Doctor’s son says father confessed he ‘tried to kill’ wife after cheating claim | Hawaii

The son of a Hawaiian doctor accused of trying to kill his wife testified Tuesday that his father told him his wife was cheating on him and that he “tried to kill her.”

Emile Konig, 19, told jurors he received two FaceTime calls from his father, Gerhardt Konig, 47, on the morning of March 24, 2025 — the same day prosecutors allege Gerhardt attempted to murder his wife, Arielle Konig, 37, while hiking Oahu’s “Pali Puka” trail.

Emile, who was living with his father, stepmother and two younger half-siblings in Maui at the time, also told jurors that his father told him over FaceTime that he “wasn’t coming back to Maui” and that he would “take care of the younger children and that Ari, my stepmother had cheated on him and he tried to kill her.”

“On that call, the next plan he announced was to jump off the cliff,” he said. The prosecutor asked him how he reacted, to which Emile replied: “I told him not to do it. »

Emile testified for less than an hour and did not look at his father as he entered the courtroom, according to NBC News.

Prosecutors say Gerhardt König attacked his wife during a birthday hike and pushed her off a cliff. They claim he then lunged at her with a syringe, before hitting her in the head with a rock several times.

Gerhardt Konig, an anesthesiologist, has pleaded not guilty to attempted second-degree murder. His lawyers argue that he acted in self-defense and that Arielle attacked him first.

“This was an unplanned, unplanned fight that occurred between a couple,” Gerhardt’s defense attorney, Thomas Otake, said during his opening statement, according to CNN. The defense also disputed that he tried to push her off a cliff and that no syringes were involved.

Émile testified that his father did not mention acting in self-defense during their call.

Arielle Konig, who testified last week, told jurors the attack began after her husband asked her to take a photo near the cliff’s edge.

“I didn’t want to get too close to the edge of the cliff,” she testified, adding that he then grabbed her and said, “I’m so sick of this shit, go back over there” before pushing her back toward the edge.

“It was very shocking,” she continued. “So yeah, my first reaction was he must be joking.”

Arielle said she realized “he wasn’t joking because he was forcefully pushing me towards the edge,” noting that the two men struggled before throwing themselves “to the ground.”

“He tries to pull me and drag me and then he gets on top of me,” she said. She claimed he then pulled out a syringe which she said tore her hand off.

After that, she said, Gerhardt König picked up a stone and started hitting her in the face and head.

“I just started screaming,” she said. “Because in my mind, he was trying to knock me unconscious so he could pull me overboard. So I was screaming as much as I could.”

She said the attack stopped when nearby hikers said they were calling 911. She heard a woman’s voice say “we’re here, we’re calling 911.” After that, she testified that her husband “kind of froze and knelt down away from me, and I crawled out really slowly.”

She testified that two women helped her get to safety. Both women testified earlier in the trial, according to CNN, and said they had just started their hike when they heard a woman screaming and saw a man hit a woman with a rock.

Arielle also told the court that several months before the incident, her husband discovered she was having an “emotional affair” with a co-worker. She said they had attended couples counseling and seemed to be making progress.