Wild Theories in Missing UFO General Case Examined

I appreciate that there's a community. that wants to go down the rabbit hole of. UFOs. Just because it's crazy doesn't. mean it's not true. A retired two-star. Air Force General has vanished without a. trace. A man who once worked the center. of some of the military's most secretive. programs. And now, weeks later, investigators are revealing new details. in a press conference, pushing back on. key assumptions [music] and addressing. the theories that have taken over the. internet. From national security to UFO. speculation, what actually happened here.

[music] and where is he? We are breaking. down everything we just learned. Welcome. to Sidebar, presented by Law & Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. All right, real quick, I got to tell you. about today's sponsor, Proof Wallets. These things are amazing. Okay, I'm here. to tell you any hype that you heard. about it, it is real. First of all, I. love this Proof Wallets, veteran-owned. It's a veteran-owned company that is. built by craftsmen who take pride in. what they make, and it shows. I mean, look how well they're designed. Also, they're super secure. Not only are they.

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Retired Air Force Major General, 68-year-old William Neil McCaslin, vanishes from his Albuquerque home in. the middle of the day. No phone, no. glasses, no sign of a struggle, just. gone. Now, if you've been following this. case, you know that the internet has run. wild with different theories, right? UFOs, government secrets, alien. abductions, that he was kidnapped by a. foreign actor, the whole thing. Makes. sense given his career, which we will. get into in a bit more. But yesterday. was very significant because the. sheriff's office finally sat down to.

address the status of the investigation, and they brought answers that we haven't. heard before. There's no indication and. we're not putting forward that Mr. McCaslin was disoriented, um confused. Arguably, he would still be. the most intelligent person in the room. that any of us would be in. Yeah, so. that's Lieutenant Kyle Woods from the. Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, pushing back hard on the idea that. McCaslin wandered off, that he was. confused, that he was disoriented. Kind. of makes sense, right? Because if that.

were the case, wouldn't he have been. found by now, especially if you have. multiple agencies looking for him? But. that is just one of several details that. came out yesterday. Now, I will tell. you, it turns out, before he. disappeared, McCaslin had told people. that he was experiencing something that. he called mental fog, and that is. possibly why a silver alert was issued. Not because he had dementia, but out of. what authorities are calling an. abundance of caution. Now, we usually. see a silver alert with missing elderly.

and vulnerable people. So, this adds a. new dimension, and we're going to talk. about it a little bit more. But what. about this? Some items that we thought. were missing, apparently they were found. at the family's second home in Pagosa. Springs, Colorado. But some of the very. key items, like his gun, his wallet, those are still gone. So, we still don't. know exactly what he was wearing when he. vanished or what he had with him. And. when a reporter flat-out asked during. this press conference about the UFO. conspiracy theories, the sheriff's.

office was pretty direct. >> Just because it's crazy doesn't mean. it's not true, but we have to look into. the realities. I appreciate that there's. a community that wants to go down the. rabbit hole of. UFOs. I I I don't have a way with which. to pursue that. We can only go off of. fact at this point. Now, by the way, we. have more we're going to get into from. this presser, a lot more, but I do want. to say it's kind of interesting when you. hear that response because I've talked. about it before with guests on the. subject. I mean, even if local law. enforcement wanted to research his. background and his work and his.

connections, how limited would they be? Would they have access to classified. information? Would they get clearance? I. know there's federal authorities a part. of this, but I think that could be that. maybe is a complicating factor. We don't. know, or it's not relevant to the. investigation into his disappearance. I. don't know. But here's the question, where does that leave the search for. McCaslin? Because it's been weeks. There's been no confirmed sightings as. far as we know, no direction of travel. You have this gray sweatshirt that was. found a little over a mile from his. house in this photo released by the. sheriff's office showing what they.

believed was then that McCaslin was. wearing when he was last seen, and now. we have a little bit more information on. that as well as a lot more questions. But first, if you're just hearing this. name for the very first time, you don't. know more about it, let me talk to you. about who McCaslin is, why this case has. captured so much attention. So, William. Neil McCaslin, 68 years old, retired. Major General from the United States Air. Force. This is not some random person. who wandered off. This is a guy who. spent 34 years working on some of the. most sensitive technology the US. military has. We're talking.

astronautical engineering, space. acquisition. He worked with the National. Reconnaissance Office. That's the spy. satellite people. And eventually, he. took command of the Air Force Research. Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force. Base in Ohio. Now, Wright-Patterson, that name matters because for decades. conspiracy theorists have claimed that. is where the government secretly stored. debris from the Roswell incident back in. 1947. You know, when a rancher. apparently found debris on his land that. some have theorized was from a crashed. UFO. The Air Force, by the way, has.

