NM - Retired Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, who led Air Force Research Laboratory, Bernalillo County, 27 February 2026

[moonglow123]

Clarifying that he didn’t have dementia is helpful.

I’m honestly stumped. From my familiarity with the area, I don’t think (imo) it’s possible to get lost indefinitely. Especially with the amount of searches going on and the intensity of them. It’s desert and mountainous, but not *that* impossibly remote and treacherous.

It’s definitely very confusing and odd. Unless (hate to speculate) he was potentially suicidal and tried to hide himself on purpose, but there’s no indication of that as far as we know. Very strange.

 

[Swansee]

As someone who avidly watched the X-files back in the day, of course this case piqued my interest.

The Law&Crime special on his disappearance mentions that he left behind his phone and Apple watch. (9:50 timestamp).

I don't think he would have gone hiking without those.

 

[Occam's Zebra]

The general's wife posted the following on Facebook, which I find oddly worded and quite strange.....
She also has a strange song on YouTube posted about 5 years ago about her man going missing.....

"Neil McCasland has now been missing for one week. There has been no indication whatsoever of where he might be. There have been dozens of searchers on foot, both official and friends and neighbors of Neil's, who coordinate with the official sources. There have also been horseback searchers, drones with different capabilities, helicopters, three different types of search dogs, neighborhood canvassing and looking for Ring or wildlife videos. Organizations involved are Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office

(BCSO) which is the lead organization, Albuquerque field office of the FBI, NM State Search and Rescue, Albuquerque Mountain Rescue, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Albuquerque Police Department, and maybe others of which I am unaware. I am so grateful to one and all for their unflagging dedicated efforts and support.

I would like to take this opportunity to dispel some of the misinformation circulating about Neil and his disappearance, mostly from uninformed media sources.

1. The initial Silver Alert from BCSO mentioned medical conditions, which some have taken to mean Alzheimer's. Neil is at some risk, but not from dementia. He was not confused and disoriented.
2. There was no concerning Friday-morning telephone call to a close relative. I have been in contact with all of his close relatives and some not-so-close ones. This is a complete fabrication.
3. It is true that when Neil was in the Air Force, he had access to home highly classified programs and information. He retired from the AF almost 13 years ago and has had only very commonly held clearances since. It seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him.
4. It is true that Neil had a brief association with the UFO community through Tom DeLonge, former frontman for Blink-182 and founder of the organization To The Stars. Neil worked with Tom for a bit shortly after his Air Force retirement as an unpaid (Neil's choice) consultant on military and technical/scientific matters to lend verisimilitude to Tom's fiction book and media activities. After the Russians hacked John Podesta's emails (see Neil's Wikipedia page), there was less contact with Tom and the community pushing for release of UFO information. This connection is not a reason for someone to abduct Neil. Neil does not have any special knowledge about the ET bodies and debris from the Roswell crash stored at Wright-Patt. Though at this point with absolutely no sign of him, maybe the best hypothesis is that aliens beamed him up to the mothership. However, no sightings of a mothership hovering above the Sandia Mountains have been reported.

All the thoughts and prayers from around the country are much appreciated. I will update if/when any real information comes in."

BBM
This makes it sound like it is common knowledge there are ET bodies stored at Wright-Patterson and Neil just doesn't have any special knowledge about them. I assume it's just bad sentence structure, given that no one has ever acknowledged ET remains.

 

[Ontario Mom]

BBM
This makes it sound like it is common knowledge there are ET bodies stored at Wright-Patterson and Neil just doesn't have any special knowledge about them. I assume it's just bad sentence structure, given that no one has ever acknowledged ET remains.

It's sort of one of the worst kept (alleged) secrets in the UAP space. David Grusch sort of blew that up with his whistleblower testimony before congress in '23 when he stated that "non-human biologics" have been recovered. It's impossible to know for sure what information McCasland has but from all I've heard and read, folks do seem to think he has a LOT of information that has never (officially) been made public.

In any case, disappearing without his phone, keys or any other personal belongings sounds like either a terrible accident, or someone disappeared him. I really don't see this ending well, sadly.

jmo

 

[GatorsNorth]

As someone who avidly watched the X-files back in the day, of course this case piqued my interest.

