April 3, 2026
Attack in Paradise: Maui Doc Testifies Self-Defense, Bloodied Pics of Wife Tell Different Story
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RSS Feed An anesthesiologist on trial for attempted murder took the stand in his own defense Thursday. Dr. Gerhardt Konig is accused of trying to push his wife off a cliff and then repeatedly hitting her head with a rock until bystanders intervened. Both Konig’s wife and son testified against him at trial, but Thursday jurors got to hear Konig’s side of the story.
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00:00:09
Speaker 1: Heyther folks, it is Friday, April third, and a high stakes he said. She said, it's playing out, and of all places, Hawaii, she said her husband tried to kill her by pushing her off a cliff. He says, oh no, it's the other way around. His wife tried to push him off the cliff, and both of them got to tell their stories on a witness stand this week. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. And to be clear that he said, she said, that's playing out, it's him that's on trial for attempted murder.
00:00:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I feel like after what we've witnessed in court is kind of a he said, they said situation because he has multiple folks who disagree with his version of events.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: And the wild thing right in these cases, oftentimes you said, there's plenty of time. The last couple of days that he said, she said, oftentimes one person's dead in the scenario and can't tell their story. This is not the case. Have you all been seeing these headlines, this story, this trial has been going on in the past couple of weeks. But the doctor in particular took the stand over the past couple of days. In his trial. Yes, out there in Maui. We're talking about a guy by the name of doctor Gerhard Koenig. He is an anesthesiologist in Maui and he is facing a second degree attempted murder charge, accused of trying to push his wife off a steep cliff on a hike in beautiful Maui. The wife survived, took the stand in his trial, and the man's son also testified that his dad confessed to trying to kill his wife. As you said, is he said that, they said, Robes, and the doctor took the stand in his own defense. We watched this testimony over the past couple of days. It wrapped with a fascinating and a pretty wild cross examination yesterday, Robes, I want to start with that. I say kind of wild, but it the scene that's described, the violence that's described. Is he really belies the appearance and almost the demeanor and tone of the defendant.
00:02:07
Speaker 2: Yes, this is not your typical attempted murder suspect. This is a esteemed anesthesiologist who is practicing in Maui. He's measured, obviously, he's intelligent, he's clinical. He doesn't seem like someone who would be quick to anger.
00:02:25
Speaker 3: He seems very in control of his thoughts and emotions.
00:02:28
Speaker 2: So yes, he is not somebody who seems like he would just get some wild hair up his butt and decide to push his wife, and when that didn't work, just to start hitting her as hard as he could with a.
00:02:39
Speaker 3: Rock he found nearby.
00:02:41
Speaker 2: But my goodness, some of the visuals were even seeing in court in terms of her injuries. It's hard to see the guy on the stand and then look at what the aftermath was in this incident.
00:02:54
Speaker 1: And this is no offense to Justin Timberlake, but I thought it was apt in your description yesterday he said he's like a nerdy just Timberlake.
00:03:00
Speaker 3: That is what he looks like to me.
00:03:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was really a good description of the guy. It kind of is. So that's the guy who's been on the stand. This is a guy from South Africa. Originally he moved to the US when he was fourteen. But these two met and ropes. I didn't catch this detail, and I'm sure E Harmony doesn't want to advertise this, but these two met in twenty sixteen on that dating app still a dating app, Yes.
00:03:23
Speaker 2: It's a dating app that actually really prides itself on resulting in marriages. And these were second marriages, I believe for both of them. They both had children from other marriages. Interestingly enough, you mentioned his son who testified against him.
00:03:36
Speaker 3: It wasn't even their son.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: She Ariel was his stepfather, so I thought that maybe perhaps made his testimony even all the more compelling. But yeah, they moved to Maui in twenty twenty three. They're in paradise, so what could possibly go wrong. You've got a second chance at love. They found each other on a dating app, they moved to Maui, and yet it ended the way it did in a courtroom now and it is disturbing when you hear about how their marriage unraveled.
00:04:04
Speaker 3: It But what led up to by the way, it was her birthday.
00:04:07
Speaker 2: It was a birthday, like when this all has a celebration, a celebratory that's what she thought.
00:04:14
Speaker 1: Just a side personal note, do not plan a hiking trip for me on my birthday, not because of this. It's just sion hike. And it turns out it's not what she wanted to do either. We'll explain how this all went down, but this happened. We're just talking a year out from the actual incident. It was March twenty fourth of last year, again her birthday. The couple lives on a Wahoo, but they had moved or traveled over to Maui for a celebration and romes. Like we said, this was supposed to be a celebratory trip, not just for her birthday, but for them to try to reconcile and kind of turn a new leaf on their relationship, which had seen some issues. And those issues, according to prosecutors, are what led to this guy wanting to kill his wife.
00:04:55
Speaker 2: Yes, she admitted to having an emotional affair with a coworker, and so he found out about it.
00:05:04
Speaker 3: And we hear him on the stand describe himself as not mad, but upset.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: Some of that stuff was a little ridiculous because obviously prosecutors were trying to build up the point saying, hey, you were so upset about your wife's emotional fair talked about all the books he was reading and the counseling they went to, but his online searches in the middle of the night, all of these things saying, Hey, you were.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: Mad, No, I was upset.
