The man accused of starting the Palisades fire, one of the costliest disasters in U.S. history, was motivated by a resentment for the rich and viewed Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the killing of UnitedHealthcare’s chief executive, as a Robin Hood-like figure, according to court documents detailing evidence gathered by federal prosecutors.
In a court brief filed last week, authorities say a forensic review of his computer showed Jonathan Rinderknecht searched “Free Luigi” and “reddit lets kill all billionaires” in December 2024.
Rinderknecht, 30, is accused of starting the Lachman fire in Pacific Palisades on Jan. 1, 2025, which smoldered underground for a week before exploding into the deadly Palisades fire.
According to the brief, passengers described Rinderknecht — who working as an Uber driver — as “angry, intense, driving erratically and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world’ and Luigi Mangione, capitalism and vigilantism,” in the hours before the clock struck midnight.
“On New Year’s Eve 2024, the defendant was alone again,” federal prosecutors wrote in the 25-page brief. They allege that a relationship with a co-worker had ended that year and that she rebuffed him again on Dec. 30, leading to a “visceral reaction: He left her two manic voicemails and entered prompts into ChatGPT expressing his extreme displeasure with her treatment of him.”
Authorities allege in their brief that he was stewing over being in the neighborhood of his ex-lover and listening to a French rap song that evoked images of fire in its music video.
Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested Oct. 7, 2025, in Florida.
(U.S. Attorney’s Office)
It may be too much of a stretch to tie all these pieces of circumstantial evidence together to make a solid case for Rinderknecht’s prosecution, said Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor. The prosecution “has to convince the court to admit the evidence of his relationships, his dislike of capitalism, and praising Luigi Mangione as … motive evidence. Unlike the fascination with fire, which his defense is also opposing, the judge may find that this other evidence is too attenuated,” Rahmani said.
Rahmani said the case hinges on proving the Jan. 1 fire rekindled days later.
“The prosecution is relying on ATF experts to establish this, and the defense has designated experts of their own to rebut. This is the most important issue in the case, and whoever wins the battle of the experts will prevail.”
Prosecutors allege the evidence shows the Lachman fire that erupted on Hidden Buddha Hill on Jan. 1 — which officials thought had been extinguished — smoldered for days and reignited amid hurricane-force winds on Jan. 7. The Palisades fire killed 12 people, destroyed 6,500 structures across the Palisades and Malibu and cost billions in damage and insurance claims.
Within three weeks of the fire, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents focused on Rinderknecht, who called 911 repeatedly to report the Lachman fire. Investigators seized a Bic barbecue lighter from Rinderknecht’s car with his DNA on it that he admitted to having with him on the Temescal Canyon Trail in Pacific Palisades, according to the trial brief.
Investigators got warrants for his cellphone and a host of electronics after tying the vehicle he drove for Uber to the scene, even noting he turned back in his vehicle to follow firefighters back to the burn.
“On December 29, 2024, just two days before the Lachman Fire, defendant recorded three videos of fire engines departing LAFD Station No. 27 in the Hollywood area,” prosecutors wrote. “While recording, defendant said out loud (apparently to himself), ‘They’re coming for you bro, I’m telling you, you got to get that mental f— brains in order, and not be liking this craziness, they’re on their way, don’t worry.’”
Asked by an investigator on Jan. 24 why someone would set the blaze, Rinderknecht said it “would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money” and “compared such an act of ‘desperation’” to Mangione’s killing of a United Healthcare executive on a New York street in December 2024, according to federal prosecutors.
Rinderknecht used his iPhone to take videos at a clearing on Hidden Buddha Hill and listen to the French rap song “Un Zder, Un The,” which the affidavit said was about despair and bitterness and whose video shows a trash can on fire.
“When interviewed by investigators, the defendant falsely claimed that he first saw the fire as he was already halfway down the hill, walking back to his car. Based on the geolocation data for the defendant’s phone, he was still in Buddha Hill clearing (at the top of the hill) watching the fire grow when he called 911,” prosecutors said.
Nine months after the fire, Rinderknecht would be arrested. Prosecutors say he lighted the fire at 12:12 a.m. and stayed in the area until 2 a.m.
Steve Haney, Rinderknecht’s lawyer, said the government has no evidence tying his client to the Lachman fire. In court briefings, he argues the cause of the Palisades fire can be traced to Los Angeles city firefighting commanders failing to properly extinguish a smoldering fire — not started by his client — despite warnings from crews on the ground that it was not out.
“Critically, the government possesses: no eyewitness who observed Mr. Rinderknecht starting the fire; no physical evidence of accelerants, ignitable fluids, or materials associated with deliberate arson at the origin site; no incriminating statements or admissions by Mr. Rinderknecht; no surveillance video of Mr. Rinderknecht committing any act of arson; and no identification of the precise ignition source or the specific item of fuel first ignited,” Haney wrote.
Beyond cellphone pings placing Rinderknecht in the general area where the fire began, Haney and his experts argue that authorities have few specifics from the terabytes of evidence.
In fact, early search warrants focused on fireworks that residents reported hearing. An ATF report on the cause does not describe the residents who said they saw the fireworks that night, or the four teens seen by a security guard or an unhoused person in the area, Haney noted.
Federal prosecutors, seeking to imprison Rinderknecht for up to 45 years, say they will call ATF experts to refute that fireworks, a cigarette or power lines started the Palisades fire.
“The cause of the fire was the introduction of an open flame (lighter) to a combustible material such as vegetation or ordinary combustibles, such as paper,” the ATF report concluded, and that would eventually become the Palisades fire.
Federal prosecutors allege that after he moved to his sister’s Florida home in April 2025, Rinderknecht “blew up” and threatened to burn her house down, while yelling statements such as, “Why did you bring me here?”
“Defendant’s fascination with fire dates back to at least 2018,” federal prosecutors wrote, saying he drove through the Santa Monica and Winnetka areas with his then-girlfriend to “admire the Woolsey Fire.”
The case will return to federal court in downtown L.A. on May 11, where a judge will consider arguments from both sides on evidence to include in the trial.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
