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Who is Jonathan Rinderknecht, Palisades Fire suspect accused of sparking deadly blaze?
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Authorities have arrested 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, accusing him of purposefully igniting a New Year’s Day fire that smoldered for days and later exploded into the deadly Palisades Fire that devastated California.
Rinderknecht, 29, of Melbourne, Florida, was arrested Tuesday on a federal charge of destruction of property by means of fire, Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli announced during a Wednesday morning news conference. He was due to make his initial appearance in federal court in Florida on Wednesday.
“The complaint alleges that a single person’s recklessness caused one of the worst fires Los Angeles has ever seen, resulting in death and widespread destruction in Pacific Palisades,” Essayli said. “While we cannot bring back what victims lost, we hope this criminal case brings some measure of justice to those affected by this horrific tragedy.”
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, was charged Wednesday with igniting the blaze that eventually became the Palisades Fire in Los Angeles. (USAttyEssayli/X)
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Essayli said there is evidence from Rinderknecht’s cell phone, false statements to law enforcement and his behavior following a separate fire that broke out shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day that led to his arrest.
Justice department officials said evidence collected from the suspect’s digital devices showed an image he generated on ChatGPT depicting a dystopian burning city. The Palisades fire destroyed tens of thousands of acres throughout the region, leaving many residents displaced, and claimed the lives of 12 people.
This tragedy will never be forgotten — lives were lost, families torn apart, and entire communities forever changed.
From New Year’s Eve 2024 to New Year’s Day 2025, Rinderknecht worked as an Uber driver in Los Angeles. Federal authorities said two of his passengers told them “he appeared agitated and angry that night after dropping off a passenger in Pacific Palisades.”
He then allegedly parked his car and tried to contact a former friend. After he couldn’t get a hold of them, officials said he then proceeded to walk up a trail and took videos on his iPhone from a hilltop. According to the criminal complaint, Rinderknecht claims that he offered to help fight the fires, with the investigators noting that this is “highly unusual conduct.”
READ THE CRIMINAL COMPLAINT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE
At that time, investigators said he “listened to a rap song whose music video included objects being lit on fire.”
“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,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.
According to the criminal complaint, Rinderknecht was listening to the French rap song “Un Zder, Un Thé” by Josman, which is about isolation, exhaustion, and escapism.
Background and Identity
According to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Rinderknecht is also known by the aliases “Jonathan Rinder” and “Jon Rinder.”
According to the criminal complaint, Rinderknecht had previously lived in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles, California, near the site of the initial “Lachman Fire,” and was familiar with the local trails and hillside terrain where the fire began. Investigators noted that he had formerly resided in a house roughly one block from the trailhead and had hiked the nearby Temescal Ridge Trail numerous times. After leaving California, Rinderknecht relocated to Melbourne, Florida, where he was arrested by federal agents on October 8.
In the complaint, Special Agent William Schry noted that Rinderknecht “admitted he was fluent in French; he grew up in France.”
A map from the criminal complaint outlining where Jonathan Rinderknechht allegedly started the fires from. (Department of Justice)
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Timeline of Key Events
A sequence of events leading up to Rinderknecht’s arrest on Oct. 8, according to the criminal complaint.
- July 11: Asked ChatGPT to generate a “dystopian painting” showing a burning forest and the rich watching the world burn.
- Nov. 1: Told ChatGPT, “I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing.”
Dec. 31:
- Video from his iPhone showed a green barbecue-style lighter in his apartment; the same lighter (with his DNA) was later found in his car.
- Rinderknecht was working as an Uber driver in Pacific Palisades.
- Two passengers later described him as agitated and angry.
Around 11:28 p.m., he listened to the French song “Un Zder, Un Thé” by Josman.
11:34 p.m.: Dropped off a passenger on Palisades Drive, then drove alone toward the Skull Rock Trailhead, near where he had once lived. He was captured on surveillance footage, according to the complaint.
A map of the trail that Rinderknechht allegedly used to walk up to the Hidden Buddha clearing. (Department of Justice)
11:38 p.m. – 11:47 p.m.: Parked at the Skull Rock Trailhead and walked up the Temescal Ridge Trail to the “Hidden Buddha” clearing where he took two videos; no fire visible.
