Authorities in New Mexico are searching for a retired, high-ranking Air Force officer who has not been seen since he left his home in Albuquerque nearly two weeks ago, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said.

The retired officer, Maj. Gen. William N. McCasland, 68, is a former commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. He was responsible for managing the Air Force’s science and technology program and oversaw a global workforce of approximately 10,800 people involved in Air Force technology.

On Feb. 27, McCasland, who retired nearly 13 years ago, left his home near the foothills of the Sandia Mountains outside Albuquerque, the sheriff’s office said. The general, who is known as Neil, is believed to have left the house on foot about 11 a.m., Jayme Gonzales, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, said Thursday.

He left behind his cellphone and prescription glasses, and investigators believe that his hiking boots, wallet and a .38 caliber revolver with a leather holster are missing from the home.

Investigators found a gray U.S. Air Force sweatshirt about 1.25 miles east of his home on March 7. No blood was detected during initial processing, and further analysis is pending; family and friends have not confirmed that the sweatshirt belongs to McCasland, the sheriff’s office said.

Investigators have not uncovered any evidence of foul play, but have not ruled anything out, Gonzales said. The sheriff’s office issued a Silver Alert, saying that investigators were concerned for McCasland’s safety because of unspecified “medical issues.”

Silver Alerts are used for missing people who are 50 and older and have clear signs of an “irreversible deterioration of intellectual faculties,” according to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.

McCasland’s wife, Susan McCasland Wilkerson, wrote on Facebook last week, “Neil is at some risk, but not from dementia. He was not confused and disoriented.” She declined to comment further Thursday.

UFO Lore

McCasland’s disappearance has drawn attention because of the UFO lore that has long surrounded Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. From 1947 to 1969, the Air Force investigated UFOs under a program called Project Blue Book, which was headquartered at the base.

After his retirement, McCasland also had “a brief association with the UFO community” as an unpaid consultant to an organization called To The Stars that was cofounded by Tom DeLonge, a singer and guitarist in the band Blink-182, Wilkerson wrote. To The Stars has been involved in investigating UFOs. Wilkerson said her husband helped the organization on “military and technical/scientific matters to lend verisimilitude” to DeLonge’s project.

The sheriff’s office said in a statement last week that McCasland was an avid outdoorsman, who was known to hike, run and bike in the Northeast Heights and the Sandia Foothills. Searchers have combed those areas on foot, and have used dogs, drones and helicopters to look for him, Gonzales said. Law enforcement officials have also gone door-to-door at more than 600 homes and businesses, and have asked the public for tips and videos, she said.

The search had not borne any fruit as of Thursday, Gonzales said. The search is continuing, she said, and the office was still asking the public for tips and videos, particularly from people who may have been in the Sandia Foothills on Feb. 27 and Feb. 28.

The FBI field office in Albuquerque confirmed that it was assisting the sheriff’s office in the search. The field office said that it was standard practice to help local law enforcement agencies “if we have a tool, tactic, or technique that could benefit their investigations.”

McCasland, who has a master’s degree and a doctorate in aeronautical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was commissioned as an Air Force officer in 1979 after he graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy.

During his military career, he served in a variety of space research, acquisition and operational roles at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, Hill Air Force Base in Utah and at the Pentagon, according to his biography on the Air Force website.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Michael Levenson/United States Air Force
c. 2026 The New York Times Company