A retired Air Force general known in UFO circles has gone missing during a hike in New Mexico, just months after a former colleague disappeared in a nearly identical case. 

US Major General William Neil McCasland, 68, was last seen on the morning of February 27 as he left his Albuquerque home with only a backpack, wallet and .38-caliber revolver for a trail run, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office.

Sources previously told The New York Post that McCasland was a 'gatekeeper' and 'participant' in the UFO community.

His disappearance has only fueled speculation around the disappearance of 60-year-old Monica Reza, who had worked on a rocket project overseen by McCasland, who also went missing in June 2025. 

In a chillingly similar case, Reza was last seen hiking in a California forest with a colleague, smiling and waving moments before she 'vanished off the face of the earth,' according to NewsNation. 

For months, authorities and volunteers have combed the area using every resource at their disposal, but the aerospace engineer remains missing without a trace. 

At a recent press conference, Sheriff John Allen said a Silver Alert was issued for McCasland after reports of a 'mental fog' in the months before his disappearance, adding that he had no other known health problems. 

Yet despite an intensive search involving drones, helicopters, ground crews and K-9 units, the avid outdoorsman - and any trace of his belongings - also remains missing. 

'Let me be straight. We've had a lot of tips, and we will go through every tip. But there are some tips with some outlandish theories, conspiracy theories,' the sheriff said.

'We will look into everything, but we are trying as a law enforcement agency and entity,' he added.

The general's wife, Susan McCasland, posted on Facebook to set the record straight amid what she described as 'misinformation' about her husband's disappearance. 

'It is true that Neil had a brief association with the UFO community,' she wrote. 'This connection is not a reason for someone to abduct Neil.

'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.'

Just nine months ago, Reza - known professionally as Monica Jacinto at Aerojet Rocketdyne as a material scientist - was last seen hiking on the popular Mount Waterman Trail in the Angeles National Forest in Los Angeles.