Monica Jacinto Reza: The Missing NASA Aerospace Materials Scientist Behind Mondaloy

Monica Jacinto Reza (professionally known as Monica Jacinto, sometimes referred to as Monica Reza) is a 60-year-old (at the time of her disappearance) U.S. aerospace materials scientist who vanished without a trace on June 22, 2025, while hiking in the Angeles National Forest, California. Her case remains an active, unsolved missing-persons investigation with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) Homicide Bureau’s Missing Persons Unit. No body or personal effects have ever been recovered despite one of the largest search-and-rescue (SAR) operations in recent Southern California history.

She is confirmed as the co-inventor (with metallurgist Dallis Hardwick of Rockwell Science Center) of Mondaloy, a patented family of high-performance, burn-resistant nickel-based superalloys designed for oxygen-rich staged-combustion rocket engines. This material has been used in Aerojet Rocketdyne programs such as the AR-1 engine (intended to replace Russia’s RD-180) and the Air Force’s Hydrocarbon Boost Technology Demonstrator.

Professional Background and Mondaloy Development

Reza earned a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from Columbia University and joined Rocketdyne (later Aerojet Rocketdyne) in 1988. She spent over 30 years there, rising to the rank of Materials Engineering and Processes Fellow, the company’s highest technical position. In the mid-1990s, she and Hardwick began developing a nickel-based alloy that could withstand the extreme conditions inside oxygen-rich preburners and turbopumps without igniting or losing structural integrity, a long-standing challenge that previously forced U.S. engine makers to avoid such cycles or rely on heavy coatings.

Key milestones (directly from her 2017 SpaceNews interview):

• 1999: First Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) cost-sharing contract.

• Early 2000s: NASA interest in oxygen-rich booster engines; Reza led scaling, production, and processing development for insertion into flight hardware.

• Mondaloy evolved into “Mondaloy 100” and “Mondaloy 200” variants.

• By 2016–2017 it was in approximately 12 components per engine (preburner, turbine rotor/housing, ducts, hot-gas manifold, etc.) on the AR-1 and Hydrocarbon Boost demonstrators.

• Manufactured via wrought methods, powder metallurgy, and additive manufacturing (3-D printing).

Primary patent: US 2010/0266442 A1 (“Burn-Resistant and High Tensile Strength Metal Alloys”). Later patents (e.g., turbopump US20170082070A1) explicitly reference Mondaloy coatings for oxygen compatibility.

National-security angle: The alloy reduced U.S. reliance on foreign (primarily Russian) high-performance materials and coatings for reusable launch vehicles, advanced missiles, and national-security payloads. Reza described the core innovation as hitting the “sweet spot” between oxygen compatibility and high tensile strength (greater than 145,000 psi). She called continuous funding since the mid-1990s “one of our team’s biggest feats.”

Some later reporting loosely associates her with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) via Aerojet Rocketdyne contracts, but her primary affiliation was Aerojet Rocketdyne (acquired by L3Harris Technologies in 2023).

Link to Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland and AFRL

Reza’s work directly overlapped with McCasland’s leadership roles. From 2001 to 2004 he served as material-wing director of the AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate and commander of the Phillips Research Site at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico. The AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate funded and oversaw Mondaloy’s maturation for reusable space vehicles and weapons systems during exactly this period. Multiple mainstream outlets (NewsNation, NY Post, etc.) explicitly connect the two through this funding chain.

McCasland himself disappeared February 27, 2026, from his Albuquerque home. He was also an experienced hiker who left without his phone, wallet, or glasses. Media have noted the “eerily similar” circumstances, though law enforcement has not confirmed any link.

Disappearance Details (June 22, 2025)

• Location: Mount Waterman Trail (Upper West Ridge / Waterman Mountain summit route), Angeles National Forest, starting from the 6,000-ft Day Use Parking area on Angeles Crest Highway (near 60001 Trailhead Ave.).

• Time: Last confirmed sighting approximately 9:10 a.m.

