Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, allegedly used ChatGPT to create scenes of a city burning and to confide an obsession with fires
Just after midnight on New Year’s Day, a 29-year-old Uber driver named Jonathan Rinderknecht allegedly ignited what became the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.
Nearly 10 months after the disaster, Rinderknecht’s arrest this week brought some closure to residents. Investigators say he was a troubled young man obsessed with fire, who tried to hide his role after setting a small blaze that reignited days later into a deadly inferno.
According to federal investigators, who spoke at a press conference on Wednesday, Rinderknecht, who lived near Pacific Palisades at the time, ended his driving shift appearing “agitated and angry”, parked near a trailhead leading to Topanga state park and walked uphill while listening to a French rap song whose video shows objects being burned.
Moments later, he allegedly set fire to dry vegetation with a lighter, starting what was first known as the Lachman fire. Firefighters thought it had been extinguished the same day, but the blaze smoldered underground for nearly a week before reigniting on 7 January amid extremely powerful winds, eventually transforming into the Palisades fire.
