A Hawaii anesthesiologist has been convicted of attempted manslaughter after a jury found that he attacked his wife on a scenic cliffside hiking trail, beating her with a rock and attempting to push her off the edge in what prosecutors described as a calculated effort to avoid a divorce.
Gerhardt Konig, 47, was found guilty on Wednesday, April 8, at the Oahu First Circuit Court in Honolulu after a three-week trial in which both he and his wife, Arielle Konig, took the stand and gave sharply conflicting accounts of what happened on the Pali Puka Trail on March 24, 2025. The jury declined to convict him on the original charge of second-degree attempted murder, instead finding that he acted under the influence of extreme mental or emotional disturbance, a finding that under Hawaii law reduces the charge from attempted murder to attempted manslaughter.
The unanimous verdict came after the jury deliberated for more than eight hours, and Konig closed his eyes and bowed his head when it was read. He faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing, which is scheduled for August 13. His defense attorney, Thomas Otake, said he intended to appeal.
Prosecutors alleged that Konig, whose wife is a nuclear engineer, lured her to a remote lookout point on the trail under the pretext of taking a cliffside photograph on her birthday before attacking her. Arielle Konig testified that after her husband pushed her toward the cliff’s edge, he straddled her on the ground and produced a syringe and vial, which she managed to bat away, before he proceeded to beat her over the head with a rock, which she believed was intended to render her unconscious so he could drag her over the edge.
The attack ended when two female hikers came upon the scene and called emergency services. Gerhardt Konig fled before they arrived and later called his adult son from a previous marriage. His son, Emile Konig, testified that his father told him during a FaceTime call that he had tried to kill his stepmother. Gerhardt Konig denied making that statement, saying he had called his son to say goodbye before contemplating taking his own life.
The couple’s marriage had been strained following the discovery of messages Arielle Konig had exchanged with a coworker, which she characterised as an emotional affair. Prosecutors argued that Gerhardt Konig stood to collect 250,000 United States dollars from a life insurance policy on his wife, providing a financial motive beyond his personal distress. Gerhardt Konig took the stand and claimed that Arielle had struck him with a rock first, and that he hit her twice in self-defence after wrestling the rock away from her. He denied carrying syringes to the trail.
Jury foreperson Makalapua Atkins told a local television station that jurors did not believe Gerhardt had set out to kill his wife, but agreed that she had been physically harmed and that there was clear evidence supporting a finding of extreme emotional disturbance.
Court records showed that photographs of Gerhardt Konig’s medical bag, taken by police, contained a syringe and a generic form of Propofol, the powerful anaesthetic. Arielle Konig was treated for severe scalp lacerations, with a physician from Queen’s Medical Center describing the injuries as crushed tissue extending to the skull. Gerhardt Konig has remained in custody since his arrest, and his medical staff privileges at Maui Memorial Medical Center have been suspended pending investigation. Arielle Konig filed for divorce in May 2025 and is seeking full custody of the couple’s young sons.
