A NASA nuclear scientist went missing, then died in a fiery July 2025 car crash in Huntsville, Alabama, according to relatives and police.
Joshua LeBlanc, 29, died in the July 22, 2025 crash, according to Fox News Digital, who cited the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency (ALEA). Police said LeBlanc was inside a Tesla which struck a guardrail and several trees before catching fire around 2:45 p.m.
Both the vehicle and his body were burned beyond recognition, the ALEA said. Police confirmed LeBlanc’s identity after his remains reached the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.
NASA nuclear engineer found dead in burned Tesla after vanishing from his Alabama home last year https://t.co/gmqYCtfcvS pic.twitter.com/cQxPNevggj
— New York Post (@nypost) April 23, 2026
LeBlanc, whose LinkedIn profile indicates he worked as an electrical engineer at NASA, was reported missing by his family ahead of his death, KLFY reported in 2025. LeBlanc did not arrive for work on July 22. His family said his final communication was at 4:32 a.m. the same day. His phone and wallet were left behind at his apartment, relatives said. Police tracked his Tesla to Huntsville International Airport where it reportedly sat for four hours before going west on back roads.
LeBlanc’s relatives said his location and failure to communicate did not match his plans for the day and expressed fears he’d been abducted from his apartment following his death. (RELATED: Famous UFO Researcher Reportedly Dies Just A Few Years After Saying He Wasn’t Suicidal)
LeBlanc began working at NASA in October 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile. He served as the team lead for NASA’s Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) Instrumentation and Control (I&C) Technology Maturation and its Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operation (DRACO) Avionics, his profile indicates.
LeBlanc is among a group of researchers and scientists who have either died or gone missing over the past 33 months, according to reports. Included in the list is retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, who police said disappeared from his New Mexico home on Feb. 27, and Steven Garcia, a government contractor from a nuclear facility, who reportedly disappeared in August 2025.
The disappearances and deaths have not been formally linked, Fox News Digital noted. President Donald Trump told reporters April 16 that he held a meeting regarding reports on missing researchers, according to The Hill.