never confirmed that, obviously, but the. association sticks. It's why when a. general who used to run that lab goes. missing, people start talking. So, here's what we know about McCaslin's. last whereabouts, and a lot of this came. straight from yesterday's press. conference. According to the Bernalillo. County Sheriff, on the morning of. February 27th, around 10:00 a.m., a. repairman shows up at McCaslin's home on. Quail Run Court. It was a scheduled. appointment. He goes inside, interacts. with McCaslin, and that interaction, by. all accounts, is confirmed. About an.

hour later, at around 11:10 a.m., McCaslin's wife leaves for a medical. appointment. When she gets back, just. after noon, so 12:04 p.m. to be exact, the house is empty. McCaslin is gone. Now, first glance, maybe you think he. just stepped out for a walk. He's an. avid outdoorsman, hiking, biking, skiing. This guy knows those foothills. But here's where it gets strange. McCaslin left behind his phone, still. sitting on the counter, his prescription. glasses, his wearable devices, his. watch, right? All of it just sitting. there. And during the press conference,

Woods addressed just how unusual that. is. His wearable devices and taking his. phone were common practice with him. That is out of the norm. We said from. the get-go that this was an abnormal. behavior by his part, and thus we are. looking at every possible aspect of it. and willing to unturn any stone that we. can in order to help identify where Mr. McCaslin is. So, by that afternoon, his. wife reports him missing, and. immediately the sheriff's office issues. that silver alert, which we mentioned. And that silver alert, by the way, has.

been a point of confusion, so you see. the sheriff's office taking some time to. clear it up. With New Mexico state. statute, a silver alert does not require. a formal diagnosis of any mental. deterioration. The reason being also is because Mr. McCaslin is over 50 years of age. He did state that he was experiencing a. mental fog, and because of this information that we. received, we decided to do a silver. alert.

Mr. McCaslin, it was confirmed, was. looking in. to some of his mental fog, but out of. respect for the family, I will not go. into any further detail on the state of. any of his in any type of mental issues. So, yes, you see that reference to. mental fog, but again, the sheriff's. office is clear, this guy is highly. intelligent, is not suffering from. diminished capacity in the way that I. think was maybe first assumed. But. again, the key point, investigators say. they have no indication that he was. confused or disoriented on that day. But. the search begins, and it is massive.

We're talking drone operations, helicopter support, ground searches, search and rescue teams, K9 units, cadaver dogs. They canvass more than 700. homes in the neighborhood going. door-to-door looking for home camera. footage, security video, anything that. might have caught a glimpse of McCaslin. leaving. And for more than a week, you. have nothing, no confirmed sightings, no. video, no direction of travel. But then. you go to March 7th, about a week and a. half into the search, and investigators. find something. It's a little over a. mile east of McCaslin's house. They find.

this gray US Air Force sweatshirt. They. collect it, they process it. No blood. detected in the initial testing, and. here's the thing, the family, and it. seems law enforcement, can't even. confirm that it's McCaslin's. During the. presser, it was explained how the office. and authorities handle evidence like. that. We've received a lot of tips about. items that have been located. We check. every one of them. We check with family. and friends to see if those are items. that were known to be utilized by him or.

owned by him. Um and we'll continue to. do that. So, that's the update on these. items that you are seeing being brought. forward. We're not saying he left in. them. They are just unaccounted for. >> Now, meanwhile, investigators start. sorting out what's actually missing and. what isn't. And this is where the press. conference gave us a major update. New. information that came up here over the. weekend. Um items items recently located. is a light green long-sleeve button-up. outdoor shirt,

hiking boots. But please remember, let's be practical. Mr. McCaslin probably had more than one. pair of hiking boots. Located at his Pagosa Springs house were. these items. Items that are still unaccounted for are. his wallet, a .38 caliber revolver and a leather. holster. I will have Lieutenant Kyle Woods go. over some other details of belongings. that Mr. McCaslin possibly had and any.

other further details in the. investigation to answer some of your. questions. And also, as you see in the picture, a. red backpack. Okay, so let's be clear. about what that means. The green shirt. that you saw on that photo, the one. investigators believed he was wearing, they found it at the family's second. home in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Same. with a pair of hiking boots. So, that. seemingly means that McCaslin didn't. leave in that shirt. That he didn't. leave in those specific boots unless he. had another pair. So, what exactly was.

