Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Missing or dead scientists - part 1 of 2
Transcript
- 0:03From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
- 0:06us on a Journey to the Fringe. Chelsea, we are
- 0:23actually doing something that is in the news
- 0:26now as opposed to 10 years past. You know what
- 0:29is so funny? I have had multiple podcast episodes
- 0:33pop up on this without spoiling what it is. Watch
- 0:37me say it before you do. And I totally disregarded
- 0:40it. I have no idea what's going on in the news
- 0:42with it. That is fantastic to hear because you
- 0:45can't call me out on my bullshit now. Anyhow.
- 0:50We are your podcast host, Taylor and Chelsea,
- 0:52here today covering the phenomenon that is the
- 0:56missing or dead scientists in North America.
- 1:00With weird timing. Very weird timing with regards
- 1:04to that. And I think that actually spurred me
- 1:06into doing this episode, the news that happened
- 1:08on Monday. This was on my burner of episodes
- 1:10to get to. And that kind of pushed me into he's
- 1:13going to be grouped into this group. So we have
- 1:15to... David Wilcock's going to be clumped into
- 1:20this group. I have seen the number changed recently.
- 1:24I don't know for sure whether or not it's to
- 1:26include David Wilcock. But right now, what has
- 1:29been making its way around is 11 scientists have
- 1:33either been murdered or missing across the US
- 1:36in a short period of time. I don't know, Chelsea,
- 1:39have you heard somebody put together why they're
- 1:41doing it? Or is it just you've only heard that
- 1:44they've been murdered? or I've literally only
- 1:46heard the headline missing you know what I have
- 1:49heard it in the news and it was the Sunday episode
- 1:53of David Wilcox I did refer to that as news yes
- 1:57that's all I've heard literally people saying
- 2:00missing and dead scientists I know nothing more
- 2:03well Chelsea I know I've seen the list extended
- 2:05to 12 recently I have a list of 11 that was up
- 2:09to date as of last week. I have taken each person
- 2:13on that list. We're going to go through them,
- 2:15what their job was, what's happened to them during
- 2:17that time. Okay. if there's any explanation as
- 2:20to what's happening. We're gonna break down this
- 2:23list to see if there's actually anything that
- 2:25needs to be looked at here or why these people
- 2:28might be missing or dead. That brings it all
- 2:31together. Okay, I'm looking forward to this.
- 2:33Before we get too far into it, this is a heavy
- 2:35week apparently for Journey to the Fringe. I
- 2:38think it is important to start off with we want
- 2:40it to be clear we're going to be talking about
- 2:43a number of people who have died or disappeared
- 2:45under very different circumstances and none of
- 2:47this is meant to make light of their lives or
- 2:50their family's grief. Some of these families
- 2:51are still going through the grief. Some of these
- 2:53are very recent. Really? Like how recent? Yes.
- 2:56Or are we going to talk about it when we get
- 2:58to them? I have the dates for everything. Okay.
- 3:01I'll just wait in suspense. These are people
- 3:03with real stories and the tragedy of their loss
- 3:06isn't up for debate. But to understand how their
- 3:09names ended up bundled together into a single
- 3:11viral narrative about missing scientists, we
- 3:13have to talk about the details of their deaths
- 3:15and disappearances. Our goal isn't to sensationalize
- 3:18this, it's to separate fact from fiction and
- 3:21look at how unrelated events get woven into a
- 3:24conspiracy that may or may not hold up under
- 3:25scrutiny. Today, Chelsea, we're going to get
- 3:28through a portion of the list. That portion of
- 3:31the list, I don't want to say what it is right
- 3:32off the bat because it kind of spoils it all,
- 3:35but you might put together as I get going what
- 3:37that part of the list is. The first person we're
- 3:40going to talk about, this is the name that actually
- 3:42started the list getting compiled, Major General
- 3:44William Neil McCasland. He was a retired Air
- 3:48Force official. He was known for his leadership
- 3:50at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque,
- 3:52New Mexico, and he went missing from his home
- 3:55in Albuquerque on February Wow, yeah that's super
- 4:00recent. He's not even the most recent. His phone,
- 4:03prescription glasses, wearable devices were found
- 4:06at home but his hiking boots, wallet, and .38
- 4:09caliber revolver were reported missing according
- 4:11to the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office. McCaslin
- 4:15was linked to unidentified aerial phenomena research
- 4:18in the 2016 WikiLeaks release of John Podesta's
- 4:21emails. The messages highlighted his former leadership
- 4:24of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright
- 4:26-Patterson Air Force Base, a site frequently
- 4:28associated with Roswell -related UFO theories.
