As the White House and FBI review the disappearances and deaths of at least 10 scientists who held access to sensitive government data, retired FBI agents are urging investigators to conduct psychological autopsies to uncover any hidden patterns.
President Trump confirmed this week that his administration is coordinating with the FBI on the cases, which have drawn national scrutiny and fueled speculation about possible foul play. The scientists, all with ties to classified or high-level government information, vanished or died under circumstances that remain unexplained.
Speaking on NewsNation’s “Brian Entin Investigates,” retired FBI agents James Fitzgerald and Ray Carr stressed the need for a methodical approach. “I support this investigation, but I am not locked into at this point that it’s anything possibly more than a coincidence,” Fitzgerald said.
Carr echoed that caution, noting that the first question any investigator must answer is whether the cases are actually linked. “The challenge is whether the evidence of coordination targeting is a pattern or is it just coincidence,” he explained. “It needs to be quelled; otherwise, you’re going to have these conspiracy theorists out there throwing all kinds of things around.”
Fitzgerald, a former FBI profiler, emphasized the role of behavioral analysis. “The behaviorist will look at the behaviors of these people, the lifestyle, who they associated with—socially, professionally, by chance—who cut their hair, what doctors they went to, every single factor,” he said. “They will look for any possible common denominator.”
This technique, known as a psychological autopsy, is typically used in ambiguous death investigations to reconstruct a person’s mental state and habits. In this context, it could reveal whether the scientists shared vulnerabilities or were targeted.
Some reports have indicated that several of the missing and deceased scientists were known to carry firearms when leaving home. Carr, however, cautioned against reading too much into that detail. “I leave my home armed too, and I’m sure Jim does,” he said. “Without looking at the victimology, it’s tough to say what the motivation would be for leaving armed. Did they leave armed just that day, or every day?”
The cases have drawn comparisons to other mysterious patterns in recent years, such as the FBI probe into 11 scientist deaths since 2022, and have prompted House Oversight hearings where a lawmaker suggested foreign adversaries may be involved.
Fitzgerald expressed confidence that any cover-up would eventually be exposed. “If there is something being hidden, I think at some point we would find this out, because this is too important for the American public not to know,” he said. “I’m going to say everything is upfront and objective until I know otherwise.”
He added that he expects a formal report within months. “We will hopefully get some kind of a report that comes out in the next few months, certainly by year’s end, that tells us what actually happened.”
