What happens when a Luigi Mangione fanboy, Donald Trump-hating anti-capitalist meets incompetence? The Palisades Fire. Seven thousand homes, businesses, churches, and schools went up in smoke in that early 2025 fire. And the Los Angeles Mayor, Karen Bass, was missing in action for most of it.
Federal prosecutors in L.A. believe that the Palisades Fire never would have happened if Jonathan Rinderknecht hadn’t flipped his BBQ-length Bic on New Year’s Eve.
Now, the man accused of starting the Lachman Fire, which — as Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms arson experts believe and the city’s own firefighters’ text messages attest — led to the Palisades conflagration in January 2025, will soon find out if a jury believes he’s guilty of setting it.
Arguments in the case in L.A. federal court wrapped up on Tuesday, as Jonathan Rinderknecht’s defense attorney, seeking to put a seed of reasonable doubt in the jurors’ minds, argued that, far from setting a fire, his client sought to spend the evening watching others’ New Year’s fireworks. Indeed, the lawyer argued, Rinderknecht called 911 multiple times to report the fire.
NBC LA reported:
“What started that fire was an open flame, a lighter,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Danbee Kim, who delivered the first portion of the prosecution’s closing and flashed on-screen an image of the bright green Bic barbecue-style lighter found in Rinderknecht’s car some weeks after the fire.
“He’s the only who could have done it,” she said, urging jurors to examine the evidence found in Rinderknecht’s digital life for a motive.
ChatGPT prompts, online searches and message histories showed Rinderknecht had a “stewing resentment against the rich and powerful,” she said, and that his anger and frustration festered in the weeks before the fire.
Kim reminded jurors that a former ATF agent who spent decades studying the behavior of arsonists said “societal revenge” is a common motive and often involves fires set on impulse without much planning.
The dual French/American citizen is the son of missionaries who lived his adult life in L.A. driving an Uber, living with his boyfriend, and nursing his resentment over other people having more money than he did, according to prosecutors.
During the trial, federal prosecutors showed the jury surveillance recordings of Rinderknicht’s rented car, which he used for his Uber business, as it wound up the roads up to an area known locally as “Hidden Buddha” and parked. He told prosecutors he was alone that night.
Later, images showed flames in the area.
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According to text messages between L.A. firefighters and a state park official, the Lachman Fire was still burning underground, but California state environmental policies forbid bringing in heavy equipment to put it completely out. Multiple people reported that the ground was still hot where firefighters had tended the fire.
The underground root fire is believed by experts to have touched off the Palisades conflagration a week later.
Prosecutors said that Rinderknicht “wanted revenge” against rich people, and his Uber passengers described the 30-year-old as ranting against rich people and “his hatred for Donald Trump.”
CNN reported that jurors heard from the accused arsonist’s passengers.
Brennan White testified he and his girlfriend, Ashley Comandartore, were Rinderknecht’s Uber passengers on a ride that lasted about a half hour. The conversation with Rinderknecht started with “small talk,” he said, but the tone changed when Rinderknecht started “ranting non-stop” about the “crumbling of” humanity and his hatred for President Donald Trump.
White and Comandartore both testified Rinderknecht was very “irritable” and “enraged” and was driving recklessly fast. Both said they didn’t want to upset him for fear of their own safety.
It was “the most memorable Uber ride I ever had,” White testified.
Another passenger, Macy Miller, testified she and some friends were also Rinderknecht’s Uber passengers. The subject of Luigi Mangione – the 28-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare’s CEO in December 2024 – came up, Miller said, and Rinderknecht appeared to like the subject and said, “What (Mangione) did was good.” She also said Rinderknecht was driving fast and went on about “vigilantism and anti-capitalism” throughout the duration of the trip.
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