Nearly two weeks after his disappearance, authorities say there is still no information about the whereabouts of a retired U.S. Air Force general who had worked with military research programs tied to UFO investigations.
Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said William Neil McCasland, 68, was last seen around 11 am on Friday, February 27, near Quail Run Court NE in Albuquerque. The Sheriff’s Office, which is leading the search, issued a Silver Alert for McCasland due to concerns for his safety. Authorities noted he has an unspecified medical condition.
McCasland’s wife told investigators that he left their home without wearing his watch or bringing his mobile phone. The move, she said, was unusual for someone described as a veteran outdoorsman whose passion includes hiking and skiing. The retired Air Force officer is 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, and has white hair and blue eyes.
Investigators from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said they have been working closely with the FBI and other partner agencies over the past week, but have found no evidence of foul play so far.
Authorities said they are continuing to deploy all available resources, including advanced technologies, while exploring multiple possible scenarios as they pursue to locate McCasland.
Ten days after McCasland went missing, “despite the collective efforts of law enforcement and the community, we still do not know what happened to Neil after he left home on February 27,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Posting in the Albuquerque Trail Running Crew Facebook group, a woman claimed she had informed police after spotting someone matching McCasland’s description near the Whitewash trailhead in Piedra Lisa Canyon, according to the Daily Mail. The authorities are verifying the report.
The disappearance, according to investigative journalist Ross Coulthart, is a serious national security concern.
“The disappearance of retired Major General William Neil McCasland is a grave national security crisis,” Coulthart, in a Newsweek March 9 report, said. He described the retired general as a man “with some of the most sensitive secrets of the United States in his head.”
Colonel Justin Secrest, commander of the 377th Air Base Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, said they are coordinating with local authorities. McCasland previously served at the base. Secrest said, “We are coordinating closely with local authorities and deferring all updates regarding the search efforts to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.”
McCasland retired from the Air Force in 2013, spanning a career in military research and development. He had led the Phillips Research Site at Kirtland Air Force Base and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has since drawn interest from UFO researchers. The base had analyzed debris recovered from the 1947 Roswell incident in New Mexico.
Project Blue Book, the US Air Force’s Cold War-era research into unidentified flying objects, has made the base its home. The project had documented 12,618 alleged UFO sightings, with 701 cases remaining unexplained.