- 4:31Podesta's involvement in UFO disclosure initiatives
- 4:34is well documented throughout his service in
- 4:36both the Clinton and Obama administration. The
- 4:39Tom DeLong led To the Stars Academy, a non -profit
- 4:42associated with the UFO disclosure movement.
- 4:44The pair's collaboration on seemingly fringe
- 4:46science led some to speculate that public officials
- 4:48like McCaslin were manipulating DeLong into developing
- 4:51a UFO cover story for New Classified America
- 4:54Def— technology of a terrestrial origin. McCaslin
- 4:57is the subject of an email dated January 25th,
- 5:002016, from Tom DeLonge to Podesta, reportedly
- 5:04leaked on Wikileaks in which DeLonge says of
- 5:06McCaslin, quote, I've been working with him for
- 5:08four months. I just got done giving him a four
- 5:11hour presentation on the entire project a few
- 5:13weeks ago. Trust me, the advice has already been
- 5:15happening on how to do all this. He just has
- 5:18to say that out loud, but he is very, very aware
- 5:21as he was in charge of all of the stuff. When
- 5:23Roswell crashed, they shipped it to the laboratory
- 5:25at Wright -Patterson Air Force Base. General
- 5:27McCaslin was in charge of that exact laboratory
- 5:30up to a couple years ago. He not only knows what
- 5:32I'm trying to achieve, he helped assemble my
- 5:34advisory team. He's a very important man. Other
- 5:38speculation focused on a relationship between
- 5:40McCaslin and Michael Duggan, an Australian -American
- 5:42scientist at the AFRL at Kirtland Air Force Base,
- 5:46New Mexico, who spent years of his Air Force
- 5:48career in research on UFO phenomena. Duggan was
- 5:51an assistant to Jayon Hynek, an astronomer who
- 5:53led the Air Force's infamous Project Blue Book,
- 5:55one of the first investigations of reported encounters
- 5:58with UFOs by the United States government. That's
- 6:01kind of the background for that part, Chelsea.
- 6:03It does seem a little strange. Right off the
- 6:05bat, gone missing. a pretty good UFO relationship.
- 6:09Yeah, they're not necessarily exclusive to one
- 6:12another, but interesting, yes. I do want to make
- 6:16something clear. He had been retired for several
- 6:19years at this point. This next part of his story
- 6:23is going to clear some things up. I don't think
- 6:26put anything cemented into the story, but let's
- 6:29listen to this. His wife told a 911 dispatcher
- 6:32he may have intentionally gone missing. Quote,
- 6:34my husband is missing. Susan Wilkerson told a
- 6:42911 dispatcher an audio obtained by Law and Crime
- 6:45Network. Quote, I think he's on foot. All of
- 6:47our cars and bicycles are in the garage. End
- 6:49quote. Wilkerson explained that her husband had
- 6:51never done anything remotely like it before and
- 6:54doesn't generally carry a weapon. She did note
- 6:56that he's been quote saying if his brain and
- 6:59body keep deteriorating, he doesn't want to live
- 7:02like that. Was he having health problems? Yes.
