Maui anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig could face up to life in prison with parole if he is convicted of second-degree attempted murder. Image courtesy Meghann Cuniff

The wife of Maui anesthesiologist Gerhardt Konig, who’s standing trial for attempted murder, testified this week that her husband suddenly pushed her toward a cliff and later struck her repeatedly with a rock along a remote hiking trail on Oahu on March 24, 2025.

“He just starts hitting my head and face with a rock,” Arielle Konig told jurors Tuesday. “I’m screaming, ‘Please help. He’s trying to kill me.'”

She said the attack stopped when two women who were hiking came upon them and said they were calling 911. “He just kind of froze and knelt away from me, and I just crawled away really slowly,” Arielle Konig said.

Gerhardt Konig, 47, faces up to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole if he is convicted of second-degree attempted murder. The couple was married for more than six years and have two children and a stepson. They moved to Maui from Pennsylvania in 2023.

The incident allegedly took place on the Pali Puka hiking trail on Oahu. The trail has a panoramic view of east Honolulu with narrow paths and steep drops.

Gerhardt Konig was indicted by a grand jury on March 28, 2025.

Arielle Konig said she and her husband were going through a rough part in their relationship, but she thought “things were getting a little bit better.”

She said her husband had planned the hike to celebrate her birthday, but she had rejected continuing the hike when the trail became more difficult.

She said as they walked back, she had finished posing for a photograph about 10 feet from a cliff when her husband grabbed her upper arms saying, “I’m so f—— sick of this s—. Get back over there.”

She said she thought he was joking at first, but soon realized he wasn’t. She then dropped to the ground and grabbed onto trees and shrubs. She said she batted away a syringe in her husband’s hand. She testified that when she asked him what he was doing, he told her, “You’re done. I’m so sick of your s—, so done with you.”

She said she tried to remind him of his children, and he seemed to take a deep breath and was calm before he began striking her with a rock repeatedly. She said that while she was screaming, he was telling her to shut up.

“Nobody’s gonna hear you out here. Nobody’s coming to save you,” Arielle Konig recalled her husband saying to her.

At the hospital, she was treated for complex scalp lacerations, leaving scarring on her head and face and treatment for a distal fracture of her thumb.

Arielle, who works from her home as a project manager for a nuclear innovation company based in Oregon, said she was out of work for four weeks but able to fully recover after two to three months.

On Thursday, Sarah Buchsbaum testified she was hiking with her friend Amanda Morris at about 10:24 a.m. March 24, 2025, when they heard a woman screaming for help and saying someone was trying to kill her.

Buchsbaum, a registered nurse, said they thought someone had fallen off the cliff and ran to help. They found Arielle Konig on her stomach crawling toward them and a man with a rock in his hand.

“She was just fully covered in blood. She screamed, ‘He’s trying to kill me. Call 911,'” Buchsbaum recalled.

Buchsbaum said she was calling 911 while Morris yelled to Arielle Konig that they were calling 911.

She said Arielle Konig wasn’t able to walk, so she scooted on her bottom with Morris in front, Arielle Konig in the middle, and Buchsbaum covering the rear to see if Gerhardt Konig might renew his attack.

Buchsbaum identified Gerhardt Konig as the attacker and said afterward he had a “cold, emotionless stare.”

First Circuit Judge Paul B.K. Wong has advised jurors that the trial may last until April 15.

A potential list of more than 55 witnesses was presented to the court.

Jurors have also been advised not to research anything about this case.