As about a dozen cases involving missing or deceased American nuclear scientists have come to light, a retired high-level FBI official says some of them fit a pattern that he considers suspicious.

“The missing [and] disappearance thing is suspicious inherently,” said Chris Swecker, who served as assistant director of the FBI. “What they were working on would certainly, without a doubt, be a target of a hostile foreign intelligence service like Russia or China. It could be Iran, could be Pakistan.”

Swecker believes the six deaths that have been widely reported don’t have much in common, and he doesn’t believe they’re connected.

While Swecker isn’t convinced that there’s a conspiracy afoot even among the missing scientists, he agrees that authorities should be looking for links in the disappearances, given the high-value, sensitive technology that they all worked with or near.

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The disappearance of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland earlier this year set off the cascade of theories about the missing and dead scientists. He was the former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, and had connections to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where top-secret nuclear research is conducted.

He vanished in New Mexico after leaving his home with only a pair of boots and a handgun. He left his phone, keys and glasses behind.

“I’m just saying that … the FBI would have interest in anything that happened to them because of what they were working on,” he said. “And, in fact, [with] McCasland, the FBI showed up uninvited that very afternoon.“

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Anthony Chavez, 79, worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory until he retired in 2017. He reportedly disappeared on May 8, 2025. He was last seen leaving his house in Los Alamos on foot, with his car locked in his driveway. He did not bring his phone, wallet or keys on his walk.

Melissa Casias, 53, also worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. She went missing on June 26, 2025.

Steven Garcia, 48, went missing from Albuquerque on Aug. 28, 2025. He worked at the Kansas City National Security Campus, located in Albuquerque, which develops most of the nonnuclear components that go into building nuclear weapons. He reportedly left on foot carrying only a handgun.

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He reportedly had a top secret security clearance.

“So Garcia, Chavez and Casias, in my opinion, ought to be lumped in and that should be the focus, and any others that went missing, because that would fit more of a pattern than just killing somebody because of what they know,” said Swcker.

“Exact same pattern,” he continued. “They disappeared with all their personal belongings [left] behind. Some of them took their handguns with them, which means they’re either in fear or they’re going to go use it on themselves.”

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Swecker also had a warning for scientists working in top-secret fields.

“What people really need to be aware of — anybody involved in technology and anything that China or Russia or our competitors want to get their hands — ought to understand that there is a daily collection effort by China, Russia, Iran, to some extent, North Korea, but mainly China and Russia to steal technology because they’re not good at [research and development],” he said. “And their whole programs depend on stealing the technology and reverse engineering it.”

“So, scientists, people involved in the defense contracting companies, research and development at universities, you know, all types of technologies in the U.S., even if it’s not military use, ought to be aware that this type of stuff goes on day in and day out.”

Last week, the White House directed the FBI to coordinate an investigation into the cases. The investigation is ongoing.

We have a fun Sunday as there are four NBA games tipping off today. From 1 p.m. ET until we all lay our heads down to sleep, we are going to have hoops available for us to watch. Not the regular-season garbage, we are getting playoff basketball, the best of basketball. It starts with action between the Cavs and Raptors, who are in a seven-game set with Cleveland up 2-1.

Cleveland had a decent year, winning 52 games, but the Cavs finally tweaked the team that turned in success from the past two years. They traded away Darius Garland and turned him into James Harden. This team also has Dennis Schroder coming off the bench instead of Lonzo Ball. I don’t see much depth outside of him on the court. As the playoffs get deeper, the benches don’t matter quite as much.

The Cavs are strong at four of the five starting positions. They looked great in the first two games of the playoffs. In the first two games, the Cavaliers won both of them over the Raptors by at least 10 points. In Game 3, Cleveland was blitzed by the Raptors and lost by 22. The issues were both a poor shooting night from Cleveland and a really good one from Toronto. It also didn’t help that the Cavs had 22 turnovers.

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Toronto was a surprise team this year. Most expected them to battle for a Play-In spot and probably struggle to even get that. However, things clicked for the team, and they turned in a 46-36 record. They were really good behind a combination of cast-offs and a really good drafted player, Scottie Barnes. Those players from other teams, Immanuel Quickley, Brandon Ingram, RJ Barrett and Jakob Poeltl (though he was drafted by the Raptors, went to the Spurs, and came back), have made this team competitive.

In the first two games, they didn’t really look ready for the postseason. However, the team looked great in Game 3. This was a bit of a coming-out party for them, but it might’ve also just been an anomaly. They shot 57% from the field and 61% from three. I just don’t see that happening again. One area they struggled with was from the free-throw line. They still were behind in rebounds, which is something they are likely to struggle with this entire series. Barrett and Barnes both put in 33 points for the team. Barnes was particularly great, adding 11 assists and five rebounds.

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You can’t count on the Raptors to shoot that well again. I won’t say the Cavs are going to shoot all that much better, but I do expect some improvement from them. The home court advantage is still on the side of Toronto, but after winning a game, the Cavs should lock in for this one. I think the best action is to take the Cavs -3.5.

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Today is one of those Sundays in which you can probably park yourself in front of the television, on the couch, with a couple of beers, and be content. We have the NBA Playoffs, the NHL Playoffs and a ton of baseball games to choose from. Navigating those games can be a tough thing to do for sports bettors, but when you find a good one, you lock it in. I think I have one as the Angels are taking on the Royals in a Sunday game.

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The Angels are playing fairly well to begin the year. Before you start looking to lock up postseason tickets, just understand they are still hovering around .500. However, that’s still a bit more positive and successful than we’ve seen them in recent seasons. This is probably the best start since the 2023 season. Again, that doesn’t mean much, because it is so early. However, for this franchise, we need to search for some silver lining.

Tonight, they send out Reid Detmers to the hill in hopes of capitalizing on the little momentum they do have. Detmers is 1-2 for the season with a 4.08 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. The WHIP indicates to me that he might be the owner of some bad luck. Looking at his game log, it seems like he has alternated great starts with bad ones. In his season opener, he went 4.2 innings and allowed three earned runs. Then he went 6.2 scoreless innings and allowed just three hits. Against Atlanta, he went 4.1 innings and allowed six runs. The Yankees scored only one run over seven innings. In his most recent outing, he allowed four earned runs over six innings. Royals hitters have done well against Detmers, hitting .294 over 34 at-bats.

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The Royals are a bit of a disaster. They look like the worst team in the division, and they are in the same division as the White Sox and the Twins. Obviously, the season is still very young, but for a team with postseason aspirations, this is not the start they wanted to get off to. They have been particularly terrible on the road, but luckily for them, they are at home. Before this series, the team was winning 75% of its games at home.

The good news for them is that Seth Lugo is on the hill, and he has been fantastic for the Royals. He is 1-1 for the season with a 1.15 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. Lugo hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his five starts this season. Additionally, he has turned in four quality starts in five outings. Angels hitters have turned in a .182 batting average against him over 44 at-bats.

This is a game that the Royals should win. It is hard to back them right now, but this is the ideal situation. You get Kansas City at home, and you have their best pitcher on the mound. I think it is a great idea to play Lugo to hold the Angels to under 2.5 earned runs, and I also really like the Royals to win this game.

This is one where I wouldn’t be surprised to see them win on the run line. Kansas City hasn’t proven to be a team you want to back to this point, but I do think they have some significant edges in this game. Officially, I’ll take the Royals -0.5 through five innings, on the moneyline for the game, and under earned runs allowed for Lugo.

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024