A string of deaths and disappearances involving researchers with ties to U.S. military, nuclear, and aerospace programs has reached 11 cases, with President Donald Trump saying Thursday the federal government is investigating and expects answers within days.
“I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half,” Trump told reporters, adding that he had “just left a meeting” on the matter and described the situation as “pretty serious.”
The 11th case now drawing attention involves Amy Eskridge, a 34-year-old Huntsville, Alabama-based researcher who died June 11, 2022. Her death was reported as a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Eskridge co-founded the Institute for Exotic Science and described her work as focused on experimental propulsion concepts, including what she called “antigravity” research.
Before her death, Eskridge gave interviews suggesting her work had drawn unwanted attention. “We discovered anti-gravity and our lives went to hell and people started sabotaging us,” she said in a 2020 interview. “It’s harassment, threats. It’s awful.”
She also offered a warning about secrecy: “If you stick your neck out in public, at least someone notices if your head gets chopped off. If you stick your neck out in private, they will bury you.”
Eskridge’s case is now listed alongside 10 others: retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William “Neil” McCasland, NASA scientist Monica Jacinto Reza, contractor Steven Garcia, astrophysicist Carl Grillmair, MIT physicist Nuno Loureiro, NASA engineer Frank Maiwald, Los Alamos-linked employees Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez, NASA researcher Michael David Hicks, and pharmaceutical scientist Jason Thomas.
Several of the deaths occurred under unusual circumstances. Loureiro, an MIT professor, was gunned down in his apartment near the university. Other cases involve researchers who disappeared without explanation.
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration said it is looking into the pattern. “NNSA is aware of reports related to employees of our labs, plants, and sites and is looking into the matter,” the agency said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Officials have not confirmed any connection between the cases. No publicly available evidence links Eskridge’s death to the others, and authorities have not indicated her work played a role in her death.
The common thread across most of the 11 is their access to sensitive research areas: nuclear weapons programs, classified aerospace development, military propulsion, and advanced physics. Whether that overlap reflects something beyond coincidence is what the government says it intends to find out.
Trump gave no additional details about the nature of the meeting he attended or which agencies are involved in the review.
