HONOLULU (Court TV) — Gerhardt Konig’s son took the stand on Tuesday to testify that his father confessed to trying to kill his stepmother while out on a hike.
Gerhardt Konig sits in court during his son’s testimony on March 31, 2026. (Court TV)
Gerhardt Konig, 47, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree attempted murder for an alleged assault on his wife, Arielle Konig, at the Pali Lookout on March 24, 2025. Emile Konig, Gerhardt Konig’s son from a previous relationship, was one of the final prosecution witnesses and provided bombshell testimony about the moments after the alleged incident.
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Arielle Konig previously testified that her husband tried to push her off a cliff before picking up a rock and repeatedly hitting her in the head with it. Two eyewitnesses who heard her calls for help called 911 and helped her back down the trail to the first responders.
While Arielle Konig went down the trail with the witnesses, Gerhardt Konig stayed on the trail and tried to hide, prosecutors have said. Emile Konig, Gerhardt Konig’s son, was at home with his younger brothers on the day of the alleged incident. Emile Konig, who referred to his father only as “the defendant” during his testimony on Tuesday, said he received a FaceTime call at 10:42 am on March 24, 2025. Emile Konig said his father told him “he would not be making it back to Maui, and to take good care of the younger kids, and that Ari, my stepmom, had been cheating on him; and that he tried to kill her.”
Emile Konig said that he noticed something on his father’s shirt during that call. “I asked what was on his shirt, because it looked like I saw splatters of something on his shirt, and he said, ‘Oh, it’s just her blood.'”
Emile Konig said his father offered no explanation during the call, but announced that he planned to jump off a cliff because Arielle Konig had managed to escape. After the phone call, Emile Konig walked to Arielle Konig’s parents’ home and told them what had happened.
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At 11:46 am, Emile Konig received a second FaceTime call from his father. “He asked me if I had told anybody, and I said yes, and I told him who I had told,” Emile Konig testified. “And then, he said that he was just going to jump and said that a couple of times.” Before hanging up, Gerhardt Konig allegedly said “he was at the end of his rope” and that the police were looking for him and “he didn’t want to be found.”
Emile Konig revealed that he has not spoken to the defendant since March 24, 2025; he now lives with his stepmother and two brothers.
Prosecutors rested their case-in-chief on Tuesday; on Wednesday, the defense will begin to present its case. In opening statements, Gerhardt Konig’s attorney argued that Arielle Konig had attacked the defendant first and he was only defending himself during the incident.
