Jonathan Rinderknecht, suspect in deadly Palisades Fire, pleads not guilty

Palisades Fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht in court

Palisades Fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht appears in court. This comes days after he was arrested in connection to the horrific Jan. 2025 fires.

LOS ANGELES - A 29-year-old man accused of setting a fire on New Year's Day that prosecutors say eventually became the deadly Palisades Fire pleaded not guilty Thursday to a trio of federal charges.

What we know:

Jonathan Rinderknecht was arrested in Florida on Oct. 7, but has since been transferred to Los Angeles and is being held at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty Thursday afternoon to one count of destruction of property by means of fire, one count of arson affecting property used in interstate commerce, and one count of timber set afire.

Wearing white jail garb with a chain around his waist -- but not handcuffed -- Rinderknecht appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella Oliver, and spoke in a loud, clear voice as he pleaded not guilty to the charges. He also acknowledged to the judge that he understood the charges against him.

New charges for Palisades Fire suspect Jonathan Rinderknecht

Jonathan Rinderknecht is charged with starting what eventually became the Palisades Fire. Now, two additional felonies have been added to his case.

He is scheduled to return to court on Nov. 12 for a status conference; a tentative trial was set for Dec. 16.

Rinderknecht remains in federal custody, but his defense attorney, Steve Haney, indicated that he wanted to have a detention hearing to discuss possible bail or other release conditions. Haney said his client has no criminal record and no history of mental health problems or drug use.

If convicted as charged, Rinderknecht would face a sentence of between five and 45 years in federal prison, prosecutors said.

How the Palisades Fire started 

The backstory:

According to court documents, law enforcement officials determined that the Palisades Fire was a "holdover" fire — a continuation of the Lachman Fire that began early in the morning on New Year's Day 2025. Although firefighters quickly suppressed the Lachman Fire, the fire continued to smolder and burn underground within the root structure of dense vegetation.

On Jan. 7, hurricane-force Santa Ana winds caused the underground fire to surface and spread above ground in what became known as the Palisades Fire. The fire burned 23,448 acres and destroyed much of the community, destroying about 6,800 structures and killing 12 people.

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Using witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone data and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene, among other things, law enforcement determined that Rinderknecht "maliciously" set the Lachman Fire just after midnight on Jan. 1 on federal land, prosecutors said.

On the evening of Dec. 31, 2024, Rinderknecht was working as an Uber driver, prosecutors said. Two passengers he drove on separate trips between 10:15 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. that night later told law enforcement that they remembered Rinderknecht appeared agitated and angry, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Uber passenger recalls ride with alleged Palisades Fire suspect

A passenger who rode with the man now charged in the Palisades Fire shares what he remembers from that unsettling ride with Jonathan Rinderknecht.

After dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades, Rinderknecht, who once lived in the neighborhood, drove toward Skull Rock Trailhead, parked his car, attempted to contact a former friend and walked up the trail, court papers show.

He then used his iPhone to take videos at a nearby hilltop area and listened to a rap song, to which he had listened repeatedly in previous days, whose music video included things being lit on fire, federal prosecutors allege.

At 12:12 a.m. Jan. 1, 2025, environmental sensing platforms indicated the Lachman Fire had begun. Prosecutors contend that during the next five minutes, Rinderknecht called 911 several times, but didn't get through because his iPhone was out of range. When he finally connected with 911, he was at the bottom of the hiking trail and reported the fire, according to cell data. By that point, a nearby resident had already reported the fire to authorities.

Rinderknecht then allegedly fled in his car, passing fire engines driving in the opposite direction. He then turned around and followed the fire engines to the scene, driving at a high rate of speed, prosecutors said.

He walked up the same trail from earlier that night to watch the fire and the firefighters, federal prosecutors allege, and at approximately 1:02 a.m., he allegedly used his iPhone to take more videos of the scene.

During a Jan. 24 interview with law enforcement in Florida, where he relocated after the fire, Rinderknecht allegedly lied about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire. He claimed he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, but geolocation data from his iPhone carrier showed that he was standing in a clearing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.