A 29-year-old man was behind bars Friday, held in lieu of $3.175 million bail in connection with the shooting death of a renowned Caltech scientist at the researcher’s home in a remote part of the unincorporated Antelope Valley community of Llano.
Caltech confirmed the victim was Carl Grillmair, 67, who is revered in the astronomy field for discovering water on a distant planet.
The shooting was reported about 6:10 a.m. Monday in the 30700 block of 165th Street East, according to the Sheriff’s Information Bureau.
Deputies responding to a 911 call reporting an assault with a deadly weapon found Grillmair on the front porch suffering from a gunshot wound, authorities said.
Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene. He was identified Tuesday by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner.
“While investigating the shooting call, Palmdale Sheriff’s Station deputies also responded to a carjacking call in the same area,” according to a sheriff’s department statement.
The shooting suspect, Freddy Snyder, was initially detained and was subsequently arrested. He was charged Wednesday with murder and carjacking in connection with the killing, along with an allegation of personal and intentional discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury. He was also charged with burglary, allegedly committed in late December.
Snyder is scheduled to be arraigned March 26 in Lancaster.
Jail records show that Snyder was previously arrested in Palmdale on Dec. 20, 2025, on suspicion of carrying a loaded firearm in a personal vehicle. He was charged in that case, but the charge was later dismissed for unknown reasons, according to court records. Snyder was released on his own recognizance on Dec. 23, jail records show.
According to his Caltech online biography, Grillmair’s work included research using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and focused on galactic structure, dark matter and stellar populations.
A friend and Caltech colleague of Grillmair’s told the Los Angeles Times that the scientist lived in the desert because the nightime darkness made for better astronomical observations. He even built his own observatory at his expansive home, according to The Times, which reported that Grillmair flew airplanes in his spare time.
It’s unclear if Grillmair and Snyder had any connection prior to the killing.
Anyone with information about the shooting was asked to call the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tips can be submitted through Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.