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EXCLUSIVE: A Defense Department scientist’s 2022 death, which was ruled an accident, is drawing new scrutiny as federal authorities examine a series of deaths and disappearances involving researchers tied to sensitive government work.
The case comes as federal authorities and lawmakers examine reports involving at least 10 to 11 scientists tied to sensitive government research, including individuals connected to nuclear, aerospace and defense programs.
The cases, which span disappearances, confirmed homicides and unexplained deaths, have drawn attention from the White House and Congress, prompting calls for federal agencies to determine whether any broader national security risk exists.
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One of those cases drawing renewed attention is the death of Jude Height, a longtime Army biochemist whose work placed him within the type of high-level research now under federal review.
Height, 71, died Sept. 9, 2022, after a vehicle rolled backward down a driveway at a home in Chester County, Pennsylvania, striking and trapping him beneath it, according to the local coroner’s office and official records. The death was ruled accidental.
Image of Army scientist Jude Height (Kristin Height)
The FBI declined to comment on specific cases, but told Digital it is “spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and local law enforcement partners to find answers.”
The White House similarly declined to get ahead of its investigation.
“The White House continues to coordinate across the interagency in order to investigate these events and provide transparency to the American people,” spokesperson Anna Kelly said.
Digital reached out to the U.S. Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland for comment. The War Department referred to the Army.
Height spent more than four decades working as a biochemist for the U.S. Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground’s Edgewood, Maryland, facility, focusing on how nerve agents interact with the human body — work that placed him within the type of national security research now drawing broader federal scrutiny.
His work included findings on Novichok agents, a class of chemical weapons used in high-profile international poisonings, including the 2018 attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in the United Kingdom.
“We were working on the next generation of nerve agent therapeutics,” Scott Peghan, a biochemist who worked with Height through Army research programs, told Digital.
Image of Jude Height (Kristin Height)
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His final research, published after his death, examined how Novichok agents inhibit acetylcholinesterase, an enzyme critical to nerve function. Height was preparing to present his latest findings at the annual Military Health System Research Symposium at the time of his death.
“He worked on the structure of proteins involved in interactions with nerve agents,” Dennis Reuter, a former senior Army scientist who ran a chemical weapons laboratory and oversaw Height’s work for two decades, told Digital. “It was very cutting-edge research.”
Dr. Emory “Bill” Sarver, a former chief scientist who worked with Height for 25 years, told Digital his work focused on how those agents bind to key enzymes, including whether those interactions could be reversed — research with implications for both chemical defense and medical treatment.
Image of Jude Height (Kristin Height)
Nerve agents like Novichok disrupt the body’s ability to transmit signals between nerves, leading to paralysis and, in severe cases, death.
Colleagues said the work required highly specialized expertise and was conducted in a limited number of government laboratories. Height deployed alongside special forces as a civilian scientist to conduct onsite analysis related to suspected chemical weapons.
In 911 audio reviewed by Digital, the caller appears to say someone “ran him over a couple times,” prompting the dispatcher to repeatedly ask who had run him over and whether it had been intentional.
But sworn testimony from Height’s girlfriend — the only person present at the time of the incident — later differed in key respects from the initial police report.
In the crash report, police wrote that the vehicle had been parked “unoccupied, overnight.” In her later deposition, the girlfriend said she had driven the car earlier that morning and returned home shortly before the incident.
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Image of Jude Height (Kristin Height)
The report also stated that Height ran behind the vehicle in an attempt to stop it. In sworn testimony, however, the girlfriend said she did not see him run behind the car, only that she saw him already behind it and falling.
Police further wrote that the vehicle “rolled over (Height) two times.” In the deposition, the girlfriend said she did not know whether he was run over more than once, describing instead seeing the car “bounce” as it moved.
Height’s former girlfriend did not respond to a request for comment.
Former colleagues who worked with Height for decades say the circumstances surrounding his death have never been fully explained.
“None of us believe the official account. Nothing adds up,” said Reuter.
“None of it was well explained,” said Sarver.
A source close to Height with law enforcement experience described the crash report to Digital as “one of the worst accident reports I’ve ever seen,” citing inconsistencies in how the incident was documented.
Cases like Height’s have drawn attention as part of the broader review of scientists tied to sensitive government research, though authorities have not indicated that his death is connected to any wider pattern.
The crash report provides a basic account of the incident but offers little detail on how the vehicle moved or how Height came to be under it.
Birmingham Township, Pennsylvania, Police said they handled the initial response, but the investigation — including diagrams and analysis — was conducted by Chester County Detectives, who did not respond to a request for comment.
The death was ruled an accident by the Chester County Coroner’s Office, which listed the cause as multiple blunt force injuries. The autopsy notes it was conducted based on the circumstances provided by investigators.
The coroner’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
A separate autopsy conducted at the request of the family reached a different conclusion, finding the manner of death could not be determined and raising questions about whether the injuries were consistent with the reported accident.
The report described findings as “very strongly suspicious of homicidal violence coupled with an attempt to cover this as an accident,” and noted that injuries appeared to occur in multiple phases, with damage to the head and neck described as distinct from trauma to the torso.
The report also referenced puncture-type injuries, though it did not determine how those injuries occurred.
However, the examiner did not make a definitive determination as to the manner of death.
Height’s daughter, Kristin Height, has spent years trying to understand what happened and has implored local law enforcement and the FBI to reopen the case.
Height told Digital she was not initially notified by authorities of her father’s death and instead learned of it from a former colleague of her father’s.
In sworn testimony, the girlfriend said police instructed her not to contact Height directly.
She’s obtained some records, including the initial crash report, but has struggled to access additional investigative materials.
“I’ve filed requests … and they’ve rejected (them),” she said, referring to attempts to obtain further records.
Family members said Height had, at times, expressed unease related to his work.
“He was kind of concerned about if somebody was like, he was being watched or monitored,” his brother Bill Height told Digital.
Height’s daughter said he had expressed concern during the COVID-19 pandemic about working from home and whether bringing government-issued equipment outside secure facilities could expose sensitive information.
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Family members also said Height had raised some concerns about his relationship.
