A Hawaii doctor was convicted on Wednesday of attempted manslaughter in an attack last year on his wife while they were hiking on a secluded trail near Honolulu, where prosecutors said he tried to shove her off a cliff and jab her with a syringe before bludgeoning her with a lava rock.
The doctor, Gerhardt Konig, 47, an anesthesiologist from Maui, attacked his wife, Arielle Konig, on the morning of March 24, 2025, her 36th birthday, as they were traversing a steep section of the Pali Puka trail on the island of Oahu, the authorities said.
Two other hikers heard Ms. Konig screaming and called for help, stopping the attack, according to prosecutors, who showed jurors photographs and police body camera footage of her bleeding from wounds to her head and face.
Both of the Konigs testified during the weekslong trial in Hawaii’s First Circuit Court on Oahu, in which Dr. Konig said that his wife was the one who had attacked him and that he had been acting in self-defense. Dr. Konig faces up to 20 years in prison when he is sentenced, which is scheduled for Aug. 13. He had been charged with second-degree attempted murder, to which he pleaded not guilty, and could have faced up to life in prison.
The couple had been experiencing marital problems before the attack, with Dr. Konig accusing Ms. Konig of having an affair with a co-worker with whom she had frequently exchanged private text messages on WhatsApp.
Ms. Konig, during the trial, denied being involved romantically with her co-worker, telling jurors that Dr. Konig had screamed that he was sick of what had become of their marriage and that she was “done” as he tried pushing her off a cliff.
“‘Nobody’s going to hear you out here,’” Ms. Konig testified that her husband told her. “‘Nobody’s coming to save you.’”
Ms. Konig said she had thrown herself onto the ground and grabbed shrubs to prevent Dr. Konig from sending her over the edge of the trail. While she was on the ground, she said, her husband straddled her and pinned her down, holding a syringe. Before he could inject her with it, she knocked it out of his hand, she said.
When she foiled those attempts, he began beating her head with a rock, Ms. Konig said.
During the trial, which drew widespread attention, Emile Konig, 20, Dr. Konig’s son and Ms. Konig’s stepson, testified that his father had called him on FaceTime shortly after the struggle and confessed that he had tried to kill Ms. Konig. Dr. Konig told his son that Ms. Konig had been cheating on him and that he planned to jump off the cliff, the son said.
Dr. Konig, who fled the scene and was taken into custody several hours later after an intense manhunt, told jurors that his wife had attacked him.
“She grabs me by the testicles,” he said. “She hits me with the rock.”
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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