The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office in Albuquerque, New Mexico said in a recent Facebook update that on the morning of Feb. 27, McCasland “interacted” with a repair person at his home. His wife left, and when she returned about an hour later, McCasland was not there. “His phone, prescription glasses, and wearable devices were located at the residence,” the sheriff’s office said.
His wife reported him missing shortly after 3 p.m. that very day.
Investigators also found a gray Air Force sweatshirt about 1.25 miles east of McCasland’s residence March 7.
“The item was collected and processed. No blood was detected during initial processing, and additional analysis is pending,” the sheriff’s office said.
Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said reviews of area video feeds are ongoing.
“Search efforts have included drones, helicopter support, ground operations and numerous canine searchers,” Allen said. “There has been no confirmed video or sighting showing the direction of travel that Mr. McCasland took when he was reported missing at 3:07 (p.m.) on that day.”
A search of an area home is also ongoing, and the local FBI office is assisting in the overall search, the sheriff added.
Allen also said that McCasland had been experiencing what he called “mental fog,” adding, ”Out of respect for the family, I will not go into further detail on the state of any type of mental issues."
Later in a press conference Monday, Deputy Kyle Woods said “mental fog” was the term McCasland used to describe his state. “Arguably, he would still be the most intelligent person in the room that any of us would be in. Highly intelligent, highly capable.”
Woods said there had been no indication of “foul play” or any prior communication identified through electronic devices “that would lead us to believe there was anything going on that was unique.”
McCasland retired from the Air Force in July 2013 as a two-star general after a 34-year career in uniform.
McCasland had led AFRL at Wright-Patterson since May 2011 before retiring. The Air Force Academy and Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate was in charge of an AFRL site in Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico among a host of assignments before his final post at Wright-Patterson.
The area in which McCasland lives is known for hiking and is a favored region for outdoors activities.
Anyone with information about McCasland is asked to call the sheriff’s missing persons unit at (505) 468-7070.
“Let me be straight: We’ve had a lot of tips, and we will go through every tip,” Allen said. “But there are some tips with some outlandish theories, conspiracy theories.”
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