Son testifies against father in Hawaii. A pastor accused of cyberstalking wife. Plus, Hailey's Law.

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0:46Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done. Hopefully someone can hear me. Yeah. You're listening to the Dateline Story Meeting. Let's go ahead and jump in. And I know it's a super busy day there. Our producers are catching up on breaking crime news. She was like filing reports and reports and reports. She's starting to believe in her father's guilt. Whether he takes a stand or not, good chance he might. Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Blaine Alexander. It's April 2nd, and here's what's on our docket. In South Carolina, a pastor has been charged with cyber-stalking his own wife.

1:28They say that he sent her unwanted and harassing text messages and had tracking devices on her car. So this is really intense. In Dateline Roundup, we've got a big update in the case of the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer. And new charges have been filed against a former American Idol contestant who's accused of murdering his wife. He was hit with a waterfall of new charges, including aggravated murder and intimidation of an attorney, victim or witness. Plus, after an Indiana teen was allegedly kidnapped by a man she met playing video games online, her dad is now on a mission to change the law.

2:06Predators depend on that delayed response to take your child further away from you. But before all of that, we're back in a Hawaii courtroom at the trial of an anesthesiologist accused of trying to murder his wife. A key prosecution witness has taken the stand, the anesthesiologist's son.

2:29It's week three in the trial of Gerhard Koenig. That's the anesthesiologist accused of attempting to kill his wife when they were hiking on the scenic Palipuka Trail in Oahu on March 24th, 2025. He is pleaded not guilty. Last week on the show, we talked about the disturbing testimony of Dr. Koenig's wife, Ariel, who told the jury how her husband pushed her towards the edge of a steep cliff, pulled out a syringe to try and inject her with a mysterious substance, and then hit her in the head with a rock multiple times, only stopping when two other hikers arrived at the scene. I, at some point, hear a woman's voice say, we're here and we're calling 911.

3:08Okay, so after you hear that woman's voice, what happens? Gerhardt just kind of froze and knelt back away from me. And I just crawled away really slowly. But it's what Gerhardt Koenig did next that the prosecutor asked the jury to pay attention to this week. He alleges that after running off into the woods, Gerhardt called Emil Koenig, his 19-year-old son, from a previous marriage to confess. He says, I'm not going to make it back. I tried to kill Ari, but she got away. Gerhardt's defense attorney says far from being a confession, the call was Gerhardt's goodbye to his son as he contemplated suicide.

3:47He was calling him to tell him he was sorry. who's calling him to tell him that he wished he was a better man. On Tuesday, the jurors got to hear from Emil himself as he took the stand against his father. Can you start off by stating your name, please? Emil Koenig. And who is Gerhard Koenig to you? My father. Here to bring us the latest from the courtroom is Hawaii News Now anchor and reporter Mahelani Richardson. Welcome back, Mahelani. Aloha, Blaine. Aloha. So good to see you. Thank you for being here with us to break this down. Now, last week, you mentioned that this case was basically a he said, she said type of situation.

4:21The only two people who really know, of course, what happened at the top of that mountain are Gerhardt and Ariel. Now, she says that he attacked her first, but Gerhardt's defense is basically saying that she hit him first. The state has since been calling a bunch of witnesses to support their version of events. But break down for us, what has the jury heard so far in this case? We heard from Ariel Koenig herself. She lifted her bangs to show the head injury that she still had. And she was missing parts of her hair on her head. The prosecution also showed pictures of her from the incident, bloody head, blood streaming down her face.

5:02And we also heard from an emergency room doctor who said the injury went down to her skull. If you could see down and through portions of this laceration, you could actually see the skull. I observed pieces of rock and material that were actually embedded in the laceration. Oh, my gosh. That's just incredibly graphic. I mean, just some really disturbing details in all of this. Break down for us, how has the defense been handling these expert witnesses on the stand? When it comes to the doctors, the experts who have looked at the case, the defense has been very, very pointed in questioning. The defense said that the injury, it looks bad, but it's not that bad.

5:44When we heard from that emergency room doctor, the doctor said that she did not have a traumatic brain injury and no internal bleeding. And doctor, the CAT scan to the head indicated that there were no skull fractures, correct? Correct. And no hemorrhaging was found either, yes? I mean, correct? No internal hemorrhage. Now we know that Gerhard's laptop was turned over to the police. Walk us through that. There was hours of testimony in terms of what Gerhard looked at on his computer after he believed that he had discovered that his wife had been cheating on him. And he was on the computer late night reading these forms about infidelity and divorce.

6:24The detective also said that Gerhard sent an email to a woman named Andrea Miller. And Andrea Miller is the wife of Jeff Miller, the man who Ariel was allegedly having an affair with. And he wanted to talk to her on the phone. He offered his number. At this point, we don't know if Andrea Miller ever responded to his email. So Ariel told the jury last week about this emotional affair she was having with Miller. He lived in another state and she says it never got physical. But it sounds like the prosecutor was using Gerhardt's digital footprint to show just how upset he was at the issues in their marriage, those ongoing problems.

