A 29-year-old has been arrested and charged with intentionally starting what became the deadly Pacific Palisades wildfire that killed 12 people and destroyed large swaths of Los Angeles earlier this year.
Jonathan Rinderknecht of Florida was arrested Tuesday, Oct. 7, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. He’s accused of setting the fire on land owned by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority just after midnight on Jan. 1.
Rinderknecht is reportedly set to make his first court appearance in Florida before being moved to California to officially face the charges against him. (He has not yet entered a plea.) If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison, with a minimum sentence of five years.
This original blaze that Rinderknecht allegedly started was known as the Lachman Fire, and it was quickly suppressed. But unbeknownst to firefighters and other authorities at the time, embers of the Lachman Fire continued to burn underground, and on Jan. 7, heavy winds caused the fire to surface and spread. The ensuing Palisades fire was one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles history, destroying 23,400 acres of land and nearly 7,000 of homes across the Pacific Palisades region.
“The complaint alleges that a single person’s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “While we cannot bring back what victims lost, we hope this criminal case brings some measure of justice to those affected by this horrific tragedy.”
According to an affidavit from an investigator for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Rinderknecht was working on New Year’s Eve as an Uber driver, with two of his passengers describing him as “agitated and angry” that night. Just before midnight, Rinderknecht allegedly pulled up the song “Un Zder, Un Thé” by the French rapper Josman. He’d allegedly listened to the song “nine times in the previous four days,” and watched the music video — in which fire is a small recurring motif — three times in four days. The affidavit claims the lyric of “Un Zder, Un Thé” suggest themes of “despair and bitterness.” (Rinderknecht later told investigators he grew up in France and was fluent in French.)
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After putting on the song, Rinderknecht allegedly drove to a Pacific Palisades trailhead, near where he used to live. He also allegedly tried calling an old friend, who used to lived nearby, too, but was unable to connect with him. Per the affidavit, Rinderknecht walked to an area known as the Hidden Buddha clearing, where there’s a stump from an old utility pole where people often place Buddha figurines. While at the clearing, Rinderknecht allegedly took several videos of the area and listened to “Un Zder, Un Thé” again.
It’s unclear when exactly he allegedly set the fire, but it was first detected by University of California at San Diego environmental sensing platforms about 12 minutes after midnight. Rinderknecht also allegedly tried to call 911 around the same time, but the call did not go through because of poor cell service. He attempted to make several more calls, and by the time he finally connected with the police, the fire had already been reported by others in the neighborhood.
During his call with police, Rinderknecht also allegedly typed a question into ChatGPT: “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarette?” ChatGPT allegedly responded “Yes,” with an explanation.
As Rinderknecht drove away, he allegedly passed firefighters on their way to tackle the fire. He later told investigators that he turned around and offered to help the firefighters, which the ATF agent characterized as “highly unusual conduct.” Rinderknecht allegedly stuck around and took several more videos of the fires and the firefighters from a nearby hill.
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In the affidavit, the ATF agent notes that “arsonists sometimes like to watch firefighters respond to the fires that they have set.” The document also contains other potential evidence of Rinderknecht’s intentions, including several fire-related ChatGPT requests.
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In July 2024, he allegedly asked the AI app to generate “a dystopian painting” that included a “burning forest” and a crowd of people “running away from the fire,” while on the other side of a wall “is a conglomerate of the richest people” who are “chilling, watching the world burn down, and watching people struggle… laughing, enjoying themselves, and dancing.”
About a month later, Rinderknecht allegedly wrote to a family member, “Burned the Bible I had literally.” He also mentioned this alleged incident in a ChatGPT prompt entered in November: “This just happened. Maybe like… I don’t know, maybe like 3 months ago or something. Like, the realization of all this. I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing. I felt so liberated.”
