Son’s Bombshell Testimony Against Hawaii Doctor on Trial for Wife’s Attempted Murder

 

All right.

Good afternoon.

Good afternoon.

Okay.

The first thing I’m going to ask you to do is to scoot as forward as much as you can and to speak as much in the microphone as you can.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Can you start off by stating your name, please? Emil Koig.

Is it okay if I call you Emil for the rest of my questions today? Okay.

Uh, Emil, what do you do for work? I work for Maui Health.

Maui Health? As a clerk? As a clerk, you said.

And how long have you been doing that? Um about two months now.

And where do you live? On Kahalui, Maui.

Is that at 19 Pu who place? Correct.

Who do you live with? With my stepmother and my two brothers.

Your stepmother.

Who is that? Ariel Koig.

Are you related to any person involved in this case? Anil? I am.

Okay.

Who are you related to? The defendant.

Um, is that Ghart Koig? Correct.

If And who is Gard Koig to you? My father.

Um, if you were to see him again, would you be able to recognize him? I could.

We’ll stipulate to identification.

Thank you.

Okay.

Um, we’ll just move on then.

Um, all right.

Emil, just over a year ago, on the morning of March 24th, 2025, where were you? I was at home.

Normally, who lives in that house with you? Or on that date, who normally lived in that house with you? Um, my dad, my stepmom, two little brothers.

Um, on the morning of March 24th, 2025, was your dad, and your stepmom home? No.

Okay.

Do you know where they were that day? Aahu.

Here.

They were on Aahu.

Do you know why the defendant and Ariel were visiting Aahu for Arie’s birth? Ariel’s birthday.

Do you know when Ariel’s birthday is? The March 24th.

So, was anybody else staying at the house uh in Cahului with you on that morning? Yes.

Babysitter for the little kids.

Got it.

On the morning of March 24th, 2025, did you receive any calls from either Ariel or the defendant? I did.

Okay.

And which was it? from the defendant.

Who contacted who? Defendant contacted me.

What type of call was it? A FaceTime call.

When you say FaceTime call, is that on the Apple iPhone? Correct.

Was this call a FaceTime voice call or a FaceTime video call? FaceTime video call.

How many times or how many calls were there from the defendant to you on March 24th, 2025? Two.

And what times were the two calls at? I couldn’t recall exactly.

Okay.

Um would seeing or did you provide a statement to a Maui detective regarding this incident? Regarding those calls? Yes.

Uh and in that statement, did you tell the detective what time those calls were? Yes, I did.

Would seeing that statement help you refresh your recollection as to when those two calls were? It would.

Okay.

Pull up page number here.

Okay, I’m going to approach with what’s been marked as states exhibit 170 times.

Sorry, page number three and page number four.

Okay, may I approach you, please? Okay, could you quickly read pages three and four of this document and when you’re done reading just look up.

Okay.

Okay.

Uh is your recollection refreshed as to when those two calls were? It is.

Okay.

I’m gonna retrieve the exhibit and I’m gonna ask you the same question again.

Okay.

All right.

I’m gonna retrieve exhibit 170 from you.

Okay.

And Neil, what time were those two video FaceTime calls on March 24th, 2025? The first one was at 10:42 a.

m.

and the second one was at 11:46 a.

m.

Okay.

I’m going to ask you about the call from 10:42 a.

m.

first.

Okay.

Right.

Where were you when you got the FaceTime video call at 10:42 a.

m.

at home? That’s the same address we talked about earlier.

Correct.

Um, what did you see on the other side of the screen when you picked up that call? I saw the defendant.

Can you describe the defendant as you saw him on that call? um wearing sunglasses.

Um dry fit shirt.

That’s all I saw.

Can you Did you uh see the area that the defendant was in outside? And what or did the defendant tell you anything during that call? Yes.

What 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 Ary, my stepmom, had been cheating on him and that he tried to kill her.

Okay, that’s a lot.