- 7:06She described McCaslin as very responsible, but
- 7:09said he was encountering medical issues and was
- 7:11seeing a doctor for anxiety, short term memory
- 7:13loss and lack of sleep. Sick. Susan Wilkerson
- 7:17McCaslin also told the Daily Mail that the speculation
- 7:20over her husband's disappearance is wide of the
- 7:23mark, answering with a categorical no when asked
- 7:25if she believed her husband's prior security
- 7:27clearance and past connections with UFO researchers
- 7:30had anything to do with his disappearance. In
- 7:32an impassioned social media post on March 6th,
- 7:35Susan hit out at the misinformation published
- 7:37since her husband went missing and late February
- 7:39emphasized that while he did oversee a US space
- 7:43weapons program during his career, he had been
- 7:45retired without security clearance for 13 years.
- 7:48She also said his links to the UFO community
- 7:51via former Blink -22 frontman Tom DeLong had
- 7:54long lapsed, adding that he knew the Roswell
- 7:56enthusiast briefly and had merely helped him
- 7:58out by acting as an unpaid consultant on a military
- 8:01matter for a novel he was writing. Yeah. Just
- 8:16because that's what he's involved in doesn't
- 8:19necessarily make anything. You could make anything
- 8:22sound nefarious. You can make anything sound
- 8:24like, you know what I mean? Yeah. And I want
- 8:27to make sure two things are clear from what I
- 8:29just read. Retired for 13 years and a general,
- 8:33not a scientist. Yeah. Okay. I hope the other...
- 8:36Not saying anything about your episode. I hope
- 8:38the other ones are better. Hey, I didn't make
- 8:44the list. I can see why people are jumping to
- 8:48David Wilcock now. Oh, Chelsea, you just wait
- 8:51until we read this next one. This is a woman
- 8:53by the name of Amy Eskridge. OK, I have heard
- 8:56her name somewhere. I don't know where, but I
- 8:59don't know anything. No, I guarantee you've been
- 9:01seeing posts on Reddit of text messages between
- 9:04her and a friend saying that she would never
- 9:06commit suicide. Oh, maybe I did. You see a lot
- 9:10of that on Reddit right now. Maybe I did. Amy
- 9:13Eskridge was the founder of the Institute of
- 9:15Exotic Sciences, which was a small private -run
- 9:18organization she founded with her father who
- 9:20was a retired NASA engineer. It wasn't a university
- 9:24or a traditional research lab, but a public benefit
- 9:26corporation built around fringe physics interests
- 9:29like gravity modification. metamaterials and
- 9:32advanced propulsions. The kind of topics that
- 9:35sit well outside mainstream science. The institute
- 9:37positioned itself as a home for ideas too controversial
- 9:40for conventional academia, yet there's no real
- 9:42record of peer -reviewed publications or recognized
- 9:45scientific output from them. In practice, it
- 9:47functioned more as a platform for speculative
- 9:50research and for Amy's own ambitions, blending
- 9:52her father's legitimate aerospace background
- 9:54with an increasingly unconventional scientific
- 9:57claims and the grandiose way she presents them.
- 10:00While at Eskridge and the Institute publicly
- 10:02framed their mission around novel propulsions
- 10:04and anti -gravity concepts. The reporting and
- 10:06declassified contextual - and sorry, before I
- 10:08get too far into this, she committed suicide
- 10:11in 2022. June 11th, 2022. What? Why am I just
- 10:16- like why are you telling me I'm seeing a text
- 10:18message on Reddit now? Because she is one of
- 10:20the 11 people on the missing or dead scientist
- 10:23list. Where's this list? Is this the one you
- 10:25compiled or is it somewhere? Basically, if you
- 10:27find the 11 scientists, these are - going to
- 10:29be the names you're going to see on it. Okay,
- 10:32it's just like out there. It's not like somebody
- 10:35compiled it and it's now a famous list. It is
- 10:38a fairly famous list, like this is the one that
- 10:41the White House is looking into. Okay. With these
- 10:4311 names on it. Okay. 2022 though. Okay. While
- 10:47Eskridge and the Institute publicly framed their
- 10:49mission around novel propulsions and anti -gravity
- 10:51concepts, the reporting declassified contextual
- 10:53histories show no public reproducible demonstrations
- 10:56or peer -reviewed publications emerging from
- 10:59the Institute that would substantiate a working
- 11:01anti -gravity technology. Mainstream reviews
- 11:03of gravity control research emphasize that agencies
- 11:06investigated ideas historically but produced
- 11:08no public breakthroughs. Independent online technical
- 11:11session notes that anti -gravity claims are highly
- 11:14disputed with isolated small effect reports and
- 11:17a majority of failed replications, a pattern
- 11:19consistent with the absence of verified scalable
- 11:22results in open literature. At least one report
- 11:25says that Eskridge sought NASA approval to present
- 11:28novel anti -gravity findings and actions suggesting
- 11:31an attempt to engage formal institutional review,
- 11:35but publicly available material does not record
- 11:37a NASA endorsed validation or an accepted conference.