7:07Still, the search histories, the injuries don't answer that basic question, though. Again, who hit first? That's kind of what it sounds like this whole thing is coming down to, right? So Emil took the stand on Tuesday, and I'm just curious, what was your impression of him? You've been following this case from the very start. Emil is very young. He was very somber. He was serious, only looked at the prosecutor. He didn't look around. His answers were very short, very concise, and not emotional. So one of the big things, of course, is that call he got from his dad. Let's listen to what he says about that call.

7:43What did the defendant tell you during that call? As close to word for word as you can remember. That he would not be making it back to Maui and to take good care of the younger kids. And that he had, that Ari, my stepmom, had been cheating on him. And that he tried to kill her. Did the defendant say anything about self-defense? No. Did the defendant say anything about Ariel attacking him? No. So this was a FaceTime. Emil could see his dad. What did Emil say that he noticed about his dad during that call? Emil said that he noticed that there were blood splatters on his dad's shirt. And when he asked about it, he said that Gerhard told him that it was Ariel's blood.

8:26I mean, that had to have just been shocking for him to hear. But then shortly after that first call, Gerhard actually called Emil a second time. What was that all about? This was about an hour after that first FaceTime call. When Gerhard called again on FaceTime, he told Emil that he wanted to jump off the cliff, according to Emil. He said that he was just going to jump and said that a couple of times. So after the defendant told you he was going to jump a couple of times during the second call, how did you respond?

9:01Same way as before, said not to. I don't know. You told the defendant not to jump. Right. How did the second call end? with him saying, with the defendant saying, I'm going to go before the police catch me. Let's talk about the defense's strategy on cross. How did the defense approach cross-examination? The defense asked if Emil wrote down what his dad said, if there was any recordings, if there was any video of what the dad said. You could see the defense was challenging his memory of what happened. You remember telling the detective, initially that your dad told you he tried to kill Ariel by pushing her off a cliff.

9:43You remember telling the detective that? Yes. Okay. But later on, when a detective asked you about that, you clarified and you said, the part about pushing her off the cliff was what you assumed he meant, not what he had actually said, correct? Yes, correct. Emma Heilani, the defense also pressed Emil on his relationship with Ariel's side of the family versus Gerhardt's side of the family. So what exactly is the defense trying to do with this line of questioning? Well, the defense is trying to show some sort of bias by Emil. Over the last year since this incident, you have continued to live with Ariel, correct?

10:20Yes. You also would see Ariel's parents, Judy and Pete, regularly over the last year, correct? Correct. And you referred to them as your grandparents, yes? Yes. And they came with you to court today, yes? Yes. The defense is trying to show that Emil is very close to Ariel and her family. When Emil was in high school, he chose to live with Gerhard Ariel and his two half-brothers in Kahului, Maui. They had been living together for about two years before this violent incident. He works on Maui and lives with Ariel and his two half-brothers today after this incident. That's fascinating. There is a lot to watch in this case.

11:05Maheilani Richardson, we know that you will be all over it. Thank you so much for joining us. Blaine, mahalo nui. Thank you. After we taped our conversation on Wednesday, the defense called Dr. Koenig to the stand. We'll bring you details on what he had to say in next week's episode. Coming up, nearly two years after a woman was found dead in a park, prosecutors have accused her pastor husband of cyber-stalking her.

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13:54For our next story, we are heading down to South Carolina, where the sudden death of a pastor's 30-year-old wife two years ago made national headlines and is back in the news. And just a warning for our listeners, this segment includes discussions of suicide, so please take care while listening. On April 27th, 2024, Micah Miller left her Myrtle Beach home, went to a pawn shop, purchased a gun, and crossed state lines to Lumber River State Park in North Carolina. From there, she called 911.

14:39Then Micah hung up the phone. Police were dispatched to the park where a kayaker alerted them to a body floating in the river. It was Micah. Micah's death made headlines after suspicions circulated online that her estranged husband, a well-known pastor named John Paul or J.P. Miller, abused her and may have even been responsible for her death. J.P. Miller has denied any abuse or involvement in Micah's death, and a medical examiner officially ruled it a suicide. But now, almost two years later, J.P. Miller is facing criminal charges in connection to his wife, not for anything to do with her death, but for how prosecutors say he treated her when she was still alive.

15:16Miller has pleaded not guilty to charges of cyberstalking and lying to investigators, those are the charges against him, and he's set to face trial this month. So joining us now to break it all down is reporter Eric Richards, who has been covering this case for the NBC affiliate WMBF in Myrtle Beach. Eric, thank you so much for joining us. Very nice to be with you today. So, Eric, just give us some background. Tell us about Micah and J.P. Miller. Well, I can tell you that Micah really was well-loved in her community, in her family. She was very deeply rooted in her faith. J.P. Miller, the pastor at Solid Rock Church, that was his church then, in Myrtle Beach, and that is where he actually met Micah.