Uh, but I’m going to break that down a little bit.

You said he tried You said the defendant told you he tried to kill Ariel.

Is that right? Correct.

Did he tell you what happened to Ariel? He did not.

Did he tell you where she went? No.

Did the defendant tell you why he tried to kill Ariel? Uh, no.

During this 10:42 a.

m.

call, did the defendant tell you anything about what he planned to do next? Um during that call, the next plan that he said was to jump off the cliff.

And how did you react to hearing that? Told him not to.

How did you react to the defendant telling you he tried to kill Ariel? I don’t remember what I said.

Do you recall? Um, what the defendant told you after he said he tried to kill Ariel? Not directly after.

Okay.

Did he say where Ariel went? No, just away.

What did he say about Ariel and away? She He said that she had gotten away and that was all I heard about her location.

During this first call at 10:42 a.

m.

, did you ask the defendant any questions yourself? I Yes.

Um, I asked what was on his shirt because I looked like I saw splatters of something on his shirt and he said, “Oh, it’s just her,” meaning Aries blood.

Okay.

So, so far you’ve told us that the defendant told you he tried to kill Ariel, uh, that Ariel got away, that Ariel was cheating on him, that he planned to jump, and that the blood on the shirt he’s told you was Ariel’s.

Is that correct? Correct.

Okay.

Did I miss anything so far? No.

Okay.

Did he tell you anything else during this call at 10:42 a.

m.

? No.

All right.

So, after you get this FaceTime call and after the defendant tells you these things, what did you do? I went over to my grandparents house, which is Ariel’s parents.

Okay.

Um, walked over to their house, um, told them what had happened.

How far away is your grandparents house away from from the Pu place address you mentioned earlier? Um, it’s like a minute or so walk.

And could you tell us your grandparents names? Uh, Judith Judith and Peter Mast.

Which of your grandparents did you tell about the call first? Both.

They were both there.

So, both of them.

What happened after you told Judith and Peter Mast about this 10:42 a.

m.

call? Um, the next notable thing is they received a phone call from uh, I believe it was Queen’s Hospital, one of the hospitals here.

Later on that day, did you tell anybody else what the defendant told you? Uh, my mom.

Okay.

Who’s your mom? Uh, Jesse Patell.

Did you at some point also tell the police what happened that day? I did.

All right.

Um, do you know where your grandparents ended up going after you told them about this call? Yeah, here.

They came to Aahu.

Correct.

Okay.

All right.

Um, you said that there was a second call at 11:46.

Is that right? Correct.

All right.

The second call, was this a FaceTime call as well? Yes.

Okay.

And just phone, just audio or audio and video? Audio and video.

Okay.

Um, when you did you pick up the call? I did.

When you picked up this second call at 11:46, what did you see on the screen? I saw the defendant.

Okay.

And um, can you describe any background that you saw on the scene if you if you remember? Uh just trees, rocks, the sky.

Was it during this second phone call at 11:46? What did the defendant tell you, if anything? Uh he asked me if I had told anybody and I said yes.

And I told him who I had told.

And then um he said that he was just going to jump and said that a couple times.

Okay.

To be super exact here, Emil, who did you tell the defendant that you told? I told the defense uh that I told my grandparents and my mother.

Okay.

So, you told him that you told Peter, Judy, and Jesse.

Correct.

Okay.

So, after the defendant told you he was going to jump a couple times during the second call, how did you respond? Um, same way as before.

said not to.

I don’t know.

You told the defendant not to jump, right? Okay.

Um, how did the second call end? Um, with him saying that with the defendant saying, um, I’m going to go before the police catch me.

Did you tell he was going to hang up? Do you remember that? I’m sorry.

Objection leading assisting.

Okay.

Bad question anyway.

All right.

Um Sorry, I just want to clarify a little about the last thing you told me um about the police.

What exactly the defendant tell you about the police? Ask answer.

Could you clarify what the defendant told you about the police? that he was um that the police was looking for him.