he wearing? We don't know. What exactly. was he carrying? We don't know. That is. what complicates things. And the wallet, that's still missing. The .38 caliber. revolver with the leather holster, that's still missing. And you see. authorities address whether McCaslin. typically carried a gun on hikes. We've. followed up with questions of his wife. He wouldn't commonly hike with a weapon. on him. That would be relegated for. maybe overnight camping trips and things. of that sort. And then it was for.

personal protection. So, what are we looking for with that? Well, if uh. say General McCaslin had recently gone. to a pawn shop and and sold that off and. we just weren't aware of that or his. wife wasn't aware of that, we'd want to. know that. And so, that would be. something that would be of interest if. someone is hiking in the mountains and. finds. a spent .38 special casing, that would. be unique. that we'd want to be able to to take and.

and process. Um so, that's why we're. putting that information out. >> Which does raise the question, if he. took his gun, why? I want to talk about. now where they're searching because. they've been very strategic about it. It. turns out that McCaslin's wearable. devices, right, the ones that he left. behind, gave them a history of his. favorite hiking spots. And one area kept. coming up. Mr. McCaslin had wearable. devices. He was an outdoorsman and we. were able to access those devices, see. the history of where he commonly went.

The Elena Gallegos area into the Domingo. Baca Canyon was a commonly visited. place. That in conjunction with interviews with. those who were outdoors with him. indicated that was a favored area to go, especially into the upper parts of the. canyon. So, we focused our search efforts there. first, moving east from his residence, essentially due east from his. neighborhood into that area. Um and between us and those who are.

volunteering with their search efforts, there has been a vast amount of area. covered. We do have a map of that area. I don't have that present to show you. Um but it has been a significant search. effort that's covered um that entire. canyon except for maybe some very. difficult to reach uh parts of the. canyon wall that we we wouldn't. otherwise be getting on to. By the way, that's really, really good police work. The very clever to look at where he'd. been in the past looking at the devices.

So, they had been grid searching that. canyon, drones, helicopters, K9 units. And I will tell you, Mr. Woods was. honest about what they found or they. didn't find. They have been out on both. of our search and rescue operations. We've taken out cadaver dogs. They're. up in the upper canyons. Actually, in the lower foothills, they. came upon a deer carcass. Uh and in the upper canyons, it would. appear there may have been some form of.

a a hint that they of a smell that they. picked up on, but with the winds as they. come out of those canyons, there's no. way to identify where specifically that. was coming from. That wasn't consistent. That was one time. We've flown [snorts]. at night hours trying to utilize the. FLIR to pick up on any heat signatures. that may be coming off of the mountain. Unfortunately, we have one of the. warmest springs we've had in years and. the imagery coming off of the FLIR, the. mountain is just lit up like a candle. even at night.

>> So, the dogs hit on something but. couldn't pinpoint it. The heat sensors. were not as helpful as they wanted them. to be because the rocks were too warm. And despite all that technology and. manpower, they still have nothing. concrete. And that is where the internet. comes in because when a retired Air. Force General with ties to. Wright-Patterson vanishes under strange. circumstances and his name happens to. show up in seemingly hacked emails. discussing UFO disclosure with. Blink-182's Tom DeLonge, people are. going to talk. Trust me, they have. In.

fact, McCaslin's own wife apparently. watched all this speculation unfold in. real time. She decided to address it. directly early on. Right after he. disappeared, she posted just a simple. plea on Facebook asking anyone who might. have seen him to come forward. She. wrote, "He appears to be on foot, so. foothills, open space, national forest, wilderness seem high priority search.". But then, about a week in with no sign. of him and the theories swirling, she. posted again. And this time, she went. point by point through the rumors. She. said he doesn't have dementia. He was. not confused or disoriented. She.

addressed the UFO stuff directly. She. confirmed McCaslin did have a brief. association with Tom DeLonge after. retirement as DeLonge became more. interested in extraterrestrial life. His. wife says he was an unpaid consultant on. military and scientific matters, but she. was very clear he does not have any. special knowledge about Roswell or alien. bodies stored at Wright-Patterson. And. then she added a little sarcasm. She. said, quote, "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." Now, I actually spoke about. this with a prior guest and I said, "Would she know what he was privy to as. part of his job?" Interesting thing to. think about. Now, here's the thing that. has kept the theories alive. It seems. back in 2016 when WikiLeaks released a. batch of hacked emails from John. Podesta, Hillary Clinton's former. campaign chairman. In those emails, there were multiple messages from Tom. DeLonge. And in one, DeLonge tells. Podesta he's been working with a retired. general, guy who used to run the lab at.

