Dateline NBC
Accused killer's voice on a 911 call in Michigan. A hike in paradise gone terribly wrong. And Karen Read's retrial begins.
Thu, 3 Apr 2025
Listen to this week's episode of the Dateline: True Crime Weekly with Andrea Canning. In Michigan, the prosecution plays the 911 call from the crime scene — but does it help the defense? In Hawaii, a doctor is charged with attempted murder after allegedly trying to push his wife off a popular trail. What she's told investigators. Jury selection is underway in Karen Read's retrial and finished early in Lori Vallow Daybell's Arizona trial. Plus, best practices for law enforcement on how to interact with people with autism. Find out more about the cases covered each week here: www.datelinetruecrimeweekly.com.Domestic violence resources: Call 1-800-799-SAFE, text START to 88788, or visit https://www.thehotline.org/
Chapter 1: What are the main cases covered in this episode?
Welcome to Dateline True Crime Weekly. I'm Andrea Canning. It's April 3rd, and here's what's on our docket. At a popular hiking trail in Hawaii, investigators say a doctor allegedly tried to push his wife off a cliff, and then he hit her on the head with a rock. She said that she bit him to try to fight him off. Other stories we've got our eyes on. Lori Vallow Daybell, a.k.a.
Mommy Doomsday, is on trial again. This time, she's the defendant and her own defense attorney. Music mogul Sean Combs gets some good news from a judge. And supporters gather outside the courthouse for Karen Reid's retrial. The scene here in Dedham is still kind of wild. And later, April is Autism Awareness Month. A retired police captain tells us what he wants law enforcement to know.
I realized very quickly that what I had to learn about raising a son on the spectrum was directly correlating to what I should have known as a police officer.
Before all that, we're heading back to a Michigan courtroom where the prosecution came out swinging at the retrial of a woman accused of murdering her husband. Fifteen years ago, Linda K. Stermer was convicted of killing her husband, Todd Stermer, by setting their house on fire while he was asleep in his Lazy Boy and then running him over with the family van once he ran outside.
But Linda was released from prison after serving only eight years of a life sentence. A federal appeals court ruled that she deserved a retrial because of ineffective counsel and prosecutorial misconduct, and that began last week.
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Chapter 2: What's happening in Linda K. Stermer's retrial?
The prosecution is calling just about every neighbor who showed up to the scene that day, a dentist who performed CPR, the friend who noticed blood on the bumper of Linda's van, and the next-door neighbor who called 911. Dateline producer Sergei Evonen has been in the courtroom in Pawpaw, Michigan, and he joins us now with the latest. Hey, Sergei.
Hi, Andrea. Good to be here.
Yeah, so set the scene for us. The Sturmers lived in a pretty rural area. Linda boarded horses. The neighbors' houses weren't all that close to each other, right?
That's right. It's a pretty close-knit community. But during testimony, none of the neighbors said that they could see each other's houses. They could see the smoke and some saw the flames. And one neighbor testified that he and his sons heard the sound that they couldn't really place. They didn't know what it was, so they got in the car.
And then when they got to the spot, they realized it was Linda Wailing.
What did the neighbors say they saw when they got there?
One of the neighbors, Dr. Richard Musali, he's a dentist. He and his sons went over. And when they got there, they saw Todd. He was unconscious, laying on his back. All hair was gone. His skin was burned. He was not responsive. So Dr. Musali did perform mouth-to-mouth on Todd Sturmer, trying to resuscitate him.
One of the neighbors called 911? Yes.
Yeah, so the first people on the scene were Connie Colquhoun and her boyfriend at the time, Mike Matheny. They lived next door. And when they arrived, Mike told Connie to stay back because he didn't want her to see the horror of the scene. And then when he came back to her, he said, Connie, you got to call 911. And the prosecution played that call during Mike's testimony.
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Chapter 3: How did the 911 call play a role in the Michigan case?
I remember my husband and I looked at each other and we both said the same thing. Something's not right.
They never addressed it with her, but they were kind of shocked.
And I backed right off. I did not want to be there.
Did they talk to Linda in the days that followed?
They never asked Linda about the blood specifically, but she said that Linda's explanation for what happened that day kept changing. And Kim's husband took the stand as well.
The deputy had asked us to guard that van and make sure that nobody sprayed it with water.
And why was that?
I guess there was evidence on it. You could see blood on it.
So the prosecution used those witnesses to paint the picture of a chaotic scene and bring in evidence that Linda ran over Todd with the van, leaving him with lacerations on his head. And they believe that would have happened after Linda poured an accelerant on Todd and lit him on fire. They called the medical examiner to testify to that.
