Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife on a hiking trail denied bail

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Hawaii doctor accused of trying to kill his wife on a hiking trail denied bail

2025-05-14 10:22 Last Updated At：10:31

A judge on Tuesday denied a Maui anesthesiologist's request to be released on bail while he fights an attempted murder charge on allegations that he tried to kill his wife on a Honolulu hiking trail.

Gerhardt Konig previously pleaded not guilty. His wife wrote in a petition for a temporary restraining order against him that they were hiking in Honolulu in March when he grabbed her, pushed her toward the edge of a cliff, attempted to inject her with a syringe and then bashed her head with a rock. Konig suggested they go on the hike while the couple were on a trip to celebrate the wife’s birthday, the petition said.

In denying the motion for bail, Judge Paul Wong said there's evidence that Konig hid from police, presents a serious flight risk and is a danger to the victim.

She has since filed for divorce. An attorney representing her is asking a judge to withhold the divorce case, filed earlier this month, from the public to protect the privacy of the couple’s young children and because of the “significant and arguably intrusive media coverage regarding the underlying events which precipitated this divorce.”

The Associated Press does not name people who are victims of domestic violence unless they consent to be identified or decide to tell their stories publicly.

What is known as “Pali Puka” trail is closed because the route is unsafe, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said. Hikers often enter through a small clearing near a popular lookout point that offers stunning views despite a warning: “Area Closed! Do not go beyond this sign.”

At one point, Konig grabbed her by her upper arms and started pushing her toward the cliff’s edge while yelling that he was sick of her, she said.

They began wrestling, and she screamed and pleaded for him to stop, fearing for her life, the petition said. During the struggle, she said he took a syringe from his bag and tried to inject her with something.

She said that she bit his arm in an attempt to defend herself.

He appeared to calm down, but then grabbed a nearby rock and “began bashing me repeatedly on the head with it,” she said.

Konig’s wife suffered major cuts to her head — from the jagged, softball-sized lava rock — and required surgery, prosecutors said.

While the couple were in Oahu, the two young sons stayed home on Maui with a nanny and family, according to the wife’s petition filed in family court. A judge signed an order saying Konig must stay away from her and their children.

Prosecutors, in opposing the bail request, said Konig “faces a realistic prospect of life imprisonment." He tried to flee after the attack and called his adult son, who he told he “tried to kill your stepmom” and told him he would turn off his phone so that police could not locate him, prosecutors said in a court filing.

He also hid in the bushes until nightfall, even though the attack happened in the morning, and led police on a search, prosecutors said.

When he was apprehended, he said, “Wait, she's not dead?" according to prosecutors.

Defense attorney Thomas Otake called it a “very small rock” and argued doctors said there wasn’t a substantial risk of death or a concussion from the wife’s injuries.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Joel Garner said Konig was stashing lethal drugs at home, tried three different ways to kill his wife and has ties to South Africa, where he was born.

The petition for a restraining order said that in December, Konig accused his wife of having an affair.

In a court document filed Monday, prosecutors said Konig was storing at home syringes, needles and vials labeled anesthesia medication. On March 27, a few days after the alleged attack and when his wife was preparing to fly back to Honolulu for his grand jury proceedings, she discovered a fanny pack belonging to her husband that contained several syringes and several vials of what appeared to be drugs, the filing said.

“That’s not unusual that a doctor who practices medicine would have drugs,” Otake said, noting that none of the drugs were found on Oahu where the attack took place.

Konig has been held without bail since his indictment on March 28. In a motion seeking “bail at a reasonable amount,” his defense attorneys said Konig, 46, has no prior criminal convictions.

In court, Otake suggested bail between $100,000 and $200,000, arguing that while the divorce is pending he doesn’t have access to marital assets.

Otake said his client intends to go to trial: “This is going to be a ‘he said, she said’ trial.”

This version corrects the date the wife found syringes and vials at home. Prosecutors say she found them on March 27, not May 27.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of domestic violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call the national domestic violence hotline: 1-800-799-7233 in the U.S.

Video captures Minneapolis immigration arrest in a city on edge after shooting of Renee Good

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily-armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have done extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away and soon gone.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of ICE, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests across the country over the weekend.

Thousands of people marched Saturday in Minneapolis, where Homeland Security called its deployment of immigration officers in the Twin Cities its biggest ever immigration enforcement operation.

Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis, Thomas Strong in Washington, Bill Barrow in Atlanta, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.