- 11:41presentation that produced community scrutiny
- 11:43or replication. Now, Eskridge dies on June 11,
- 11:462022 in Huntsville, Alabama. While authorities
- 11:49officially ruled her death a self -inflicted
- 11:52gunshot wound, several factors have contributed
- 11:54to ongoing public debate and intense scrutiny
- 11:57surrounding the case. In interviews and podcasts
- 11:59recorded prior to her death, Eskridge alleges
- 12:03that she and her team were being subjected to
- 12:05harassment and psychological warfare intended
- 12:07to stop her from work on antigravity and After
- 12:13Eskridge's death, several outlets and online
- 12:16forums amplified her institute's anti -gravity
- 12:18framing while linking her to a larger pattern
- 12:20of researchers' mysterious deaths. Those narratives
- 12:23have driven much public attention, but do not
- 12:26add technical evidence of functional exotic propulsion
- 12:29that she was working on. Some conservative tabloid
- 12:31outlets connected the institute and Eskridge
- 12:33to conspiratorial explanations, for the stories
- 12:35mainly recycle their self -description and the
- 12:38broader unresolved list aside. who died or disappeared
- 12:41rather than providing new experimental verifications.
- 12:43One important thing too, the best I could find
- 12:46from Amy is that she had a Bachelor of Arts degree.
- 12:50She did not have a science degree. Her dad was
- 12:52an engineer for NASA. And that's the best connection
- 12:55I can find for an actual scientist here. That
- 12:57is bizarre. Why would she be working on something
- 13:00like that with just an arts degree? Well, here
- 13:02are some of the quotes from her as like she would
- 13:05make presentations. I see connections other people
- 13:08miss. I understand things before experts do.
- 13:11I pick things up faster than anyone I've ever
- 13:13met. If I decide to learn something, I learn
- 13:16it completely. Give me a few months and I can
- 13:18know more than most people in any discipline.
- 13:20She kind of had a very high self -esteem, I guess?
- 13:24Yeah, it sounds like someone whose father was
- 13:27involved in the research. Or somebody who really
- 13:29knows how to bullshit to get people to invest
- 13:32in things. Okay. Because you're not going to
- 13:34find an actual genius who's going to say, I can
- 13:36learn any subject better than anybody in a few
- 13:39months. Yeah, I could see the link people are
- 13:41making due to what she was working on, but that's
- 13:44weird. At the same time, she's making these statements.
- 13:46She's also saying people in power don't like
- 13:48what I know. They're trying to Silence me because
- 13:50I'm right. I'm being watched. If people knew
- 13:53what I was doing, they'd understand why I'm being
- 13:55watched. However, she never releases who these
- 13:58people were, other than people in power, and
- 14:01never released any of this knowledge that they
- 14:03feared she had. Which you think, if you're worried
- 14:06about somebody offing you for the knowledge you
- 14:07have, you would try to release that as fast as
- 14:09possible. Exactly, yeah, yep. In public statements,
- 14:13Eskridge's family explained that she suffered
- 14:15from chronic pain at the time of her suicide
- 14:17and declined to characterize her death as unusual.
