March 24, 2026 / 8:49 PM EDT / CBS News
Arielle Konig took the stand Tuesday to testify against her husband, anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig, exactly one year after he allegedly tried to kill her by pushing her off a cliff during a hike in Hawaii.
“I walked up to him, he grabbed me really forcibly by my upper arms and he said, ‘I’m so f****** sick of this s***. Get back over there.’ And he starts pushing me back towards the cliff,” she said on the stand. She testified that he tried to stab her with a syringe and, when that failed, repeatedly bashed her head with a rock. “He’s saying, like, ‘You’re done. We’re done with you. We don’t need you anymore. You’re done. You’re done,'” she said.
Gerhardt Konig, who worked with the Anesthesia Medical Group in Hawaii and formerly at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, is charged with second-degree attempted murder. Prosecutors say he attacked Arielle after she refused to take a selfie near the edge of the Pali Puka trail on Oahu while the couple celebrated her birthday. Arielle Konig filed for divorce in May 2025.
Nurse Sarah Bucksbom, who witnessed the alleged attack, testified she called 911 and described Arielle as “fully covered in blood.”
In opening statements, defense attorney Thomas Otake said the couple had argued about an affair and claimed Arielle attacked Gerhardt first, saying she picked up a rock and hit him, and he reacted by hitting her twice and then stopping. Otake also noted a call Konig made to his 19-year-old son after the incident, in which he said he was going to kill himself and was saying goodbye.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Joel Garner said the call was a confession: “He says, ‘I am not going to make it back. I tried to kill Arielle, but she got away.'” It remains unclear whether Gerhardt Konig or his son will testify. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.