"THE UBER DRIVER WHO BURNED LA: Jonathan Rinderknecht's ChatGPT Trail to Arson & Murder"

Reid Carter covers Jonathan Rinderknecht's arrest for starting the Palisades Fire that killed 12 people and destroyed 6,000 homes. The 29-year-old Uber driver's ChatGPT searches reveal months of fire obsession: burning Bibles, creating images of burning cities, asking "Are you at fault if a fire is lift because of your cigarettes?" He listened to a French rap song about setting fires nine times, lit the January 1st Lachman Fire with a lighter, then watched it smolder underground for six days before exploding into LA's most destructive inferno. Plus Fraser Bohm fights to dismiss murder charges and Jay Cutler serves four days for DUI.

Join our new FB groups page here. Take the poll!

Join the Celebrity Trials community on social media! We're building a passionate group of true crime enthusiasts who love diving deep into the most shocking cases in America.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching "Celebrity Trials Podcast" on either platform.

You'll get exclusive behind-the-scenes content, breaking news updates on cases we're covering, and early alerts when new episodes drop. Our social media is where Reid Carter's hottest takes live, including reactions that don't make it into the show.

But more importantly, it's where YOU come in. Share your theories, debate the verdicts, and connect with fellow listeners who are just as obsessed with justice as you are. Did the jury get it right? What questions do you still have? Your comments and insights often shape future episodes.

We cover the trials that matter, but our community makes the conversation unforgettable. Come for Reid's signature cynical commentary, stay for the incredible discussions with thousands of true crime fans who get it.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Callaroga Shark Media, good morning. I'm read Carter. Friday, October tenth,
twenty twenty five. Wednesday, federal authorities arrested Jonathan Rinderconnect for
starting the Palisades Fire. Twelve people dead, more than six

(00:23):
thousand homes destroyed, the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history,
and it started because an angry uber driver walked up
a trail with a lighter on New Year's Day. His
chat GPT history told the story months in advance. July
create an image of a burning city. August I literally

(00:43):
burnt the Bible. It felt amazing. December thirty. First, he
listens to a French rap song about setting fires nine
times in four days. January first, twelve, twelve am. He
starts the fire, then asks chat GPT, are you at
fault if a fire is lift because of your cigarettes.

(01:03):
The fire gets put out, but underground it keeps smoldering.
Six days later, the winds from Santa Ana hit, the
underground fire surfaces explodes. By the time it's contained, twelve
people are dead and Los Angeles looks like a war zone.
I'm red Carter today. The uber driver who burned Los

(01:25):
Angeles plus Fraser Boehm fighting to dismiss murder charges for
the Pepperdine crash and Jay Cutler's four day jail sentence.
This weekend, a special two part series on ed Gain,
timed with Netflix's Monster series The Butcher of Plainfield, who
murdered women, robbed graves, and made furniture from human skin.

(01:45):
Saturday and Sunday. Don't miss it. This is Celebrity Trials.
Jonathan Rinderconnect is twenty nine years old, born in France,
former Pacific Palisades President Uber Driver, and, according to federal prosecutors,
the man who burned Los Angeles. July twenty twenty four,

(02:09):
Renderconnect asks chat Gpt to create an image a dystopian
painting of a forest fire with poor people trying to
escape while rich people watch from behind a gate, laughing
and dancing as the world burns. That's not art, that's
a manifesto. August first, he tells a family member he
burned his Bible. August thirtieth, he elaborates to chat GPT,

(02:31):
I literally burnt the Bible that I had. It felt amazing.
I felt so liberated. Destruction as freedom, fire as empowerment.
Late December, Rinderconnect discovers a French rap song by Yosman
called unz der Unte. It's about despair. The lyrics translate
to everything we burn is counted in grams. The music

(02:55):
video shows Yosman lighting things on fire. Between December twenty
eighth and thirty first, rinder Connect listens to it nine times,
watches the video three times. December thirty first, twenty twenty four,
New Year's Eve, reinder Connect is working as an Uber driver.
Two passengers tell investigators he seemed agitated and angry. At

(03:15):
eleven twenty eight pm, he plays the Josmin song again
while driving. He drops off a passenger in Pacific Palisades,
his former neighborhood. He drives to Skull Rock trailhead, one
block from where he used to live. Tries calling a
former friend, doesn't connect, gets out, walks up the trail
he's hiked hundreds of times. Eleven forty seven pm, he

(03:39):
takes two videos from the hilltop. No fire's visible, just
normal Pacific Palisades. Below, he has a green lighter. Investigators
will later find video showing this lighter in his apartment
earlier that day. Twelve twelve a m. January First, Environmental
sensors detect the Lochman fire on skull Rock trail. Cell