- 14:19In the final months of her life, Amy Eskridge's
- 14:21behavior became noticeably erratic, she grew
- 14:24increasingly Isolated and fearful telling people
- 14:26she believed she was being watched or targeted
- 14:28friends and colleagues described her as anxious
- 14:30withdrawn and not acting like herself a shift
- 14:33that seemed to intensify alongside her chronic
- 14:35pain taking together it paints a picture of someone
- 14:38under significant psychological strain rather
- 14:41than someone holding dangerous secrets and I'm
- 14:43sorry I just when people say I would never commit
- 14:46suicide I just I've never had to make that statement
- 14:49before have you Chelsea? No, it just screams
- 14:52of somebody who's been contemplating suicide
- 14:54side in my mind. It does or sorry to say this
- 14:58here but David Wilcock because I've seen it surface
- 15:00the last little while like four or five years
- 15:03ago he posted a statement like that on Twitter
- 15:06and it does seem like someone who has either
- 15:10contemplated it or wants attention. I've seen
- 15:13that from that, too. Yeah, yeah, I would have
- 15:16to. I mean, yeah. That story reminded me a lot
- 15:19of Dave Wilcock, which is why I was thinking
- 15:21he was going to be included on this list soon.
- 15:24It brings a lot of bells, doesn't it? Somebody
- 15:26who is a CEO who seems to bullshit about anti
- 15:29-gravity. It all checked out even right till
- 15:32the end there. And like I said, no science degree,
- 15:35not an actual scientist, died in 2022. So they
- 15:39had to really reach back to put her on this list.
- 15:42Yeah. Next up on the list is a woman by the name
- 15:46of Melissa Cassius. She was an administrative
- 15:48employee with security clearance at Los Alamos
- 15:51National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
- 15:54Cavies disappeared on June 26th of 2025 after
- 15:57being spotted walking alone in Taos County. Although
- 16:00her car and personal belongings were found at
- 16:03her home, family members noted that both her
- 16:05personal work phones had been factory reset.
- 16:07Her family maintains that her disappearance was
- 16:09not voluntary, citing her plans to care for her
- 16:12mother followed an upcoming surgery. But here's
- 16:15a clear thing we need to say again. She wasn't
- 16:17a scientist. She worked in a support role at
- 16:20Los Alamos National Laboratory. I'm seeing big
- 16:24stretches here for scientists. Yeah. And Chelsea,
- 16:27I think you've realized that this portion of
- 16:29the list are people who would not be considered
- 16:31traditional scientists. Oh, I forgot I was supposed
- 16:35to be paying attention to that. That makes a
- 16:37lot of sense now. You had to come right out and
- 16:40say it because I wasn't doing it. You said it.
- 16:43just not quite in the way you were supposed to.
- 16:46Okay, well my attitude's there. She was last
- 16:50seen in Taos County, her car was found abandoned,
- 16:52and months later investigators still had no leads,
- 16:54no suspects, no signs of foul play. When people
- 16:56closed to her said, she talked about wanting
- 16:58to leave her life behind and start over at some
- 17:01point, and police treated her case as a voluntary
- 17:04disappearance rather than anything connected
- 17:06to national security or sensitive research. Her
- 17:08story is tragic, but it doesn't fit the pattern
- 17:11of a scientist go - missing. And I found this
- 17:15really interesting. Her family hired a private
- 17:17detective to find her. Thomas McNally, a Phoenix
- 17:19-based private investigator hired by Cassia's
- 17:21parents, angrily told the Daily Mail that the
- 17:24speculation is causing huge amounts of distress
- 17:26to her family and could even lead to her case
- 17:29going unsolved. The former homicide detective
- 17:32told the Daily Mail quote, Melissa and her husband,
- 17:38Mark, both work at LANL, which is the research
- 17:42lab. Mark is in building construction and Melissa,
- 17:44although her title was an administrative assistant,
- 17:46that's not really what she did. She was basically
- 17:49a purchaser. They would give her a list of things
- 17:51to buy at Walmart and she would go and buy them.
