Carl Grillmair, a 67-year-old research scientist at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) who studied distant planets and the Milky Way, was fatally shot on his front porch in Llano, California, on Monday. The Los Angeles County medical examiner's office confirmed he died from a bullet wound to the torso.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department arrested 29-year-old Freddy Snyder in connection with the killing. Snyder faces charges of murder, carjacking, and burglary related to other incidents. He remains in custody.
Grillmair worked at Caltech's Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, a partner to NASA and other research bodies. His career spanned over four decades, with hundreds of publications and a NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for detecting water on a distant exoplanet in 2011.
Colleague Sergio Fajardo-Acosta, who worked with Grillmair for 26 years, described him as 'irreplaceable' and noted his contributions to understanding galactic collisions and the search for life beyond Earth. Grillmair enjoyed flying planes and stargazing from his home observatory.
Deputies responded to an assault call at Grillmair's home around 6am Monday and found him dead on the porch. It is unclear if Grillmair knew Snyder. The killing follows the December shooting death of MIT physicist Nuno Loureiro, which also shocked the scientific community.
