Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill wife on hiking trail pleads not guilty – National
A doctor accused of trying to kill his wife on a Hawaii hiking trail pleaded not guilty in court on Monday to a second-degree attempted murder charge.
Gerhardt Konig, 46, made a two-minute pretrial appearance at a hearing before a judge via video from the Oahu Community Correctional Center, where he insisted he should be allowed to post bail because of his previously clean criminal record.
“As the court is aware, it’s pretty commonplace in attempted murder and murder cases over the last 10 years that some degree of bail would be set,” lawyer Thomas Otake said, according to NBC News.
“We see no reason why this case would be any different, especially given the fact that Dr. Konig has no prior record,” Otake added.
Konig’s wife, Arielle Konig, said they were hiking in Honolulu last month when he grabbed her, pushed her toward the edge of a cliff, attempted to inject her with a syringe and then bashed her head with a rock, the woman wrote in a petition for a temporary restraining order against him.
“Dr. Konig’s not guilty plea this morning was not just a formality, but a substantive response to the allegation that he tried to kill his wife,” Otake said in a prepared statement before the hearing.
“There are two sides to every story, and thus far only one side has been shared,” Otake said. “The other side to this story will be shared within the court process at the appropriate time.”
Here’s what we know about the case so far.
The events leading to Konig’s arrest
Konig was charged with second-degree attempted murder after he allegedly tried to kill his wife by pushing her off a hiking trail and hitting her multiple times on the head with a rock, according to Honolulu police.
The alleged assault took place after Konig wanted to take a selfie while he was on the Pali Puka Trail in Honolulu with his wife, on March 24.
The trailhead is a short drive from downtown Honolulu and traverses a ridge with ocean and mountain views.
“She mentioned that while on the trail, Gerhardt was standing close to the edge and asked her to take a selfie with him,” said a Honolulu police declaration, viewed by ABC News. (Global News has not independently reviewed the documents.)
Arielle allegedly told him she didn’t feel comfortable taking a picture with him that close to the cliff’s edge and began to walk back.
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According to the police declaration, Konig yelled at her to come back and, when she refused to return, he pushed her into bushes where they began to struggle.
Arielle managed to get away, but Konig then picked up a rock and hit her on the head about 10 times “while also grabbing the back of her hair and smashing her face into the ground,” the document stated.
The 36-year-old woman crawled to two hikers who heard her yelling, “Help! Help me!” and they called 911 to report the incident.
One witness said she ran to the top of the trail and saw the victim lying on her back with a man on top of her, hitting her on the head. She said that the man stopped attacking the woman once he saw her, according to ABC News.
Arielle told police that she saw “Gerhardt take out two syringes from his bag and attempt to use them on her, but she was able to get away from him.”
The woman sustained multiple large lacerations to her face and head and was taken to a hospital in serious but stable condition.
Konig, an anesthesiologist at Maui Health, allegedly fled the scene. A police search for the man lasted hours after they closed the state park. Officers arrested him on March 24 at around 6 p.m. following a brief foot chase.
The victim’s restraining order petition
Konig allegedly admitted to the crime in a FaceTime call to his adult son shortly after his wife escaped, according to her filed restraining order petition.
The Associated Press reports that Konig’s wife wrote in the petition that she and her husband were hiking in Oahu during a birthday trip on the island when he began pushing her towards the cliff’s edge. At the time of the incident, the couple’s two young sons, aged two and four, were at home with their nanny and family members on Maui.
According to Arielle, Konig suggested hiking in Honolulu along a trail with “narrow ridge sections with steep drop-offs on both sides,” the petition said. (Global News has not independently reviewed the documents.)
It also stated that his wife later learned Konig had contacted his adult son, her stepson, on FaceTime and admitted to trying to kill her before saying he wanted to end his own life by jumping off a cliff. In December, he accused his wife of having an affair, “which led to extreme jealousy on his part,” the restraining order petition said. The couple has been in therapy ever since.
On March 28, a judge signed an order that restricts Konig from seeing his wife and their children. During the hike, his wife became uneasy and told Konig she did not want to continue. Konig went on without her for a short while before returning.
She then climbed a tree so that Konig could take a photo of her while he held her phone and hiking bag before suggesting getting another picture near the cliff’s edge.
“I asked him to move so that I could move away from the cliff because I was feeling dizzy,” she said in the petition. He initially obliged before attempting to push her back towards it.
“At first I thought he was joking, but I quickly realized he was seriously trying to make me fall off the cliff,” she said.
She tried to fight him off while screaming and pleading for him to stop, fearing for her life.
“He was yelling something to the effect of, ‘Get back over there, I’m so f–king sick of you!’” she said.
During the struggle, she said he grabbed his bag, took out a syringe and tried to inject her.
She said she bit his arm in an attempt to defend herself. He appeared to calm down briefly but then picked up a rock and began bashing her on the head with it repeatedly. The two women hikers who said they witnessed the end of the alleged attack helped the victim back down the trail while Konig left in another direction.
Next Steps
Bail for the accused was originally set at US$5 million in late March, but since a grand jury indicted Konig on March 28 on a charge of second-degree attempted murder he has been held without bail.
His lawyer said that they plan to file a motion for bail.
A trial was tentatively set for June 9 as Konig remains in jail. If convicted, Konig could face life in prison.
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— With files from Global News’ Rachel Goodman and The Associated Press
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
