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A 29-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged with “maliciously instigating” the fatal incident Palisades FireWhich took the lives of a dozen people earlier this year.
The complaint against Jonathan Rinderknecht alleges that he started the fire on New Year’s Day, which turned into one of the most destructive fires ever recorded. los angeles History. He has been charged with destruction of property through fire or arson.
fire in Pacific Palisades On January 7, more than 6,800 buildings were destroyed in the region and 12 people were killed. It could not be completely controlled till January 31.
announcement of news on x On Wednesday, Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essaly for the Central District of California said that among the evidence collected from Rinderknecht’s digital devices was an image he had created on ChatGPT that depicted a burning city.
Essaly said, “Although we cannot compensate for the damage and destruction that was caused, we hope that his arrest and the charges against him will bring some measure of justice to the victims of this horrific tragedy.”
According to the AG’s office, Rinderknecht was working as an Uber driver on the evening of December 31, 2024.
After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, Rinderknecht — who once lived in that neighborhood — drove to the Skull Rock trailhead, parked and then walked down the trail. He then used his iPhone to take video of a nearby mountainous area and listened to a French rap song – which he had heard repeatedly in the past day – whose music video involved setting things on fire.
Prosecutors said Rinderknecht later used his phone several times to call 911 but could not make contact. When he finally did, he was at the bottom of the hiking trail, but the fire had already been reported.
According to officials, he fled in his car, passing the fire engines present at the scene, but turned back to pursue them. Returning to the scene, he climbed the same path from earlier to see the firefighters – and made video.
During a joint press conference held by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Los Angeles Police DepartmentWednesday, Essaly said Rinderknecht lied to police in an interview in late January.
However, authorities declined to provide further details about their conversation with the suspect regarding a possible motive.
Kenny Cooper, special agent in the L.A. field office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said, “I wish we could get into somebody’s mind, but we can’t. People do bad things for any number of reasons.”
Rinderknecht’s initial appearance is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in U.S. District Court in Orlando. According to authorities, he relocated to Florida after the Los Angeles fires. He has no prior criminal history, Essaly said Wednesday.
An external review of the blazes released in September found that evacuation warnings were delayed due to a lack of resources and outdated policies for sending emergency alerts.
The report, commissioned by Los Angeles County supervisors, said a series of weaknesses, including “outdated policies, inconsistent practices and communication weaknesses” hampered the county’s response.
Investigators are still working to determine the cause of the Palisades explosion or the Eaton Fire, which erupted in the Altadena community the same day and killed 18 people.
Both fires burned for several days, reducing entire neighborhoods to debris and ash and eventually spread to more than 40,000 acres—larger than the land area of Washington, D.C.—and the flames were fueled by a fierce storm called Santa Ana winds,
According to previous estimates, the economic loss from the fire could reach $275 billion.
The fire became somewhat of a political football, with tensions between Presidents Donald Trump and Gavin Newsom regularly being tested – as each blamed the other for the disaster’s devastating impact.
In January 2025, Trump blamed the state’s water and forest management policies, while Newsom criticized the federal government, which controls most of the state’s forest lands, for failing to act.
After the announcement of Rinderknecht’s arrest, Newsom thanked the Justice Department, and hailed it as “an important step” toward determining how the deadly fire was caused and “bringing light to the thousands of survivors whose lives were destroyed.”
“This tragedy will never be forgotten – lives lost, families torn apart and entire communities forever changed – and there must be accountability,” he wrote on X.