The man accused of lighting the deadly Pacific Palisades fire has been accused of threatening to burn down the home of his sister, according to testimony given at his first court appearance.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, appeared in court in Orlando, FL, on Thursday, where the ATF Special Agent in Charge told the court he responded to two alarming incidents involving Rinderknecht just days apart in September, WESH reported.
On September 19, Rinderknecht allegedly threatened to burn down the home of his sister and brother-in-law, with whom he had been living, having relocated from Southern California to Central Florida after he allegedly set the blaze that claimed the lives of 12 people.
Then, on September 25, Rinderknecht’s father—visiting from France—alerted police over concerns that his son had access to a firearm. The suspect’s father also alleged that his son had threatened to shoot his brother-in-law.
While Rinderknecht claimed the weapon was locked in a safe, officers ultimately found it hidden inside a stuffed animal in the garage. The suspect also told police that he had made the threat against his brother -in-law in self defense.
Two young children had previously been living in the home, but the family had moved out over concerns about Rinderknecht’s deteriorating mental health, the agent added.
The testimony was presented on Thursday during a nearly 90-minute federal hearing in Orlando, where a judge ruled that Rinderknecht will remain in U.S. Marshals’ custody.
Rinderknecht, who was arrested this week near his current home in Melbourne, FL, appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit, with straight, long brown hair, a beard, and a mustache.
He has thus far been charged with destruction of property by means of fire, however WESH reports that prosecutors are exploring enhanced charges due to aggravating factors, which could increase potential penalties beyond the standard 5–20 years, possibly even including the death penalty.
Rinderknecht’s arrest was announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) at a press conference earlier this week, where Acting United States Attorney Bill Essayli shared his desire to “bring some measure of justice” to all those impacted by the devastating Palisades fire.
“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,” he said of the allegations made against the suspect.
“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.”
According to the DOJ, law enforcement officials believe that the Palisades fire was a “holdover” of a blaze that they say was sparked intentionally by Rinderknecht on New Year’s Day.
The Los Angeles Fire Department believed that they had suppressed the original blaze, referred to as the Lachman fire, however it was later found to have continued—eventually spreading to become the Palisades fire.
“A multi-agency investigation into the origin and cause of the massive Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, California, on January 7, 2025, has determined that it was a ‘holdover’ fire, i.e., a continuation of the Lachman Fire that began nearby early in the morning on January 1, 2025,” ATF agent William M. Schry states in an sworn affidavit filed in support of Rinderknecht’s arrest.
“Although the Los Angeles City Fire Department (“LAFD”) quickly suppressed the Lachman Fire on January 1, unbeknownst to anyone the fire continued to smolder and burn underground, within the root structure of dense vegetation. On January 7, heavy winds caused the underground fire to surface and spread above ground in what became the Palisades Fire.”
Investigators say that Rinderknecht had been working as an Uber driver when the fire broke out and that he had dropped off a passenger not far from where the blaze originally began.
Cellphone and camera data revealed that he was the only person to have been in the area—which is located near a popular hiking trail on Temescal Ridge—when the fire was sparked.
At 12:12 a.m. on Jan. 1, 2025, environmental sensing platforms indicated the Lachman fire had begun. The investigation found that, during the next five minutes, Rinderknecht called 911 several times but couldn’t get through because his iPhone was out of cell phone range.
When he finally connected with 911, he told the emergency services operator that he was at the bottom of the hiking trail when he had seen the fire. By that point, a nearby resident already had already reported the blaze to authorities.
Investigators say Rinderknecht then left the scene in his car, passing fire engines driving in the opposite direction. He then turned around and followed the fire engines back to the trail, driving at high speeds in an apparent attempt to keep up with them.
Rinderknecht allegedly returned to the same trail that he had walked up earlier in the night to watch the firefighters battle the blaze and, at approximately 1:02 a.m., he used his iPhone to take more videos of the scene.
The DOJ says that during an interview with law enforcement on Jan. 24, 2025, Rinderknecht lied about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire. Although he claimed he was near the bottom of the trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, geolocation data from his iPhone showed that he was standing in a clearing just 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew.
Essayli posted on X that among the digital evidence collected during the investigation was an image reportedly created by Rinderknecht using ChatGPT that depicted a burning city.
