It is as I first suspected, a bit of groundwork for a large scale 'alien abduction' cover story when the rapture happens.
When millions of Christians suddenly dissapear from the earth without a trace, no one will believe it was a large scale alien abduction, as 90% of people don't take any accounts of this stuff seriously.
However, if you do a few biggies like this one over the year that never get solved, it's far more believable.
1 Thessalonians 4:17 "Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord."
The last thing Satan wants, when this rapture happens, is for people to start believing in God and reading the bible.