- 17:53That was her job. When they ran into financial
- 17:56trouble, they both lost their clearance and she
- 17:58was transferred to a position that required essentially
- 18:00no clearance whatsoever. I want to be emphatic
- 18:03on this point. This is in no way, shape or form
- 18:06related to her job. I am beyond disgusted at
- 18:09the fact that the media is trying to tie this
- 18:12case to this government UFO conspiracy thing."
- 18:15End quote, he told the Daily Mail. This is so
- 18:17crazy. Yeah. Quote, what the attention should
- 18:20be on is that there's a 53 year old woman who's
- 18:22missing and has a family who loves her while
- 18:25the husband is out trying to date other women
- 18:27and doesn't care about her. For her dad, Joe
- 18:33Cassia's disappearance is agony. His quote, we
- 18:35saw her on the day she went missing and she was
- 18:37in good spirits. There was nothing wrong with
- 18:39her at all. There's someone out there who knows
- 18:41a little or knows a lot, if you know what I mean.
- 18:44I look up at the mountains every day and I think
- 18:46of her. There's a lot of people who love her
- 18:49who want her back. End quote. That's Melissa.
- 18:52Her family in no way thinks there's anything
- 18:54to do with her job. She had no clearance at the
- 18:56end and even if she did, she was buying stuff
- 18:58for the lab. That's it. Yeah, no, I don't see
- 19:01any connection at all either. Alright, next up
- 19:04we have here Anthony Chavez. Chavez was a retired
- 19:07professional who was working prior to retirement
- 19:10at Los Alamos National Laboratory, LANL. He disappeared
- 19:15on May 8th, yep. There's actually a couple here
- 19:17for L -A -N -L. He disappeared on May 8th, 2025.
- 19:21When authorities and family members searched
- 19:23for the 78 -year -old's home, they found his
- 19:25wallet, keys, and other personal items left behind.
- 19:28His car was locked in the driveway and there
- 19:30were no signs of forced entry or a struggle,
- 19:32according to Los Alamos reporter. Chavez worked
- 19:35for decades at Los Alamos National Laboratory
- 19:37before retiring in 2017, placing him within the
- 19:40same northern New Mexico defense hub as others
- 19:43who have disappeared. Chavez, the oldest of the
- 19:45four missing from New Mexico have been enjoying
- 19:48a quiet retirement in his modest wooden home
- 19:51in Los Alamos for over two decades when he went
- 19:53missing, with neighbors telling the Daily Mail
- 19:55that trying to link it to his former job amounts
- 19:59to a conspiracy theory. Neighbor Flora Kraus,
- 20:0160, told the Daily Mail, quote, Tony hadn't had
- 20:04any sort of security clearance for 20 years.
- 20:06He was retired. He kept himself mostly to himself,
- 20:08but we'd always see him riding his bike around
- 20:11the neighborhood. We've been taking care of his
- 20:13grass and keeping it nice for him. end quote
- 20:15that's as much as I have on him he's still missing
- 20:17there's not a lot to the story but nobody thinks
- 20:20it's connected to like how like how are people
- 20:23putting this list together where they see like
- 20:25an obituary something like cause of death I wonder
- 20:28where they worked like how is this even happening
- 20:31you know what I should save the speculation for
- 20:33the end Okay. Next up is Stephen Garcia. This
- 20:37one is a really weird one to include on this
- 20:39list. Garcia was a government contractor with
- 20:41a high level security clearance at the Kansas
- 20:43City National Security Campus, and he has been
- 20:46missing since leaving his Albuquerque home on
- 20:49August 28th, 2025. Although police initially
- 20:51suggested Garcia might be a danger to himself
- 20:54after he was seen on surveillance footage carrying
- 20:56a handgun and leaving behind his vehicle and
- 20:58personal effects, sources familiar with the case
- 21:01have disputed claims that he was mentally unsafe.
