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By Khaleda Rahman
National Correspondent
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A former FBI agent has explained the difficulties as authorities continue searching for a retired Air Force general who disappeared from his home three weeks ago.
Authorities in New Mexico have been searching for William Neil McCasland since he was reported missing last month.
Jennifer Coffindaffer, who suspects McCasland may have died by suicide, told Newsweek that it could take some time before authorities locate him.
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“It's a needle in a haystack finding an individual in the Sandia mountain foothills,” she said.
“It's impossible for a learned and astute outdoorsman to be found quickly because it’s so difficult, the terrain, and you can't do a grid search.”
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The Context
McCasland was last seen on the morning of February 27 at his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
His wife reported him missing that day after returning home from an appointment to find he was not there, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said. The sheriff’s office said McCasland’s phone, glasses and wearable devices were found at the home, but items believed to be missing include his hiking boots, wallet and a handgun.
The sheriff’s office said McCasland is an “avid outdoorsman and is known to often hike, run, and cycle in the Northeast Heights and the Sandia foothills.” He is described as 5 feet 11 inches tall, with white hair and blue eyes.
What To Know
Coffindaffer noted that it had taken more than a month for investigators to locate Brian Laundrie in a wildlife reserve in Florida five years ago.
Laundrie disappeared two days before his fiancée Gabby Petito’s body was found on September 19, 2021, outside Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, and authorities determined that she had been strangled. Laundrie’s remains were not found until October 20, 2021. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after writing in a notebook that he killed Petito.
“The FBI, all full forces, hundreds of people, they spent millions of dollars, they used every asset they had, they knew exactly where he went in. His car was parked right there and they couldn't find him,” Coffindaffer said, adding that it was only after Laundrie’s parents joined the search that he was located.
“It is so difficult. I've been on huge manhunts. It's just very, very difficult.”
Speaking about the difficulty of locating individuals in remote areas, she noted that authorities have still not located Travis Turner, a Virginia high school football coach who is being sought on charges of possessing child sexual abuse material and using a computer to solicit a minor.
Turner went missing on November 20, when state police special agents were sent to his home, not to arrest him but to talk to him as part of an investigation. The Virginia State Police said earlier this month that state police are being assisted in the search for Turner by the U.S. Marshals Service, FBI, and the Black Diamond Search and Rescue team, a nonprofit that provides specially trained professionals to find and assist lost or missing people in wilderness and rural environments.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said investigators have canvassed more than 700 homes and requested security footage.
The sheriff’s office also said that drones, helicopters, K-9 units and ground crews have been used to search for McCasland.
The sheriff’s office said there is currently no evidence indicating foul play and that it had received any reports of confirmed sightings or video showing McCasland leaving the area or indicating a direction of travel.
At a news conference on Monday, the sheriff said a Silver Alert remains in effect and had been issued because of McCasland’s age and because he previously reported experiencing “mental fog.”
Lieutenant Kyle Woods said investigators do not believe McCasland was cognitively impaired at the time and said it was issued "out of an abundance of caution" in order “to try to garner as much public attention as possible to try to help locate him as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, McCasland's wife has publicly dispelled reports regarding his health and purported knowledge of the nation's secrets.
What People Are Saying
Bernalillo County Sheriff John Allen said at a news conference on Monday, about the terrain being searched: "It's vast, it's a lot of square mileage, there's a lot of hidden areas, there's rocky areas, there's areas where people can get injured in.”
McCasland’s wife Susan McCasland Wilkerson wrote on Facebook earlier this month: “Neil is at some risk, but not from dementia. He was not confused and disoriented.”
She added: “It is true that when Neil was in the Air Force, he had access to some highly classified programs and information. He retired from the AF almost 13 years ago and has had only very commonly held clearances since. It seems quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him.”
What Happens Next
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office is the lead agency in the case, while the FBI’s Albuquerque field office is assisting.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the sheriff’s office’s Missing Persons Unit at 505-468-7070 or anonymously through Tip411 by texting BCSO and your tip to 847411.
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