15:59They were friends since like 2009. She was a teenager when they met. He was 30 years old at the time. They became a couple, though, and actually married in 2017. So what was the state of their relationship leading up to Micah's death? Can you kind of pull back the curtain for us a little bit? Well, yeah, I can tell you that they were actually estranged at the time of Micah's death. And her former attorney, Regina Ward, says that she had actually filed for legal separation twice from JP. The second time was on April 15th, less than two weeks before her death. And her sister, Sierra Francis, actually alleged that JP had been abusive towards Micah.

16:42Sierra said that Micah told her on many occasions that if she ended up with a bullet in her head, it was not by her, but actually by JP. Wow. And Sierra said this in a sworn affidavit. This is just such a chilling thing to hear. You know, Micah had actually filed a police report the month before her death saying that she feared for her life. But the medical examiner said that there was no concern for foul play, that this was consistent with suicide. All this on top of J.P. Miller, who was actually in a different state at the time that Micah died. He was down here in South Carolina, allegedly with a woman that he was romantically involved with.

17:23This is according to the Robson County Sheriff's Office. And, of course, Micah died in North Carolina, so across the border from each other. Correct. OK, well, in the months after Micah's death, the FBI did get involved in the case when local authorities asked for their assistance. But then three months ago, December of 2025, there was some big news. J.P. Miller was indicted on federal charges of cyber stalking and making false statements to investigators. It's a very interesting charge, right? We think of stalking as something that a potential victim gets from somebody they don't know. But in this case, the alleged cyber stalking is being done husband to his own wife.

17:59Mm-hmm. Exactly. You know, and when you read the indictment, it sounds more like a domestic violence incident than your typical stranger danger or stalking situation. What exactly are prosecutors alleging that J.P. did to Micah and when are they alleging it happened? Yeah, well, they're saying that this really started in November of 2022 until her death in April of 2024 with J.P. Miller allegedly engaging in various cyber-stalking behaviors. They say that he sent her unwanted and harassing text messages and other electronic communications. Prosecutors also say JP had posted a nude photo of her online without her consent and also threatened to do so various other times.

18:43They say that JP had tracking devices on her car, in fact, that could surveil her with the end goal really of harassing and intimidating her. So this is really intense. That's the cyber stalking charge. Break down the false statement charge. The false statements surround events on March 11th of 2024. On that day, Micah had actually contacted the police and said that she believed that somebody had deflated her tires and that she felt that she was being followed and contacted unwillingly by J.P. Now, prosecutors say that J.P. falsely claimed that Micah called him more than he actually called her that day, when in In fact, it was the other way around.

19:25And they say that J.P. also told police that he did not damage Micah's tires, but in fact, they said that he did using a deflating device. Wow. Okay. So I'm really struck by this. There are these new charges that come about two years after Micah's death, but it doesn't sound like there are any charges actually relating to her death. This indictment does not lay the blame, any blame, in fact, on J.P. Miller for Micah's death. Well, in January, J.P. Miller pleaded not guilty to both of the federal charges against him. So, Eric, tell us what's next for J.P. Miller here. J.P. is still out on bond and he has to wear an ankle monitor.

20:03After several delays last week, there was finally a date set for his final pretrial conference. That will happen actually on April 14th with jury selection scheduled on April 21st. And if there is a conviction on these charges, what sort of sentence could these charges bring? Well, JP, you know, if convicted, faces up to five years in prison for the cyber stalking charge and up to two years for making those false statements. Okay. And before we go, we'd like to share some information with everyone who's listening. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, or you can visit the website 988lifeline.org.

20:46And if you need resources on domestic violence or if you're in an unsafe situation, a good place to go is the National Domestic Violence Hotline. That number is 800-799-SAFE, 800-799-7233. Or you can text the word BEGIN, B-E-G-I-N, to 88788. Or go to thehotline.org. And, of course, we'll put that number and all of that information in our episode description. Eric Richards from WMBF, thank you so much for joining us to break this down. And for all of your great reporting on this, we know that you'll continue to stay on top of it. Thank you. And yes, we will. Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup.

21:27The alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer may not be heading to trial after all. We've got the latest and new charges in the case of a former American Idol contestant accused of murder. Plus, after an Indiana teenager is allegedly kidnapped and abused by a man she met online, her dad wants lawmakers to do more to protect children.

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24:05Welcome back. Joining me for this week's Roundup is Dateline producer Rachel White. Hi, Rachel. Hi, Blaine. Well, first we're off to Long Island, New York, where there is a stunning development in the case against Rex Heuerman, the man accused of murdering seven women and dumping their bodies in or near Gilgo Beach, dating back to 1993. Rachel, this trial is certainly one of the most highly anticipated trials of the year. Tell us the latest on this case. So Hureman's trial was scheduled for September 2026. And, you know, he was arrested in 2023, had maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty.

24:39But according to two sources close to the case who spoke with WNBC's Greg Sergal, he's now expected to plead guilty. Oh, wow. That is a very big change. Do we know exactly when he's expected to change this plea? Court records show that he's expected back in court on April 8th. So that's when we think he could change his plea. So, of course, now the big question is, why might he be changing his plea? Why now? I mean, that is the big question. Hureman and his attorneys have yet to release a statement. You know, we've watched the state build a sprawling case against Hureman with DNA evidence, cell phone and digital evidence.