Wife of Hawaii doctor takes stand exactly 1 year after he allegedly tried to kill her
Arielle Konig appeared Tuesday to testify against her husband, anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig, exactly a year after he allegedly tried to kill her in pushing her off a cliff while hiking in Hawaii.
“I walked up to him, he grabbed me really hard by the upper arms and he said, ‘I’m so sick of this shit. Get back there.’ And he starts pushing me back towards the cliff,” she said during her dramatic testimony.
She testified that Gerhardt König tried to stab her with a syringe and, when that failed, he hit her head repeatedly with a stone.
“He says, ‘You’re done. We’re done with you. We don’t need you anymore. You’re done. You’re done,'” she said on the stand.
Gerhardt Konigwho worked with the Anesthesia Medical Group in Hawaii and was previously an anesthesiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, is charged with attempted second-degree murder.
Prosecutors accuse the doctor of trying to kill Arielle Konig after she refused to take a selfie near the edge of a cliff along the Pali Puka Trail on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. The couple was traveling to celebrate Arielle Konig’s birthday, according to a petition she filed last year seeking a temporary restraining order.
Arielle Konig filed for divorce in May 2025, according to the Associated Press.
Nurse Sarah Bucksbom witnessed the alleged attack and called 911.
“His face was covered in blood. His head was covered in blood,” Bucksbom told the court.
Gerhardt König’s lawyer claimed during opening statements that it was his wife, a nuclear engineer, who attacked him after he confronted her about an affair.
“She picks up a rock and hits him in the face with it, and he reacts quickly, human reaction, grabs the rock, hits it twice and stops,” Thomas Otake said.
Otake highlighted a call Gerhardt Konig made after the incident in which he told his 19-year-old son he was going to kill himself.
“He was calling him to say goodbye. He was calling him to tell him he was sorry. He was calling him to tell him he wished he was a better man,” the lawyer said.
The prosecution, on the other hand, declared that this call constituted a confession.
“He said, ‘I’m not coming back. I tried to kill Arielle, but she got away,'” Assistant District Attorney Joel Garner argued.
It is still unclear whether Gerhardt König or his son will testify at the trial. He faces life in prison if convicted.
