A 29-year-old man was charged with murder after he allegedly shot and killed a Caltech scientist in front of a Los Angeles County home earlier this week.

The LA County Sheriff’s Department said Freddy Snyder, 29, allegedly killed 67-year-old Carl Grillmair in the High Desert city of Llano on Monday morning. Deputies responded to the 30700 block of 165th Street East and found Grillmair on the porch with a fatal gunshot wound. LA County Fire Department paramedics tried to save Grillmair’s life but ultimately pronounced him dead shortly after.

Detectives said that Snyder had carjacked a family member’s car before killing Grillmair, but the family did not report it until after they realized Snyder allegedly killed someone.

LASD said Grillmair had called deputies on Dec. 20, 2025, to have Snyder trespassed from his home. Deputies arrested Snyder for weapons violations because he had left Grillmair’s home by the time authorities arrived, according to detectives. 

The LA County District Attorney’s Office charged Snyder with murder, carjacking and burglary. His bail is set at $2 million. 

A colleague confirmed that Grillmair worked at the California Institute of Technology. According to his profile on Caltech’s website, Grillmair’s research focused on dark matter, galactic structure, stellar populations and exoplanets. 

“We are shocked,” Caltech scientist Sergio Fajardo-Acosta said. “This was so unexpected. Carl was full of life.”

Fajardo-Acosta has known Grillmair for 26 years and worked with him at Caltech’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC).

“Carl is irreplaceable because of the ingenuity he injected into his research in astronomy,” Fajardo-Acosta said. 

Grillmair was awarded the NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.

“He was always ready to teach,” Fajardo-Acosta said. “To share his knowledge, he never held anything back.”

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