He didn’t want to, I don’t know, get be found.

Did the defendant tell you anything else about his state of mind or what he was thinking? Uh he said he was at the end of his rope.

Anything else you can remember about that? um thought about suicide for the last couple months leading or for the months leading to the 24th of for both of these calls we’ve been talking about.

Who was the caller? The defendant.

So at either call, were you the one to dial him up? No.

Right, Emil.

Overall, did you choose to get involved in this? I did not.

During either call, did the defendant say anything about self-defense? No.

Did the defendant say anything about aerial attacking him? No.

Overall, between both calls, did the defendant tell you what the reason was he tried to kill Ariel? Other than this, as an answer, other than the um previously stated um him thinking she was cheating, didn’t say anything other than that.

Right.

And Emil, overall, how are you feeling after these events on March 24th, 2025? Objection.

system.

All right.

Did you stay on Maui after this happened? I did not.

Okay.

And where did you go? I went to Pittsburgh.

And why did you go to Pittsburgh? My mom lives there.

So, did you go to Pittsburgh to be with your mom? Correct.

Okay.

One moment.

A meal.

Okay, Emil.

Um, thank you for answering my questions.

I have no further questions at this time.

Okay, one second.

Okay.

Um, good afternoon, Email.

I’m Tommy.

I have some questions for you.

I’m going to try to not keep it I’ll try to keep it not too long, okay? I know it’s not easy to be here.

I just want to begin um by asking you a little bit more about the first call um on the mountain.

Okay.

Prior.

And I want to ask you about before the call.

Before that first call at I think you said 10:42.

Um it was a it was a norm pretty normal day.

Yes.

Correct.

You knew that your dad and Ariel was on a were on a trip to Aahu.

Yes.

Correct.

And you knew that they were on a hike that morning.

Correct.

I did.

And and part of how you knew they were on a hike is because about 30 minutes or so before the call, they meaning your dad and and Ariel were sending the family photos of the views from the hike.

Correct.

Correct.

So you’re you guys had like a family group text or or Snapchat or something like that? Yes.

Who and who was on that? I believe just me, my dad, Ariel, and it might have just been those three.

I I I can’t tell you exactly, but you were on it and and they were send Your dad was sending photos of them on the hike.

Yes.

Correct.

Letting you know where they were, right? Yes.

Uh well, I mean just that they were on a hike.

Yes.

That they were on a hike.

Yes.

Not letting me know that where they were.

Well, yeah.

I just meant like letting you showing you pictures of the hike they were on.

Maybe that’s a better way to write it.

Is that right? Show they were sending you pictures of the hike they were on.

Yes.

Yes.

And at least at that time everything seemed normal to you.

Correct.

Correct.

Um there was no reason to be concerned at that time.

Correct.

Correct.

Um, now you get this call on 10:42 and he’s telling you uh amongst other things that you know he he’s he said he’s not going to make it back.

Yes.

Correct.

And like he was saying goodbye to you.

Yes.

Correct.

And and you you you quickly realize that something’s wrong, right? Yes.

You don’t know exactly uh what’s going on.

Um, but he’s also telling you that he’s going to jump and and commit suicide.

Correct.

Correct.

And from what you, you know, he was, you know, saying and from what you and acting the way what you could gather, you could tell that there was a lot going on in his head.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

Um, you could tell that he was your dad was distressed when he was talking to you.

Yes.

No.

Okay.

Um, do you remember you gave a u later the day of these calls, you talked to the detective on Maui? Remember that? Yes.

Okay.

And um, you remember telling the detective that your dad sounded like he was kind of distressed, trying to stay calm, but kind of distressed.

Remember saying that to the detective? No.

Okay.

Would seeing your the transcript of the interview with the detective help to refresh your memory of what you told the detective? Yes.

Okay.

This is 170 um page four.

Okay.

May I approach your honor? Yes.

Okay.

So, email, I’m going to show you this transcript.

