Overview
- Freddy Snyder pleaded not guilty on May 26 to felony counts of murder, carjacking and first-degree residential burglary in the death of Caltech astrophysicist Carl Johann Grillmair.
- Investigators say Grillmair was found shot once in the neck on his front porch on February 16 and that Snyder was detained nearby after a reported carjacking.
- Prosecutors allege Snyder armed himself with two rifles, fought with his mother to seize her car keys, fired a shot inside their home and then drove to Grillmair’s remote Antelope Valley property before the killing.
- Snyder remains in custody on roughly $3.2 million bail and faces a preliminary hearing on June 5 at the Antelope Valley Courthouse; if convicted he could face life in prison.
- The case includes unresolved procedural questions about a dismissed December firearm arrest and a disputed allegation he tried to escape custody, and Grillmair’s death is part of a developing federal review of multiple scientists’ cases.