00:05:29
Speaker 2: Don't know what the distinction between those two things were, but I thought that was an interesting response from him.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: Well upset, but.
00:05:34
Speaker 1: They were also able toes I guess describe some of his behavior and they have evidence of it that he was obsessed with his idea of this affair. We'll explain that in just a moment as well. I had never heard of this Pailey Lookout, but apparently a very popular place there in Maui. Picturesque but also dangerous. Robes from what I've seen, at least several hundred feet almost minimum in this on this hike. So this is second. I don't hike, but this is something that is talked about. They give you a heads up. You need to be careful if you're going to be taking a hike.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: Yes, I obviously loved to hike, and that is something almost everyone does. He even admitted on the stand that he did as well. You look up to see what the terrain is like. You get differently either it's easy, moderate or difficult, and a lot of it is whether or not it is dangerous, so to speak. And so yes, I have done plenty of dangerous hikes, but I knew what I was getting.
00:06:25
Speaker 3: Into, and it's a little nerve wracking and it's not for everybody.
00:06:31
Speaker 2: Certainly, because when you're at that height, there aren't guard rails, there aren't protectants.
00:06:35
Speaker 3: It's basically hike at your own risk. And that was this trail.
00:06:38
Speaker 1: And so he wanted to do this hike. He put it all together. She had some concerns about it. If we haven't said already, his wife's name is Ariel. Ari called her Ari al right here out is what she's been referred to as. So they go on this hike. Now, before we get into his side and her side, what we do know is that something happened they went out on this hike. Some scuffle, some attack, some fight did take place. Both of them ended up with injuries the pictures we saw Obviously hers were much more severe than his. But something happens on this cliff. They get into a fight. Nobody goes off the side. So that is where we are. So let's take his side of the events.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: Ropes.
00:07:18
Speaker 1: He claims she attacked him.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Yes, he said that she made this big announcement that she was going to continue working and actually wanted to travel again with the man who she had an emotional affair with.
00:07:31
Speaker 3: His name was Jeff Miller.
00:07:32
Speaker 2: So he said that she just decided to make this announcement while they're hiking on her birthday. And when she said that and they got into a huge fight. She pushed him from behind, and this is where it gets very hard to imagine, but he claims.
00:07:47
Speaker 3: That she pulls him on top of her.
00:07:50
Speaker 2: Why any woman would want a man on top of her if she's fighting him.
00:07:55
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, this just doesn't make any sense.
00:07:58
Speaker 1: Let's just give the story without the sarcasm. I will come back and get your commentary.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: All right, then you take it, because I don't think I can do it without sarka.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: Well, going straight through. That's how he explained that, yes, she pushed him. Then after she pushed him, he collected himself and went towards her. It's his claim. At that point, she grabs his wrists, graps his arms, pulls him down on top of her. Says she locks him in essentially with her legs even around him. He couldn't get free. Says At one point she grabs him by his texticles testicles and would not let go. He says he was eventually able to pick up a rock hit her in the head a couple of times. She was screaming this whole time, says he hit her twice. His claim, he said it several times. He hit her with a rock twice, and that is his version of events. Her version much different.
00:08:46
Speaker 3: Yes, she very much says she was uncomfortable with the hike.
00:08:49
Speaker 2: And look, you can see from those pictures and you have to read the temperature of everyone when you're doing a hike like this, when it's that high, and that's Steve that is concerning. And so yes, she had mentioned she was uncomfortable, and then she said that his behavior was odd and she just noticed he was odd from the very beginning, and that would read. But she said she was always aware of her position on the cliff because she was nervous, so that makes sense too.
00:09:16
Speaker 3: But she then said, yes, he tried to push her. She lowered herself to the ground. Smart, right, So someone's trying.
00:09:22
Speaker 2: To push you off a cliff, she immediately drops to the ground and then a scuffle is on the ground. She claims he had a syringe in his hand and she was able to brush it out of his hand, so he wasn't able to use it. But I told you, the thing that scared me or just sent chills up and down my spine was what she testified to what he said to her when she was on the ground and he was beating her.
00:09:43
Speaker 3: With the rock. Shut the f up.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: Nobody's going to hear you out here, nobody's coming to save you.
00:09:52
Speaker 3: That's like the title of a horror movie.
00:09:54
Speaker 1: And she said she was able to I was amazed, bro She said she during the in the midst of this, was almost able to reason with him and get him to calm down and get him to stop. And she thought she was going to be able to get away, and no, he starts up again and hits her in the head with a rock some ten times. She estimates that we did get to see her injuries from the hospital. They are horrific. The blood that was pouring down her face while she was out there being treated. We've seen all that go back now ropes to his story. You certainly took issue. What in there seems, I mean, just on the face of it, unbelievable.
