David Crete, a former Air Force Sergeant who worked at NTTR from 1983 through 1987, said that over 490 of his fellow workers have died of severe illnesses since being stationed at the secret facility. 'I have brain atrophy. The left side of my brain is shrinking and dying. That's not too bad. I'm one of the healthy ones,' Crete told the House Veterans Affairs Committee in April while lobbying for legislation to support the Area 51 veterans. The average age of death for someone who served in that unit is 65 and the youngest airman to die was just 33.
It is with a heavy heart that we regret to inform that Douglas McCarthy passed away this morning of June 11th, 2025. We ask everyone to please be respectful of Douglas, his wife, and family in this difficult time.
As a result of her exposure to that environment, her respiratory condition worsened and she was diagnosed with a chest infection and pleurisy - inflammation of the lining of the lungs and chest cavity.
According to a federal discrimination lawsuit obtained by The Independent, 58-year-old Douglas Altshuler's former managers at the Elon Musk-owned space company threatened termination if he used the bathroom too often.
"This fight was hard. I had a muscle tear on the arm, I had something on the belly that I forgot the name, down there, [from] kicking a lot... The doctors [said], 'Get him out of the fight,' but I didn't want to because in my head I knew this could be my last fight."