Palisades fire defendant was spiraling mentally when blaze ignited, ATF agent testifies - BERITAJA

Just minutes aft a occurrence erupted supra the Pacific Palisades connected New Year’s Day successful 2025, investigators say, Jonathan Rinderknecht asked ChatGPT if he mightiness beryllium held responsible for the blaze.

“Are you astatine responsibility if a occurrence is lit because of your cigarettes?” wrote the Uber driver, past 29.

As the Lachman occurrence burned into the night, videos showed Rinderknecht proceed to thrust about the able enclave, sometimes correct down occurrence trucks responding to the blaze that national prosecutors allege he started. He searched news stories about the occurrence successful the early hours of the greeting and tried to telephone and matter an ex-boyfriend who lived successful the area wherever the occurrence burned. He called 911 doubly to study the blaze, but said thing about really it started, according to grounds presented successful a downtown national courthouse Thursday morning.

And erstwhile he returned location to his North Hollywood flat about 3:45 a.m., records from Rinderknecht’s telephone show he played a French hip-hop opus he’d go obsessed with, which has a video showing money group connected fire.

In 2 days connected the guidelines astatine Rinderknecht’s arson trial, U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Agent Michael Montevidoni has painted a elaborate image of the defendant’s movements and intelligence authorities successful the moments he allegedly started the Lachman occurrence and the time after. Texts, surface grabs, recordings and different records recovered from a hunt of Rinderknecht’s cellphones represent a man who was by turns lonely and livid, angry astatine billionaires and ex-romantic partners while seemingly frightened about his ain declining intelligence health.

Prosecutors judge the Lachman fire, which erupted about midnight connected New Year’s Day 2025, burned underground for days and reignited Jan. 7 arsenic the Palisades fire, the about destructive wildfire successful Los Angeles history. The inferno killed 12 people, destroyed 6,500 structures crossed the Palisades and Malibu and caused billions of dollars successful damage.

Authorities allege successful tribunal documents that Rinderknecht “maliciously” started the Lachman occurrence adjacent Skull Rock successful Temescal Canyon conscionable aft midnight, citing statements he made to investigators about his resentment toward the able and a lengthy speech log pinch ChatGPT that showed the suspect was disappointment pinch his financial business and societal life. Prosecutors person besides pointed to betterment of a greenish BIC barbecue lighter successful Rinderknecht’s car that was seen successful a video the suspect filmed adjacent the occurrence segment connected the nighttime the Lachman blaze erupted.

Rinderknecht has denied each wrongdoing and his attorney, Steve Haney, has been speedy to reason the government’s lawsuit is dense connected motive but lacks immoderate proof. Prosecutors person yet to coming immoderate grounds that he intentionally burned anything. While Montevidoni, the lead ATF supplier connected the case, spent hours detailing Rinderknecht’s discussions pinch an AI chatbot, Haney pointed retired he ne'er asked ChatGPT for proposal to crippled a fire.

“You ne'er saw immoderate prompts aliases immoderate searches connected immoderate of his devices … connected really to scheme to pain something,” Haney said Thursday morning.

Montevidoni said he had not.

If convicted arsenic charged, Rinderknecht faces 45 years successful national prison.

Within weeks of the Palisades fire, Rinderknecht became a target of arson investigators, who began serving the first of much than 40 hunt warrants utilized successful the lawsuit connected Jan. 24, Montevidoni testified.

He said Rinderknecht refused to springiness investigators passwords for his devices and that he utilized a Tor browser, the gateway to the acheronian web, to find accusation connected really to delete accusation from his iCloud arsenic investigators closed in. Rinderknecht told investigators he had a distant programme moving that would delete everything from his telephone if national authorities tried to usage immoderate password-cracking software.

Montevidoni said authorities were only capable to behaviour a partial extraction of his cellphone data.

He said Rinderknecht engaged successful agelong conversations pinch ChatGPT that were akin to a journal. In July 2024, Rinderknecht demanded the chatbot make an image that showed able elites eating extravagantly connected 1 broadside of a wall while the world burned beyond the barricade. Rinderknecht prompted ChatGPT to create much than 40 images akin to that, and cursed retired the bot erstwhile it didn’t do what he wanted aliases noted he was violating OpenAI’s contented creation policies, according to images displayed successful court.

Montevidoni said Rinderknecht besides wrote to ChatGPT about his belief that the able are “enslaving” nine and causing harm to the planet. He wrote that he was having a difficult clip coming to position pinch not being capable to do thing about it.

“Why americium I truthful angry each the time,” he asked successful 1 message.

“The costs of life retired present brings maine anxiety. My loneliness brings maine anxiety,” he wrote successful another. “I’m very lonely. Like, very, very lonely.”

Montevidoni said investigators besides recovered net searches and web history related to Luigi Mangione, the fishy successful the sidesplitting of UnitedHealthcare’s main executive, connected Rinderknecht’s devices. He said Rinderknecht searched “Free Luigi” and “reddit lets termination each billionaires” successful December 2024. Montevidoni later testified that Rinderknecht besides utilized ChatGPT to look for accusation about the location reside and information protocols of DoorDash CEO Tony Xu.

On Dec. 30, 2 days earlier the fire, Rinderknecht reached retired to a female he’d antecedently been successful a romanticist narration with, hoping she would walk New Year’s Eve pinch him, but was rebuffed. Montevidoni testified that Rinderknecht began sending vile messages to the female from different phone, making comments about her weight, calling her a “pathetic pig” and telling her “you sewage nary worth.”

Minutes earlier midnight, he called an ex-boyfriend whom he lived pinch successful the Palisades from 2020 to 2022, but was ignored, according to telephone records shown successful court. He called the man again aft the occurrence erupted.

At 12:12 a.m., he made 2 speedy telephone calls to 911, among galore that L.A. County authorities received reporting the Lachman fire. He was panicked but little successful some calls, which lasted only seconds. Two minutes later, he asked ChatGPT if personification would beryllium responsible for the occurrence started by discarded cigarettes, Montevidoni said.

Rinderknecht “screen-recorded” some the 911 calls and his ChatGPT prompt, which Montevidoni said was odd.

“To us, it seems for illustration he was trying to create an replacement logic for why the occurrence was started and person a grounds of that to show astatine a later period,” he said.

Subsequent cellphone videos and surveillance cameras show Rinderknecht driving about the vicinity adjacent the occurrence for almost 2 hours aft the blaze started, sometimes trailing Fire Department vehicles. The adjacent morning, Rinderknecht’s Google hunt history showed him many times searching for accusation about the Lachman fire.

It is unclear if Rinderknecht will attest astatine trial. But his attorney, Haney, said the prosecution’s full lawsuit seems focused connected his client’s despair alternatively than the origin of the occurrence aliases impervious that Rinderknecht was the personification who group it.

“You ne'er recovered immoderate searches successful immoderate of the devices regarding arson, right?” Haney asked. “Any net searches for deliberately starting a occurrence ... immoderate Internet searches connected what type of incendiary device, lighter, torch, flare, mightiness beryllium amended utilized to commencement a fire? ... Never recovered immoderate purchases of fire-starting materials?”

Over and complete again, the ATF supplier responded no.