00:10:28
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, and the prosecution was very good during cross examination to point this out. He's bigger than her, he's stronger than her, he weighs more than her. How in the hell is she attacking him and then pulls him down? And if you're a fighting if you're a woman. Come on, ladies out there listening, you're fighting with the man for your life. Okay, you are not going to pull him on top of you. That's the last thing you want. You're going to get on top of him. You're going to do You're not going to have him on top of you. You then you are complempletely at his mercy. There's no way you're able to then wield a rock in your hand from that position up at him.
00:11:07
Speaker 3: That makes no sense. It's just common sense that that story did not fly.
00:11:13
Speaker 2: I can't imagine any juror especially any female durer, would buy any version of his events.
00:11:20
Speaker 1: And to that point, Robes, in addition to you said here being able to hit him with a rock, he described such a violent way he was attacked. They did show pictures of his injuries. It was the day of, and then the next day they showed the day of. Saw little bruise. The next day. You wouldn't even say this guy had been enough scuffle of any kind.
00:11:39
Speaker 2: Meantime, she's got blood pouring from her head, bandages all around. It was very smart of the prosecution to put the two pictures side by side, and it was they didn't even need to say anything.
00:11:50
Speaker 3: The pictures spoke volumes.
00:11:52
Speaker 1: And it's hard kind of to describe. And this is a Friday morning as we were recording this and telling you about it. But it is romes. It it's almost you can't see hair and you can't see her face. There is such a thick amount of blood pouring down her head and face that it looks like somebody dumped something on her head. It is stunning to see. And then once they got the pictures from the hospital wrote she is cut up terribly and needed all kinds of stitches. This was obviously a really violent attacking.
00:12:28
Speaker 2: Yes, and now she has to wear her hair a certain way because she is actually you said you saw the injury like still there forever permanent. She's missing hair.
00:12:38
Speaker 1: That was effect of the prosecutor had her move her bangs to where they showed a part of her hair. She said, can't grow hair there anymore, and it was covered up, so that was effective. Now he did wrap up Rope his cross examination yesterday. We'll give a couple of details of that. But we keep talking about this guy, Jeff Miller. This emotional affair is at the center of this because the prosecution claims and even the Koenig says, this infurior him, this idea of this emotional affair to where robes. He found out that she started, well, she started using her phone a lot more. He got suspicious, said he went into detective mode. He was checking her emails and her text messages every single day. And it took me a while to realize this or OpEd an emotional affair. This is guy she never physically spent any time with, right, So.
00:13:20
Speaker 2: This was you know, a lot of people will kind of joke and go, okay, it was just an emotional affair. No, it actually was an emotional affair. She wasn't physically with him, and so that does make a lot of sense.
00:13:30
Speaker 3: But certainly.
00:13:33
Speaker 2: We heard him talk about not just being obsessed with Jeff Miller, but with Jeff Miller's wife. So he started reaching out to her on LinkedIn correct and started to try to get her involved and say I've got basically receipts of their texts. And interestingly enough, Jeff Miller's wife never responded to him, never reached out to him, never got involved in any of it. But you could see his obsession and that was what prosecutors were laying out in cross examinations. Certainly this was a who was, as you say, obsessed with his wife's emotional life.
00:14:03
Speaker 1: Faw and a one why this detail stood out so much. He reached out to a woman on LinkedIn that he had no idea about know who she was, essentially to say, hey, your husband has been doing this with my wife. Whatever the messages are said, he actually sent this woman he didn't know via LinkedIn his wife's contact him.
00:14:22
Speaker 3: Yes, and yes, that was so interesting.
00:14:25
Speaker 2: The prosecution said, you wanted her to confront your wife.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: You wanted her to curse out your wife, didn't you? And he said no, which also was so unbelievable. Of course that's why he did it. Of course, that's.
00:14:36
Speaker 2: Why he gave the Jeff Miller's wife his wife's personal contact information.
00:14:42
Speaker 3: So just admit that.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: Yes, so him saying no, that's not why I did that. That no jury is, no juror is buying that.
00:14:49
Speaker 1: I just thought that they were trying to make a point. And this wasn't a contentious We've seen contentious sometime across examinations. He was calm the entire time. The I mean, look, the prosecutor did his job, but he wasn't necessarily being combative, but held his feat of the fire, and he goes kind of rapid fire with a lot of his questions in a way that I did find effective and threw the doctor off. At times he had to stop, he had to think, he had to second guess, but the doctor never got worked up. He was very calm.
00:15:16
Speaker 3: You're right, you make a good point.
00:15:17
Speaker 2: This was a very calm exchange talking about something incredibly emotional and at times violent, and yet interestingly enough, the back and forth was very calm. As you said, belied what they were talking about. The demeanor of everybody was very Yeah, it was eerie.
00:15:36
Speaker 1: Almost eerie to have a man sitting at the defense table while on the witness stand the woman he's accused of trying to kill his wife. That was an eerie moment in this trial, but it might not have been the most eerie or frankly robes of most uncomfortable. Stay here, we'll tell you when now this man on trial for attempted murder had to sit and listen to his son tell the jury that, yep, my daddy told me he did it. All right, We continue here on Amy and Tja fascinating trial taking place in roads. We've seen some headlines about it. I wonder if it wasn't happening in Hawaii, if we it might get more coverage. The time has really thrown us off some of the testimony. The trial doesn't get started until three plus in the afternoon on the East Coast, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. But the details on this one are just mind blowing and frankly are made for TV in tabloids.
