatchers she believed her husband 'planned not to be found.' She said he had been experiencing 'mental fog' and had mentioned not wanting to live if his 'brain and body keep deteriorating.'
Calls for Federal Investigation Grow
Representative Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, has requested Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) involvement in the case, calling the disappearance 'deeply concerning.'
'It's remarkable that General McCasland apparently walked out of his home, left all of his devices and never came back,' Burlison said.
McCasland held degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University and served as chief engineer on the Pentagon's Global Positioning System programme.
Anyone with information can contact the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office at 505-468-7070.
