MBC’s Surprise: Mystery Salon, which aired on June 28, revisited several unexplained cases involving experts working in highly sensitive fields such as aerospace, nuclear technology, and national defense.
One of the most puzzling incidents occurred on June 22 last year when 60-year-old Monica Reza disappeared while hiking with a friend in California’s Angeles National Forest. According to reports, she vanished within seconds without leaving any trace. Monica Reza had worked as a NASA rocket scientist and previously led a rocket engine project supported by the U.S. Air Force.
Just four days later, another scientist, Melissa Casias of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, also disappeared under unusual circumstances. She reportedly left her home without taking any personal belongings, including her phone and bag. Local media later reported that all data stored on her mobile phone—including contacts and messages—had been permanently erased.
The string of incidents continued in December 2025 when Professor Nuno Loureiro, a respected authority on nuclear fusion research, was found dead from a gunshot wound at his home.
The mystery deepened eight months later. On February 27 this year, U.S. Air Force scientist William Neil McCasland was reported missing. McCasland had overseen the same rocket engine project previously managed by Monica Reza and formerly served as director of a research laboratory under Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, a facility long associated with rumors that debris from the 1947 Roswell UFO incident was secretly stored there.
According to the television program, a total of 13 scientists connected to national security-related research—including nuclear science, aerospace technology, and defense—have either died under mysterious circumstances or disappeared over the past year.
The broadcast also referenced the 2022 death of anti-gravity and UFO researcher Amy Eskridge. Before her death, she reportedly told close acquaintances that if reports ever claimed she had taken her own life, they should not believe them.
Because many of the cases involve limited evidence, unexplained disappearances, and scientists working on classified technologies, some conspiracy theorists have suggested that alien abductions could be responsible.
Singer and television personality Lee Chan-won noted another unusual coincidence during the program. He pointed out that in June last year—the same month several disappearances began—a powerful radio signal was reportedly detected from NASA’s Relay 2 satellite, which had lost communication nearly 60 years earlier after being launched in the 1960s.
Comedian Kwak Beom argued that the number of incidents was too high to dismiss as coincidence. He speculated that some of the scientists may have possessed highly classified information and could have been eliminated because of what they knew.
Panelist Park So-young added that stories involving alleged alien abductions often feature scientists as the primary targets, further fueling online speculation.
Although no evidence has confirmed any connection between the cases or supported theories involving extraterrestrials, the incidents have generated widespread public interest. Reports have also claimed that U.S. President Donald Trump stated in April that the matter appeared “quite serious” and indicated that an investigation would be launched.
Sources: Daum
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