(03:59):
Phone data confirms Rinder Connect is the only person in
the area. He tries calling nine to one one no
service on the hilltop. While trying, he opens chat GPT,
Are you at fault if a fire is lift because
of your cigarettes? Creating a cover story, establishing an innocent explanation.
Chat GPT responds yes. He runs down the trail, gets service,

(04:22):
calls nine one one. A nearby resident has already reported it.
Fire crews respond render. Connect flees, then turns around and
follows the fire engines back at high speed. Parks walks
up to watch the firefighters work. At one o two am.
He takes videos of the scene, documenting what he started.
Firefighters suppress the Lochman fire, about eight acres burned, no

(04:47):
structures destroyed. By mourning, it's contained, everyone goes home except underground,
in root systems of dense vegetation, the fire is still burning, smoldering,
slowly consuming organic material below the surface. Nobody knows. For
six days it burns underground, waiting. January seventh, the underground

(05:10):
fire surfaces and explodes within minutes. The contained eight acre
fire becomes the Palisades Fire, an inferno spreading through Pacific
Palisades in Malibu faster than anyone can contain it. Evacuation
orders can't keep up, traffic gridlocks. Officials tell people to
abandon cars and run on foot. A bulldozer clears abandoned

(05:32):
vehicles to make way for fire crews. By January thirty first,
twenty four days later, twelve people are dead, more than
six thousand homes destroyed, more than twenty three thousand acres burned.
Paris Hilton's mansion gone, Tom Hanks's house gone, Entire neighborhoods
reduced to ash. January twenty fourth, federal investigators interview render

(05:54):
connect He lies says he was near the bottom of
the trail when he first saw the fire. Geolocation data
shows he was standing thirty feet from the fire at
the ignition point. The complaint notes that whenever investigators asked
about how the fire started, his neck artery would pulsate
visibly physical stress response. Investigators spend months building the case.

(06:17):
They exclude fireworks, lightning, power lines, cigarettes. They conclude it
was an open flame, likely a lighter applied directly to vegetation.
They review his entire digital footprint, the burning Bible, the
dystopian burning city images, the French rap song played nine times,
the question about cigarettes asked at the exact moment the

(06:38):
fire started. October eighth, Tuesday, federal agents arrest Rendercnnect near
his home in Florida. He'd relocated to Orlando after the fire.
October ninth, Wednesday, he appears in federal court in Orlando,
charged with destruction of property by means of fire Mandatory
minimum five years, maximum twenty years. Acting US Attorney Bill Assali.

(07:04):
The complaint alleges that rinder Neck started a fire in
Pacific Palisades on New Year's Day, a blaze that eventually
turned into one of the most destructive fires in Los
Angeles history. Among the evidence collected was an image he
generated on chat GPT depicting a burning city. Special Agent
in charge Kenny Cooper was blunt. People do evil things

(07:26):
for whatever reason. Evil people do evil things, not mental illness. Evil.
Rindercnect planned, executed, watched, documented, lied. That's malice, Mayor Karen Bass.
Today's arrest marks an important step toward closure and justice. Closure.

(07:47):
Twelve people are dead, six thousand homes are destroyed. There's
no closure, just accountability for the man who started it.
Uber immediately removed Rinderkneckt from their platform their cooperation with
the investigation, But the question remains, how was a disturbed
man with fire obsession driving people around Los Angeles renderconnect

(08:09):
faces five to twenty years in federal prison. Twelve people
are dead forever. The defense will argue what accident? The
chat GPT searches argue against that coincidence. Being the only
person at the ignition site, argues against that mental illness,
his careful planning argues against that all because an Uber

(08:30):
driver with a lighter anger and a French rap song
about burning things decided to turn his chat GPT fantasies
into reality. On New Year's Eve, We'll be right back
with Fraser boem trying to dismiss murder charges for killing
four Pepperdine students. Update on Fraser Boehm accused of killing

(09:04):
four Pepperdine Sorority sisters on Pacific Coast Highway October seventeenth,
twenty twenty three. Nave Rolston twenty, Asha Weir twenty one,
Peyton Stewart twenty one, Deslyn Williams twenty first, All Alpha
Phi sisters, all seniors due to graduate in twenty twenty four.

(09:24):
They just exited a car and were walking on the
shoulder when Boehm allegedly slammed his BMW into three parked
vehicles at one hundred four miles per hour in a
forty five zone. All four killed instantly. Boehm is now
twenty three, charged with four counts of murder and four
counts of vehicular manslaughter. Wednesday, he appeared in Van Nuy's

(09:45):
court with his defense team pushing their motion to dismiss
all charges. His attorney, Jacqueline Spiranya, filed a fifty nine
page motion, citing conflicting evidence and unreliable, glitchy surveillance footage.
The filing the people's theory of implied malice murder is
thoroughly lacking in legal support. The charges must be dismissed.

