{"id":744511,"date":"2026-04-22T04:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/744511\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T04:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:05:17","slug":"fbi-probes-cases-of-missing-or-dead-scientists-including-four-from-the-l-a-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/744511\/","title":{"rendered":"FBI probes cases of missing or dead scientists, including four from the L.A. area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Amid growing national security concerns, the FBI said Tuesday that it has launched a broad investigation in the deaths or disappearances of at least 10 scientists and staff<\/a> connected to highly sensitive research, including four from the Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,\u201d the agency said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The FBI\u2019s announcement comes after the House Oversight Committee announced that it would investigate reports of the disappearance and deaths of the scientists, sending letters seeking information from the agencies involved in the federal inquiry as well as NASA, which owns the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Ca\u00f1ada Flintridge, where three of the missing or dead scientists worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets,\u201d Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) wrote in the letters.<\/p>\n

President Trump told reporters last week<\/a> that he had been briefed on the missing and dead scientists, which he described as \u201cpretty serious stuff.\u201d He said at the time that he expected answers on whether the deaths were connected \u201cin the next week and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael David Hicks, who studied comets and asteroids at JPL, was the first of the scientists who disappeared or died. He died on July 30, 2023, at the age of 59. No cause of death was disclosed.<\/p>\n

A year later, JPL physicist Frank Maiwald died at 61, with no cause of death disclosed.<\/p>\n

Two other Los Angeles scientists are part of the string of deaths and disappearances.<\/p>\n

On June 22, 2025, Monica Jacinto Reza, a materials scientist at JPL, disappeared while on a hike near Mt. Waterman in the San Gabriel Mountains.<\/p>\n

On Feb. 16, Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair was fatally shot on the porch<\/a> of his Llano home. The Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s department arrested Freddy Snyder, 29, in connection with the shooting. Snyder had been arrested in December on suspicion of trespassing on Grillmair\u2019s property.<\/p>\n

Snyder has been charged with murder<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is no evidence at this point that the deaths and disappearances, which occurred over a span of four years, are connected.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for NASA, which owns JPL, said in a statement on X that the agency is \u201ccoordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,\u201d agency spokesperson Bethany Stevens wrote. \u201cThe agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emily Velasco, a spokesperson for Caltech, which manages JPL and where Grillmair worked, said the university is aware of the new investigation but had not been contacted in connection with it.<\/p>\n

Velasco said the community is still reeling from Grillmair\u2019s death. \u201cHe was a beloved colleague, and his loss has deeply affected many people here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Missing Persons Unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department said the investigation into Reza\u2019s disappearance last year is still active.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this time, there are no clear indications of foul play; however, investigators are continuing to evaluate all possibilities and are not ruling anything out,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdditionally, investigators have spoken to other law enforcement agencies in out-of-state jurisdictions comparing case facts and have not found any connection to missing person Reza\u2019s disappearance to any other cases similar in nature at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Amid growing national security concerns, the FBI said Tuesday that it has launched a broad investigation in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":744512,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[22608,29495,18018,306806,4446,3040,41149,306807,12644,20039,19945,916,50,255273,290,11004,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-744511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-agency","tag-cause","tag-connection","tag-dead-scientist","tag-death","tag-department","tag-disappearance","tag-fbi-probe","tag-information","tag-jpl","tag-letter","tag-nasa","tag-news","tag-snyder","tag-state","tag-statement","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116446385031236026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/744512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}