Just when the story about missing retired U.S. Air Force Major General William Neil McCasland couldn’t get much stranger, another twist pops up. It turns out that McCasland’s former colleague, Monica Reza, also vanished under mysterious circumstances last summer.

Since Friday, February 27, when people last saw him going for a trail run close to his house, authorities have been searching for McCasland. The FBI, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico Search & Rescue, and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) in New Mexico are investigating his disappearance.

McCasland commanded the Phillips Research Site and Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. He also previously oversaw research at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, where the military’s notorious Project Blue Book looked into UFOs. The 2016 WikiLeaks release also described him as a key adviser on several UFO-related projects. Because of this, at least one expert has called his disappearance a “grave national security crisis.”

 

McCasland left his wearable technology, prescription glasses, and phone at home before heading out for a trail run. McCasland has a leather-holstered .38 caliber handgun. Since the authorities are currently unable to explain it, there is conjecture that he might have been carrying it when he disappeared.

So far, almost zero developments have emerged in the search, other than Susan McCasland Wilkerson, the general’s wife, attempting to clear up what she called “misinformation” around her husband’s disappearance. According to officials, there have been no verified sightings or videos of him departing the region or indicating his direction of travel.

A similar case of someone with government ties disappearing while on a hike

Nine months ago, witnesses last saw Monica Reza hiking in the Angeles National Forest with a companion. Reza was an aerospace engineer who reportedly worked on developing a special metal for rockets as part of a U.S. government project overseen by General McCasland.

According to NewsNation reporter Alex Caprariello, on June 22 of last year, Reza “vanished off the face of the earth.”

“Last seen hiking in the Los Angeles forest with a companion. By all accounts, everything seemed normal that day. She was about 30 feet behind the person she was hiking with, smiling and waving,” he said in a new report.

“He turned around, next thing, you know, she was just completely gone. Rescue teams spent days looking for her, but actually never recovered her body.”

 

Do the two missing persons cases connect?

“We don’t know whether or not these missing persons cases are connected at this point, but I did tip off the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department about it, asked if this was a lead that they were investigating, and we’re still waiting to hear back,” Caprariello added.

All that has been said about any possible connection thus far by law enforcement came when Sheriff John Allen noted, “We’ve had a lot of tips, and we will go through every tip, but there are some tips with some outlandish theories, conspiracy theories. We will look into everything, but we are trying as a law enforcement agency and entity.”

Interestingly, a writer for Los Angeles magazine reported on Wednesday, “Online speculation has attempted to link Reza’s case to that of retired Air Force General Neil McCasland, in part because of the claims circulating on social media that Reza previously worked in the aerospace sector. However, there is no confirmed reporting from law enforcement or the government establishing that Reza worked for a company directly overseen by McCasland during his tenure at the Air Force Research Laboratory. Strangely, days after Reza’s disappearance, despite not recovering her body, she was listed as having a biodegradable burial.”