5 Things To Know About The Uber Driver Accused Of Setting The Palisades Fire And The Case Against Him

Authorities on Wednesday revealed they have arrested a Florida man in connection to the deadly Palisades Fire, claiming that the 29-year-old intentionally set a blaze that would go on to become one of the most destructive wildfires in California history.

Federal authorities revealed few details about the suspect, Jonathan Rinderknecht, during a Wednesday morning news conference. But the criminal complaint, filed against Rinderknecht, was later unsealed — offering new details about a man who has lived around the world, including just down the street from where the fire erupted, destroying the homes of his former neighbors.

• Read Patch's breakdown of federal prosecutors' case against Rinderknecht

Here are five things to know about Rinderknecht, according to allegations made in the criminal complaint:

He Was Driving For Uber Minutes Before The Fire

Rinderknecht was driving passengers for Uber on New Year's Eve in the hours leading up to the fire, prosecutors say.

Two passengers who rode with Rinderknecht separately that night were interviewed by investigators and said he "appeared agitated and angry," according to the criminal complaint.

He dropped off a passenger on Palisades Drive at 11:45 p.m. and then continued — driving alone — eastbound up the road toward the Skull Rock trailhead in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, according to the complaint, which states the plaintiff's drive was caught on video.

He parked his car at the trailhead and walked onto the trail and set the fire shortly thereafter, prosecutors claim.

An Uber spokesperson told Patch that the company worked with the ATF to help determine his whereabouts around the time of the fire. The company removed Rinderknecht's access to the platform after learning about the accusations against him, but did not specify exactly when that occurred.

Authorities identified and interviewed Rinderknecht by Jan. 24, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.

Raised By Missionaries In France

Rinderknecht's parents were Baptist missionaries in the south of France during his childhood, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Essayli claimed that Rinderknecht had listened to a French rap song leading up to the fire. Court documents reveal more context to the allegation — including that Rinderknecht told investigators "he was fluent in French" and "grew up in France."

The song — “Un Zder, Un The" is by Josman, a French rapper who has 2.54 million monthly listeners on Spotify. The music video for the song "shows the main character (Josman) lighting things on fire."

Rinderknecht listened to the song again on his phone about 20 minutes before the fire started, after authorities claim he had hiked to the area where the blaze originated.

Rinderknecht had already watched the music video three times in the previous four days before the fire, according to the complaint.

Rinderknecht accessed the song on YouTube about 45 minutes before the fire started and had listened to the same song "nine times in the previous four days," according to the complaint. The song's lyrics center around "despair and bitterness," according to prosecutors.

He Previously Lived In Pacific Palisades Near Where The Fire Started

Prosecutors say Rinderknecht was intimately familiar with the area where the fire started. The blaze began in conservation land in the Santa Monica Mountains, adjacent to the farthest northern reaches of the Palisades' hillside single-family streets — over 1,500 feet up in the mountains.

The neighborhood has historically been one of the most expensive in the country. With a median home-sale price of $3.54 million, Pacific Palisades' was the 18th priciest zip code nationwide in 2023.

Rinderknecht "previously had lived in a house roughly one block away" from the Skull Rock trailhead, which he hiked the night of the fire, according to the criminal complaint.

After parking at the trailhead on New Year's Eve, Rinderknecht unsuccessfully attempted to contact his "former friend" — who he lived with at that house — on Facebook Messenger, the complaint reads.

After that, Rinderknecht headed up the trail — comprised of a series of concrete switchbacks and drainage ditches — to where the trail connected to the Temescal Ridge Trail. From there, he walked up a narrow dirt path to a small clearing at the top of the hill, prosecutors said.

That clearing is sometimes referred to as the "Hidden Buddha," because hikers place small Buddha figurines in a hollowed-out remnant of a utility pole in the area.

"The former friend of Rinderknecht who lived in the nearby house told investigators that he and Rinderknecht had spent a lot of time together at the small clearing," the complaint reads.

