Prosecutors: Palisades arson suspect was angry, jilted on New Year's Eve

The alleged Palisades arsonist was lonely and alone on a windy New Year's Eve and "pissed off about the world" the night he set a fire that grew over six days into the one that destroyed eastern Malibu.

That's how federal prosecutors are describing Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of setting the New Year's Eve fire that eventually consumed Malibu and the Pacific Palisades.

Federal prosecutors have filed a trial memorandum outlining their case. The feds quote from Uber passengers who had been driven by Rinderknecht just before the fire. He was described as "angry, intense, driving erratically, and ranting about being 'pissed off at the world,'" the prosecutors said.

Rinderknecht's romantic advances had been spurned by a woman, leaving him alone on New Year's Eve. He could not connect to make plans with two other friends.

Rinderknecht talked about capitalism and vigilantism with passengers in his Uber that night. He expressed admiration for Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering a health insurance company executive on a New York City street a few weeks earlier.

After the fire, he told investigators that an arsonist might have set the Palisades Fire "out of resentment of the rich enjoying their money as 'we're basically being enslaved by them.'"

Rinderknecht's lawyer has poo-pooed the prosecution theory that Rinderknecht was a pathetic and jealous loser. One defense lawyer said, "if being a 29-year-old man alone on New Year's Eve with plans that fell through was a motive for arson, I would gather we would have millions of arsonists amongst us."

The defense has argued that federal prosecutors have a lack of evidence. The federal memo, however, says they have plenty of evidence for a jury to look at.

They said they have Rinderknecht's internet trail. It shows the defendant made posts admiring the 2018 Woolsey fire. He burned a Bible. He threatened to burn his sister's house down. And he used ChatGPT as a diary to talk about fire and generate images of people running from a burning forest.

Rinderknecht faces up to 45 years in federal prison if convicted. His trial is expected to begin June 8.