Doctor’s wife testifies he beat her with rock, tried to force her toward cliff edge during hike

A Hawaii doctor’s wife testified Tuesday that he beat her with a rock and tried to push her over a cliff during a birthday hike, telling jurors she feared she would die.

''He's trying to kill me,'' Arielle Konig testified she screamed during the alleged attack, according to ABC News.

Konig testified against her husband, anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig, who is accused of attempting to kill her during the March 24, 2025, incident on Oahu’s Pali Puka Trail.

He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder.

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Arielle Konig told jurors the couple had traveled from Maui to celebrate her birthday and work on their marriage after what she described as "flirty" messages with a colleague.

She said the hike turned violent when her husband suddenly grabbed her by the arms and began forcing her toward the cliff’s edge.

''I'm so f------ sick of this s---,'' Arielle Konig testified he said as he pushed her, per the outlet.

Arielle Konig testified she threw herself to the ground and held onto nearby vegetation as her husband tried to move her closer to the edge.

She said she then saw him holding a syringe and moving to use it.

''Hold still,'' he allegedly told her, she testified, adding that she knocked it away.

She told jurors her husband then picked up a rock and began repeatedly striking her in the head.

''I just started screaming, because in my mind, he's trying to knock me unconscious, to be able to drag me over the edge,'' she told jurors.

She said she continued yelling for help, telling the court she believed she was fighting for her life.

Two hikers eventually came upon the scene and called 911.

''There's a man trying to kill her,'' a caller said, according to audio previously played in court.

Arielle Konig testified that her husband stopped when the hikers appeared, allowing her to crawl to safety before he fled the area.

Gerhardt Konig then fled the scene on foot, sparking a manhunt before police arrested him later that evening, according to the Honolulu Police Department.

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She testified her husband struck her as many as 10 times with the rock and said she did not lose consciousness.

She was later hospitalized with severe scalp lacerations and showed jurors scarring on her head.

Defense attorneys pushed back on that account during cross-examination, with defense attorney Thomas Otake questioning Arielle Konig about what both sides described as an "emotional affair," suggesting the incident stemmed from a confrontation between the couple, according to ABC News.

Otake argued the encounter was an ''unplanned, unanticipated scuffle,'' not an attempted murder, and suggested Arielle Konig hit him with the rock first during an argument over what both sides described as an "emotional affair," according to ABC News.

Arielle Konig disputed that characterization during her testimony.

''I would call it an attack versus a scuffle,'' she told jurors, according to ABC News.

Arielle Konig moved to end the marriage in May 2025, filing for divorce and seeking sole custody of the couple’s two young children.

Her husband has remained in custody since his arrest, and a judge last month rejected his bid to have the indictment thrown out.

Konig has been suspended from his work as an independent contractor at Maui Memorial Medical Center, according to a Maui Health representative.

Fox News’ Julia Bonavita and The Associated Press contributed to this report.