00:16:42
Speaker 3: It's true.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: I totally agree that if this weren't happening in Hawaii's time zone, this would be a much bigger story here in the States, or at least I know it's the States.
00:16:52
Speaker 3: But in the what do they call continental US continue.
00:16:56
Speaker 1: To change states, we have forty eight of those outliers.
00:17:00
Speaker 2: Oh okay, anyway, I digress. But yes, we were listening to it.
00:17:04
Speaker 3: I actually had an errand run, came home.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: You were making dinner. The trial was on finally, like at nine pm. I was like, babe, I got to go to bed. I'm tired, but the trial was still in full swing. Because yes, we're in a very different time zone. But it is like once you start watching it and listening to it, you cannot stop. It's a surreal scenario. Just who's involved, what the allegations are, and the fact that everyone testified, not only the wife who prosecutors say he tried to kill, but his own son who testified against him in such an uncomfortable exchange. I think everyone puts themselves in those shoes, and what a surreal experience to be testifying against your own file.
00:17:46
Speaker 1: Well, but his son, it was dad put him in that position. Yes, that's awful. But as we wrap up, the last thing we do want to get in is the son. Nineteen year old Emil Koenik did get called to the stands and his dad called him twice, two FaceTime calls on that day Robes after this incident took place, and actually rose, this is as close to a confession as you're going to get, said two things to him. I'm not coming back, and I just tried to kill my wife.
00:18:12
Speaker 2: Yes. So, in fact, his exact testimony was that Emil said his father told him that he would not be making it back to Maui and to take care of the younger kids that he had, and that Ari, my stepmom, had been cheating on him and that he tried to kill her.
00:18:29
Speaker 3: I mean, that is as plain as it is.
00:18:30
Speaker 2: And when you watch this young kid look at that prosecutor and say that you can see the weight of it, you can feel the weight of it. And just to have to say, yes, my father fully admitted to me in the moments after the event on the mountain that he tried to kill my stepmom.
00:18:49
Speaker 1: That is as a juror, that is as convincing of testimony as you're going to get. He doesn't want to be there.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, And the explanation by Koenig was we to say, well, I think he got confused. I'm sorry I put he was very emotional when he was talking about the position he put his son in to have to testify against him. But he said that he must have gotten confused because he was saying, she.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: Said I tried to kill her.
00:19:15
Speaker 2: So he said he was repeating what his wife was telling the other hikers and telling folks. So he was like, I was just explaining what Harry was saying, that I tried to kill her, but that that is not at all his son was definitive. It was not I think he tried to say or it was a little confusing how he was saying it. No, he just plain as Day said, and he said he tried to kill her.
00:19:37
Speaker 1: This was a terrifying incident. And Rob we said, the time zone might have an impact on how it's being covered. But this, I think the scene, the setting adds to some of the intrigue in this story, the pictures of her, the violence, That this was happening in a place I can't wait to go visit, you know, in the most picturesque, gorgeous place. You could imagine a couple trying to work things out. It's a birthday, like all of those things around it. And they say he had a different mindset, he had a different mission that day. And they mentioned all trails And as soon as they said all trails dot Com.
00:20:19
Speaker 3: You said, I use that. I love all trails.
00:20:21
Speaker 1: But they talked about he went through and was looking for the best hikes. Now, all these searches he had, and he skipped over some of the best ones. He went to the steep ones and the ones that looked a little more difficult.
00:20:31
Speaker 2: That was very interesting to me because, yes, anyone who's a hiker probably is very familiar with the All Trails app and so wherever I am, I'll go on it and see what the trails are, which ones has water, which ones have waterfalls, which ones you know, have a.
00:20:45
Speaker 3: Steep incline, which ones have picturesque views?
00:20:47
Speaker 2: And yes, they're all raided and you get to see and hear people get raid them. They tell the U why they're dangerous or not. And to skip over there.
00:20:55
Speaker 3: You're in Maui. You've got unbelievable nature all around you.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: So yeah, to skip over what the top ten best hikes were in your area and to simply go straight for the steepest, most dangerous hike, yeah, I mean that doesn't look good for him. From what we've watched and witnessed here in this trial, none of it looks very good for him.
00:21:18
Speaker 1: Well, they did wrap up yesterday with cross examination of Koenik, so he's done. The judge gave this schedule. They're off today, robes, they're off on Monday. He told the jury, when you come back in here on Tuesday, you're going to get this case. So the defense has a few things I think they need to wrap up as far as major witnesses. That's for the most part done. It will rest their case and this jury will figure it out. Always fascinating jury watches. I will never ever be able to guess what a jury's going to do.
00:21:48
Speaker 2: Every time we try, we've failed miserably. But the interesting thing about this is attempted murder, second degree attempted murder, and yet he is still facing life in prison correct for the rest of his life. So his life is at stake. This jury decides his fate come Tuesday. So we appreciate you listening to us.
00:22:04
Speaker 3: Everyone.