- 21:03stable. Garcia's disappearance is notable for
- 21:05his proximity to fellow missing official McCasland
- 21:08and his oversight for sensitive assets within
- 21:10the US nuclear weapons arsenal. He was a 48 -year
- 21:13-old government contractor, not a scientist.
- 21:15He was a custodian. I've seen it described as
- 21:17a building manager, but I've also seen it described
- 21:19as a custodian, responsible for overseeing millions
- 21:22of dollars worth of equipment. He held a low
- 21:24-level clearance because the facility he worked
- 21:27in, not because he was involved in research.
- 21:30He had to clean stuff, so he needed access. Yeah,
- 21:33you need clearance to be in a building like that.
- 21:35That was the last confirmed sighting. There's
- 21:37no evidence of foul play, no sign he was targeted,
- 21:39nothing to suggest his disappearance had anything
- 21:41to do with national security secrets. His case
- 21:44only enters this missing scientist narrative
- 21:46because of where he worked, not because of what
- 21:49he did or knew. Yeah, sounds like all the other
- 21:52ones were... The Daily Mail. was unable to contact
- 21:56his wife Valerie, 43, but a neighbor said she
- 21:59does not believe his disappearance had anything
- 22:00to do with his job and said she believes it could
- 22:02have something to do with his previous military
- 22:04career instead. Uh, maybe like PTSD? Yeah. It's
- 22:07still unexplained. It just seems weird and it's
- 22:10not something that should be included on this
- 22:12list. I would agree with that, especially with
- 22:14that last statement. Next up is Nuno Larrero.
- 22:18Larrero died December 15th, 2025. He was fatally
- 22:22shot in his Brooklyn, Massachusetts home. Nacked
- 22:24authorities have linked to a suspect also responsible
- 22:27for mass shooting at Brown University days earlier.
- 22:30Primary suspect, Claudio Manuel Nevez. And sorry,
- 22:33I should say, it does come up. He's a professor.
- 22:37of he was the director, sorry, here it is right
- 22:40here. Probably the closest to a scientist that
- 22:42we've seen so far. Yeah. But not quite a scientist,
- 22:45because he was teaching. That's how I kind of
- 22:47put it. Yeah, but still closer than anyone else
- 22:49so far. Larrera was the director of MIT's Plasma
- 22:53Science and Fusion Center and a world -renowned
- 22:56expert in nuclear fusion and magnetic reconnection.
- 22:59Larrera was shot in the foyer of his apartment
- 23:01where he lived on the evening of December 15,
- 23:042025. He was transported to Beth Israel Deacon's
- 23:06Medical Center in Boston with gunshot wounds
- 23:09where he's pronounced dead early on December
- 23:1016. Authorities opened a homicide investigation
- 23:13that received widespread publicity. Portugal's
- 23:16Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paulo Rengel, announced
- 23:18his death to the Parliament of Portugal. The
- 23:20President of Portugal, Marcelo Rubello de Sousa,
- 23:24issued a statement calling this death an irreplaceable
- 23:27loss for science, and the U .S. Ambassador to
- 23:29Portugal released a statement with condolences.
- 23:32MIT President Sally Kornbluth published a message
- 23:34to the MIT community and professors from across
- 23:37the university, made public remarks regarding
- 23:39Larrero's life and work, a vigil was held in
- 23:42his home in Brooklyn. On December 18th, the authorities
- 23:45announced that they were investigating a link
- 23:47between Larrero's murder and a mass shooting
- 23:49that happened at Brown University two days prior
- 23:51that killed two and injured nine. Authorities
- 23:54confirmed the link later that day at a press
- 23:56conference announcing the suicide of the lone
- 23:58suspect in the Brown University shooting Claudio
- 24:00Manuel Neves Valente at Portuguese National.
