Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Four Pasadena-Area Scientist Deaths or Disappearances Among Those Under Federal Review, Officials Say

Carl Grillmair, 67, a research scientist at Caltech’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, was fatally shot on February 16. His death is among those being investigated in the wake of a wave of deaths and disappearances of U.S. scientists. [Caltech photo]

FBI, White House and House Oversight Committee are examining cases tied to JPL and Caltech

Three researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena and a Caltech astrophysicist shot to death at his Antelope Valley home are among at least 10 U.S. scientists whose deaths or disappearances are now under coordinated federal review, officials announced this week.

The FBI, the White House and the House Oversight Committee have opened parallel inquiries into the cases, which date to 2023, to determine whether any of them are connected or represent a national security concern.

NASA said in a statement that nothing related to the agency indicates a national security threat.

The Pasadena-area cases involve three researchers who worked at JPL — Michael David Hicks, Frank Maiwald and Monica Reza — and Carl Grillmair, a Caltech astrophysicist. JPL is managed by Caltech for NASA.

On April 17, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that the administration was working with federal agencies on a review of the cases.

“In light of the recent and legitimate questions about these troubling cases, and President Trump’s commitment to the truth, the White House is actively working with all relevant agencies and the FBI to holistically review all of the cases together and identify any potential commonalities that may exist,” she wrote. “No stone will be unturned in this effort, and the White House will provide updates when we have them.”

The following Monday, House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, and Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs Chairman Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, sent letters to FBI Director Kash Patel, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. The Committee requested staff-level briefings by April 27, according to its press release.

“If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets,” Comer and Burlison wrote in the letters.

On Tuesday, the FBI confirmed its role.

“The FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists,” the agency said in a statement. “We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and state and local law enforcement partners to find answers.”

NASA, through spokesperson Bethany Stevens, said Monday the agency is cooperating with the review.

“At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,” Stevens wrote on X. “The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able.”

The earliest of the Pasadena-adjacent cases is the July 30, 2023, death of Hicks, a 59-year-old Sunland resident who worked at JPL as a NASA postdoc and then as a research scientist from 1998 until 2022, according to the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences. His research specialty was the physical properties of comets and asteroids, and he served on the science teams of the DART Project, the Near Earth Asteroid Tracking Project, the Dawn Mission and NASA Deep Space 1.

His cause of death was not publicly disclosed.

His daughter, Julia Hicks, told CNN that her father had been struggling with known medical issues and that the recent speculation had her “shaken up.”

Frank Werner Maiwald, 61, a JPL researcher, died on July 4, 2024, in Los Angeles, according to his obituary as reported by Men’s Journal and NewsNation. No public cause of death has been disclosed. The obituary stated that Maiwald managed development of the Surface Biology and Geology VSWIR instrument and had overseen delivery of instruments for the AMR-C program at JPL.

Reza, 60, disappeared on June 22, while hiking near Mount Waterman in the Angeles National Forest. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said she was last seen around 9:10 a.m. along Angeles Crest Highway. According to NewsNation, her hiking companion told investigators she waved and indicated she was doing fine, and was gone when he turned back moments later. At the time of her disappearance, Reza was Director of Materials Processing at JPL, the House Oversight Committee said. She co-invented Mondaloy, a nickel-based superalloy used in rocket engines, while working at Rocketdyne in the mid-1990s.

The sheriff’s department concluded the initial search phase on June 30, and transferred the case to its Homicide Bureau’s Missing Persons Unit. She has not been found.

Grillmair, 67, a research scientist at Caltech’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, was fatally shot on his front porch in Llano, an unincorporated community in the Antelope Valley, on February 16, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner. He was noted for discovering water on a distant planet, and his work included research using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope, according to City News Service.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department arrested Freddy Snyder, 29, and he was charged with murder and carjacking, according to FOX 11 Los Angeles. A motive has not been released. Snyder had been arrested in December after trespassing on Grillmair’s property while carrying a rifle, ABC7 Los Angeles reported.

The federal reviews extend beyond the four Pasadena-adjacent cases. At least six other scientists have disappeared or died in recent years, including a pair of workers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, a nuclear research facility in New Mexico, according to City News Service. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William “Neil” McCasland, 68, disappeared from his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home on February 27, reportedly leaving with a .38 caliber revolver, according to Fortune.

McCasland previously led a research laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The War Department told the Oversight Committee there are “no active national security investigations” involving any current or former personnel tied to the reported cases, Fox News reported.

On April 16, President Donald Trump told reporters the situation was “pretty serious stuff” and that he hoped it was random, Newsweek reported.

Staff-level briefings from the four federal agencies are due to the House Oversight Committee by April 27.