00:22:06
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:22:06
Speaker 3: As always, I made me roback alongside TJ. Holmes. Morning Run is coming up next
Speaker 1: Heyther folks, it is Friday, April third, and a high stakes he said. She said, it's playing out, and of all places, Hawaii, she said her husband tried to kill her by pushing her off a cliff. He says, oh no, it's the other way around. His wife tried to push him off the cliff, and both of them got to tell their stories on a witness stand this week. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ. And to be clear that he said, she said, that's playing out, it's him that's on trial for attempted murder.
00:00:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and I feel like after what we've witnessed in court is kind of a he said, they said situation because he has multiple folks who disagree with his version of events.
00:00:55
Speaker 1: And the wild thing right in these cases, oftentimes you said, there's plenty of time. The last couple of days that he said, she said, oftentimes one person's dead in the scenario and can't tell their story. This is not the case. Have you all been seeing these headlines, this story, this trial has been going on in the past couple of weeks. But the doctor in particular took the stand over the past couple of days. In his trial. Yes, out there in Maui. We're talking about a guy by the name of doctor Gerhard Koenig. He is an anesthesiologist in Maui and he is facing a second degree attempted murder charge, accused of trying to push his wife off a steep cliff on a hike in beautiful Maui. The wife survived, took the stand in his trial, and the man's son also testified that his dad confessed to trying to kill his wife. As you said, is he said that, they said, Robes, and the doctor took the stand in his own defense. We watched this testimony over the past couple of days. It wrapped with a fascinating and a pretty wild cross examination yesterday, Robes, I want to start with that. I say kind of wild, but it the scene that's described, the violence that's described. Is he really belies the appearance and almost the demeanor and tone of the defendant.
00:02:07
Speaker 2: Yes, this is not your typical attempted murder suspect. This is a esteemed anesthesiologist who is practicing in Maui. He's measured, obviously, he's intelligent, he's clinical. He doesn't seem like someone who would be quick to anger.
00:02:25
Speaker 3: He seems very in control of his thoughts and emotions.
00:02:28
Speaker 2: So yes, he is not somebody who seems like he would just get some wild hair up his butt and decide to push his wife, and when that didn't work, just to start hitting her as hard as he could with a.
00:02:39
Speaker 3: Rock he found nearby.
00:02:41
Speaker 2: But my goodness, some of the visuals were even seeing in court in terms of her injuries. It's hard to see the guy on the stand and then look at what the aftermath was in this incident.
00:02:54
Speaker 1: And this is no offense to Justin Timberlake, but I thought it was apt in your description yesterday he said he's like a nerdy just Timberlake.
00:03:00
Speaker 3: That is what he looks like to me.
00:03:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was really a good description of the guy. It kind of is. So that's the guy who's been on the stand. This is a guy from South Africa. Originally he moved to the US when he was fourteen. But these two met and ropes. I didn't catch this detail, and I'm sure E Harmony doesn't want to advertise this, but these two met in twenty sixteen on that dating app still a dating app, Yes.
00:03:23
Speaker 2: It's a dating app that actually really prides itself on resulting in marriages. And these were second marriages, I believe for both of them. They both had children from other marriages. Interestingly enough, you mentioned his son who testified against him.
00:03:36
Speaker 3: It wasn't even their son.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: She Ariel was his stepfather, so I thought that maybe perhaps made his testimony even all the more compelling. But yeah, they moved to Maui in twenty twenty three. They're in paradise, so what could possibly go wrong. You've got a second chance at love. They found each other on a dating app, they moved to Maui, and yet it ended the way it did in a courtroom now and it is disturbing when you hear about how their marriage unraveled.
00:04:04
Speaker 3: It But what led up to by the way, it was her birthday.
00:04:07
Speaker 2: It was a birthday, like when this all has a celebration, a celebratory that's what she thought.
00:04:14
Speaker 1: Just a side personal note, do not plan a hiking trip for me on my birthday, not because of this. It's just sion hike. And it turns out it's not what she wanted to do either. We'll explain how this all went down, but this happened. We're just talking a year out from the actual incident. It was March twenty fourth of last year, again her birthday. The couple lives on a Wahoo, but they had moved or traveled over to Maui for a celebration and romes. Like we said, this was supposed to be a celebratory trip, not just for her birthday, but for them to try to reconcile and kind of turn a new leaf on their relationship, which had seen some issues. And those issues, according to prosecutors, are what led to this guy wanting to kill his wife.
00:04:55
Speaker 2: Yes, she admitted to having an emotional affair with a coworker, and so he found out about it.
00:05:04
Speaker 3: And we hear him on the stand describe himself as not mad, but upset.
00:05:09
Speaker 2: Some of that stuff was a little ridiculous because obviously prosecutors were trying to build up the point saying, hey, you were so upset about your wife's emotional fair talked about all the books he was reading and the counseling they went to, but his online searches in the middle of the night, all of these things saying, Hey, you were.
00:05:27
Speaker 3: Mad, No, I was upset.
00:05:29
Speaker 2: Don't know what the distinction between those two things were, but I thought that was an interesting response from him.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: Well upset, but.