- 24:04The Connecticut State Police Forensic Science
- 24:06Lab confirmed that one of the firearms found
- 24:08with Valente matched the weapon used in Larrero's
- 24:10murder. So he was murdered. It's very unfortunate.
- 24:14I don't have much else outside of that other
- 24:16than school shootings are terrible. plight on
- 24:19society yeah absolutely and it is odd that he
- 24:22was shot outside of it like two days later but
- 24:24at the same time it was a mass killing spree
- 24:27nonetheless yeah i would like to add too he didn't
- 24:30actually work in any top secret areas he worked
- 24:34for a public university yeah i see why he's under
- 24:36this one and the last one on the list for today
- 24:39is jason thomas thomas was a scientist and director
- 24:43I'm not sure if he can be classified as a scientist.
- 24:46It might be. The full title. When you read it
- 24:51from news articles, he's described as a scientist,
- 24:53so I'm going to say a scientist and director
- 24:55at Novartis. He went missing from his home in
- 24:57Wakefield, Massachusetts in December of 2025.
- 25:00His body was recovered from Lake Quana Poet in
- 25:03March 2026, three months after he went missing.
- 25:06Police have found no evidence of foul play. Sorry,
- 25:09this story's really sad. Shortly before he vanished,
- 25:13Thomas lost both of his parents. His wife Kristen
- 25:16Bartoli told NBC Boston his mother had recently
- 25:19died from dementia. Not even two hours later,
- 25:23his father died in his arms of a heart attack.
- 25:26Bartoli said describing him as a loving husband,
- 25:29a fur dad of five dogs, Dazzle, Prosecco, Champagne,
- 25:32St. Germain, and Fireball. And a proud uncle.
- 25:36Thomas was working at Novartis as an assistant
- 25:39director of chemical biology. That's the actual
- 25:42title. I can see how you get scientists from
- 25:44it, but his actual title was not a scientist.
- 25:47This company is also in the pharmaceutical biotech
- 25:49sector. First one in that category. It sounds
- 25:52like somebody who had a really hard spot in life
- 25:54at that point, though. And basically what happened,
- 25:57he went for a walk, fell into a frozen pond,
- 26:00and then it refroze over and they couldn't find
- 26:02him for three months. That's sad. Yeah, but yeah,
- 26:06that's the list so far Chelsea. How are we feeling
- 26:08about everything? Pretty sad. I'm gonna not go
- 26:11into the dark place. I don't see connection with
- 26:14these, as I've said throughout. Two scientists,
- 26:17two missing people. Like I said before, I mean,
- 26:20you could be a scientist and it's not necessarily
- 26:23exclusive, but maybe I'll think otherwise in
- 26:25the next episode. Yeah, and I'm saving the ones
- 26:28that I would actually consider scientists for
- 26:30the second episode. Here's the thing, if you
- 26:33have a list, leave the list. If there's good
- 26:35ones, which I presume I'm gonna get next week,
- 26:38why Put in this stuff. Why do it? My theory on
- 26:41that is you include as much as you can to make
- 26:45it overwhelming evidence of something going on.
- 26:47List of what do I have left? I think we covered
- 26:50seven. I think there's four in the next episode
- 26:52So let's have four scientists doesn't sound as
- 26:55good as a list of 11 scientists I don't know
- 26:57to me It sounds a lot better if they're compelling
- 27:00and they make me think there might be something
- 27:03afoot here But when you add in these things,
- 27:06it makes me think like there might not be but
- 27:09that was me Yeah, you guys got to still tune
- 27:12in next week and see yeah I have been Taylor,
- 27:15here with Chelsea. We are Journey to the Fringe.
- 27:17Thank you all for listening and we'll see you
- 27:19next week. Bye. venue you are listening to us
- 27:32through. Also, please, if possible, leave a five
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- 27:53an email at journeytothefringe at gmail .com.
- 27:57For now, I'll see you in the next episode.