Hawaii physician who bashed spouse over head with rock at magnificence spot tells tried homicide trial she hit him first, as he tries to make use of her affair with co-worker as excuse
A Hawaii doctor on trial for the attempted murder of his wife claims he acted out of self-defense after they fought over her alleged affair with a co-worker.
Gerhartdt Konig, 47, admits to bashing his wife Arielle, 37, over the head with a rock at an Oahu beauty spot in March 2025, but claims she attacked him first, his attorney said in opening statements on Monday.
The renowned anesthesiologist broke down in tears as his trial began this week and jurors were played a call he made to his son saying he was going to kill himself after the incident on the Nuʻuanu Pali Lookout hiking trail.
The court was also shown an image of Arielle after she survived the alleged attack, showing her with blood seeping from her head and face after apparently being struck by the rock.
Konig’s attorney, Thomas Otake, said her injuries were not as bad as they looked in the picture and said she only suffered a small laceration to her eyebrow as he argued the trial should be an assault case, not attempted murder.
Otake claimed Arielle attacked Konig first, telling jurors: ‘She picks up a rock and hits him in the face with it, and he quickly reacts, human reaction, grabs the rock, hits her twice, and stops.’
But prosecutors allege he tried to push his wife off a ledge on the trail and attempted to stab her with a syringe before beating her with a jagged rock.
‘He starts to take that rock and bash her in the head multiple times. “Help, help, help” is what Arielle says while the defendant is hitting her,’ deputy prosecuting attorney Joel Garner said, per the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Garner said Arielle is set to take the stand next week on the one-year anniversary of the alleged attack, and told the court she would admit to being involved in a three-month-long affair with co-worker Jeffrey Miller.
Hawaii doctor Gerhartdt Konig, 47, claimed during his attempted murder trial that he struck his wife with a rock out of self-defense as they fought over her affair with a co-worker
The renowned anesthesiologist is accused of trying to push wife Arielle Konig, 36, off a hiking trail at the Nuʻuanu Pali Lookout in Oahu
Garner said that Arielle had previously confessed to her infidelity and believed she and her husband had moved on.
She will tell jurors that they went to couples counseling and planned the romantic trip to Oahu for her birthday, and thought they were ‘back on track,’ Garner said.
But Otake said Arielle withdrew $130,000 without her husband’s permission, leading him to file a temporary restraining order against her, which in turn saw her file for divorce before they attempted couples therapy.
Prosecutors allege that Konig attacked his wife out of the blue on the cliff edge of the picturesque hiking spot, before two other walkers saw them during the struggle.
One of them, Sarah Buchsbaum, took the stand at Konig’s trial this week as she said she and a friend saw the doctor on top of his wife.
Jurors heard a 911 call from the scene, where Buchsbaum said: ‘There’s a man trying to kill her. She has blood all over her face.
‘We heard her screaming “help, help, help me, help me” and then we saw a man over her, and then she crawled out with blood on her face. He tried to kill her,’ she said on the call.
Garner said in his opening statements that Konig had meticulously planned the trip to Oahu for his wife’s birthday, including researching the cliffside hike.
The court was shown an image of Arielle after the alleged attack, showing her with blood seeping from her head and face after being struck by the rock
The couple had been married since 2018 and had a $1.5 million home in Maui
Witness Sarah Buchsbaum took the stand at Konig’s trial this week as she said she and a friend saw the doctor on top of his wife on the hiking trail
Prosecutors allege Konig tried to push his wife over a cliff and bash her over the head with a jagged rock on the Nuʻuanu Pali Lookout hiking trail
He said the summit of the trail had a drop of several hundred feet, which Arielle sent a picture of to her family captioned, ‘Don’t look down.’
Moments later, Konig allegedly grabbed his wife and tried to throw her over the edge, leading to a struggle on the ground.
‘The defendant gets on top of her, straddles her,’ Garner said, alleging that Konig then brought out a syringe and tried to stab her with it.
Konig’s attorney argued that police never found a syringe or evidence that he tried to inject his wife with any substance.
The doctor then allegedly picked up a jagged rock and bashed his wife over the head with it several times, with the attack only ending when the two female hikers heard her pleas for help, prosecutors said.
When Arielle scrambled away, Konig then made a break for it and ran into the forest.
He FaceTimed his son, Emile, 19, and confessed to striking his wife, telling him that he was going to kill himself.
Konig broke down in court as audio of the call was played, telling his son: ‘I’m not going to make it back. I tried to kill Ari, but she got away. She’s been cheating on me for the last several months. I’m at the end of my rope.’
Konig’s arrest came after a lengthy manhunt in the Oahu forest
Police arrested Konig, 47, after a brief pursuit on foot near the hiking trail
‘I’m going to jump,’ he added. ‘I gotta hang up, so the police don’t find me.’
An eight-hour manhunt ensued in the dense woodland.
Just after the search was called off for the night, three police officers spotted Konig running out of the forest. The cops chased him down and arrested him.
Konig’s trial is expected to last until mid-April. He has pleaded not guilty.
