How ChatGPT and a lighter helped police sniff out arsonist in the Palisades Fire

On New Year’s Eve, the 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht clocked out from his shift as an Uber driver.

Hours later, he set fire — and just a week later, an entire luxury neighborhood in Los Angeles lay in ashes.

When the world turned from 2024 to 2025, 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht wasn’t ringing in the New Year with fireworks or celebration.

Instead, the former Uber driver, described as “agitated and angry” by his passengers, drove to a quiet hiking trail just north of Pacific Palisades, California — a place he knew well.

He had finished his shift when he hiked past signs reading “Danger” and “No Fires/Smoking” to a small clearing known to locals as the “Hidden Buddha,” where people place figurines in a hollowed-out tree stump.

There, alone on the hillside, he pulled out his iPhone and recorded a 360-degree video of the area, according to a federal investigators.

A song steeped in despair

And then, at 11:54 p.m., he pressed play on a haunting French rap track: “Un Zder, Un Thé” by Josman, a song steeped in despair and bitterness.

Prosecutors note that in the days leading up to the fire, Rinderknecht listened to this track nine times and even watched the accompanying video, which shows flames and destruction.

The lyrics paint a vivid picture of mental fatigue, detachment, and simmering rage — themes investigators say mirror Rinderknecht’s behavior that night. Lines like “I haven’t slept, I’ve got no energy, feel like I’m nowhere […] Bro, pain doesn’t kill, I don’t know what you’re talking about” reflect a psyche teetering on the edge. And the repeated refrain — “I roll a joint and make some tea” — hints at someone trying, perhaps futilely, to calm internal chaos before stepping into catastrophe.

Just minutes after the song ended, at 12:12:01 a.m., cameras detected the first flames of what would become the Lachman Fire.

Rinderknecht’s GPS places him at the scene, and investigators say he likely used a lighter to ignite the fire. Though firefighters initially contained the blaze, underground embers smoldered for days before erupting into the Palisades Fire. That catastrophic fire destroyed thousands of homes, killing 12 people and caused billions of dollars worth of damage.

The Palisades Fire could go down as the most expensive wildfire in U.S. history, not just because of the sheer number of buildings destroyed, but also because many of the structures lost were among the nation’s priciest homes.

Messaged ChatGPT

In the hours before the inferno, Rinderknecht’s actions were anything but ordinary. After his first 911 calls failed to connect, he messaged ChatGPT asking, “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes?” He even recorded screen captures of his calls and AI inquiries, a move prosecutors argue shows he was trying to create a false trail of innocence.

The eerie soundtrack, the isolated trail, the repeated digital obsession with fire — all of it paints a picture of a man consumed by dark thoughts before unleashing one of the deadliest fires in Los Angeles history.

Court documents also reveal that Rinderknecht once returned to the scene of the Lachman Fire, and offered to help firefighters battle the blaze — behavior authorities called “highly unusual conduct.”

At a news conference on October 8, officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the ATF refused to comment on what might have driven the suspect.

Dystopian image of a burning forest

“I wish we could understand what’s going on in someone’s mind, but we can’t,” said Kenny Cooper, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF’s Los Angeles Field Division.

“People commit terrible acts for reasons we may never know, and I’m not going to speculate.”

However, authorities say Rinderknecht’s fascination with destruction wasn’t new.

Months earlier, he asked ChatGPT to generate a dystopian image of a burning forest, with masses of people fleeing and wealthy elites watching from behind a massive wall, “chilling, watching the world burn down, and watching the people struggle.” Prosecutors say the app then produced this image:

Then in November, Rinderknecht sent a prompt to ChatGPT, noting he was 28 and referring to a fiery incident from months earlier, according to the affidavit.

“I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing. I felt so liberated,” he wrote.

The investigation into the deadly Palisades Fire has been extensive. Kenny Cooper, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Los Angeles Field Division, revealed that his team chased more than 200 leads across the U.S. and overseas while meticulously combing the hillsides where the blaze began.

For residents of Pacific Palisades, the findings offer long-sought answers amid months of recovery. The neighborhood still bears the scars of charred ruins, and rebuilding is only slowly underway.

“Though homes and businesses cannot be rebuilt, this arrest, we hope, will bring a measure of justice to all those who were impacted,” said Essayli.

What we know about Jonathan Rinderknecht

Investigators report that Rinderknecht — who also goes by “Jonathan Rinder” and “Jon Rinder” — was arrested near his home in Melbourne, Florida.

Originally from Indiana, Rinderknecht holds a high school diploma. Authorities say he used to live in Pacific Palisades and knew the neighborhood where the fire allegedly started.

After the blaze, he reportedly relocated to Florida.

Now facing federal charges, Rinderknecht could spend 5 to 20 years in prison if convicted. The suspect appeared in federal court in Orlando, where he resides, last week, but did not enter a plea. The following day, a judge denied him bail, citing concerns that he might flee, according to CNN affiliate WFTV.