Joshua LeBlanc, 29, was found burned beyond recognition in the wreckage of his 2021 Tesla Model 3 on July 22 last year in Huntsville, Alabama, according to local reports.

His family reported him missing at 4.32am ET that day, but it was not until 2.45pm that his vehicle was found. 

Authorities were able to trace LeBlanc's movements using recordings from his Tesla's Sentry Mode, revealing the vehicle sat at Huntsville airport for nearly four hours on the morning of his death. 

The vehicle slammed into a guardrail and several trees before bursting into flames. 

The engineer's body was transported to the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, which took three days to identify due to the severity of the burns.

Family members said the sudden trip was never planned and told Louisiana news site KLFY that it was unlike him to go silent without updating them. 

At the time of his disappearance, relatives told KLFY they suspected he may have been abducted from his home, noting that his phone and wallet were still inside the house. 

Brittany Fox, a friend of LeBlanc, told the Daily Mail that neither she nor his family has been contacted by authorities about any investigations since the accident.

According to LeBlanc's LinkedIn page, he began working as an aerospace technologies electrical engineer at NASA in October 2019, as first reported on by FOX News.

Electrical engineers in NASA's Aerospace Technology (AST) roles design, develop and test hardware and software used in spacecraft, satellites and ground support systems. 

Specialists in this field also play key roles in emerging technologies, including nuclear propulsion systems tied to deep space missions and the agency's Moon to Mars initiatives.

Fox posted on Facebook on July 24 last year saying: 'We believe there is a chance he may have been abducted from the apartment and intend to keep searching.

'Tesla has been contacted numerous times to release [the] Sentry data, but the process has been slow. This story has too many holes in it and so many potential cameras to catch what happened.'