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Chelsea Hylton is a web producer for CBS Los Angeles. An Inglewood native, Hylton has her master's degree from USC. She covers local breaking news across the Southern California region. Before joining CBS in 2024, she worked at NBC LA, Telemundo 52, The Los Angeles Times and KOMO 4 News in Seattle.
Austin Turner
Web Producer, CBS News Los Angeles
Austin Turner is a web producer at CBS News Los Angeles. An Inland Empire native, Austin earned a degree in journalism from San Jose State University in 2020. Before joining CBS News in 2025, he worked at KTLA, the San Jose Mercury News, the Sedona Red Rock News and various other outlets as a news and sports reporter.
/ CBS LA
A jury has reached a verdict in the case against Jonathan Rinderknecht, the man accused of starting the blaze that turned into the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire in 2025.
Prosecutors argued that Rinderknecht maliciously started a fire near the Pacific Palisades community in Los Angeles in the early morning of Jan. 1, 2025. That fire developed into what became the Palisades Fire.
According to the Department of Justice, law enforcement agencies determined that the Palisades Fire was a "holdover" fire and a continuation of the Lachman Fire, which sparked on the morning of New Year's Day 2025. Although fire crews suppressed the fire, it continued to smolder and burn underground.
Rinderknecht, 30, a Florida resident, had just finished a shift as an Uber driver during the early morning hours of Jan. 1, 2025, when he allegedly started the Lachman Fire in an area of the hills in the Palisades that was covered with heavy vegetation. Prosecutors said he called 911 multiple times and initially fled the scene but returned to the area after witnessing fire engines passing by.
Rinderknecht's defense has argued that he was simply a witness to the blaze.
"No matter what the government's theory is, the evidence will show Jonathan did not start the Jan. 1 fire," Defense attorney Steve Haney said, noting that when Rinderknecht saw the brushfire just after midnight, he called 911 multiple times to report it.
The DOJ said during an interview with law enforcement on Jan. 24, 2025, Rinderknecht allegedly lied about where he was when he first saw the Lachman Fire. Geolocation data from his phone confirmed that he was just 30 feet away from the flames as they began to spread, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also argued that Rinderknecht was agitated and angry when he started the fire.
The Palisades Fire, fueled by life-threatening winds and hot conditions, burned more than 23,000 acres of land in the Pacific Palisades, Malibu and the Santa Monica mountains. According to Cal Fire, 12 people were killed and more than 6,800 structures were destroyed.
The Palisades Fire was fully contained on Jan. 31, 24 days after it started. It is the third most destructive fire in state history, with
Rinderknecht faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in federal prison and a statutory maximum sentence of 45 years.