David Marler
Before the sighting
Joined MUFON in 1990 as a Field Investigator Trainee while working in medical diagnostics in St. Louis. Subsequently worked 13 years with a global medical equipment company, then moved into hospital administration in New Mexico. Built one of the largest private historical UFO archives over ~30 years.
During the sighting
Not a primary witness to any specific UAP event in the open-source record. His role is as a secondary investigator and archivist: collecting, preserving, and providing access to case files, periodicals, photographs, and audio recordings spanning ~75 years of UFO research history.
After the sighting
In November 2020, Marler became curator of what is reported as the world's largest UFO case-file collection, encompassing the historic NICAP files, CUFOS case files, and J. Allen Hynek's original Project Blue Book working files. In November 2022 he founded the National UFO Historical Records Center (NUFOHRC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; the center opened a public physical facility in Rio Rancho, New Mexico (in partnership with Rio Rancho Public Schools). The collection has subsequently absorbed files from the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO). Marler published Triangular UFOs: An Estimate of the Situation in 2013 (foreword by John B. Alexander PhD; chapter contributors include Richard M. Dolan, Mark Rodeghier PhD, Sam Maranto, George Wingfield, Omar Fowler). Speaks publicly at universities and conferences. Received the Lucius O. Farish UFO Research Award (2016) and the UFO Congress Lifetime Achievement Award (October 2022).
Research notes
IMPORTANT METHODOLOGICAL NOTE: Marler is NOT a primary witness. His credibility score of 7.5 here is credibility-AS-A-RESEARCHER/ARCHIVIST, not credibility-as-a-witness. That is a meaningful and category-distinct metric: it reflects archival rigor, institutional partnerships (CUFOS, NICAP files, APRO files), transparency of methodology, and reception by peers in the field (Lifetime Achievement Award, foreword by John B. Alexander). His scholarly posture (focus on documentation, primary sources, refusal to engage in contactee/channeling narratives) is more rigorous than the typical UFO lecturer circuit. Birth year not located in open sources reviewed; left null per project rule. The hypnotherapy certification is a minor flag worth noting given the contested role of hypnosis in UFO 'abduction' research, but Marler's published work does not appear to lean on regressive hypnosis methodology.