Dr. Jonathan Arden, a forensic pathologist, testified in the case where Dr. Gerhardt Konig is accused of trying to kill his wife in a cliff attack.

He said the victim’s scalp injury, though bloody, was limited to soft tissue and not life-threatening, and agreed it didn’t qualify as serious bodily harm.

Arden testified the injuries didn’t match claims of being hit 10 times, estimating instead two to three impacts. Prosecutors pointed out Arden is a paid defense expert, but he maintained his opinions are strictly based on the evidence.

In a jaw-dropping moment on the stand, Gerhardt Konig stunned the courtroom with a bold accusation: his wife started it.

Testifying in his own defense, Konig claimed Arielle had been acting increasingly secretive — glued to her phone, hiding messages, and snapping whenever he asked questions. But what he says he discovered next changed everything.

After gaining access to her WhatsApp, Konig revealed he uncovered a trail of deeply personal conversations with a co-worker — messages so intimate they raised serious questions. Even more shocking? Portions of the chats had allegedly been deleted.

According to Konig, what remained painted a picture of a hidden relationship… and a betrayal he says no one saw coming.

Emile Konig, 19, said that Gerhardt Konig told him his stepmom was cheating on him and that he tried to kill her.

Hawaii Doctor Arrested

Gerhardt Konig appears before a judge via video during an arraignment hearing last year in Honolulu after he was indicted on a charge of attempting to kill his wife.

The son of a Hawaii doctor accused of bashing his wife’s head with a rock during a birthday hike testified in his father’s attempted murder trial Tuesday that his dad told him he planned to take his own life after he tried to kill Arielle Konig.

Emile Konig, 19, said Gerhardt Konig made the disclosure during a FaceTime call on March 24, 2025, the day authorities say he attacked his wife on the Pali Puka Trail, northeast of Honolulu.

During the call, Emile Konig told jurors, Gerhardt Konig said that his wife was cheating on him and that he tried to kill her.

Emile Konig recalled his father’s telling him that “he would not be making it back to Maui and to take good care of the younger kids.” Emile Konig added that his father said he planned to jump from a cliff, and he said he told his father not to.

The son testified for less than an hour. He did not look at his father as he entered the courtroom in Oahu.

Prosecutors have alleged that Gerhardt Konig pushed Arielle Konig toward a cliff while the couple were on a hike for her birthday. Deputy prosecuting attorney Joel Garner said Gerhardt Konig, an anesthesiologist, came at her with a syringe and hit her in the head with a rock.

Konig, 47, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder. His attorney has said his client acted in self-defense, striking his wife with a rock after she began fighting with him.

During the FaceTime call, Emile Konig said, his father never mentioned having to defend himself.

In testimony last week, Arielle Konig said the alleged assault happened after her husband asked her to pose for a cliffside selfie. She said she felt uneasy about the location and asked him to move so she could get by safely.

He grabbed her and pushed her toward the cliff, she testified, and she threw herself to the ground to try and grab hold of trees and shrubs. He climbed on top of her, she said, and had a syringe in his hand.

“Nobody’s coming to save you,” Arielle Konig recalled him saying.

After she batted away the syringe, Gerhardt Konig picked up a rock and began striking her in the head, she testified. She screamed, she told jurors, and escaped after she heard another hiker say she was calling 911.

Body camera video played during the trial showed the hikers helping Arielle Konig, who had a bloody face and a bandage wrapped around her head.

In the months before the attack, she testified, her husband discovered an “emotional affair” she’d been having with a co-worker. They’d gone to counseling, she said, and appeared to be repairing the damage she’d caused to their relationship.