A Hawaii anesthesiologist has been found guilty of attempted manslaughter after being accused of trying to kill his wife during a cliffside hike. Gerhardt Konig, 47, was convicted by a Honolulu jury on Wednesday following a day of deliberations.
Prosecutors alleged that Konig planned to murder his wife, Arielle Konig, during a weekend trip to Honolulu for her birthday in March 2025. They said he tried to push her off a cliff, stab her with a syringe, and then struck her with a rock before two hikers intervened after hearing her cries for help.
Deputy prosecutor Joel Garner told jurors that Konig had a plan and backup plans for killing his wife. 'Every backup plan ends in Arielle’s death,' Garner said, displaying the rock and photos of her injuries. The defence argued that Konig acted in self-defence after his wife hit him with a rock first.
Konig testified that his wife was having an emotional affair with a co-worker, which he discovered by unlocking her phone. He denied pushing her towards the edge or having a syringe, claiming he hit her with a rock in self-defence. His lawyer, Thomas Otake, said no syringe was found at the scene because he never had one.
The trial aired the couple's marital problems, with Arielle testifying that her husband grabbed her and moved her towards the cliff's edge, but she threw herself to the ground. She said he straddled her with a syringe, which she batted away, and she bit his forearm and squeezed his testicles to escape. Konig spent about eight hours hiding on the mountain before coming down and trying to flee from police.