00:05:34
Speaker 1: They were also able toes I guess describe some of his behavior and they have evidence of it that he was obsessed with his idea of this affair. We'll explain that in just a moment as well. I had never heard of this Pailey Lookout, but apparently a very popular place there in Maui. Picturesque but also dangerous. Robes from what I've seen, at least several hundred feet almost minimum in this on this hike. So this is second. I don't hike, but this is something that is talked about. They give you a heads up. You need to be careful if you're going to be taking a hike.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: Yes, I obviously loved to hike, and that is something almost everyone does. He even admitted on the stand that he did as well. You look up to see what the terrain is like. You get differently either it's easy, moderate or difficult, and a lot of it is whether or not it is dangerous, so to speak. And so yes, I have done plenty of dangerous hikes, but I knew what I was getting.
00:06:25
Speaker 3: Into, and it's a little nerve wracking and it's not for everybody.
00:06:31
Speaker 2: Certainly, because when you're at that height, there aren't guard rails, there aren't protectants.
00:06:35
Speaker 3: It's basically hike at your own risk. And that was this trail.
00:06:38
Speaker 1: And so he wanted to do this hike. He put it all together. She had some concerns about it. If we haven't said already, his wife's name is Ariel. Ari called her Ari al right here out is what she's been referred to as. So they go on this hike. Now, before we get into his side and her side, what we do know is that something happened they went out on this hike. Some scuffle, some attack, some fight did take place. Both of them ended up with injuries the pictures we saw Obviously hers were much more severe than his. But something happens on this cliff. They get into a fight. Nobody goes off the side. So that is where we are. So let's take his side of the events.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: Ropes.
00:07:18
Speaker 1: He claims she attacked him.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Yes, he said that she made this big announcement that she was going to continue working and actually wanted to travel again with the man who she had an emotional affair with.
00:07:31
Speaker 3: His name was Jeff Miller.
00:07:32
Speaker 2: So he said that she just decided to make this announcement while they're hiking on her birthday. And when she said that and they got into a huge fight. She pushed him from behind, and this is where it gets very hard to imagine, but he claims.
00:07:47
Speaker 3: That she pulls him on top of her.
00:07:50
Speaker 2: Why any woman would want a man on top of her if she's fighting him.
00:07:55
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, this just doesn't make any sense.
00:07:58
Speaker 1: Let's just give the story without the sarcasm. I will come back and get your commentary.
00:08:02
Speaker 3: All right, then you take it, because I don't think I can do it without sarka.
00:08:05
Speaker 1: Well, going straight through. That's how he explained that, yes, she pushed him. Then after she pushed him, he collected himself and went towards her. It's his claim. At that point, she grabs his wrists, graps his arms, pulls him down on top of her. Says she locks him in essentially with her legs even around him. He couldn't get free. Says At one point she grabs him by his texticles testicles and would not let go. He says he was eventually able to pick up a rock hit her in the head a couple of times. She was screaming this whole time, says he hit her twice. His claim, he said it several times. He hit her with a rock twice, and that is his version of events. Her version much different.
00:08:46
Speaker 3: Yes, she very much says she was uncomfortable with the hike.
00:08:49
Speaker 2: And look, you can see from those pictures and you have to read the temperature of everyone when you're doing a hike like this, when it's that high, and that's Steve that is concerning. And so yes, she had mentioned she was uncomfortable, and then she said that his behavior was odd and she just noticed he was odd from the very beginning, and that would read. But she said she was always aware of her position on the cliff because she was nervous, so that makes sense too.
00:09:16
Speaker 3: But she then said, yes, he tried to push her. She lowered herself to the ground. Smart, right, So someone's trying.
00:09:22
Speaker 2: To push you off a cliff, she immediately drops to the ground and then a scuffle is on the ground. She claims he had a syringe in his hand and she was able to brush it out of his hand, so he wasn't able to use it. But I told you, the thing that scared me or just sent chills up and down my spine was what she testified to what he said to her when she was on the ground and he was beating her.
00:09:43
Speaker 3: With the rock. Shut the f up.
00:09:46
Speaker 2: Nobody's going to hear you out here, nobody's coming to save you.
00:09:52
Speaker 3: That's like the title of a horror movie.
00:09:54
Speaker 1: And she said she was able to I was amazed, bro She said she during the in the midst of this, was almost able to reason with him and get him to calm down and get him to stop. And she thought she was going to be able to get away, and no, he starts up again and hits her in the head with a rock some ten times. She estimates that we did get to see her injuries from the hospital. They are horrific. The blood that was pouring down her face while she was out there being treated. We've seen all that go back now ropes to his story. You certainly took issue. What in there seems, I mean, just on the face of it, unbelievable.
00:10:28
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, and the prosecution was very good during cross examination to point this out. He's bigger than her, he's stronger than her, he weighs more than her. How in the hell is she attacking him and then pulls him down? And if you're a fighting if you're a woman. Come on, ladies out there listening, you're fighting with the man for your life. Okay, you are not going to pull him on top of you. That's the last thing you want. You're going to get on top of him. You're going to do You're not going to have him on top of you. You then you are complempletely at his mercy. There's no way you're able to then wield a rock in your hand from that position up at him.