If you can just read um lines 14 and 15.

Well, if you wanted to start um from lines eight and read down to lines 15 and and just read it to yourself and let me know when you’re done.

Okay.

You remember saying that to the detective? Yes.

Okay.

But as you sit here today, um you don’t have a recollection of him sounding distressed.

Is that right? Didn’t sound distressed.

Okay.

But you did tell the detective it sounded like he was kind of distressed, right? And then I said afterwards he sounded calm.

Yeah.

You said it sounded like he was kind of distressed but trying to stay calm.

And he did sound calm.

That’s that’s what you said, right? Correct.

Kind of distressed but trying to stay calm, right? Yes.

Okay.

Now he’s he’s talking to you.

Sounds kind of distressed, trying to stay calm.

Um, and he said also at at at some he at some point, you know, said something about he seemed like he was at the end of his rope.

Is that right? Yes.

That is what he said.

Now the first call when your dad is having this first call with you from what it was on a FaceTime, right? Correct.

And there was video, right? Yes.

So you could see him and kind of the you know whatever was in the camera behind him.

Right.

Right.

And he’s having this call with you.

Um he’s right on the edge of what looked like a steep cliff.

Correct.

Yes.

Okay.

And he’s telling you he was going to jump.

Yes.

Yes.

And um did you did you assume that where he was talking to you at was where the incident with him and Ariel took place generally? I wasn’t aware.

I didn’t I wasn’t thinking about that.

Okay.

But it looked like he was in in a steep place that kind of was high like he had to scale on rocks to get to it.

Correct.

Correct.

You see um blood on your dad’s shirt.

Yes.

Correct.

And he tells you that this was um Ariel’s blood.

Yes.

Yes.

And he told you that he was explaining to you about how uh Ariel had been cheating on him for a couple of months.

Yes.

Yes.

Um and he told you that the the blood was from uh her head.

Correct.

Correct.

And half an hour earlier everything seemed fine to you, right? Yes.

Now, now, now you’re hearing this.

Uh, you see the blood, you see the steep cliff, he’s telling you he’s going to jump, you know, and and I’m sure it was a pretty um pretty emotional, upsetting call.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

And it was also a little confusing to you.

You’re trying to kind of piece together and make sense of what happened.

Correct.

Yes.

Okay.

And and also convincing him, trying to go into not to jump.

Correct.

Correct.

Um this this was on um FaceTime and and so he had it was on speaker phone.

Correct.

Correct.

Correct.

After the first call, you then go to Judy and Pete’s house.

Yes.

Yes.

And um that’s Ariel’s parents house.

Yes.

Yes.

But but you call them your grandparents, correct? Yes.

You also went to Judy and Pete’s house with your girlfriend, right? Yes.

Is is is that still your girlfriend? No.

Okay.

At your girlfriend at the time, correct? Yes.

Then maybe about an hour later, your dad calls you again.

Is that right? Yes.

Um, and you guys are talking and he tells you, uh, well, you you know, he he brought it up and asked and you said, “Yeah, I told Judy and Pete.

” And then he starts saying, “Okay, I’m going to go.

I’m going to jump then.

” Or something like that.

Is that right? Yes.

And then he said he needed to go so the police wouldn’t find him, right? Yes.

Okay.

So, I mean, he’s telling you he wanted to jump and kill himself and he wanted to go so the police wouldn’t find him.

That’s what he was saying.

Yeah.

Yes.

Okay.

And you know after these uh understandably you know these understandably difficult and emotional calls uh later that day detectives from Maui contact you.

Correct.

Yes.

And um at least according to the well it was at uh the interview started at 2:27 p.

m.

Correct.

Would seeing the transcript help you remember that? It would.

Okay.

May I approach your honor? Yes.

Okay.

Okay.

Again 170.

So email um if you just read that.

This is the start of the interview.

Okay.

Read it to yourself.

Let me know when you’re done.

Yep.

