Key facts
- Name: William Neil McCasland
- Born: c. 1957
- Age at disappearance: 68
- Last seen: February 27, 2026, morning
- Location: Northeast Heights, Albuquerque, New Mexico (residence)
- Height / build: 5’11”, white hair, blue eyes
- Status: Still missing — Silver Alert; FBI assisting; open investigation
- Investigating agency: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office / FBI / New Mexico Search and Rescue
The one-hour window
On the morning of Friday, February 27, 2026, a repairman was at the McCasland home in Albuquerque’s Northeast Heights. He saw and spoke with Neil McCasland around 10 a.m. At 11:10, McCasland’s wife, Susan, left for a medical appointment. When she came home at 12:04 p.m., he was gone.
Somewhere in that hour, a 68-year-old retired Air Force major general walked out of his house and vanished.
What he left: his phone. His Apple Watch. His prescription glasses, on the kitchen table. What he took: his hiking boots, his wallet, a red backpack — and a .38-caliber revolver in a leather holster.
Susan called 911 that afternoon. On the call, she said words that have been quoted in every account since: “I think he planned not to be found.”
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office issued a Silver Alert the next day. New Mexico Search and Rescue joined on March 1. Within two weeks, the FBI was in. More than 600 volunteers, deputies on foot and horseback, drones, helicopters, K-9 units — they swept the Sandia Mountains, the rugged range McCasland knew well as an avid hiker. They found nothing.
Who Neil McCasland was
William Neil McCasland was not an ordinary missing person. He was an astronautical engineer with a PhD from MIT — his dissertation, supervised by Richard Battin, the primary designer of the Apollo program’s guidance computer, was dedicated to his father, an Air Force lieutenant killed in a flying accident when McCasland was young.
His 34-year Air Force career ran through the most sensitive corridors of American aerospace: the Secretary of the Air Force’s Office of Special Projects, chief engineer of the Navstar GPS Joint Program Office, director of special programs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense — a post that made him executive secretary of the Special Access Program Oversight Committee, with purview over America’s most classified programs. In May 2011 he took command of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, leading billions in advanced research until his retirement in October 2013.
After retirement he became director of technology at Applied Technology Associates in Albuquerque, a subsidiary of the defense conglomerate BlueHalo. He endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. He was, by every account, mentally sharp and physically fit.
The speculation — and the pushback
Within days, McCasland’s disappearance was folded into something larger than itself. His résumé — Wright-Patterson, special programs, a brief association with Tom DeLonge’s To The Stars organization — made him irresistible to the UFO-conspiracy ecosystem. His vanishing came days after a presidential order on UFO document releases. Online, his name was placed on lists of “missing scientists” supposedly silenced for what they knew. In April 2026, the House Oversight Committee sought information from federal agencies about McCasland and others.
His wife pushed back, publicly and specifically. Writing on Facebook on March 6, 2026, Susan McCasland Wilkerson said her husband had held “only very commonly held [security] clearances” since retiring 13 years earlier — “it seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him.” His UFO-community association, she said, amounted to a brief consulting role for a fiction book. She also disclosed that he suffered from a chronic health issue.
The Bernalillo County sheriff said there was “no evidence indicating foul play.” The Silver Alert, the sheriff’s office explained, was issued because early information suggested McCasland “could be at some level of risk and that additional public assistance was needed to locate him” — not because of any suspected crime.
The speculation is worth naming because it has drowned out the actual case: a 68-year-old man with a health condition walked into the mountains with a gun and didn’t come back. Everything else is noise.
Theories: what might have happened
A planned walk that went wrong — or was meant to. The inventory is the whole case: phone, watch, and glasses deliberately left; boots, wallet, and revolver deliberately taken. His wife’s own words on the 911 call — “I think he planned not to be found” — point toward a man who intended to disappear, whether to die in the mountains he loved or simply to leave. The Sandias are vast, rugged, and unforgiving; extensive searches found no trace, which proves little either way.
Foul play. Authorities have said from the start there is no evidence of it. No signs of a struggle at the home, no suspicious persons reported, nothing taken that suggests robbery. It remains the least supported theory — but in a case with no body and no trail, it can’t be fully closed.
The conspiracy roster. The “missing scientists” theory treats McCasland as one of eleven people silenced over secrets. It has no evidence connecting the cases to each other or to any silencing effort; his wife’s account of his dated clearances and brief UFO-world contact undercuts its central premise. It is rumor, and should be labeled as such — while the family waits for real answers.
Have information?
Contact the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324) / tips.fbi.gov. In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- c. 1957 — William Neil McCasland is born into an Air Force family.
- 1979 — Graduates from the U.S. Air Force Academy (astronautical engineering).
- 1980 / 1988 — Master’s and PhD from MIT.
- 2011–2013 — Commands the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB.
- October 2013 — Retires from the Air Force as a major general.
- February 27, 2026, ~10:00–11:10 a.m. — Last seen at his Albuquerque home; gone when his wife returns at 12:04 p.m.
- February 27, 2026, afternoon — Susan McCasland Wilkerson reports him missing; tells 911 “I think he planned not to be found.”
- February 28, 2026 — Bernalillo County issues a Silver Alert.
- March 1, 2026 — New Mexico Search and Rescue joins; FBI joins within two weeks.
- March 6, 2026 — His wife publicly rebuts speculation about classified secrets and UFO connections.
- April 2026 — House Oversight Committee seeks federal information on McCasland and other missing/deceased scientists.
- June 2026 — Wikipedia and national missing-persons lists continue to carry him as missing.
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Neil McCasland still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, retired Maj. Gen. William “Neil” McCasland has been missing for more than seven months. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office investigation remains open with FBI assistance.
What did Neil McCasland take when he disappeared?
He left behind his phone, Apple Watch, and prescription glasses, but took his hiking boots, wallet, a red backpack, and a .38-caliber revolver in a leather holster — an inventory his wife described as suggesting he “planned not to be found.”
Was Neil McCasland’s disappearance connected to UFO secrets?
There is no evidence of that. His wife stated he had held only routine security clearances since retiring in 2013 and had only a brief association with the UFO research world (consulting on a fiction book). The sheriff has said there is no evidence of foul play. The “missing scientists” conspiracy theory linking his case to others is unproven speculation.
Who was Neil McCasland?
A retired U.S. Air Force major general and astronautical engineer (USAF Academy ’79, MIT PhD) who commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson AFB from 2011 to 2013. At the time he vanished, he was director of technology at Applied Technology Associates in Albuquerque.
How can I help?
Share this case file. Anyone with information — particularly hikers with GoPro or wildlife-camera footage from the Sandia Mountains area in late February 2026 — should contact the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office or the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office (Silver Alert, Feb 28, 2026); FBI; New Mexico Search and Rescue.
- News: Albuquerque Journal (Gregory R. C. Hasman, March 2, 2026); Newsweek (March 2026); CNN; Scientific American.
- Reference: Wikipedia, “Neil McCasland” (retrieved Oct 2026); Wikipedia, “Missing scientists” (retrieved Oct 2026); U.S. Air Force biography (2013).
- Media: House Oversight Committee press release (April 2026).
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.