Mystery Surrounds Fatal Shooting of Renowned Astrophysicist Who Discovered Extraterrestrial Water

An astrophysicist who discovered water on another planet beyond our solar system was fatally shot outside his home this week.

67-year-old Carl Grillmair had worked with Caltech’s Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and helped develop our understanding of the galaxy around us.

Sadly, the LA Times reports that on Monday (16 February) he was found shot dead on the porch outside his Southern California home as police responded to calls of assault with a deadly weapon at 6:10am local time.

Paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene and the coroner named the astrophysicist’s cause of death as a gunshot wound to the torso.

Fellow astronomer Sergio Fajardo-Acosta who worked with Grillmair for 26 years said the scientist was ‘very famous in astronomy’ and ‘very renowned’.

Carl Grillmair was shot dead outside his home (IPAC/Caltech)

“I will miss him very personally, and I will miss him as a colleague as well,” the fellow astronomer said, having described Grillmair as ‘irreplaceable’.

Fajardo-Acosta said that Grillmair was typically a serious man who had a good sense of humour and had won NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement medal in 2011 for his contribution to finding water on other planets.

During their investigation into his death police arrested a man on suspicion of a carjacking which occurred near Grillmair’s home, which was situated in a remote location so the astrophysicist could have a better view of the stars.

This man was identified as 29-year-old Freddy Snyder, who has since been charged with carjacking and murdering Grillmair, he had also been charged with first-degree burglary relating to an incident which took place on 28 December.

It is not clear whether the two men had any sort of association, and Snyder’s bail has been set at $2 million.

He was known for finding water outside our solar system, his study of space includes this picture he took in 1996 with the Hubble Space Telescope (AFP PHOTO/Carl Grillmair/California Institute of Technology)

According to CBS, the LA County Sheriff’s Department said Grillmair had called them on 20 December to have Snyder removed from his home, and the man was arrested for weapons violations as he had left the astrophysicist’s property by the time officers arrived.

They also report that the 29-year-old alleged killer is accused of carjacking a family member’s vehicle and that his family did not report him to the police until they had realised Snyder had allegedly killed someone.

Grillmair’s colleague said that in his free time the scientist flew planes and built an observatory in his own home to better observe the stars.

He also described the man’s discovery of water on other planets as part of ‘a quest for all of humanity’ as where there is water there is the possibility of other life.