• Companions: Hiking with two experienced companions (part of a regular yoga/hiking group). The group split up; one hiker continued ahead toward the car. Reza was hiking approximately 30 feet behind the remaining companion, smiled, waved, and then vanished when the companion briefly looked away. She was last seen near the ridgeline (7,000–8,000 ft elevation).

• Clothing/gear: Red long-sleeved shirt, green hiking pants, hiking shoes; 4’11”, 101 lbs, gray hair, brown eyes. Described as an avid, experienced hiker in familiar terrain; no indication she carried full emergency gear beyond normal day-hike items.

Search efforts (June 22–29, 2025, initial phase):

• Multi-agency: LASD Crescenta Valley Station, Montrose SAR, Altadena Mountain Rescue, Sierra Madre SAR, San Diego Mountain Rescue, Antelope Valley SAR, etc.

• Helicopters (with heat-sensing), scent dogs, ground teams, drones.

• Focused on canyons south of Mt. Waterman, Devil’s Canyon, ridgeline, and Three Points trail.

• Initial phase suspended after approximately 8 days with zero physical evidence found. Case transferred to LASD Homicide Bureau – Missing Persons Unit (Detectives Shannon Rincon and Richie Sanchez: 323-890-5500). Still open and active as of March–April 2026.

Phones, Forensics, and Reported Anomalies

Mainstream reporting does not state that Reza’s phones were “found at home and factory-reset.” However:

• Independent investigators and social-media sources (Instagram, Reddit, Substack) report that cell-phone forensics were performed on her device(s), but the data has never been publicly released.

• Some civilian search-group Facebook posts discussing a possible companion-phone issue were deleted.

• Some accounts (often lumping her case with others like Melissa Casias, whose phones were reportedly found wiped at home) claim family statements about factory resets or remote wipes. Substack speculation ties this to possible NASA/JPL-style Mobile Device Management (MDM) remote-wipe capability for security-compromised devices.

Other community-noted anomalies (from r/socalhiking and hiking SAR discussions):

• Scent dogs reportedly hit a “dead end.”

• Early Find-a-Grave memorial appeared listing a “green burial” only days into the search.

• Apparent directional contradictions in companion statements versus timestamps/photos.

• Institutional silence from Aerojet Rocketdyne, NASA, and AFRL-affiliated entities.

These remain unverified by official sources and are common in high-profile missing-hiker cases.

UFO / Exotic-Materials Speculation

Because McCasland has been described in UFO circles as a “gatekeeper” (former Wright-Patterson AFB commander, long tied to Roswell/UFO lore) and Mondaloy is a high-performance aerospace alloy, some outlets and online forums speculate a connection to “exotic materials” or reverse-engineering programs. No credible evidence supports this; Mondaloy is publicly documented materials science for conventional (albeit advanced) rocket propulsion. Media coverage treats the link as coincidental professional overlap amplified by the timing of the two disappearances.

Current Status (as of April 2026)

• Reza remains missing; no body recovered after nine months.

• Case is open with LASD Homicide Bureau.

• Public tips: Contact Detectives Rincon or Sanchez at (323) 890-5500.

• Family has requested privacy.

Sources (key references; full list spans official SAR statements, patents, and 2025–2026 journalism):

• SpaceNews (Dec 20, 2017) – primary interview with Jacinto.

• U.S. Patents (US20100266442A1, US20170082070A1).

• NewsNation, NY Post, Newsweek, KTLA, CBS Los Angeles (2025–2026 coverage).

• LASD / Crescenta Valley Station statements and SolveTheCase.org.

• Independent analyses on Reddit (r/socalhiking, r/WithoutATrace) and Substack (phone-forensics details).

The case is tragic and unsolved. Official investigations treat it as a missing-persons/homicide inquiry with no evidence of foul play publicly disclosed, while the professional ties and McCasland parallel have understandably fueled public interest and speculation. If new information emerges, law enforcement remains the authoritative source.