The deranged firebug accused of igniting the devastating Palisades Fire had become “fixated” with Luigi Mangione in the lead up to the deadly blaze — and then allegedly suggested the inferno was started out of “resentment of the rich,” prosecutors said.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 30, was obsessed with the accused healthcare 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 he 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 has pleaded not guilty to a string of federal arson charges for sparking the inferno that leveled 7,000 homes and businesses, caused $150 billion in damages and left 12 people dead in early 2025.
The alleged firebug has been jailed without bail since his arrest last October.
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