← The Watch Floor with Sarah Adams
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- [00:00]
A
Welcome to the watch floor. I'm Sarah Adams. Today we're going to dive into a case that's both shocking and instructive. And it's a case out of Hawaii that really could have ended in tragedy. Here we had Gerhard Koenig, a 47 year old doctor who's on trial for the attempted murder of his wife, Ariel. I want to walk through the events, the warnings, and talk about these statistics that surround, you know, partner violence violence, because we have to remember that there's red flags all around us and we cannot ignore them. Let's just jump right in and talk about the facts of what happened. So this happened on March 24, 2025. And so the trial's now, you know, almost a year away from the events. And the husband and wife were hiking in Oahu in Hawaii. It was a steep, narrow area. And according to Ariel's testimony, her husband started with this ruse where he wanted her to take a picture with him alongside the ledge. She didn't do it. And he started grabbing her and pull, pulling her towards the ledge. He grabbed me really forcefully by my upper arms and he said, I'm so sick of this, get back over there. And he starts pushing me back towards the cliff. He then escalated and grabbed a rock and started hitting her in the head. What'd you do?
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B
I hit her with the rock.
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A
And there's even this weird piece where he has this syringe that he's attempting or wants to inject into her. Luckily, she fought back and two hikers intervened and then they called 911, you know, after. He then calls up his son on FaceTime, you know, admits to trying to kill Ariel. He references having blood on his clothes, and then he talks through having his own suicidal thoughts. What did the defendant tell you during that call?
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B
That Arie, my stepmom, had been cheating on him and that he tried to kill her.
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Did you become, at some point after that, suicidal?
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B
Yes.
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A
It's a chilling reminder. You know, danger often comes from someone who is supposed to love you and protect you the most. So let's talk about some of the red flags in this case. You know, especially ones that Ariel brought up and noticed before the situation that almost turned deadly for her. And experts say when it comes to domestic violence, you really have to pay attention to all the warning signs. You can't just let things go. So according to reporting, the couple was actually in counseling before, you know, even going on this hike. And Ariel had admitted to having this emotional affair at work. This, of course, strained the relationship in additional ways. And then there's of course blame and resentment that came about. And then of course, of course it set the stage for what became this dangerous escalation. If you've ever worked long hours, whether it's on a watch floor, in an er, on a construction site, or just on the road for work, you realize that you start stacking like caffeine on top of energy drinks just to stay awake. I started looking for something that can help with food focus without loading up in caffeine. And that's where I came across Ultra Pouches because I've been seeing these everywhere. They are completely nicotine and caffeine free pouches. What they do is they use a blend of neotropics and adaptogens that are designed to support focus and then a steady state of energy. Altra actually partnered with neuroscientists and I want to walk through a little bit of this formula. So you know what's inside. They have Xfinity px. So this is designed for like a smoother energy than caffeine. There's L Theanine, this is an amino acid that promotes like a calm focus. Then we have Alpha gpc. This is a neotropic that helps with like your mental processing. And lastly we have B6 and B12, which, you know, they really help us balance our energy and our mood. The idea is simple, clean play plant based energy without the jittery crash. For me, it's been so useful when I'm up late at night working on investigations, kind of going through leads, comparing and cross checking information. I really can stay locked in. Ultra is the ultimate guilt free pouch, delivering instant focus and mental clarity. Without that nicotine and caffeine we talked about, new customers can use Code watch to save 15%@takealtra.com Again, that's takealtra.com to save 15% with code watch. When you check out, let them know the watch floor sent you. It helps promote the show. A few of the big red flags in this are kind of this extreme jealousy over this infidelity. Also, he kept out accusing her of cheating anyway, right? So it's this constant argument that seems to have been occurring again and again. There's also this controlling behavior in isolation, right? This chosen route for this hike, there was this escalation towards violence because he first off didn't just plan to bring her on this hike and likely do something horrible. He even brought this syringe along with him. And then there's this threat, not to just the wife, but to himself. Right. When he starts talking about kind of this suicidal ideation. You know, this is a lot to unpack here. And the interesting thing is this was first set up, and it seems to have been a ruse to unfortunately try to kill her as a birthday outing, you know, a nice trek and hike together, you know, for your birthday. And we have to remember that abusers will try to take people to places where they first can control the time, can control the location, and then an environment where they can escalate and nobody's around. And people have to be attuned to this. We've seen this in other settings as well, especially around vacations. You know, we've had a couple instances where, you know, husbands have planned cruises and killed their wives on them. In one case, Lonnie can contest killed his wife during a Mediterranean cruise and staged it as an accident. You know, we had another one where Kenneth Mander Neres, you know, he killed his wife in a cabin during an argument. You know, we had a situation where significant other brought a person out and it was like on a kayaking trip, you know, and killed their partner there. These environments are controlled. You're confined and you're lots of times remove from immediate help, right? So it makes the escalations a lot more dangerous. So we want you to think through these things and just look for any sort of red flags in your own relationship. Especially if I said we're talking about some of these things, you know, there's infidelity, blame, some sort of shame happening. So I'm gonna walk through just some red flags so you can note them. The first would be this extreme blame or resentment, right? Especially the repeated accusations, but actually with no evidence to back it. Another is rapid mood swings, you know, yelling, emotional volatility, right? You wake up every day and you don't know what partner you're gonna get. Another is this isolation from friends and family, right? They keep taking you away from your base of support. You need to pay attention when that isolation's happening. Another thing is this obsession. Excessive tracking of your location or any criticism of the partner's communications, right? Even if you're