11:54 p.m.: Played “Un Zder, Un Thé” again.
Jan. 1:
12:12 a.m.:
- The first glow of fire was detected by wildfire cameras near the hillside.
- Rinderknecht attempted to call 911 multiple times, with GPS data placing him directly below the Hidden Buddha clearing.
- Cameras captured the Lachman Fire igniting and spreading while he remained at that spot for over a minute.
12:17 a.m.:
- Successfully connected to 911 near the bottom of the trail to report the fire.
- During the call, he typed into ChatGPT: “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes?” ChatGPT, according to the complaint, responded with “Yes,” along with an explanation.
12:20 a.m.:
- Rinderknecht gets into his car and drives away from the fire. On his way down, he passes fire trucks responding to the scene.
1:02 a.m.: Took four iPhone videos of firefighters battling the blaze.
Jan. 2:
- Firefighters suppressed the Lachman Fire.
Paula Tapia hugs Katja Schmolka, who lost her home in the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. Jan. 10, 2025. (REUTERS/David Ryder)
Jan. 7:
- Heavy winds reignited underground embers from the original site, sparking the Palisades Fire, which spread widely through federal and state land.
Jan. 31:
- Palisades fire is fully contained.
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President Donald Trump is asking the office of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to reimburse him more than $6.2 million in attorney fees and costs in the wake of the recently dismissed 2020 election interference case she brought against him.
The development comes after Willis was permanently sidelined from prosecuting the case against Trump last September. She had lost an appeal after the Georgia Court of Appeals said Willis and her office could not continue to prosecute the case, citing an “appearance of impropriety” stemming from her romantic relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. The case was then dismissed in November.
Georgia state legislators last year passed a law that says that if a prosecutor is disqualified from a case because of his or her own improper conduct and the case is then dismissed, anyone charged in that case is entitled to request “all reasonable attorney’s fees and costs incurred” in their defense. The judge overseeing the case then is responsible for reviewing the request and awarding the fees and costs, which are to be paid from the budget of the prosecutor’s office.
“In accordance with Georgia law, President Trump has moved the Court to award reasonable attorney fees and costs incurred in his defense of the politically motivated, and now rightfully dismissed, case brought by disqualified DA Fani Willis,” Steve Sadow, Trump’s lead attorney in Georgia, said in a statement.
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President Donald Trump and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Alex Slitz-Pool/Getty Images)
A motion filed Wednesday said, “President Trump prays that this Court award attorney fees and costs for the defense of President Trump in the amount of $6,261,613,08.”
Willis’ indictment had accused Trump of pressuring officials to overturn the 2020 vote in Georgia, organizing “fake electors” and harassing election workers.
A Fulton County grand jury indicted Trump and 18 others in August 2023, and Trump surrendered at the Fulton County Jail on Aug. 24.
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Special prosecutor Nathan Wade and Fani Willis, the district attorney for Fulton County (Getty Images)
Last month, when another person charged in the case made a similar filing, Willis’ office filed a motion asking to be heard on the matter of any claims for fees and costs filed in the case, according to The Associated Press.
Willis’ motion raised concerns about the law passed last year that allowed Trump and others to seek to have their expenses paid.
“The statute raises grave separation-of-powers concerns by purporting to impose financial liability on a constitutional officer, twice elected by the citizens of Fulton County, for the lawful exercise of her core duties under the Georgia Constitution,” her motion said.
Donald Trump’s booking photo provided by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office after he surrendered on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election. (Fulton County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
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Her motion also added that the law violates due process by “retroactively imposing a novel fee-shifting scheme” that creates a substantial burden for the county’s taxpayers without any recourse.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The third time won’t be the charm for Stacey Abrams, at least in 2026.
The two-time Democratic gubernatorial nominee in battleground Georgia is ruling out another run for governor this year, saying that instead she’ll focus on her work fighting what she warns is the nation’s move toward authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.
“Americans are in pain but they are ready to act, and now is the moment to reconnect to what is at stake and what is possible,” Abrams said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s clear to me that the most effective way I can serve right now is by continuing to do this important work. For that reason, I will not seek elected office in 2026.”
Abrams, a former Democratic Party leader in the Georgia state legislature and a nationally known voting-rights advocate, narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election. She lost her 2022 rematch with Kemp by nearly eight points.
