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High-Ranking Air Force General Vanishes in New Mexico, Sparks Concerns
ALBUQUERQUE, NM – A retired U.S. Air Force major general with a distinguished career, including command of a base often linked to UFO rumors, has been missing for nearly two weeks, prompting an urgent appeal from authorities to the public for assistance.
Major General William Neil McCasland, 68, was last seen leaving his Albuquerque residence on foot around 11 a.m. on February 27. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico confirmed that McCasland has not made contact with family or friends since his disappearance, and his cell phone was left behind.
A Silver Alert was issued the following day and remains active. Authorities have expressed heightened concern due to an unspecified “medical issue” McCasland is known to have.
Extensive search efforts have been underway, involving neighborhood canvassing, interviews, and coordinated operations that have reached over 600 local homeowners. McCasland is described as 5-foot-11 with white hair and blue eyes. An experienced outdoorsman, he is known to hike, run, and cycle in the Northeast Heights neighborhood of Albuquerque and the foothills of the Sandia Mountains.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office is collaborating with multiple agencies, including the FBI Albuquerque Field Office and Kirtland Air Force Base, a testament to McCasland’s high-level background and connections. The FBI has confirmed its involvement in the search.
McCasland’s career with the Air Force was marked by highly sensitive roles. An astronautical engineer with degrees from the U.S.
Air Force Academy, MIT, and Harvard, he held key positions such as chief engineer for the Department of Defense’s Global Positioning System program and director of special programs at the Pentagon. Notably, he commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a site frequently associated with claims of housing extraterrestrial debris from the alleged Roswell incident, despite official denials.
Following his retirement, McCasland had a brief association with To The Stars, Inc., a company co-founded by Blink-182 musician Tom DeLonge, which focuses on the study of unidentified aerial phenomena. This connection has led to some speculation, particularly given the timing of his disappearance just days after former President Donald Trump’s social media post directing federal agencies to release records related to extraterrestrial life and UFOs.
Luis Elizondo, a former Department of Defense intelligence officer and advocate for UFO information release, commented on McCasland’s disappearance, stating, “I hope and pray this is not one of those cases where a former senior military officer was specifically targeted.” He emphasized the importance of allowing law enforcement to conduct their investigation before speculating on any connection to UAP research.
McCasland’s wife, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, addressed the speculation in a Facebook post. While confirming his “brief association with the UFO community,” she firmly stated, “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.”
Wilkerson also clarified that despite the Silver Alert, which is typically issued for individuals over 50 with “deterioration of intellectual faculties,” her husband does not have dementia and was “not confused and disoriented.” She dismissed the idea of him being abducted for “very dated secrets,” given his retirement nearly 13 years ago.
Wilkerson expressed gratitude for the extensive community and official support, detailing the “dozens of searchers on foot… horseback searchers, drones with different capabilities, helicopters, three different types of search dogs, neighborhood canvassing and looking for Ring or wildlife videos.”
The sheriff’s office has reported “uncovered no evidence of foul play” but is “still considering all possible scenarios.” Investigators are urging anyone with information to contact them and have provided a dedicated webpage for submitting footage and other files.
In a touch of dark humor, Wilkerson quipped in her post, “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.”