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Chapter 4: What happened on the Palipuka Trail in Hawaii?
normally quiet and she thought it was because he's just a very professional person and he was a very busy person, but she said that they were a loving family.
Never, never in a million years would I think that this would happen. Shock, because I cannot, it's hard to fathom, it's hard to grasp the severity of this tragic incident. I just, I can't.
How did they end up, Gerhard and Ariel, wind up on this trail in the first place?
They live on the island of Maui. And according to the court documents, he had planned a getaway for her birthday on Oahu. So he's the one who suggested, correct, this hike on the trail? That's right. According to the court documents, it was his idea to go on this hike at the Palipuku Trail. And if you can imagine these hikes, this is not a simple walk in the park. It is an unmanaged trail.
It is very rocky. It is very slippery, depending on the weather conditions. So they went to the edge of the cliff and they took a selfie and she was feeling dizzy, according to her accounts. And so she wanted to move away. And it's during that time that She claims that he was angry at her and he said, and I'm going to use her language verbatim, she said, get back over here. I'm so sick of you.
So in these court documents, Ariel says that things got physical.
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Chapter 5: What do we know about Gerhard and Arielle Koenig's relationship?
That's right. She says that he grabbed her, he grabbed her hair and hit her with a rock. Ten times, he threw her into the bushes, and then she says that he had a syringe and tried to inject her with some sort of unknown liquid. And then she said that she bit him to try to fight him off. I mean, at one point, it sounded like...
He was on top of her, she was on top of him, and so there was a struggle.
And thankfully, two women were hiking and saw some of this and actually called 911.
That's right. So according to the police records, one of them ran up ahead and saw... Dr. Kone got on top of his wife in the middle of the struggle. And it's during that time that when this other hiker had come upon her, that's when he stopped and he was able to get away. And according to the temporary restraining order, he has an adult son. We also believe that he lives on Maui as well.
He had called the son and FaceTimed and said that he had tried to kill his wife and that he wanted to commit suicide by jumping off the side of the cliff.
Oh my gosh, that's awful. Ariel applied for a restraining order soon after this happened. Did she say anything that gave police a possible motive for what she's alleging he did on the trail?
According to Ariel, he accused her of having an affair which fueled what she called extreme jealousy. And she claims that he was attempting to control and monitor her communications. We also learned that they had been seeing a therapist for both individual and couples therapy. But in terms of what the court documents had said, it appears that this one incident was not a one-time thing.
She accused him in her petition to the court of rape. sexual assault and assault for months leading up to this incident. I spoke to the head of the Domestic Violence Action Center on how domestic violence experts are reacting to this case. One thing that they said was that what makes this so shocking is that this is involving a doctor and doctors take this oath
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Chapter 6: How did the alleged attack unfold on the Hawaiian trail?
to protect people, so that he allegedly tried to kill his wife is so shocking when doctors are supposed to be held to the highest ethical standards.
The restraining order we talked about was granted, and he is currently being held at a jail in Oahu. Initially, his bail was set at $5 million, but after his indictment for attempted murder, he's now being held without bail. What can we expect from this next?
Well, he is going to be going for an arraignment and plea. So that's coming up in just a few days. And later on in April, there will be another hearing for the temporary restraining order. And so this is just the beginning of the court process.
All right. Thank you so much for bringing this story to us. So sad, but thank goodness Ariel is okay. Thank you. And we'll put that information in the episode description. Up next, it's time for Dateline Roundup. We've got the latest on Lori Vallow Daybell's trial in Arizona on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder. This is her second trial in two years.
And then over to Boston, where Karen Reid is also on her second trial. This one, a retrial for the alleged murder of her police officer boyfriend. And why an anonymous lawsuit against music mogul Sean Diddy Combs was dropped. Plus, a retired police captain talks about his tips for law enforcement on how officers should be interacting with people on the autism spectrum. Welcome back.
Joining us for this week's Dateline Roundup is Dateline producer Sue Simpson. Hey, Sue, thanks for coming back on the podcast. You're in Dedham, Massachusetts for Karen Reid again.
I am. I am. I'm here for the start of jury selection in Karen Reid's second trial. You'll remember she's charged with hitting and killing her police officer boyfriend, John O'Keefe, with her SUV a little over three years ago now. She's pleaded not guilty. And the scene here in Dedham is still kind of wild.
You know, the judge, it's the same judge, Beverly Canone, has set an even bigger buffer zone around the courthouse to keep the crowds at bay.
We also remember your soccer chair. Are you having to show up at midnight again just to get a seat? No.
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