Alleged Palisades Arsonist Reportedly Obsessed with Luigi Mangione

Alleged Palisades Arsonist Reportedly Obsessed with Luigi Mangione

One of the most neglected aspects of the coverage of the Great Los Angeles Wildfire of 2025 is the suspected arson that is associated with the disaster.

For example, a federal criminal complaint accuses Jonathan Rinderknecht of starting an illegal campfire/“open flame” with a lighter near Pacific Palisades just after midnight around New Year’s, which investigators say ignited vegetation and created the initial “Lachman Fire.”

That fire smoldered and later reignited in early January as the Palisades Fire, which became one of the most destructive wildfires in the region’s history, destroying thousands of structures and causing more than a dozen fatalities.

He has been charged with multiple federal arson‑related counts and has pleaded not guilty.

Apparently, Rinderknecht was obsessed with healthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione.

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, was obsessed with the accused health care CEO killer and had routinely searched “free Luigi Mangione” and “lets take down all the billionaires” online, court documents show.

In the weeks and hours before allegedly sparking the blaze that triggered the catastrophic Palisades Fire, Rinderknecht — who worked as an Uber driver — ranted to customers about Mangione’s arrest, too.

“Many of defendant’s Uber passengers on December 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025, described defendant as angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being ‘pissed off at the world’ and Luigi Mangione, capitalism, and vigilantism,” prosecutors noted in a trial memorandum.

When asked why someone would ultimately set the blaze, Rinderknecht allegedly responded that it “would be out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as ‘we’re basically being enslaved by them’ and compared such an act of ‘desperation’ to the murder for which Mangione was charged,” according to the memo.

Rinderknecht’s trial is slated for next month.

Rinderknecht’s trial is expected to begin June 8. Prosecutors anticipate calling as many as 50 witnesses and estimate the proceedings could take up to 10 days.

In November 2025, a judge ruled Rinderknecht must remain jailed while he awaits trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Rozella A. Oliver denied bond to Rinderknecht, saying he must be kept in custody due to his mental health and distress he caused his sister and her family.

Rinderknecht’s father testified in support of his release, denying that his son had mental health issues.

Investigators used witness statements, video surveillance, cell phone data, and analysis of fire dynamics and patterns at the scene to piece together Rinderknecht’s possible connection to the wildfire’s origin.

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 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. 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 allege.

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.

During a Jan. 24, 2025, 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 federal prosecutors.

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