The Law&Crime special on his disappearance mentions that he left behind his phone and Apple watch. (9:50 timestamp).

I don't think he would have gone hiking without those.

We need Fox Mulder on this case!

MOO

 

[Orbweaver]

BBM
This makes it sound like it is common knowledge there are ET bodies stored at Wright-Patterson and Neil just doesn't have any special knowledge about them. I assume it's just bad sentence structure, given that no one has ever acknowledged ET remains.

When I was 19, living and working on a farm in rural NC, the wealthy retiree neighbors invited me over for lunch. The husband was retired Air Force, spent his career at Wright-Patterson. He told me about the creatures there, described them as “leather children.” That was 18 years ago. I can’t believe I’d forgotten about that! They seemed like such level headed people and the topic only came up because I was born and raised in Ohio.

Anyway, good luck to Neil and his family. I hope he is safe and content wherever he is and comes home soon.

 

[LakeRat55]

BBM
This makes it sound like it is common knowledge there are ET bodies stored at Wright-Patterson and Neil just doesn't have any special knowledge about them. I assume it's just bad sentence structure, given that no one has ever acknowledged ET remains.

Agree, as stated, it sounds like she is acknowledging ET bodies and debris ARE stored at WPAFB, and only that her husband had no "special" knowledge associated with same. Also, she goes into strange details on some topics, such as mentioning Delonge, his position with Blink 182, John Pedestro, Russian hack, etc. Then to top it off, I can't imagine myself joking about alien abduction if my spouse was inexplainably missing for a week! Really a strange response on her part, IMO.

 

[Oldguy]

Different take on his health…

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-ne...appearance-national-security-concern-ufo-uap/

 

[Mack the Knife]

Different take on his health…

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-ne...appearance-national-security-concern-ufo-uap/

“The timing is screechingly relevant,” Coulthart said. “The fact that Gen. Neil McCasland has disappeared off the face of the earth is a grave national security crisis for the United States of America. This is a man with some of the most sensitive secrets of the United States in his head.”

Seems more than a little hyperbolic. What would be highly sensitive and of grave natsec significance, but also not time sensitive because they are known by a man who retired 13 years ago.

By my estimates, it probably has nothing to do with that, but if his time in the Air Force has anything to do with it, it’s because of some kook, not a foreign government or shadowy cabal or whatever else Coulthart means to imply.

 

[starlightstarbright]

Different take on his health…

https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-ne...appearance-national-security-concern-ufo-uap/

So this article makes it seem like the Silver Alert may be less about his poor health and more about the risk of him falling off the surveillance radar.

My hunch is this is a mental health crisis, possibly brought on by the years of scrutiny and stresses of being such a high value person to the US government. Hence why he left everything at home. But there is a little bit of me that wonders if maybe he didn’t just get fed up with it all and want to walk away. Also why he left everything at home. JMO

As for the wife’s statement, I hope this is okay to say, but to me it reads like it’s written by someone who is neurodiverse. The listing of all the different types of searches and the tools used and the level of detail. It sounds like maybe she tried to say something lighthearted or a bit flippant, but it’s landed funny because it didn’t quite come out right. MOO

 

[Swansee]

I have so many questions.
How do we know he "went for a trail run"? Is this an assumption or did he say so?
Is his home equipped with a Ring or Nest or some other type of camera? What does that footage show?
Is there any footage of him heading out to said trail run from neighbors' cameras or traffic cameras?
Did anybody on the trail report actually seeing him there?
How is this not front page news? I mean there is basically nonstop coverage for Nancy Guthrie with regular LE briefings... How is there nothing at all for an arguably way more important figure?

Also:
What strikes me about the wife's statement is that there's no call for help. No "please reach out if you have any info". Just thanks for the thoughts and prayers. I'm NOT trying to say she is in any way involved in his disappearance, but it's odd to me that she isn't calling for help. It's as if she already doesn't expect him to ever be found.
I'm not on social media so don't know if she's posted anything else.

 

[moonglow123]

Former US general linked to UFO research goes missing in New Mexico

Someone claims to have seen him at a trailhead.

The entire situation is odd.

He does not have dementia. He left his phone and watch at home. He’s a very experienced hiker.

Doesn’t feel like he disappeared inadvertently. An experienced hiker isn’t likely to make the mistake of accidentally going off trail and getting lost. Especially in trails right behind his house, that he regularly hiked and biked on.