The exact timeline of Rinderknecht's residential moves remains unclear.

Asked at Wednesday morning's news conference if Rinderknecht lived in the Palisades at the time of the fire, Essayli initially said he was a "resident of Southern California." But after an aside to a colleague, Essayli added that Rinderknecht "actually did live in Palisades."

Court documents, however, seem to be clear that at the time of the fire, Rinderknecht was not living in the house with his "former friend."

Rinderknecht lived more recently at an apartment building on Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood. His apartment there appeared to be searched by ATF agents in the spring, the Times reported.

Rinderknecht "relocated" to Florida at some point after the fire, Essayli said. He currently lives in Melbourne, a coastal city of some 87,500 people located 70 miles southeast of Orlando and about 35 miles south of the Kennedy Space Center.

'Consistent With Arson'

Authorities claim Rinderknecht intentionally set the fire.

After the fire sparked — which was caught by wildfire monitoring cameras nearby — Rinderknecht repeatedly attempted to call 911 but the call struggled to connect due to a lack of service, according to the complaint.

Based on the time of his attempted and successful calls — and the GPS data from his phone — prosecutors claim he "watched the fire grow for over a minute while he remained in the Hidden Buddha clearing."

"Based on my training and experience, Rinderknecht’s decision to watch the fire grow for over a minute from the Hidden Buddha clearing, coupled with his subsequent statements to investigators that he was not in the Hidden Buddha clearing when he first saw the fire, is consistent with arson," an ATF agent wrote in the criminal complaint.

While on the phone with 911 at 12:17 a.m. — the first time his call went through — Rinderknecht typed a question into ChatGPT: “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes." The AI's answer was "Yes," according to the complaint.

He made a three-minute screen recording of his iPhone that showed his attempted and successful 911 calls and him asking ChatGPT the question about cigarette fires," according to the complaint.

"Based on my training and experience and this investigation, this indicates that Rinderknecht wanted to preserve evidence of himself trying to assist in the suppression of the fire, and he wanted to create evidence regarding a more innocent explanation for the case of the fire," the ATF agent wrote.

He then left the area. As he drove away, he spotted fire trucks responding to the scene, turned his car around and returned to the trail to film the response on his phone, according to the complaint.

"Based on my training and experience, arsonists sometimes call 911 to report the fires
they have set, and arsonists sometimes like to watch firefighters respond to the fires that they have set," the agent wrote.

Video captured on Rinderknecht’s iPhone in December showed a green barbecue lighter inside his apartment. Investigators found what appears to be the same lighter in his car's glove compartment when they searched it on Jan. 24, according to the complaint.

Video from his phone captured over an hour after the fire broke out on Jan. 1 showed his car glove compartment open while he was driving, according to the complaint.

"During his January 24 interview, Rinderknecht admitted that he brought a lighter with him when he walked up to the Hidden Buddha clearing, but he claimed that he could not
remember what kind of lighter he brought," the complaint reads.

'Chilling, Watching The World Burn': Digital Footprint Reveals A Fascination With Fire

In addition to the screen-recorded question Rinderknecht asked ChatGPT as the fire was burning, prosecutors noted two other pieces of AI-related evidence to support their case.

In November, Rinderknecht typed the following into ChatGPT, according to the complaint: “I am 28 years old. And... I basically... 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.”

Two months earlier, he had written to a family member “Burned the Bible I had literally," according to prosecutors.

And a month before that, in July, prosecutors said Rinderknecht provided the following prompt to ChatGPT as part of instructions to generate an image: “A dystopian painting divided into distinct parts that blend together seamlessly. On the far left, there is a burning forest. Next to it, a crowd of people is running away from the fire, leading to the middle. In the middle, 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. They are laughing, enjoying themselves, and dancing. The scene is detailed and impactful, highlighting the stark contrast and the direct connection between the different parts of the world.”

The AI provided a photo in response, which authorities featured prominently in their Wednesday morning news conference.