talking to a work colleague and they're blaming you because you might be talking to a male, et cetera, threats or hints that someone's going to pay for a certain activity. Watch for that language to occur, and then planning these risky or remote situations to remove you from from your support network. Red flags aren't always obvious. And sometimes it's just this pattern that builds over time so you can't Ignore when you see these behaviors, especially as they escalate. And one thing that's really important is you do need to seek help. You need to notify someone that you're seeing these behaviors, especially if there's a change in behavior or if it's getting worse. You do not want to wait for a dramatic escalation like the day, you know, your husband might be trying to throw you off a cliff. Right. That is way too far into this process to protect yourself in the best way that you can. You know, I want to put this into a little context, because in this situation, you know, luckily, you know, Ariel got out alive, but that doesn't always happen. So domestic violence and intimate partner homicide are much more common than people realize. And I want to run through some of the national stats on this. So 1 in 5 homicide victims in the US is killed by a current or former intimate partner. That's insane. That's 20% of homicide victims in the entire U.S. this is massive for women. Over half of all homicides are are committed by a spouse, boyfriend, or intimate partner. Right. So if you get killed, there's a 50% chance it's the person you love. I mean, that's a scary thing to wrap your mind around. And then men are less frequently killed by their partners, even though true crime, so something different. And the homicide rate is about 6% of men are killed, you know, by their intimate partner or their spouse. So these are not just statistics. Right. We're seeing this play out in real life down here in Florida. Just last week, there's this horrible incident, you know, where a politician in Coral Springs, Florida, and she was also the vice mayor, Nancy Bowen, was killed by her own husband. The suspect accused in the death of Nancy Matiere Bowen, the vice mayor of Coral Springs, that person has officially been booked into jail. This is actually the newly released mugshot of Stephen Bowen, who was her husband,
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Sky 10, flying over their home on Wednesday. That is where she was found dead. Investigators spent hours there gathering clues. And about a dozen miles away in Plantation, cell phone video showing law enforcement swarming an apartment complex, blocking off an entire parking lot as detectives worked the area. Sources telling Local 10 this is where they caught up with their suspect. The Coral Springs police chief said right now, Matteo Bowen's husband is the only suspect in this case and that her death has been ruled a homicide.
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Cases like this, unfortunately, are not isolated, and they follow these patterns we've talked about, right? This shame, escalation, control. And there's usually a lot of warning signs that exist before it turns deadly. And this doesn't even account for the many people who survive these events. Right. They could be injured, you know, mentally traumatized. So I just wanted to be very clear that ignoring red flags can be deadly. And understanding the warning signs is really kind of this delicate balance between life and death. I mean, we just have to be honest about it, especially when we talk about, you know, the statistics I laid out for you. I mean, this really is a threat. So jumping back into the details of the case, there was one thing I brought up in the beginning that I know a lot of people have questions, questions about, because I do. And it's the fact that there is this syringe involved. He had a syringe in his hand and he says, hold still. And I see the syringe and I just kind of like bat it away from us both. This is incredibly concerning. We have a doctor here that does not just have medical expertise. He also has access to drugs and different things that we can't just go in and buy it like a cvs, a Walgreen. So that's concerning. We also have not been told what was in the syringe. So we can only make like wild guesses. And I don't know if it's just to help in the trial or maybe what's left in there, you know, was such a small sampling, they didn't get a good read on it. But whatever it is, we should at least talk through what could be in the syringe because this isn't the first time we've seen this. So of course there can be some sort of sedative, right, which really helps incapacitate a person very, very quickly. Another thing that could be an opiate or strong painkiller, you know, that can, you know, affect your breathing and consciousness. Remember, this is a hike, right? So obviously breathing at high levels, very important. If you're having troubles with your breathing, you got a rest and you're going to need assistance and help and then that can make you vulnerable. And lastly it's. But there could be some sort of toxic chemical in here that essentially was, you know, an attempted poisoning, which, you know, we'll see a lot of. Maybe like a nation state actor do like a Russia. It's very strange, of course, and you know, personal, intimate, relationship violence. So while we don't know what was actually in this syringe, it illustrates, you know, this very chilling point. Besides the fact that it's pre planned, he had to procure whatever was in there, bring it with him. He had planned to use this. And it just shows that when someone has this level of knowledge, it can raise the danger level a lot higher. And we just have to be honest about this. Abusers who have access to the medical world of things can use a syringe, in this case, to control someone, to incapacitate someone, and then, of course, to even just directly attempt murder, you know, with the item in the syringe. So it's very concerning another interesting piece of this case that a lot of people are wondering, why would you even do this? It's the fact that, of course, the husband reaches out to the son and claims, hey, you know, I attempted to kill Ariel. And everybody is like, well, why would someone do this? This doesn't make any sense. And that's the point. Point. When someone makes the decision that they're going to kill their spouse, they're already not thinking like an irrational actor. So it's hard when we're rational to then put our thought processes against that because he's already off in some sort of cuckoo land. And then the interesting thing is, during this call, he talks about his own suicidal thoughts. Now, that could be manipulative behavior, and we have to be honest about that. Right, because he can already start thinking of a ways to protect himself. Right? I'm the damaged one. I'm the one that's hurt. I've been the one suffering and going through these things, you know, and I didn't get the support and assistance I needed. You know, I was suicidal. So we just have to keep in mind that some of that also could have been done. So he had that bit of information put out there, right, that, oh, well, he was suicidal. Well, was he suicidal or is that just something he said to kind of muddy the waters when he failed to kill his wife? So it's just something to keep in mind and something to watch for as this trial goes forward. I mean, he's obviously trying to get the entire case dismissed, which is laughable.
