NASA employee’s death: Burned to death in his Tesla; 12 missing and deceased scientists in the US

The decease of a NASA atomic idiosyncratic successful a 2025 postulation mishap has resurfaced successful the nationalist debate, successful the shadiness of the lawsuit involving scientists who person died oregon gone missing successful the US successful caller years. 29-year-old Joshua LeBlanc died successful a postulation mishap successful Huntsville, Alabama, erstwhile the Tesla helium was driving veered disconnected the roadworthy and past collided with a guardrail and trees, aft which it caught fire.

The conveyance was recovered burned connected the day of July 22, 2025, according to Alabama constabulary cited by Fox. About 2 hours later, the 29-year-old’s household reported him missing, according to KLFY. Joshua had not shown up for work. He worked arsenic an aerospace electrical technologist astatine NASA connected atomic propulsion projects.

Joshua’s assemblage was charred and unrecognisable. His individuality was confirmed aft the autopsy. At the time, his household told KLFY that they feared helium had been kidnapped and that helium had near his telephone and wallet astatine location astatine the clip of his disappearance.

Joshua LeBlanc

Police traced LeBlanc utilizing information from his Tesla’s Sentry Mode and recovered that the conveyance had remained astatine Huntsville airdrome for 4 hours connected the greeting of the time helium died. According to the family, helium was not scheduled to spell determination that time and did not interaction them, which was unusual.

His enactment astatine NASA
According to LeBlanc’s LinkedIn profile, helium worked astatine NASA for astir 5 and a fractional years and was caput of the Instrumentation & Control (I&C) squad for the Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) program. NASA’s SNP exertion “will alteration faster and much reliable transport for unit and cargo missions to Mars and technological missions to the outer star system,” according to the abstraction agency’s website. Joshua aboriginal took implicit enactment of NASA’s “Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations” (DRACO) program, a atomic thermal propulsion engine.

Missing and deceased scientists
At slightest 12 different individuals, the immense bulk of whom were progressive successful atomic subject and abstraction research, person died oregon gone missing since 2022, immoderate nether mysterious circumstances:

Monica Hashido Reza, 60, missing
Melissa Cassias, 53, missing
Anthony Chavez, 79, missing
Steven Garcia, 48, missing
William Neil McCasland, 68, missing
Michael David Hicks, 59, deceased
Frank Maywald, 61, deceased
Nuno Loureiro, 47, deceased
Jason Thomas, 45, deceased
Karl Grillmair, 47, deceased
Amy Eskridge, 34, deceased

The lawsuit gained peculiar publicity astir a period agone with the disappearance of retired Air Force Lieutenant General William Neil McCasland. He was past seen leaving his location successful New Mexico, leaving down his phone, physics devices and adjacent his glasses, taking lone a pistol. His woman told the exigency fig “911” that helium appeared to beryllium trying “not to beryllium traced.” McCasland had antecedently overseen the Air Force Research Laboratory astatine Wright-Patterson base, which has agelong been associated with rumours of probe into alien exertion pursuing the Roswell incidental successful 1947. His disappearance fuelled speculation successful UFO circles.

Steven Garcia, a authorities contractor astatine a installation producing astir 80% of the non-nuclear components of US atomic weapons, disappeared successful August 2025, leaving his location successful New Mexico with lone a pistol and without his phone, wallet oregon keys.

Garcia soon earlier his disappearance

Anthony Chavez, Melissa Cassias – a high-security clearance administrative caput – worked astatine Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1 of the astir important US atomic organisations, and disappeared successful 2025 successful a akin manner, leaving down idiosyncratic belongings and walking distant connected foot.

Monica Hashido Reza, caput of a squad astatine NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory progressive successful a abstraction materials probe programme funded by McCasland, disappeared during a travel with friends successful California.

Monica Hashido

Other scientists from the aforesaid institution, Frank Maywald and Michael David Hicks, who was progressive successful NASA’s DART asteroid deflection program, died nether unexplained circumstances successful 2024 and 2023 respectively. In addition, pharmaceutical researcher Jason Thomas was recovered dormant astatine the bottommost of a water successful Massachusetts successful March, aft having been missing since December 2025.

From left, McCasland, Cassias and Chavez

At slightest 2 scientists died violently: astrophysicist Karl Grillmair, whose probe was linked to the US Air Force, and atomic physicist Nuno Loureiro, who had led important advancement successful atomic fusion, were changeable dormant successful their homes.

Nuno Loureiro

This was followed by reports connected Amy Eskridge, a researcher based successful Huntsville, Alabama. Eskridge died connected June 11, 2022, successful Huntsville, astatine the property of 34. Her decease has been reported arsenic a self-inflicted gunshot wound, though constricted details person been released, according to Fox. Eskridge co-founded the Institute for Exotic Science and described her enactment arsenic focused connected experimental propulsion concepts, including probe into what she called “anti-gravity.”

“We discovered anti-gravity and our lives went to hellhole and radical started sabotaging us,” she said successful a 2020 interrogation with YouTuber Jeremy Rys, according to Fox. “It’s harassment, threats. It’s terrible. If you instrumentality your cervix retired publicly, astatine slightest idiosyncratic volition announcement if they instrumentality your caput off. If you instrumentality risks privately, they’ll hide you. They’ll pain your location down portion you’re sleeping and it won’t adjacent marque the news.” In the aforesaid interview, she described what she saw arsenic expanding unit astir her work: “I person to determination guardant with publishing, due to the fact that the longer I delay, the worse things get,” she said, noting that it was becoming “increasingly aggressive.”

In presentations and interviews, Eskridge besides stated that researchers moving connected unconventional technologies whitethorn look unit to retreat their enactment from the nationalist sphere, describing what she saw arsenic a signifier successful which scientists announcing large breakthroughs “disappear” from the nationalist oculus oregon halt publishing.

Amy Eskridge

FBI investigation
The deaths and disappearances person not been officially linked successful immoderate way, but they person drawn the attraction of the White House.

“I anticipation it’s coincidental, but we’ll cognize successful the adjacent week and a half,” Donald Trump told reporters past week.

In a connection to Fox, the FBI confirmed it is moving with different national authorities successful the probe into the deceased and missing scientists: “The FBI is starring efforts to place connections betwixt the missing and deceased scientists. We are moving with the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, arsenic good arsenic our partners successful authorities and section instrumentality enforcement, successful bid to find answers.”