Disappearance
Major General William Neil McCasland (Ret.), 68, disappeared from his Albuquerque, New Mexico home on February 27, 2026. According to his wife, Susan McCasland, he was unusually "clingy" that morning, wanted to remain close to her, and appeared emotionally distressed before she left for a doctor's appointment. Records obtained by Los Angeles Magazine also describe a confrontation that morning between McCasland and a technician who was servicing the home's solar panels.
When his wife returned roughly an hour later, McCasland was gone. He had left behind his cell phone, Garmin watch, pocket knife, multitool, and comb — items she said he never left home without. The clothes he had worn that morning had been discarded and replaced with an unidentified outfit.
Last known sighting
A surveillance photograph obtained by Los Angeles Magazine reporter Lauren Conlin through a Freedom of Information Act request, provided by the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, shows McCasland at an REI store in Santa Fe — the location nearest his neighborhood — on February 26, 2026, the day before he disappeared. He appears calm and composed, carrying a large white parcel, a smaller boxed item, and a yellow slip of paper. Conlin has noted that the items may have been a pre-ordered pickup rather than a purchase made that day; this is her own speculation and has not been confirmed.
Body-camera testimony
NewsNation reported on body-camera footage, obtained by Law&Crime, in which an unidentified woman told investigating officers she had dinner with McCasland and members of the U.S. Space Force the night before his disappearance. She described him as having taken new medication prescribed the night before to help him sleep, said he had lost roughly 20 pounds "for no reason," and quoted him describing the medication's after-effects as feeling "foggy," with no motivation. The woman said she worked with McCasland through the Kirtland Partnership Committee, a nonprofit organization connected to Kirtland Air Force Base.
This testimony is recorded on official police body-camera footage; the speaker's identity is withheld in the reporting, but the substance of the account is corroborated by separately sourced, named reporting from Los Angeles Magazine, below.
Personal and health context
In the year preceding his disappearance, McCasland's father died, his mother was moved into memory care, and the family experienced several additional deaths. According to a friend interviewed by investigators, McCasland had described a recurring nightmare in which he stood in a room surrounded by friends who slowly turned their backs on him and walked away. A police report states that "these events may have contributed to a growing fear of abandonment."
His wife told investigators he had been experiencing anxiety, depression, persistent dry mouth, difficulty regulating his body temperature, and what the couple called "brain fog," along with a noticeable decline in his short-term memory. Colleagues separately noticed changes during a January 2026 ski trip to Japan, where one acquaintance said McCasland "was not himself" and struggled to finish sentences, abruptly cutting short activities he had previously been looking forward to.
His wife's first search for him was at Elena Gallegos Open Space, a location he frequented. She told investigators that if he had intended to end his life, she believed he would have chosen a location where a child would not discover him — her own characterization of his disposition, not an established fact about his intent.
Connection to other cases
NewsNation has reported, citing authorities, that Monica Reza — the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory materials engineer who disappeared while hiking in June 2025 — was a former colleague of McCasland's. A connection between the two cases already appears in this site's coverage of the April 2026 congressional oversight letters, which describe press reports alleging "a direct link" between them through an Air Force-funded research program in the early 2000s. This site treats the connection as a reported claim under active congressional review, not as an independently established fact.
Security clearance — sourcing note
McCasland's military record independently and publicly establishes that he commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base — a position that, as a matter of public record, carries high-level security clearance requirements. This is the only clearance-related claim in this case that does not rely on an unnamed source.
Beyond this, two further claims appear in press coverage of the case, both attributed to unnamed individuals. Los Angeles Magazine reported that an unnamed friend told investigators McCasland "held some of the nation's highest security clearances" during his Air Force career. Separately, an unnamed woman identified only as a former colleague told The Mirror that McCasland's name appears in UFO-related government documents she expects to be released. Neither claim is independently confirmed by a named official or document, and neither meets this site's sourcing standard on its own. They are included here only because they appear in the cited outlets' published coverage — not as established fact.
Investigation status
The FBI joined the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office investigation on March 3, 2026. As of this writing, McCasland remains classified as a missing person, and no cause has been officially determined.
Source note
Reporting drawn from Los Angeles Magazine (Lauren Conlin), based on records obtained from the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office via Freedom of Information Act request, published June 12, 2026. Body-camera footage reporting is sourced to NewsNation, citing footage obtained by Law&Crime, published in early June 2026. The unnamed-colleague claim regarding classified documents is sourced to The Mirror (U.S. edition), citing an unidentified caller. McCasland's command of the Air Force Research Laboratory is a matter of public military record.