00:11:07
Speaker 3: That makes no sense. It's just common sense that that story did not fly.
00:11:13
Speaker 2: I can't imagine any juror especially any female durer, would buy any version of his events.
00:11:20
Speaker 1: And to that point, Robes, in addition to you said here being able to hit him with a rock, he described such a violent way he was attacked. They did show pictures of his injuries. It was the day of, and then the next day they showed the day of. Saw little bruise. The next day. You wouldn't even say this guy had been enough scuffle of any kind.
00:11:39
Speaker 2: Meantime, she's got blood pouring from her head, bandages all around. It was very smart of the prosecution to put the two pictures side by side, and it was they didn't even need to say anything.
00:11:50
Speaker 3: The pictures spoke volumes.
00:11:52
Speaker 1: And it's hard kind of to describe. And this is a Friday morning as we were recording this and telling you about it. But it is romes. It it's almost you can't see hair and you can't see her face. There is such a thick amount of blood pouring down her head and face that it looks like somebody dumped something on her head. It is stunning to see. And then once they got the pictures from the hospital wrote she is cut up terribly and needed all kinds of stitches. This was obviously a really violent attacking.
00:12:28
Speaker 2: Yes, and now she has to wear her hair a certain way because she is actually you said you saw the injury like still there forever permanent. She's missing hair.
00:12:38
Speaker 1: That was effect of the prosecutor had her move her bangs to where they showed a part of her hair. She said, can't grow hair there anymore, and it was covered up, so that was effective. Now he did wrap up Rope his cross examination yesterday. We'll give a couple of details of that. But we keep talking about this guy, Jeff Miller. This emotional affair is at the center of this because the prosecution claims and even the Koenig says, this infurior him, this idea of this emotional affair to where robes. He found out that she started, well, she started using her phone a lot more. He got suspicious, said he went into detective mode. He was checking her emails and her text messages every single day. And it took me a while to realize this or OpEd an emotional affair. This is guy she never physically spent any time with, right, So.
00:13:20
Speaker 2: This was you know, a lot of people will kind of joke and go, okay, it was just an emotional affair. No, it actually was an emotional affair. She wasn't physically with him, and so that does make a lot of sense.
00:13:30
Speaker 3: But certainly.
00:13:33
Speaker 2: We heard him talk about not just being obsessed with Jeff Miller, but with Jeff Miller's wife. So he started reaching out to her on LinkedIn correct and started to try to get her involved and say I've got basically receipts of their texts. And interestingly enough, Jeff Miller's wife never responded to him, never reached out to him, never got involved in any of it. But you could see his obsession and that was what prosecutors were laying out in cross examinations. Certainly this was a who was, as you say, obsessed with his wife's emotional life.
00:14:03
Speaker 1: Faw and a one why this detail stood out so much. He reached out to a woman on LinkedIn that he had no idea about know who she was, essentially to say, hey, your husband has been doing this with my wife. Whatever the messages are said, he actually sent this woman he didn't know via LinkedIn his wife's contact him.
00:14:22
Speaker 3: Yes, and yes, that was so interesting.
00:14:25
Speaker 2: The prosecution said, you wanted her to confront your wife.
00:14:28
Speaker 3: You wanted her to curse out your wife, didn't you? And he said no, which also was so unbelievable. Of course that's why he did it. Of course, that's.
00:14:36
Speaker 2: Why he gave the Jeff Miller's wife his wife's personal contact information.
00:14:42
Speaker 3: So just admit that.
00:14:43
Speaker 2: Yes, so him saying no, that's not why I did that. That no jury is, no juror is buying that.
00:14:49
Speaker 1: I just thought that they were trying to make a point. And this wasn't a contentious We've seen contentious sometime across examinations. He was calm the entire time. The I mean, look, the prosecutor did his job, but he wasn't necessarily being combative, but held his feat of the fire, and he goes kind of rapid fire with a lot of his questions in a way that I did find effective and threw the doctor off. At times he had to stop, he had to think, he had to second guess, but the doctor never got worked up. He was very calm.
00:15:16
Speaker 3: You're right, you make a good point.
00:15:17
Speaker 2: This was a very calm exchange talking about something incredibly emotional and at times violent, and yet interestingly enough, the back and forth was very calm. As you said, belied what they were talking about. The demeanor of everybody was very Yeah, it was eerie.
00:15:36
Speaker 1: Almost eerie to have a man sitting at the defense table while on the witness stand the woman he's accused of trying to kill his wife. That was an eerie moment in this trial, but it might not have been the most eerie or frankly robes of most uncomfortable. Stay here, we'll tell you when now this man on trial for attempted murder had to sit and listen to his son tell the jury that, yep, my daddy told me he did it. All right, We continue here on Amy and Tja fascinating trial taking place in roads. We've seen some headlines about it. I wonder if it wasn't happening in Hawaii, if we it might get more coverage. The time has really thrown us off some of the testimony. The trial doesn't get started until three plus in the afternoon on the East Coast, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. But the details on this one are just mind blowing and frankly are made for TV in tabloids.
00:16:42
Speaker 3: It's true.
