A UFO and aerospace researcher’s death is raising questions as the circumstances surrounding his final days remain a mystery months later.
Authorities in New Mexico said Martin Aidan Shaffer, 49, died while in police custody at the Torrance County Detention Facility in March 2026.
Shaffer had worked in the ‘fringe science’ community, collaborating with groups exploring advanced propulsion technology, including anti-gravity engines, which have been linked to UFO speculation for decades.
According to court records, the self-described inventor was being held on multiple charges, including arson and burglary, but the cause of his death has not been disclosed.
While alleged colleagues have claimed that Shaffer was suffering from mental health issues, the Taos, New Mexico resident’s social media accounts revealed a much more disturbing story.
Shaffer had claimed that he was experimented on and had implants placed in his body, suggesting that he was being controlled by extraterrestrials. He even claimed without evidence that other researchers had tried to harm him.
A month before his death, he wrote on X: ‘I want all these implants removed, I want to be free from my body mind which I do not control.’
Meanwhile, Shaffer’s case has now been linked to another dead scientist in the recent string of deaths and disappearances across the US, Amy Eskridge, who was also working on anti-gravity research and had claimed her life was in danger.
UFO and aerospace researcher Martin Aidan Shaffer, 49, reportedly died while in police custody in New Mexico in March 2026
Shaffer had written several posts on social media appearing to be in mental health distress
Shaffer had written several posts on social media appearing to be in mental health distress
Prior to his death, Shaffer had been making a string of disturbing posts, claiming he had been repeatedly assaulted in his own home and showed images of small bruises where implants had allegedly been inserted.
In one post on December 30, 2025, Shaffer sent a message to Elon Musk’s brain implant company, Neuralink, claiming that extraterrestrials, also known as Non-Human Intelligence (NHI), had implanted technology in him.
‘There’s something that I’m experiencing with having an NHI implant that pertains directly to the development of neural link,’ Shaffer claimed.
‘I wish I could remove the implants and undo what has been done to me,’ he added in another post.
Shaffer had been connected to the Alternative Propulsion Engineering Conference, an online group of scientists, engineers and independent builders who discuss breakthrough theoretical aerospace technologies.
He also claimed to be the co-founder of Falcon Space, a New Jersey research startup working on creating advanced propulsion without relying on fuel-based rockets.
The host of the Liminality podcast on YouTube, who claimed she knew Eskridge, noted that Falcon Space was also founded by Mark Sokol, the late scientist’s ex-boyfriend.
Eskridge publicly claimed that she had been attacked, drugged and threatened repeatedly by unknown assailants while she was working on anti-gravity engines and advanced security systems for the US Department of Homeland Security.
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Shaffer claimed that he had received implants from NHI (Non-Human Inntelligence)
Amy Eskridge was a scientist researching anti-gravity technology before her death in 2022 at age 34
Eskridge, 34, reportedly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head in 2022. However, the young scientist, who also allegedly suffered from mental health issues had repeatedly told colleagues she was not suicidal.
Shaffer’s troubling posts appeared to begin after his tenure at Falcon Space from 2021 to 2023.
Social media exchanges between him and Sokol also showed an apparent falling out, with Shaffer claiming in November 2025 that Sokol ‘threw me into traffic.’
No police report for the alleged incident could be found. Falcon Space also does not list Shaffer as one of the company’s co-founders.
Meanwhile, an X account for Falcon Space posted on May 21 that Shaffer allegedly ‘died of a heart attack in police custody, arrested for burning down his ex girlfriends house who broke up with him for being delinquent and not contributing.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to authorities in New Mexico regarding the circumstances of Shaffer’s death and the charges he was facing. The medical examiner’s office has not revealed an official cause of death.
The events surrounding Shaffer’s case became even stranger after his death, as an obituary online misspelled the scientist’s name and did not list his date of birth. It is unclear who posted the memorial page or their connection to Shaffer.
Court documents from New Mexico revealed that Martin Aidan Shaffer died after being taken to the Torrance County Detention Facility
An online obituary for Shaffer did not list his date of birth or spell his name correctly
Shaffer’s sudden death and ties to the same community of scientists Eskridge had associated with has thrust the growing number of cases involving missing and dead researchers working in America’s nuclear, aerospace and defense sectors back into the spotlight.
Among the missing are retired Air Force General William Neil McCasland, government contractor Steven Garcia, and nuclear lab workers Melissa Casias and Anthony Chavez. All vanished without a trace under nearly identical circumstances over the last year.
Eskridge’s suicide in 2022 was one of the earliest incidents now believed to be under scrutiny by members of Congress and the FBI.
Former British intelligence officer Franc Milburn has previously told the Daily Mail he believes Eskridge’s death was murder and that advanced directed energy weapons were used against her to derail her work.
Since her death, multiple scientists tied to advanced propulsion research or NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab have been murdered or died under circumstances which have never been revealed to the public.
While there have been no definitive links made between all of the cases throughout the US, multiple members of Congress have told the Daily Mail that each of their ties to sensitive government secrets or research spark concerns that foul play and a foreign power may be involved.
The FBI has been tasked by the White House with investigating the matter, but the agency has not produced their report despite President Trump saying it would come in early May.