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I felt like a shove and I was almost pushed over the edge, turned around and looked at her and was like, what the fuck was that? At this point, she was like 5 or 10ft away from me. And I get my one arm free, and I try to use it to get my other arm free, and she grabs me by the testicles.
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These type of criminals really do think through every step. And he seems to have planned this very well. And it's just something to be aware of. That's its own process where you can see other red flags occur. Because now he's trying to control another situation. Right? He's trying to control how the event looks like to a son. He's trying to maybe control how the legal world would look at it, etc. And then of course, now let's see how the public, public gets pulled and moved in and if any of that narrative gets controlled. There is one good thing from this call to the son though. It is this timely communication where, you know, he alerted authorities. Remember, this could have continued on and he could have tried again to kill his wife. And luckily, you know, she's safely away from that situation. But we don't know if it would have been different if people didn't get involved in the situation right away. So what can we learn from this case? Right, because everything we look at, there's always something we can take away. And of course, it's this fact that red flags matter. Any escalation in jealousy, control and threats should never be ignored. We also want to talk about location that matters. When you're in remote areas, any sort of outside intervention is so much harder and it's almost impossible. So you always need to put your personal safety first. Another thing is survival instincts are critical. Luckily, Ariel fought back. You have to think about that, right? Fight back, make a lot of noise, yell for help. Are you capable of protecting yourself? It's good to ask that question now because of course, every action counts and it helps you stay alive in this situation. And lastly, you know, resources exist, especially if you're in a bad situation. We have hotlines, shelters, you know, you can reach out to law enforcement who can help protect persons in danger. Like, don't feel alone. You have to reach out to the support network you have, even if you've been kind of pushing, pushed away from them, get re engaged, take your power back in these situations. Now if you're in a relationship and it feels like it's escalating because they're saying like, hey, you should have some sort of safety plan. But it's like, well, what is that? Right? Because it's critical to have one. But you don't just tell someone, put this together and you don't tell them what it is. So I'm going to walk through very quickly what could be in a safety plan. First off, you need to have a trusted person who knows what's going on and can check on you. I know it's hard to take personal things in between a relationship between a husband and wife and share them outward. But if it is escalating and there is violence or Even a fear of violence. You have to tell someone. There is no gray area on this. Another thing is you need to have your phone charged at all times, right? You have to always have a way to communicate. Never put yourself in a bad situation. Another thing is you need to know your exits. It doesn't matter if you're home, in the car, in a public place. If you need to move quickly, you have to be able to do it. Start practicing that and thinking about it. Another thing this case showed us, avoid being in one of these remote or confined environments, especially if tensions are escalating. Even if you are in that environment and things seem fine and it starts going downhill, get out, right? You don't need to stay in that location and deal with the problem. You need to get to a safer location first. Another thing that's important is you keep important documents, cash, you know, any of your essentials accessible if you need to leave early. That's why we always love, like a go bag for emergencies. You can use it for so many other things. You know, get that put. And if something feels like it's escalating, just remove yourself early from the situation. Don't wait until it gets physical, because now, you know you no longer have the initiative and you're putting yourself in a much more difficult situation. If your priority is your own safety. You know, the goal here is not to live in any sort of fear. It's being able to stop, step back, and realize when a situation is changing, when it's escalating, and when you should do something about it. Domestic violence escalates incredibly quickly, and any sort of awareness you have and preparation and early action can really save your life. That's it for today's episode of the Watch Floor. This case in Hawaii is a chilling reminder that danger can come from the person you know you wake up with every day and who you love the most. And it reinforces the importance that you cannot ignore those red flags. So stay safe, stay aware, and we'll see you next time on the Watch Floor.