00:16:42
Speaker 2: I totally agree that if this weren't happening in Hawaii's time zone, this would be a much bigger story here in the States, or at least I know it's the States.
00:16:52
Speaker 3: But in the what do they call continental US continue.
00:16:56
Speaker 1: To change states, we have forty eight of those outliers.
00:17:00
Speaker 2: Oh okay, anyway, I digress. But yes, we were listening to it.
00:17:04
Speaker 3: I actually had an errand run, came home.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: You were making dinner. The trial was on finally, like at nine pm. I was like, babe, I got to go to bed. I'm tired, but the trial was still in full swing. Because yes, we're in a very different time zone. But it is like once you start watching it and listening to it, you cannot stop. It's a surreal scenario. Just who's involved, what the allegations are, and the fact that everyone testified, not only the wife who prosecutors say he tried to kill, but his own son who testified against him in such an uncomfortable exchange. I think everyone puts themselves in those shoes, and what a surreal experience to be testifying against your own file.
00:17:46
Speaker 1: Well, but his son, it was dad put him in that position. Yes, that's awful. But as we wrap up, the last thing we do want to get in is the son. Nineteen year old Emil Koenik did get called to the stands and his dad called him twice, two FaceTime calls on that day Robes after this incident took place, and actually rose, this is as close to a confession as you're going to get, said two things to him. I'm not coming back, and I just tried to kill my wife.
00:18:12
Speaker 2: Yes. So, in fact, his exact testimony was that Emil said his father told him that he would not be making it back to Maui and to take care of the younger kids that he had, and that Ari, my stepmom, had been cheating on him and that he tried to kill her.
00:18:29
Speaker 3: I mean, that is as plain as it is.
00:18:30
Speaker 2: And when you watch this young kid look at that prosecutor and say that you can see the weight of it, you can feel the weight of it. And just to have to say, yes, my father fully admitted to me in the moments after the event on the mountain that he tried to kill my stepmom.
00:18:49
Speaker 1: That is as a juror, that is as convincing of testimony as you're going to get. He doesn't want to be there.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, And the explanation by Koenig was we to say, well, I think he got confused. I'm sorry I put he was very emotional when he was talking about the position he put his son in to have to testify against him. But he said that he must have gotten confused because he was saying, she.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: Said I tried to kill her.
00:19:15
Speaker 2: So he said he was repeating what his wife was telling the other hikers and telling folks. So he was like, I was just explaining what Harry was saying, that I tried to kill her, but that that is not at all his son was definitive. It was not I think he tried to say or it was a little confusing how he was saying it. No, he just plain as Day said, and he said he tried to kill her.
00:19:37
Speaker 1: This was a terrifying incident. And Rob we said, the time zone might have an impact on how it's being covered. But this, I think the scene, the setting adds to some of the intrigue in this story, the pictures of her, the violence, That this was happening in a place I can't wait to go visit, you know, in the most picturesque, gorgeous place. You could imagine a couple trying to work things out. It's a birthday, like all of those things around it. And they say he had a different mindset, he had a different mission that day. And they mentioned all trails And as soon as they said all trails dot Com.
00:20:19
Speaker 3: You said, I use that. I love all trails.
00:20:21
Speaker 1: But they talked about he went through and was looking for the best hikes. Now, all these searches he had, and he skipped over some of the best ones. He went to the steep ones and the ones that looked a little more difficult.
00:20:31
Speaker 2: That was very interesting to me because, yes, anyone who's a hiker probably is very familiar with the All Trails app and so wherever I am, I'll go on it and see what the trails are, which ones has water, which ones have waterfalls, which ones you know, have a.
00:20:45
Speaker 3: Steep incline, which ones have picturesque views?
00:20:47
Speaker 2: And yes, they're all raided and you get to see and hear people get raid them. They tell the U why they're dangerous or not. And to skip over there.
00:20:55
Speaker 3: You're in Maui. You've got unbelievable nature all around you.
00:20:59
Speaker 2: So yeah, to skip over what the top ten best hikes were in your area and to simply go straight for the steepest, most dangerous hike, yeah, I mean that doesn't look good for him. From what we've watched and witnessed here in this trial, none of it looks very good for him.
00:21:18
Speaker 1: Well, they did wrap up yesterday with cross examination of Koenik, so he's done. The judge gave this schedule. They're off today, robes, they're off on Monday. He told the jury, when you come back in here on Tuesday, you're going to get this case. So the defense has a few things I think they need to wrap up as far as major witnesses. That's for the most part done. It will rest their case and this jury will figure it out. Always fascinating jury watches. I will never ever be able to guess what a jury's going to do.
00:21:48
Speaker 2: Every time we try, we've failed miserably. But the interesting thing about this is attempted murder, second degree attempted murder, and yet he is still facing life in prison correct for the rest of his life. So his life is at stake. This jury decides his fate come Tuesday. So we appreciate you listening to us.
00:22:04
Speaker 3: Everyone.
00:22:06
Speaker 1: Thank you.
00:22:06
Speaker 3: As always, I made me roback alongside TJ. Holmes. Morning Run is coming up next