All right.

So, the interview started at 2:27 p.

m.

later that day.

Correct.

Correct.

And these were um not Honolulu Police Department detectives, but Maui Police Department detectives.

Correct.

As far as I know.

Okay.

And you know, you were able to look on your phone later.

Well, you were able to look on your phone and and tell the detectives the exact timing of the calls.

And that’s why you were able to say it was the first call was 10:42 a.

m.

and the second call was 11:46 a.

m.

, right? Yes.

So, the interviews with the detectives is at at 2:30 or 2:27.

So, about about 4 hours after the 10:42 call and about 3 hours after the 11:46 call, right? The interview with the detective.

Yes.

Roughly.

And you know, obviously you didn’t record the call with your dad when you guys were having him.

You’re just listening to him and and talking to him about not jumping, right? Correct.

And you didn’t write down any notes after um the call.

Right.

Right.

After, did you? Correct.

I did not.

But you tried your best um you know, 3 to four hours later to describe the call you had with your dad to the detectives.

Correct.

Yes.

Okay.

Um and you know like to today for example you were asked by Mr.

Gardner um you know after he was talking to you about jumping you were asked what did you say back to him and I think you said I don’t remember what I said right after that.

You remember saying that just a little while ago? Yes.

Okay.

So, as you sit there today, there’s there’s parts of the exact wording and timing of what was said that that you don’t quite remember exactly verbatim word for word.

Correct? Yes.

And for example, you were asked by Mr.

Gardner about um you know what he said after a certain point and there there things that you don’t recall exactly what your dad said after certain conver parts of the conversation, right? Yeah.

Okay.

But you tried your best to explain to the detectives what you understood your dad to have been saying.

Correct? Yes.

But to be clear, it wasn’t like an exact word for word verbatim of the entire conversation, but you did your best.

Correct.

Yes.

Okay.

Um, for example, in an effort to do your best to explain to the detectives Amaya what happened, you initially um told the detectives that your dad um told you he tried to kill Ariel by pushing her off a cliff.

You remember initially saying that to the detective? Yes.

Okay.

And and that was what you had kind of assumed given the things that he told you um and where he was on the cliff.

That’s what you assume that he meant, right? At least when you said that to the detective, right? Can you repeat that question? So, so when you initially told the detective, um, you know, my dad told me he tried to kill Ariel by pushing her off a cliff.

That’s what you assumed your dad had meant.

Correct.

When he said that, I you assume your dad meant that he had tried to um Well, let me let me phrase it this way.

You remember telling the detective initially that your dad told you he tried to kill Ariel by pushing her off a cliff? You remember telling the detective that? Yes.

Okay.

Um but later on um in the conversation, well in the interview when the 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 not what he had actually said.

Correct.

Yes.

Correct.

Okay.

And then when the prosecutor asked you um questions about it, you said at some point he said something about um she got away, right? Or something like that.

Yes.

Okay.

Did Did anyone tell you about the two witnesses that had testified that when she was moving away from him, he didn’t he didn’t try to stop her? Did anyone tell you that? Can you repeat that? Did anyone tell you that about how the witnesses that were there testified when he was trying to when she was moving away from him, he didn’t try to stop her? At what point? Can we get approach? No.

Did Did anybody share that information with you? I don’t understand the question.

Okay.

Now, um, let me ask you a few more questions, email, email, and then then we’ll be done.

Okay.

Um, you were asked by the Mr.

Gardner about how right after well about how after the incident you flew to Pittsburgh to be with your mom Jessica.

You remember that? Yes.

And and was was it later that night? Yes.

Okay.

But you did return to live on Maui sometime thereafter.

Yes.

Maybe in in a few weeks.

How long were you in Pittsburgh? Uh couple weeks.

Couple weeks.

I couldn’t tell you the exact day.

Okay.

But you know within a month you were back on Maui.

Correct.

And you at the time you had moved to Maui with with your dad and Ariel when you were in in high school.

