NEW: Tenth Nuclear Official Goes Missing In Continuation Of ‘Dark Pattern’ Tied To US Facilities

Another figure with links to America’s nuclear enterprise has vanished, deepening a growing list of deaths and disappearances that has rattled some national security watchers and fueled questions about whether a “dark pattern” is taking shape around sensitive U.S. facilities.
Steven Garcia, 48, disappeared Aug. 28, 2025, after leaving his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home on foot, according to police. Investigators say surveillance video shows him walking away from his house on Cattail Court SW just after 9 a.m. local time wearing a green camouflage shirt and shorts, carrying a handgun. Authorities warned at the time that Garcia “may be a danger to himself.”

An anonymous source told the Daily Mail that Garcia was a government contractor tied to the Kansas City National Security Campus, known as KCNSC, and assigned to a New Mexico site. KCNSC plays a key role in national defense, producing more than 80% of the non-nuclear components used in U.S. nuclear weapons, the outlet reported.

The source described Garcia as a property custodian with a high-level role and access, saying he oversaw “a very high-level, overseeing position for all the assets. Tens, maybe hundreds of millions of dollars in equipment and assets, some of which are not classified, others would be classified.”
The source disputed any suggestion that Garcia was suicidal or struggling with mental health issues. “He was a very stable person,” the source said, arguing the possibility he was targeted by foreign actors “makes the most sense.”
Former FBI assistant director Chris Swecker told the Daily Mail that scientists have been targeted for years, particularly in propulsion and advanced research. “Our scientists have been targeted for a long time, especially in the rocket propulsion area, by hostile foreign intelligence services,” Swecker said.

After Garcia vanished, the source said KCNSC launched a search for clues, including reviewing work computers, emails and files, but came up empty. “It’s a little strange that these people just keep disappearing. I mean, he literally just walked off into the desert with a firearm and a bottle of water and that was it,” the source said.
Garcia’s disappearance is being cited as the 10th case in recent years involving someone connected to U.S. space or nuclear work who has died or gone missing, according to the report. It also tracks with at least three other disappearances described as similar: individuals leaving home on foot, with personal items left behind, and then vanishing.

One of the highest-profile cases is that of retired Air Force Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, who disappeared in Albuquerque on Feb. 27, 2026, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. McCasland reportedly left without his phone, wearable devices or prescription glasses and was carrying only a .38-caliber revolver.

Two other New Mexico cases in 2025 involved Los Alamos National Laboratory personnel, the report said. Anthony Chavez, 79, who worked at the lab until retiring in 2017, and Melissa Casias, 54, an administrative assistant believed to have had a top clearance, were both last seen leaving home on foot and disappeared without a trace, the outlet reported.

The Daily Mail report also linked the cases through shared institutional ties among Kirtland Air Force Base, Los Alamos and KCNSC. “That entire mission runs out of Kirtland Air Force Base. A big part of it, including the technology and the production of the technology that they use, is all built in Albuquerque. So McCasland would have absolutely known and been to these facilities,” a source told the outlet.
Swecker, citing broader historical concerns about foreign targeting, added: “I think we’ve even seen instances where nuclear scientists have been taken out. They’ve been assassinated.”

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Authorities have not publicly confirmed Garcia’s employment details, and the Daily Mail said it reached out to KCNSC and the Department of Energy, which oversees the facility, for confirmation and comment.

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For now, Garcia remains missing, with no public indication of where he went or why, and his case is being folded into a broader, unsettling question: whether these incidents are unrelated tragedies, or something more coordinated that officials have yet to uncover.

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