Retired United States Air Force Maj. Gen. William “Neil” McCasland went missing on February 27 after leaving his Albuquerque home on foot around 11 a.m. Given his links to the UFO research community, theories ran wild about his sudden disappearance. However, his wife, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, has now come forward and given her statement on this topic.
MotorBiscuit reported the disappearance of McCasland, who headed the Phillips Research Site at Kirtland Air Force Base and served as the chief engineer for the military’s Global Positioning System program. It has been nearly two weeks since he went missing, but there has been no trace of his whereabouts since.
He loved the outdoors and was an avid skier. He also hiked often, and as a result, search teams in New Mexico have been searching the trails and ravines of the nearby Sandia Mountains. Notably, the general left his smartwatch, his smartphone, and his glasses at home. However, his wallet, hiking boots, and a .38-caliber revolver in a leather holster were missing.
Due to his links with the UFO community, the case of his disappearance has been clouded with speculation. What added to the hype was McCasland’s past work leading the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which has been linked to alien conspiracy theories, such as the Roswell Incident from 1947.
His wife, Wilkerson, felt the need to clarify through a Facebook post on March 7, stating that he had no special knowledge about UFOs or aliens. She wrote:
“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 some 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.”
Authorities have been proactive in their search and are urging anyone with information about him or footage from February 27 and 28, from the Sandia Mountains or his neighborhood, to come forward.