Another top astrophysicist killed 'randomly'

[Liliea]

While writing a short investigation into the murder of Nuno Loreiro, I came across a new crime involving renowned scientist Carl Grillmair, which occurred under similar circumstances.

• An acclaimed Caltech astrophysicist was fatally shot on his porch in Llano early Monday.
• A suspect, Freddy Snyder, 29, was arrested and charged with Carl Grillmair’s slaying as well as carjacking and burglary.
• At the time of his death, he was engaged in studies of comets and asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth.

A renowned California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientist who studied distant planets and other areas of astronomy for decades was recently shot to death at his home in a rural community outside Los Angeles, authorities said.
Carl Grillmair, 67, died from a bullet wound to the torso on Monday in Llano, an unincorporated community in the Antelope Valley, according to information from the LA county medical examiner’s office. The county sheriff’s department said it had arrested a suspect in Grillmair’s slaying, identifying him as 29-year-old Freddy Snyder.
Snyder faces a count of murder in connection with Grillmair’s death, along with charges of carjacking and burglary pertaining to other cases. He remained in custody on Friday.
The Guardian

(..) While investigating the shooting, deputies arrested a suspect in a carjacking that took place nearby, according to the Sheriff’s Department. That suspect was later identified as Freddy Snyder, 29. He was charged Wednesday with the murder of Grillmair and carjacking. He was also charged with first-degree burglary related to a Dec. 28 incident, according to court records. He is being held in lieu of $2 million. It is unclear what relation, if any, Snyder had with Grillmair.
Los Angeles Times

At the time of his death, he was focused on studying comets and asteroids that could pose a hazard to Earth.

Some excerpts from their website

Grillmair's work had focused on uncovering the structure of the Milky Way, identifying faint stellar streams and substructures that make up the galactic halo surrounding our spiral galaxy, and helping to reshape our understanding of how galaxies evolve.

Grillmair's science interests spanned many topics, such as exoplanets and stellar streams, which are remnants from ancient collisions between our Milky Way and other galaxies. He discovered dozens of these streams, with many named by him. In 2007, in one of his most impactful findings, he was lead author on a publication that "captured for the first time enough light from planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets, to identify molecules in their atmospheres," according to a press release about the work.

According to Fajardo-Acosta, his friend and colleague, Grillmair's most notable achievement was detecting signs of water on a distant planet orbiting a star other than the sun. He described it as a “very ingenious discovery” and noted that Grillmair's research was “extremely important” because “water, of course, is a telltale sign of life, or at least conditions favorable to life.”

"It was always a pleasure to experience Carl's creativity in doing science. His methods on exoplanets and galactic structure studies were truly detective work, allowing him to infer events that took place many billions of years ago," says Sergio Fajardo-Acosta, a fellow astronomer at IPAC.

And finding signs of life on another planet has been “a quest for all of humanity” throughout history, Fajardo-Acosta said. “It's monumental,” he added; the discovery earned his friend NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal in 2011.
Grillmair enjoyed his home in remote Antelope Valley, Southern California, largely because it allowed him to easily study the stars at night, Fajardo-Acosta said. Grillmair did so at his home astronomical observatory, equipped with several telescopes.

Recently, he began a project to test new instrumentation at Caltech's Palomar Observatory to monitor for meteor impacts on the Moon's surface during an upcoming lunar eclipse. "It is a really exciting project, and I know he was looking forward to seeing what we could learn about the near-space environment from that," says Joe Masiero, NEO Surveyor lead scientist at IPAC, where he was Grillmair's colleague and collaborator.

Grillmair had been awarded significant observation time as a principal investigator on the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope, and his research earned him numerous awards, including NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal.

“He is immortalized because the discovery of these galactic currents is attributed to him,” said Fajardo-Acosta.

For the moment, I would just like to say peace and love wherever you are, and may you have a peaceful transition.

https://twitter.com/x/status/2025083357512552956

Renowned scientist who studied distant planets fatally shot at his home near LA

Authorities suspect Carl Grillmair was shot by man arrested for carjacking, as friends mourn him as ‘irreplaceable’

www.theguardian.com

Caltech Mourns the Passing of Carl Grillmair (1959–2026)

Carl Grillmair, an astronomer at Caltech's IPAC science and data center for astronomy and planetary science, passed away suddenly on February 16, 2026.

www.caltech.edu

Caltech Mourns the Passing of Carl Grillmair (1959–2026)

Carl Grillmair, an astronomer at Caltech's IPAC science and data center for astronomy and planetary science, passed away suddenly on February 16, 2026.

www.caltech.edu

NASA's Spitzer First To Crack Open Light of Faraway Worlds

www.spitzer.caltech.edu

 

[Gaby]

While writing a short investigation into the murder of Nuno Loreiro, I came across a new crime involving renowned scientist Carl Grillmair, which occurred under similar circumstances.

Merged your post into the main thread where we discussing this murder.

 

[Niall]

It's one thing to 'disappear' top astrophysicists, as they did to Tom Marsh in the desert in Chile in 2022, but having two of them 'randomly shot dead', in quick succession, smacks of recklessness and 'urgency'.

This is Grillmair's home in the middle of nowhere in CA:

 

[Voyageur]

This is Grillmair's home in the middle of nowhere in CA:

From The Times of India:

''His legacy will live on forever,' Farjardo-Acosta added. He told the publication that Grillmair loved living in the remote area of Antelope Valley so he could watch the stars at night. Grillmair even built a an observatory with several telescopes in his home and flew airplanes in his spare time.

Grillmair was awarded the Nasa Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal. According to his biography, his work focused on dark matter, galactic structure, stellar populations, and exoplanets.

Edit: (afterthought):

Grilmair's background:

Overview​

Carl J. Grillmair is affiliated with the California Institute of Technology in the United States and works primarily in the field of Physics and Astronomy.

Their work has led to publications across several main research topics, including:

• Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies
• Gamma-ray bursts and supernovae
• Astronomy and Astrophysical Research
• Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena
• Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies
• Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing
• Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations

The subfields of study covered in their research encompass:

• Astronomy and Astrophysics
• Instrumentation
• General Health Professions
• Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
• Philosophy

The scientist has contributed to various publications. Notable recent papers include:

• Properties of globular cluster systems in nearby early-type galaxies (2024), OPAL (Open@LaTrobe) (La Trobe University)
• HST imaging of the globular clusters in the Fornax cluster: NGC 1399 and NGC 1404 (2024), OPAL (Open@LaTrobe) (La Trobe University)
• Hubble Space Telescope Imaging of Antlia B: Star Formation History and a New Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance (2020), The Astrophysical Journal
• Spitzer IRAC Photometry of JWST Calibration Stars (2021), The Astronomical Journal
• The Extended Tidal Tails of NGC 7089 (M2) (2022), The Astrophysical Journal

Their research has been published most frequently in the following venues:

• The Astrophysical Journal
• arXiv (Cornell University)
• OPAL (Open@LaTrobe) (La Trobe University)
• The Astronomical Journal
• Bern Open Repository and Information System (University of Bern)

Carl J. Grillmair has collaborated with several coauthors on multiple occasions, including:

• Schuyler D. Van Dyk
• R. M. Cutri
• S. B. Fajardo-Acosta
• J. Masiero
• Jean P. Brodie