(10:08):
Judge Rubinstein scheduled November first for arguments. Prosecutor Nathan Bartos
will file a response opposing dismissal. The prosecution's evidence. Black
box data showing Boehm's BMW accelerated from ninety three to
one hundred four miles per hour in two point five
seconds before impact. That's not losing control. That's flooring it.

(10:29):
Bartos at an earlier hearing, he consciously decided to get
that vehicle up to one hundred four miles per hour
and lost control. This was not an accident, Boehm claims.
Another driver in a white car swerved into his lane,
clipped his mirror, caused the crash. His former attorney argued
he was being chased in a road rage incident. LA

(10:52):
Sheriff's investigators no evidence of an alleged road rage incident,
no witnesses, no footage, no other damaged vehicles, just Boehm's
claim and four dead sorority sisters. The defense argues implied
malice doesn't apply, but driving one hundred four and a
forty five zone at night on pH notorious dead Man's

(11:12):
Curve with fifty three deaths between twenty thirteen and twenty
twenty three, seems like textbook conscious disregard for human life.
The victim's parents have filed wrongful death lawsuits against Boehm
and are suing California, La County, and Malibu for dangerous
road design. Bohm's family is wealthy. His father, Chris, is

(11:33):
a medical equipment executive. Boehm got the red twenty sixteen
BMW as an eighteenth birthday present in his parents' divorced settlement.
The settlement revealed an eight point seven million dollar Malibu estate.
November first, the defense argues the murder charges should be
dismissed that without implied malice, this is vehicular manslaughter at most,

(11:55):
that Bohm made a mistake, not a choice. The prosecution
will argue that one hundred four miles per hour on
PCH at night is implied malice, that he knew it
was dangerous, that four young women are dead because he
chose speed over safety. Knive, Asha, Peyton and Deslon were
awarded their degrees posthumously. They should have walked across that

(12:17):
stage themselves. Should have had futures instead their memories and
Fraser Boehm is fighting to dismiss murder charges because he
claims the evidence isn't strong enough. November first, We'll see
if the judge agrees. Quick update. Jay Cutler began serving

(12:37):
a four day jail sentence Monday in Franklin, Tennessee, for DUI.
October twenty twenty four, Cutler rear ended another vehicle. Police
said he was slurring his speech, refusing field sobriety tests,
blood sample taken, Two firearms found in his vehicle, one loaded.
He faced DUI reckless driving, implied consent violations, and unlock

(13:00):
awfully possessing a firearm while intoxicated. He pleaded guilty to
one misdemeanor DUI. The weapons charges were dismissed. Sentence four
days in jail, three hundred fifty dollars fine, one year
unsupervised probation, DUI safety course license suspended one year. Cutler
shares three kids with ex wife Kristin Cavalari Camden thirteen,

(13:23):
Jackson eleven, Sailor nine. They divorced in twenty twenty after
seven years, still taking public shots at each other on
social media. Last month, Cutler called it borderline slander when
Cavalry claimed she never got a penny from their divorce.
He earned one hundred twenty eight million dollars during his
NFL career and says no judge would let him keep

(13:44):
every dollar after divorce. Four days in jail for DUI,
that's what former NFL stars with good lawyers get. He'll
be out Friday, back to arguing with his X on podcasts.
Four days. That's it. That's celebrity. Trials for Friday, October tenth,
twenty twenty five, Jonathan rinderconnect burned Los Angeles Lighter on

(14:08):
New Year's Day. Fire smoldered underground six days, exploded into
the Palisades Fire. Twelve dead, six thousand homes destroyed. His
chat GPT searches told the story months before, burning bibles,
burning cities, asking about cigarette fires while the fire he
just set spread five to twenty years. Federal prison Fraser

(14:30):
Boehm fights to dismiss murder charges for killing four Pepperdine
Sorority sisters at one hundred four miles per hour November First.
The judge decides Jay Cutler served four days for dui
out Friday. That's what one hundred twenty eight million dollars
and good lawyers get you. I'm reed, Carter. This weekend

(14:50):
are two part ed Gene Special The Butcher of Plainfield
who murdered women, robbed graves, and made furniture from human skin. Saturday,
The Crimes the Horrific Farmhouse Discovery. Bernice Warden and Mary
Hogan murdered forty graves, robbed lampshades and chairs made from
human remains. Sunday The psychology Augusta Geane's fanatical control, The

(15:16):
Trial that Never happened, Ed's death in nineteen eighty four,
and his legacy. How he inspired Psycho, Texas, Chainsaw Massacre,
and Silence of the Lambs. How we turned real horror
into entertainment. Netflix just released Monster, The Ed Geen Story.
Before you watch Hollywood's version, hear The Real Story Saturday

(15:39):
and Sunday, our first weekend special. See you tomorrow. This
is Celebrity Trials