A Hawaii doctor has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly attacking his wife on a Honolulu hiking trail, striking her in the head with a rock multiple times and attempting to inject her with syringes before a witness intervened, according to court documents.
Arielle Konig was hiking the Pali Puka Trail with her husband, Gerhardt Konig, on Monday when he asked her to take a selfie near the edge of the trail. Feeling unsafe, she declined and began walking away, the documents said. When she refused to return, Konig allegedly pushed her into the bushes and launched a brutal assault.
According to Arielle Konig’s account, her husband struck her in the head with a rock approximately ten times while grabbing the back of her head and smashing her face into the ground. She said he then retrieved two syringes from his bag and attempted to inject her, but she managed to wrestle them away.
A witness, identified as Amanda, reported hearing a woman screaming for help and ran toward the top of the trail, where she saw a man on top of a woman, striking her in the head. The suspect stopped his assault upon noticing the witness, and another individual called 911.
When police arrived, Arielle Konig identified her husband as the attacker, reportedly telling authorities, “He is trying to kill me. He is hitting me in the head with a rock.” She sustained multiple head and facial lacerations and was hospitalized in a serious but stable condition.
Gerhardt Konig, 46, who resides on Maui, was arrested Monday night and charged with second-degree attempted murder. He appeared in court on Thursday but did not enter a plea. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 31.
In response to the incident, Konig’s ex-wife and her current husband issued a statement expressing their shock and concern, “We are shocked and saddened by this news, and our hearts are with Ari.”
Konig works for an independent entity contracted to provide medical services at various facilities on Maui, according to Maui Health. His background includes previous employment in Pittsburgh, where he served as an attending anesthesiologist at a women’s hospital and was an assistant professor of anesthesiology and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine and Engineering.