Which leaves disappearing intentionally. But it’s perplexing for no one to have found him yet with all the people searching. The circumstances are also very strange and fishy with his background.

Weird it’s getting very little media attention too. I hope he’s found soon.

 

[iamshadow21]

I have so many questions.
How do we know he "went for a trail run"? Is this an assumption or did he say so?
Is his home equipped with a Ring or Nest or some other type of camera? What does that footage show?
Is there any footage of him heading out to said trail run from neighbors' cameras or traffic cameras?
Did anybody on the trail report actually seeing him there?
How is this not front page news? I mean there is basically nonstop coverage for Nancy Guthrie with regular LE briefings... How is there nothing at all for an arguably way more important figure?

Also:
What strikes me about the wife's statement is that there's no call for help. No "please reach out if you have any info". Just thanks for the thoughts and prayers. I'm NOT trying to say she is in any way involved in his disappearance, but it's odd to me that she isn't calling for help. It's as if she already doesn't expect him to ever be found.
I'm not on social media so don't know if she's posted anything else.

I think this is a self harm/mental health situation, and the wife knows that. I think she knows that he would be able to make sure he was successful, and if he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be.

Just my opinion.

 

[Lebowski]

Agree, as stated, it sounds like she is acknowledging ET bodies and debris ARE stored at WPAFB, and only that her husband had no "special" knowledge associated with same. Also, she goes into strange details on some topics, such as mentioning Delonge, his position with Blink 182, John Pedestro, Russian hack, etc. Then to top it off, I can't imagine myself joking about alien abduction if my spouse was inexplainably missing for a week! Really a strange response on her part, IMO.

she mostly sounds smart and logical, if a little long-winded. importantly, IMO, she sounds honest.

but yeah, she does get into territory that's IMO irrational. she seems to take it for granted that aliens are real, which maybe shouldn't be a surprise if her husband believes stuff like that (?). then the thing about Jon podesta's emails seems to come out of left field. in combination with the aliens, I get the impression we have a certain kind of overimaginative person here.

the joke that maybe he was beamed up to the alien ship is awkward, but she's probably stressed and tired and expressing frustration that no other theory is panning out. and/or maybe she just has an awkward sense of humor.

 

[wibbleflea]

the joke that maybe he was beamed up to the alien ship is awkward, but she's probably stressed and tired and expressing frustration that no other theory is panning out. and/or maybe she just has an awkward sense of humor.

That was my thought, too. She has probably had quite a few messages and theories from the UAP/UFO people at this point and probably has a dry sense of humour.

 

[Han]

It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma; but perhaps there is a key.

Winston Churchill​

 

[moonglow123]

Yeah, I guess self-harm is what I'm leaning towards too. I could understand not wanting to harm yourself at home... but I also don't understand why you'd try to hide yourself indefinitely instead of just giving family, friends etc. closure. He must've recognized how many LE resources would go towards finding him too. Not blaming him and it would be very sad if this speculation were true, it's just perplexing.

And his past career definitely makes all of it seem weirder. Sad regardless. I still hope there's a chance of search parties finding him, but I wonder if they've begun tapering off already.

 

[Han]

With the search for WM now in its second week, there is still uncertainty about where he may have gone and whether he is still alive.
Search for missing retired Air Force General has few clues

Search and Rescue spokesperson Laura Dodge said on Saturday that a line search on a tight grid used trained volunteers on foot and on horseback with dogs teams "just to find out if we find any more clues, if we find this gentleman or his remains, unfortunately."

• NMSAR searched the Elena Gallegos Open Space area
• clothing was found in the area just north of WM home
• It is not known whether it was clothing McCasland was wearing

… so far they don't know if they are looking in the right area, Dodge said.

 

[diggndeeperstill]

“We are, however, utilizing all possible resources, including advanced technologies, and still considering all possible scenarios as we follow up on leads towards locating Neil,” BCSO added.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/bcso-seeks-publics-help-in-locating-missing-retired-air-force-general-in-albuquerque/

 

[Ontario Mom]

Ross Coulthart, NewsNation special correspondent, joins NewsNation to discuss the disappearance of UFO expert and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Neil McCasland.