A 29-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to charges of arson and destruction in connection with the catastrophic wildfire that tore through Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, on New Year’s Day 2025 — a blaze that killed at least 16 people and destroyed more than 6,000 homes, making it one of the deadliest in the city’s history.

The suspect, identified as Jonathan Rinderknecht, was arrested in Florida earlier this week and appeared before a federal judge in Orlando wearing shorts, a T-shirt, and ankle shackles. He told the court he was neither under the influence of drugs nor suffering from mental health issues. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of five years in prison, though prosecutors are reportedly considering additional charges, including homicide.

Federal investigators say the case against Rinderknecht includes digital evidence linking him to the fire’s origin near the Skull Rock Trailhead — just a block from where he once lived before moving to Florida. According to court documents, he allegedly set the blaze shortly after completing an Uber shift on New Year’s Eve. A passenger from his last ride told investigators the driver appeared “angry and agitated.”

Authorities used his phone data to track his location on the night of the fire.

What however drew international attention were Rinderknecht’s interactions with ChatGPT months before the fire. Investigators found that five months prior, he had used the AI tool to generate a dystopian image depicting “hundreds of thousands of impoverished people trying to pass through a giant gate marked with a dollar sign, while wealthy figures watched from behind a wall as the world burned.” The resulting image featured a forest engulfed in flames and crowds fleeing the inferno.

He also asked the chatbot questions such as, “Are you responsible if a fire starts because of your cigarettes?” and, a month before the tragedy, wrote that he had “literally burned [his] Bible” and felt “liberated.”

Authorities believe Rinderknecht attempted to create “evidence” to portray himself as a bystander rather than the perpetrator, recording videos and calling emergency lines to suggest he was trying to help extinguish the blaze. During questioning on January 24, investigators noted he appeared visibly nervous, with his carotid artery pulsing each time he was asked who started the fire.

As investigations continue, the case has sparked wider discussion about digital footprints, AI use in criminal investigations, and the increasingly complex intersection between technology, psychology, and crime.