A Hawaii doctor is on trial for allegedly attacking his wife with a syringe and a rock during what was supposed to be a birthday hike — and the couple’s dramatically different accounts of what happened that day have captivated a courtroom in Oahu.
Gerhardt Konig, a 47-year-old anesthesiologist from Maui, has been charged with second-degree attempted murder after he was accused of beating his wife, Arielle Konig, on the Pali Puka Trail on Oahu on March 24, 2025.
Gerhardt was arrested one day after the incident and is currently on trial for second-degree attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The trial is ongoing, and closing arguments were scheduled for April 7, 2026.
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Here is everything to know about the case as the trial unfolds.
Arielle Konig Shared Her Side of the Story While Testifying
The couple had traveled to Oahu to celebrate Arielle’s birthday. According to Arielle’s testimony on March 24, 2026, she had been hopeful about the trip and what it meant for their marriage.
“I felt hopeful that this was a turning point for us in our marriage, and that this was going to be a nice trip and kind of started the next chapter for us,” Arielle told the courtroom.
Arielle, 37, said Gerhardt took her on a hike on a steep cliff. During the hike, she said she refused to go up an elevation because she was scared of how steep it was. She later took a photo with Gerhardt against the cliff, which she said made her feel uneasy. She then asked Gerhardt to step aside so she could move away from the edge.
As she began to walk toward her husband, Arielle claimed Gerhardt grabbed her by her arms and said, “I’m so f***ing done with this s***.”
Gerhardt then allegedly got on top of her. “He was first trying to pull me closer to the cliff,” Arielle said, adding that she then saw a syringe in his hand as he instructed her to “hold still.”
“F*** you, you’re done,” Gerhardt allegedly said as he held her down. “I’m so sick of your s***.”
Arielle explained that she tried to stop Gerhardt by talking about their children. “Our kids will be orphans,” she recalled telling him. “You’ll go to jail and I’ll be dead; our kids need us.”
Gerhardt allegedly responded, “You’re done. We don’t need you anymore.”
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Arielle said Gerhardt appeared to calm down slightly as she spoke about their kids. However, she said he then took a few deep breaths and started hitting her with rocks.
The attack didn’t stop until a pair of hikers heard Arielle screaming and found the couple. She told the judge that she only survived the alleged attack because of those hikers, who called 911.
Gerhardt Konig’s Son Testified in the Trial
In one of the trial’s most striking moments, Gerhardt’s son, Emile Konig, took the stand on March 31, 2026, and said his father video called him and confessed to the attack just minutes after it happened, according to ABC 7 Chicago.
“What did the defendant tell you during that call, as close to word-for-word as you can remember?” prosecutor Joel Garner asked, per the outlet.
Emile responded, “That he would not be making it back to Maui and to take good care of the younger kids and that he had — that Ari, my stepmom, had been cheating on him and that he tried to kill her.”
“I asked what was on his shirt, ‘cause it looked like I saw splatters of something on his shirt, and he said, ‘Oh, it’s just her,’ meaning Ari’s, blood,” Emile testified.
One hour after the first call, Emile said he received another video call from his father. “He asked me if I had told anybody and I said ‘Yes’ and I told him who I had told, and then — he said that he was just gonna jump and said that a couple times,” Emile said.
Emile added that his father ended the second call by saying, “I’m gonna go before the police catch me.”
When Garner later asked Emile if he had “any doubt in your mind about the defendant telling you he tried to kill Ariel,” Emile responded, “No.”
Gerhardt denied telling his son during the video call that he’d tried to kill Arielle. He acknowledged the word “kill” might have come up in the conversation but said it wasn’t a confession.
“I think I was saying to myself, like, ‘she said I tried to kill her,’” he said.
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Gerhardt Konig’s Version of Events
Gerhardt took the stand on April 1, 2026, and shared a drastically different version of events than his wife. He told the courtroom that Arielle tried to push him from the trail after they had an argument about an emotional affair she had with a coworker, according to NBC News.
He claimed they scuffled, and Arielle allegedly grabbed him by the testicles and hit him in the head with a rock. Gerhardt said he eventually wrestled the rock away from her and hit her with it twice.
Gerhardt claimed Arielle made her way toward two hikers on the trail and told them he was trying to kill her.
Also during the testimony, Gerhardt said he felt horrible that he had hurt his wife. However, he insisted his actions were in self-defense.
Gerhardt denied having planned the trip to kill his wife and said he’d been trying to do something nice for her birthday. He also denied that he had a syringe with him at the time of the altercation.
The alleged attack took place three months after Gerhardt discovered that Arielle had been having an emotional affair. Gerhardt said he was “devastated” by the affair, which he said she minimized and refused to discuss.
Evidence Presented to the Jury in the Konig Case
An evidence specialist and responding officers testified on the fourth day of Gerhardt’s trial, walking jurors through the alleged attack and the immediate aftermath. Jurors were shown graphic evidence including a bloody rock that Gerhardt allegedly used to hit Arielle.
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They were also shown a video that captured Arielle appearing disoriented while covered in blood. Throughout the video, people were seen helping Arielle as she had blood dripping down her face and a bandage on her head following the alleged attack.
In a 911 call played in court, the hikers described seeing a man trying to kill a woman whose face was covered in blood.
During cross-examination, Garner showed the jury a pair of side-by-side photos from the incident’s aftermath. In both, Arielle’s face was covered in blood. Her husband’s face appeared to show minor bruising.