The Melbourne man suspected of igniting a January 2025 wildfire which burned through parts of Los Angeles and killed a dozen people is set to stand trial in federal court next month as court filings reveal what prosecutors say was a fixation with fire and with Luigi Mangione, the suspect in the high-profile slaying of a healthcare company CEO.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, who lived on and off with family in a Melbourne home, is slated to go to trial on June 8 in the U.S. Central District of California in connection with starting the blaze that later grew into the Palisades Fire.
The fire, fed by strong winds, charred more than 23,000 acres, destroyed nearly 7,000 homes and other structures and is attributed in12 deaths and more than $200 billion in economic losses, according to CalFire. Thousands of other residents were left traumatized and displaced.
Rinderknecht, designated as “high risk” by federal authorities, was arrested Oct. 7, 2025, and detained in the Seminole County Jail before being transferred to California, where he remains in custody.
Prosecutors accused Rinderknecht, now 30, of starting the initial fire in the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2025. Though the fire was put out, it continued to burn unnoticed underground until dry conditions and strong winds weather caused it reignite a week later and morph into the Palisades Fire.
Suspect was ‘angry with the world,’ prosecutors say
Defense attorneys and prosecutors plan to present evidence on Rinderknecht’s state of mind when the initial fire, called the Lachman Fire, was set in the mountains overlooking the Pacific Palisades. He is charged with destruction of property by means of fire, arson affecting property and setting a timber fire, records show.
Prosecutors describe Rinderknecht, who was driving for Uber on New Year’s Eve 2025, as angry at the world and resentful of the wealthy.
Court records allude to confrontations with his parents and other family members over religion along with a pattern of resentment of those he saw as elite.
Court filings also show that Uber passengers told investigators that on the night he set the fire, Rinderknecht was “ranting about being pissed off at the world” and about Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old suspect in the Dec. 4, 2024, shooting death of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The deadly act of political violence targeting Thompson has since sparked a cult following for Mangione, who awaits state and federal trials, with the shooting seen by some as a desperate attack highlighting the disparities of capitalism.
“It’s like, you know, the inequality is so intense that’s just assault. I mean the violence, that’s what happened with that CEO recently, that’s what happens when people get desperate,” Rinderknecht said in an interview with federal investigators.
“Crazy things can happen. Like, what else do they have? They don’t have any other choice, you know?”
Prosecutors said Rinderknecht was the only person in the vicinity when the Lachman Fire began.
“He watched the fire grow, made a screen-recording of himself calling 911, fled the scene, and returned to the scene to watch and film the firefighters. Weeks later, he lied to investigators about where he was when the fire started,” prosecutors said in an April 29 filing about the case.
Fascination with fire and heavy use of ChatGPT
Rinderknecht — who grew up in a religious family and held a fascination with fire, prosecutors said — told investigators that he was in “the wrong place at the wrong time,” and that fireworks started the fire. Prosecutors point out that Rinderknecht attempted to call 911 several times as the fire spread through a nearby clearing. He also took videos of firefighters as they attempted to contain the flames, court filings show.
In April 2025 — a year after he described burning a Bible as “necessary” during his extensive use of ChatGPT — Rinderknecht briefly moved out of his North Hollywood apartment and into his sister’s house in Melbourne after she refused to support him financially while he lived in California, court filing show.
Within two days of moving back to Melbourne, prosecutors said, Rinderknecht got into a confrontation with his sister over a lawsuit he was involved in and threatened to burn her house down, while yelling statements like “Why did you bring me here?” records show. The Melbourne family called 911 several times, prosecutors said. He then moved back to Los Angeles.
Back in Los Angeles, Rinderknecht continued communicating with ChatGPT, making entries and sending texts while taking on a job as an Uber driver.
Later, he talked to investigators about his personal beliefs on Jan. 24, 2025, expressing a sentiment that if someone committed arson in the Pacific Palisades, it would be “out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money,” as others were enslaved, court filings show.
“It’s these people. They have the power, and they don’t wanna let it go. (I)n the history of what has actually shown to disrupt that are only really two things. It’s either civilizations going down out of plagues or things like that … or violence.
“This is what I disrupted, because they won’t let it go. They’ve set up systems in a way that’s unbalanced and disproportional, and you can ask as much as you want. They’ll always take you down. You gotta take them down.”
Defense attorneys and prosecutors will begin questioning potential jurors ahead of the trial. Defense attorneys filed notice that they planned to ask potential jurors about seeing any stories about the fires on social media or in the news. Jurors were also expected to be asked about their opinions — favorable or unfavorable — about the Los Angeles Fire Department, which received heavy criticism for their response to the Lachman and Palisades fires. Other questions will center on the use of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT.
The trial is slated to last two weeks.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Prosecutors: ‘Angry’ Melbourne man set for trial in deadly LA fires
Reporting by J.D. Gallop, Florida Today / Florida Today
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