Wright-Patterson, a guy named William. McCaslin. So, DeLonge writes, quote, "When Roswell crashed, they shipped it. to the laboratory at Wright-Patterson. Air Force Base. General McCaslin was in. charge of that exact laboratory up to a. couple years ago. He not only knows what. I'm trying to achieve, he helped. assemble my advisory team." So, you've. got McCaslin's name, Wright-Patterson, Roswell all in the same thing here. And. that same general is now missing. And. you can see why people haven't let this. go. And earlier we talked about the.

Sheriff's Office pushing back on the UFO. theories that have come up as well as. whether or not McCaslin could have been. abducted. Here's what they had to say. How does a a law enforcement agency. investigate cases like this when there's. that conspiracy theory. groups that that come up with these. outlandish claims or or or rabbit holes? Well, just because it's crazy doesn't. mean it's not true, but we have to look. into the realities. And so, we we look. into what's brought to us and um.

and then we have to pursue what facts we. can find as the Sheriff indicated. We uh. I I I appreciate that there's a. community that wants to go down the. rabbit hole of. UFOs. I I I don't have a way with which. to pursue that. And so, those theories. have to be set aside unless we were to. find something that indicated that. So, we can only go off of fact at this. point. Yes, ma'am. Are you able to rule out at this point.

that. he was either taken or some type of harm. has befallen him? For what he knows. And piggybacking on. that, what could that mean in terms of. information that could be abstracted. from him? And. would that put anybody else at risk or. even the community at risk? Yeah, I I can't speculate about some of. that in terms of who may or may not be. at risk based on what information he.

knows. And so, I'm not going to. uh to answer your first question, can we. rule out whether or not he was taken or. something nefarious having occurred? We can't definitively rule out much at. this point with what we have, which is. why we're investigating every possible. lead that we can. We do have surveillance video that. captures both ends of parts of that. street. We are combing through that as well as. surveillance that we've received from. the rest of the community. We are.

combing through that. We've done. in-depth interviews, not just knock on a. door, have you seen this individual, but. very in-depth interviews with everyone. in the immediate area and we have. absolutely nothing that would suggest. anything. uh nefarious has occurred or did occur. in that time frame for what we were. looking at. We just So, to answer your. question, we haven't ruled anything out, but we. have nothing pointing us to it either. Yeah, they can't rule anything out at.

this point, which makes again so eerie. And by the way, they probably have more. information that they don't want to. release so it wouldn't jeopardize the. investigation. Maybe, again, if he was. taken, you know, the idea of tipping. anybody off. Now, I will say toward the. end, a reporter asked a question that is. unfortunately probably on a lot of. people's minds. At what point does this. stop becoming a search and rescue. and it becomes a recovery mission? Hope. is always present that he's alive, right? And I think it'd be foolish to. say otherwise.

Uh but it would also be unwise for us to. not recognize that the alternate could. be a possibility. And we're aware of. that. And if we receive information that. would lead this to become a recovery. mission, we would pursue that with. um the same vigor we have this. investigation thus far and try to do. that as best as possible. We are. many weeks in and if he were to have. gone into the mountains, the likelihood of surviving this. timeframe would be very low.

at this point in time. So that's. certainly a possibility and something. we're considering. So there it is, weeks. in, no confirmed sightings, no direction. of travel, not clear what he was wearing. or carrying with him. You have a missing. gun, investigators acknowledging that if. he went into those mountains, chances of finding him change. dramatically. They're not giving up. though. They're not giving up. They're. still following tips, 74 of them just. through their online portals as of the. press conference plus more through the. FBI who's part of the search. They're. still reviewing video, they're still. knocking on doors, they're still asking.

for your help and if you were in the. Sandia foothills on February 27th or. 28th, you were in this area, especially. between 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. on the. 27th, check any footage you might have, doorbell cameras, dash cams, GoPros, even photos you took that day on your. phone, videos you took, anything that. might have a caught a glimpse of. McCaslin. And you can upload video and. photos directly through the QR code from. the sheriff's office or by visiting the. link on screen here. If you have a tip, call the Bernalillo County Sheriff's. Office Missing Persons Unit at. 505-468-7070.

or you can text anonymously through. tip411. You just text BCSO and your tip. to 847411. But look, McCaslin's still out there. There's a family who is desperately. trying to get him back. Anybody with. information, come forward. Hopefully. somebody knows something at this point. We're going to keep [music] following. this case. It's all we have for you. right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so. much for taking the time. As always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your. podcast. You can also follow us on NBC's.

Peacock as well. If you want to follow. me, X, Instagram, [music] my NewsNation. show, Jesse Weber LIVE, Monday through. Friday, 11:00 p.m. Eastern. I'll see you. next time, everybody.