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HONOLULU (AP) — The trial of an anesthesiologist accused of attempting to kill his wife during a hike along a cliff in Hawaii is nearing its conclusion, with closing arguments scheduled for Tuesday.
The proceedings began last month, almost a year after Gerhardt and Arielle Konig embarked on a trek along Honolulu’s Pali Puka trail. The hike took a harrowing turn when Arielle ended up injured and accused her husband of trying to murder her. Gerhardt Konig has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty to the charges.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: This article discusses domestic violence. For assistance, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 in the U.S.
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The couple were on a weekend trip to Hawaii’s capital city for her birthday in March 2025 while their two young sons stayed home on Maui. Near a lookout offering sweeping views, Gerhardt Konig, 47 — upset about his wife’s relationship with a coworker — tried to push her off the steep trail, bashed her head with a rock and attempted to stab her with a syringe, prosecutors said.
The trial, with testimony livestreamed by Court TV, has aired the couple’s marital problems leading up to the hike, along with their versions of what happened on the trail.
Gerhardt Konig testified that his wife was having an affair, which he confirmed by unlocking her phone while she slept. The relationship, which Arielle Konig characterized as an “emotional affair” involving flirty messages with a coworker, came up during the hike.
Arielle Konig testified that her husband grabbed her and moved her toward the cliff’s edge, but she threw herself on the ground in an attempt to hold on. He straddled her and had a syringe in his hand, she said, but she batted it away. She bit his forearm and squeezed his testicles in attempt to get him off her, she said.
Her husband denied pushing her toward the edge and testified that she hit him with a rock on the side of her face. He wrestled the rock away and hit her with it twice in self-defense, he said.
He denied having any syringes on the mountain, or trying to stab her. His defense attorney told jurors no syringe was found at the scene.
Two hikers who heard Arielle Konig’s screams helped her get down the trail.
Pali Puka, which means “pierced cliff” in Hawaiian, leads to a hole in a rock ridge through which hikers can look out over the forest to see the ocean. The trail is closed because state officials have deemed it unsafe, but hikers often enter through a small clearing, ignoring a warning sign that reads: “Area Closed! Do not go beyond this sign.”
Gerhardt Konig testified that as he watched his wife crawl away, he believed his marriage and career were over, and he decided to jump to his death. But first, he called his adult son from a previous marriage. The son told authorities that his father said he “tried to kill your stepmom” — a confession Gerhardt Konig denied having made.
He spent hours on the mountain before deciding to come down and surrender to police.
His wife has since filed for divorce.