• A retired U.S. Air Force general, Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, has been reported missing in New Mexico.
• McCasland formerly commanded the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
• His name was mentioned in a 2016 WikiLeaks email release in connection to UFO research.

A retired U.S. Air Force general who once commanded a research division at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, has gone missing in New Mexico.

This is what we know.

McCasland commanded Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has issued a Silver Alert for Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, who has been missing since last week, Newsweek reports. He was last seen on Feb. 27 in Albuquerque. McCasland is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs about 160 pounds. He has white hair and blue eyes, and he has unspecified medical issues, per the sheriff’s office, which is worried about his safety.

McCasland was the commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, according to his Air Force biography. He managed a $2.2 billion science and technology program as well as $2.2 billion in additional customer-funded research and development. He joined Wright-Patterson in 2011 and retired in 2013.

He was commissioned in 1979 after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a Bachelor of Science degree in astronautical engineering. He has served in a wide variety of space research, acquisition and operations roles within the Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office.

McCasland mentioned in WikiLeaks release in connection to UFOs

McCasland was described as a key adviser on UFO-related projects by Tom DeLonge, UFO researcher and guitarist for Blink-182, Newsweek reports. The general’s name appears in the 2016 WikiLeaks email release from John Podesta, then Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager.

In emails to Podesta, DeLonge said he’s been working with McCasland for months and that the general was aware of the materials DeLonge was probing because McCasland has been “in charge of the laboratory at Wright‑Patterson Air Force Base where the Roswell wreckage was shipped,” per Newsweek.

However, there is no official record of DeLonge’s claims, and McCasland has neither confirmed nor denied it.

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base home to UFO project

The Dayton Air Force base was home to Project Blue Book in the 1950s and 60s, according to “The Air Force Investigation into UFOs” published by Ohio State University.

Though the alleged sex trafficking on Jeffrey Epstein’s Caribbean island, Little Saint James, has dominated the national discourse recently, another Epstein property has largely stayed out of the news — but perhaps not for long. A ranch outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, that belonged to the disgraced financier has been the subject of on-and-off investigations, and many are now reexamining what role the ranch may have played in Epstein’s crimes.

What is the ranch in question?

The compound, named Zorro Ranch, includes a 30,000-square-foot mansion that “sits on a ridge overlooking thousands of acres of southwestern land,” said The New York Times. The ranch is in the middle of the desert, an area with low population density where the “nearest neighbors are miles away and most everyone minds their own business.”

RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Rio Rancho voters are set to elect a new mayor and decide several key measures Tuesday in one of New Mexico’s fastest growing cities.

Voters will make their way to one of the 14 voting centers open Tuesday to decide which person will become mayor, replacing Gregg Hull. These six candidates are running:

Like Albuquerque, Rio Rancho candidates need to earn 50% of the votes to win. Otherwise, the top two candidates will go to a runoff election.

Regardless of who wins, this will be the first time Rio Rancho voters will elect a new mayor in over a decade. Their priorities include addressing crime and how fast the city is growing, as well as improving infrastructure and government transparency, especially as the site of a new Project Ranger missile project.

The only other race with multiple candidates is the District 5 city council seat. Incumbent Karissa Culbreath faces a challenge from Calvin Ducane Ward.

Voters will also decide the fate of three general obligation bonds:

• $12 million to road projects
• $4.3 million to public safety facility projects
• $1.2 million to public quality of life projects
  • e.g., renovating the Esther Bone Memorial Library

The polls will stay open until 7 p.m.