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Stacey Abrams, seen here at Georgia State University on Nov. 7, 2022, in Atlanta, Georgia, will not run for governor in 2026. (Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images)
Sources confirmed to Fox News Digital last spring that Abrams was mulling a third straight run for governor in the race to succeed the now-term-limited Kemp.
Abrams grabbed plenty of national attention during the 2018 Georgia race, and came close to making history as the nation’s first Black female elected governor. Her refusal to concede to Kemp after losing by a razor-thin margin boosted her among many Democrats while becoming a top GOP political target.
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She launched the Fair Fight political organization following her defeat, helped Biden narrowly carry Georgia in the 2020 presidential election, and also contributed to the sweep by the Democrats in the Jan. 5, 2021 twin Senate runoff elections.
Abrams raised over $110 million in fundraising for her 2022 rematch with Kemp, but was soundly defeated by the Republican incumbent.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia, seen speaking with Fox News Digital during his 2022 re-election campaign, is term-limited and cannot run for re-election in 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/Fox News)
In recent years, the political machine Abrams built has faded. The Abrams-founded New Georgia Project folded last year after being fined $300,000 for illegally backing her 2018 campaign.
And while Abrams last year considered a 2026 gubernatorial run, other Democratic candidates jumped into the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served as director of the White House Office of Public Engagement during former President Joe Biden’s administration, is widely seen as the front-runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
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Also running for the Democratic nomination is former Lieutenant Gov. Geoff Duncan, who was elected in 2018 but declined to seek re-election in 2022. The former Republican is now a moderate Democrat. Former state Rep. Ruwa Romman and former Dekalb County CEO Michael Thurmond are also in the race.
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who served in then-President Joe Biden’s administration, is running for the 2026 Democratic nomination for governor in Georgia. (Getty Images)
In the race for the Republican nomination, Lt. Gov. Burt Jones has the backing of President Donald Trump.
The field also includes Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
The Cook Report, a leading non-partisan political handicapper, rates the race a toss-up, while Inside Elections rates it as tilt Republican and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates it as lean Republican.
Abrams, in her statement to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said she’ll keep her focus on the fight to protect democracy.
“The antidote to authoritarianism and its harms has always been democracy; and I have long believed that democracy requires active engagement and staunch defenders,” she wrote.”But democracy is experienced by the vast majority through the work of government — when it fails, we are all imperiled.”
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A Florida man is behind bars after allegedly killing a woman and leaving her body on a popular beach the day after Christmas.
Brandon Ward McCray, 28, was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals and Hollywood Police Department on Dec. 30, 2025 and charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital.
Authorities responded to a call regarding a body on the sand of Hollywood Beach – located approximately 15 miles from Fort Lauderdale Beach – at around 7 a.m. on the morning of Dec. 26, 2025, according to WPLG. The victim, later identified as 56-year-old Heather Asendorf, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Brandon Ward McCray is charged with sexual battery, kidnapping, battery and battery by strangulation in Broward County, Florida, according to police records obtained by Fox News Digital. (Broward County Sheriff’s Office)
Witnesses later told NBC Miami the body was wrapped in a white blanket and had blood trailing from the remains.
Officials did not release details regarding Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected.
Additionally, detectives believe McCray and Asendorf knew each other prior to the alleged murder, according to WSVN.
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Authorities reportedly allege Brandon Ward McCray murdered 56-year-old Heather Asendorf after her body was found on Hollywood Beach in Hollywood, Florida on Dec. 26, 2025. (iStock)
“This case remains an active criminal investigation,” Hollywood police said in a news release. “There is no indication of a broader threat to the community.”
McCray was previously charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in 2023 after allegedly brandishing a gun at a tow truck driver as his vehicle was being repossessed, according to NBC Miami.
MAN WITH VIOLENT CRIMINAL HISTORY ON PAROLE ALLEGEDLY STABS TEEN TO DEATH: OFFICIALS
Officials reportedly did not release details regarding Heather Asendorf’s cause of death, but previously stated that foul play was suspected. (iStock)
He was taken into custody at his nearby home and booked into the Broward County Main Jail on $770,000 bond, WPLG reported.
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The Hollywood Police Department and McCray’s attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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