Yes.

Yes.

And that was something that you you chose to do, right? Yes.

Um you were in Pittsburgh with with where your dad was and your mom Jessica was.

Correct.

Yes.

And um you you you chose to move to Maui to be with your dad and Ariel.

Yes.

Yes.

Um and so by the time this we get to 202, how long had you been on Maui? Roughly two years at that point.

Okay.

Um you had a girlfriend at the time.

Yes, I did.

You had made friends on Maui? Yes, I did.

Your two younger brothers were there? Yes.

Yes.

Um, you had a job on Maui at in March of 2025.

What kind of job? I worked at Chick-fil-A at the time.

Were you going to school? I was not.

Okay.

Um, and you liked it on Maui, right? Yes.

So, your options were to stay in Pittsburgh with your mom.

You could have done that, right? Yes, Jessica.

Right.

If you want if you could have stayed in Pittsburgh with her if you if you chose to, right? Correct.

Um or you could come back to Maui, you know, where you know where where your friends were and your girlfriend was and and but to do that you you you know you would have to live with Ariel, right? To come back to Maui.

You could come back to Maui and live with Ariel, right? It was a option.

Yes.

Yeah.

It was an option.

And over the last year since this incident, you have continued to live with Ariel, correct? Yes.

You also would see Ariel’s parents, Judy and Pete, regularly over the last year.

Correct.

Correct.

And you refer to them as your grandparents.

Yes.

Yes.

And you um they came with you to court today.

Yes.

Yes.

Okay.

And over the last year though, you’ve you’ve you’ve limited your contact with your dad’s side of the family.

Correct.

You haven’t seen them much, right? I wouldn’t say that.

Okay.

Um, your grandparents, you haven’t seen them much in the last year, have you? Or talked to them much? I have done both of those things.

How often have you seen them? Probably seen them since the incident.

Since the incident.

Since the incident.

Two or three times.

Okay.

The most re the most recent time um was when they came to they were going to come to see you play um roller hockey on the mainland, right? Yes.

Okay.

And where was that? That Irvine.

And um when was that roughly? I couldn’t tell you.

Okay.

I mean it was was it was in 2025? Yes.

Okay.

No, it was 2026.

Oh, I’m sorry.

I’m sorry.

I meant I That’s what I meant.

Sorry.

It was It was in 2026.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um and you were you’re into roller hockey.

You play it a lot.

Yeah.

And um you traveled to California earlier this year for a tournament, right? I did.

Um your grandma and grandpa your your dad’s parents were going to meet you in Irvine to watch some of your games, right? Yep.

And um when you got when they got there, um Ariel’s parents, Judy and Pete, had traveled with you up there, right? Yes.

Okay.

And you have not um spoken to your dad since the incident.

Correct.

Correct.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

That’s all the questions I have for you.

Anybody? Yes.

Right.

Emil, one of the things that you were just asked about on cross- examination was the fact that you didn’t tell the detective on Maui that the defendant told you that Ariel got away.

Is that right? I didn’t ask that.

I’m sorry.

I didn’t I don’t I didn’t ask that.

Is my memory wrong? Ask the question.

Can Can we approach You were asked about um on cross- examination this being a confusing phone a confusing FaceTime call.

Is that right? Yes.

And you clarify more for what’s right here.

Emil, was there any confusion about the defendant telling you he tried to kill Ariel? Can you reword that? Sure.

Um, did you have any confusion about that statement by the defendant? Was I confused at all? Yes.

I’m sorry.

Let me Is there any confusion in your mind about the defendant making that statement that he tried to kill Ariel? Now, in general, yes.

Okay.

Could you explain? I didn’t expect it.

Um, I’m sorry.

I think I’m phrasing my questions poorly.

Emil, is there any doubt in your mind about the defendant telling you who tried to kill Ariel? No.

Thank you.

No further questions.

Any new prospect? No.

Thank you, Emma.

All right.