They remember him as the shy, quiet son of missionaries, who could sometimes become “grumpy” or excited when challenged.
In the Hollywood neighborhood where he lived and worked as an Uber driver, an acquaintance described him as “a really nice guy.” Yet he was embroiled in a horrific legal dispute with a neighbor in his apartment complex that included accusations of abuse and drug use.
Today, federal prosecutors are charging Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, with intentionally starting one of the most destructive fires in California history.
In a court filing, authorities accuse Rinderknecht of starting a fire shortly after midnight on Jan. 1 along a popular hiking trail in Pacific Palisades. They allege he repeatedly listened to a moody French rap song and downloaded an AI-generated image depicting a city on fire.
Rinderknecht could not be reached for comment and authorities did not provide a motive for the alleged actions.
According to public records and social media posts, the 29-year-old has roots in Florida, Hollywood, Pacific Palisades and the South of France, where his parents did missionary work.
As recently as this spring, records show that Rinderknecht lived and was registered to vote in a Hollywood apartment building just north of Hollywood Boulevard near the Roosevelt Hotel.
A few months ago, federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives visited the compound and appeared to search his unit. The officers carried weapons, a neighbor said, adding, “They were going in and out” of the unit.
The neighbor, who declined to give her name, told a Times reporter Wednesday that she recognized Rinderknecht but had little dealings with him.
“He kept to himself,” she said.
Peter Chang, 39, has lived in the same building on Sycamore Avenue in Hollywood for about four years and immediately recognized Rinderknecht when a Times reporter showed him a photo released by federal prosecutors.
Chang remembers Rinderknecht as quiet and shy and said he lived there for about two years. He was shocked by the news of his arrest.
“He was actually a really nice guy,” said Chang, who added that he only spoke to Rinderknecht in the hallway or when the two men took the elevator in the three-story complex, which has several dozen studio and one-bedroom apartments.
Chang described his former neighbor as gentle and introverted, and said he remembered Rinderknecht because it had a separate digital front door lock, while almost every other unit had a key lock system.
A former roommate of Rinderknecht who lived with him and another roommate for about two years on Vía La Costa in Palisades said he did not believe Rinderknecht was the type of person who would commit arson.
“I can only tell you that the Jonathan I know would never do something like that,” said the former roommate, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of negative business consequences.
Still, the roommate, who stopped living with Rinderknecht in 2022, said there were times when he “started talking fast and getting rude to people who confronted him. But he didn’t get violent, maybe he just smoked weed and fell asleep.”
The Skull Rock trailhead — which was cited in the government’s criminal complaint — was located within walking distance of their house, the former roommate said, and the two men often hiked the route.
The roommate said detectives told him Rinderknecht was not cooperating with their investigation, but that didn’t mean he was guilty of starting the fire.
“I can also believe that he pissed off these investigators by not cooperating,” the former roommate said. “He was just acting like a wanking child about it, and that’s something you can’t ignore, so they had to bring him in.”
In the fall of 2018 — before living in Hollywood — Rinderknecht and a girlfriend used Airbnb to rent a room in a house in the San Fernando Valley, according to the owner, who spoke to the Times on condition of anonymity for fear of harassment.
The owner said Rinderknecht seemed “very intelligent” and told him he had family in France and considered himself French. She believed he worked part-time as a restaurant server.
However, as the weeks went by, the owner became concerned. She heard Rinderknecht talking to his girlfriend and told her he was being disrespectful, even cruel. She suspected he was using illicit substances and damaging the walls and blinds in his house.
The owner said that sometimes she heard the girlfriend crying or saying that her family wanted her to leave Rinderknecht and go home.
“He didn’t follow all the rules. If I said don’t do that, he would be very upset and respond to me,” the owner recalls. “I called Airbnb to kick him out.”
At one point, she threatened to call the police, then he and his girlfriend quickly left. The landlord said it cost him about $2,000 to repair the damage to the apartment.
While living in Hollywood, Rinderknecht was involved in two civil lawsuits, which were unrelated to each other or to the fire investigation.
Court records show Rinderknecht was involved in a lawsuit after a car accident that occurred while he was driving for DoorDash, the plaintiff confirmed to the Times.
In March, Rinderknecht sued a neighbor, but the case was dismissed because Rinderknecht failed to appear in court.
Rinderknecht lived in a small apartment on the third floor of the complex. His apartment is now rented by another man, who declined to give his name but said mail occasionally arrives in Rinderknecht.
The building is located between Franklin Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard, near the base of Runyon Canyon and Outpost Estates. The neighborhood is located far from the Palisades Fire but was subject to mandatory evacuations during the Sunset Fire, which broke out the day after the Palisades Fire started.
On Wednesday morning, a parade of photographers and videographers toured the building, taking images of the courtyard pool and entryway.
Two local residents said they remembered seeing Rinderknecht, but said they didn’t remember anything remarkable or memorable. They were shocked that the man was now accused of causing such a catastrophic event.
The manager of Rinderknecht’s former Hollywood apartment complex, who identified himself only as Joey, said he was called Wednesday morning by TMZ and ABC News.
“I am not authorized to make a statement,” he said, adding: “It is our company policy.”
After the Palisades fire, Rinderknecht left California for Florida, according to federal prosecutors.
Rinderknecht’s mother, Jennifer, is originally from Florida, according to Pastor Shawn Hurley of Meadowbrook Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio. Her father, Joël, is a French citizen and the couple lives in France.
Hurley met the family during their travels around the country as missionaries, he said. They went there every four years as one of their many stops. He said he first met his parents in 1995, before Rinderknecht was born, but watched him grow into a teenager, which was about the last time he saw him.
He described Rinderknecht as an “average teenager” whose favorite football team was Olympique de Marseille.
It’s unclear when Rinderknecht moved to Southern California, but prosecutors said he at one time lived in the Palisades and was familiar with the area where the fire broke out.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Rinderknecht on Oct. 2 in California’s Central District Court, and he was arrested Wednesday in Florida. Prosecutors are determining which witnesses will appear at Rinderknecht’s preliminary hearing on Oct. 17, according to court records.
On Wednesday morning, Rinderknecht briefly appeared in a federal courtroom in Orlando where he was appointed as a federal public defender. He was summoned again for a preliminary hearing Thursday morning and remains in custody, according to court records.
