Officials arrest man in Florida on suspicion of starting devastating Palisades Fire

By Josh Campbell, Andi Babineau, CNN

Los Angeles (CNN) — Nine months after a raging inferno decimated the Los Angeles area, claiming the lives of a dozen people and burning down thousands of homes and businesses, officials have arrested a suspect in Florida on suspicion of arson.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is facing a federal charge of destruction of property by means of fire in connection with the Palisades Fire, according to Bill Essayli, the acting US attorney for Southern California.

The suspect, who used to work as an Uber driver and lived in the Pacific Palisades at the time, did not enter a plea at a federal court appearance on Wednesday in Orlando.

Authorities painted a picture of a man singularly focused on a city going up in flames at a news conference Wednesday, saying the suspect repeatedly watched a rap video that included “objects being lit on fire” in the days before allegedly setting the fire.

The suspect also allegedly prompted ChatGPT to generate a “dystopian painting showing in part a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it,” in the months before the fire started, Essayli said.

The federal criminal complaint provided additional detail about the prompt the suspect allegedly used, offering insight into Rinderknecht’s state of mind.

Rinderknecht asked the chatbot to show “hundreds of thousands of people in poverty are trying to get past a gigantic gate with a big dollar sign on it. On the other side of the gate and the entire wall is a conglomerate of the richest people. They are chilling, watching the world burn down, and watching the people struggle.”

The suspect also told ChatGPT he wanted to highlight “the stark contrast and the direct connection between the different parts of the world” in the image.

Essayli said he hopes the arrest offers “a measure of justice to all those who were impacted.”

“As the world watched in horror as the Palisades fire burned, victims perished in the smoke and flames. Homes where cherished family memories and belongings were turned to rubble and ash. The iconic Pacific Coast Highway along Malibu looked like a war zone,” Essayli said. “Thousands of people were forced to evacuate. The homes and businesses cannot be rebuilt.”

Suspect’s first court appearance

Rinderknecht appeared in federal court before a judge who appointed him a public defender and continued the detention hearing to Thursday morning.

Rinderknecht will remain in custody at least until that hearing, court records show.

His preliminary hearing is postponed indefinitely to give prosecutors in California the time to select witnesses and arrange travel.

Essayli declined to speak to Rinderknecht’s motive.

CNN contacted Rinderknecht’s attorney for comment but did not immediately hear back.

If convicted, the Florida man could face a maximum of 20 years in prison, according to a news release from the US Attorney’s Office.

Suspect took videos of the view before allegedly starting the fire

The suspect was working as an Uber driver and dropped off a passenger on New Year’s Eve before walking up a nearby trail in the wealthy enclave, where he took some iPhone videos of the view and listened to the rap song again, the criminal complaint alleges.

Two of his passengers recalled Rinderknecht “appeared agitated and angry” that evening, the news release from the US Attorney’s Office said.

Rinderknecht is accused of starting the fire with an “open flame” 12 minutes into the new year, officials said.

“During the next five minutes, Rinderknecht called 911 several times, but didn’t get through because his iPhone was out of cellphone range. When he finally connected with 911, he was at the bottom of the hiking trail and reported the fire,” the news release said.

The blaze became known as the Lachman Fire, and it grew to eight acres before firefighters were able to knock it down, according to alerts from the Los Angeles Fire Department.

“He fled the scene in his car, but turned around after passing fire engines driving in the opposite direction to fight the fire,” Essayli said.

Rinderknecht followed the firefighters to the scene, watching – and filming them – as they worked, the news release from the US Attorney’s Office said.

A step forward for a healing community

While Rinderknecht was attempting to contact authorities, he used ChatGPT again to ask, “Are you at fault if a fire is lift (sic) because of your cigarettes,” the complaint says.

Investigators later ruled out cigarettes as a possible cause based on weather conditions at the time, according to the complaint.

Instead, they determined the fire was likely started by a lighter used to set fire to paper or vegetation, the document says.

LAFD had suppressed the Lachman Fire on January 1, the complaint says, but it “continued to smolder and burn underground” unnoticed before fanning into the Palisades Fire less than a week later.

The Palisades Fire, which began the morning of January 7, has been determined to be a “holdover” fire, according to the complaint, meaning it started from the remnants of an earlier blaze.

“The investigation into the Palisades Fire of January 2025 was lengthy, complex and, as I mentioned, extremely thorough,” Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said at a news conference on Wednesday.

The investigation was lengthy because of the “time that it took to go over the thousands of acres that were burned,” Kenny Cooper, the special agent in charge with the Los Angeles field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said.

“We literally had agents, with our partners, on their hands and knees crawling through fire debris.”

Interim LAFD Chief Ronnie Villanueva commended the arrest, saying it “is a critical step toward ensuring accountability, justice, and healing” for Los Angeles.

“This action was deliberate, intended to cause devastating harm to the City of Los Angeles,” he said in a statement. “Although the flames have been extinguished, the impact of these fires will linger for years to come.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also said the arrest was a step forward for the city, even as many families remain displaced in the aftermath of the fire.

“Each day that families are displaced is a day too long and as we are working tirelessly to bring Angelenos home, we are also working towards closure and towards justice – and today is a step forward in that process,” she said in a statement.

The Palisades wildfire is the ninth deadliest wildfire in state history, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The deadly blaze in Los Angeles is the third-most destructive wildfire in Southern California history, destroying thousands of homes and businesses and burning more than 23,000 acres.

The fire was anticipated to be among the costliest wildfires in the history of the United States, a climate expert predicted.

CNN’s Veronica Miracle and Jessica Flynn contributed to this report.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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