SPECULATION HAS BEEN growing this week over whether there is a link between the cases of ten US scientists who have died or gone missing over the last three years.

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump said the situation was “pretty serious stuff” and that there would be answers in the “next week and a half”. 

During a White House press briefing on Wednesday, a Fox News reporter told Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt: “There are now 10 American scientists who have either gone missing or died since mid-2024. They all reportedly had access to classified nuclear or aerospace material. Is anybody investigating this to see if these things are connected?”

Leavitt responded: “I haven’t spoken to our relevant agencies about it. I will certainly do that, and we’ll get you an answer. If true, of course, that’s definitely something I think this government and administration would deem worth looking into. So let me do that for you.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt Alamy Alamy

The following day, when asked about it, Trump said he had “just left a meeting” on the matter.

“Some of them were very important people, and we’re going to look at it, ” Trump said, adding that he hoped it was “random” and “just a coincidence”. 

There is no evidence to suggest the deaths and disappearances are linked, but conspiracy theories that they are and that they relate to potential espionage or UFO connections have rapidly spread online.

According to US media reports, at least 10 researchers and military officials have disappeared or died under mysterious circumstances since 2023.

Among them was retired Air Force General William McCasland, 68, who disappeared from his Albuquerque home in February without his mobile phone or prescription glasses.

According to CNN, McCasland was at the centre of some of the Pentagon’s most advanced aerospace research during his career and once commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

There has been no confirmation of foul play by US police, with the local sheriff’s office in New Mexico this week stating they were aware of speculation surrounding the case but remain focused on facts and credible leads.

The sheriff’s office told US publication Newsweek that it had “not developed evidence establishing that Mr. McCasland’s disappearance is connected to his classified work”.

“This remains an active investigation, and we are not going to speculate or rule in or rule out possibilities without evidence,” the sheriff’s office said.

Eight months before McCasland’s disappearance, Nasa scientist Monica Reza was reported missing after failing to return home from a hike in the Angeles National Forest in Southern California, according to US media reports.

McCasland and Reza’s disappearances are among a cluster of others, including two scientists fatally attacked at their homes, that have been cited in the online theories suggesting a pattern.

Some members of the US Congress have called for investigations into the disappearances.