Latest news with #JacobBickelhaupt
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Yahoo
State files attempted murder charge against Michelin-star chef in domestic assault case
State prosecutors have elevated charges against a local chef accused of assaulting a female relative in his West Palm Beach home, leading to a judge revoking his bail. Jacob Bickelhaupt — the owner of Konro, Palm Beach County's first Michelin-starred restaurant — is now facing charges of attempted second-degree murder and false imprisonment following his June 2 arrest over an alleged assault at his home that investigators say lasted for about two hours. Bickelhaupt, 41, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is scheduled to return to court for a hearing in July. The Palm Beach County Public Defender's Office is representing him. As a policy, it does not comment on open cases. Investigators alleged that Bickelhaupt repeatedly kicked and punched a woman, leaving her with two black eyes and swelling and bruising on her face. The woman reportedly attempted to leave the state after the attack by taking a flight from Palm Beach International Airport, but ended up in a West Palm Beach hospital after she suffered a seizure while waiting at the airport's ticket counter. Bickelhaupt initially was arrested on aggravated battery and domestic battery charges. On June 11, state prosecutors decided to take no action on those charges, instead filing the attempted murder and false imprisonment charges and petitioning the court to revoke Bickelhaupt's bail. During a hearing on June 12, Circuit Judge Cymonie Rowe revoked the bail. A prior judge had declared Bickelhaupt to be indigent, set his bail at $90,000 and ordered that he have no contact with his accuser. Investigators claim he violated the court's order, making two phone calls from the Palm Beach County Jail and leaving messages seeking help from the woman he is accused of assaulting. Those acts led to additional felony charges of tampering with a witness and violating an injunction. The charges have since been reduced to misdemeanors. Bickelhaupt opened Konro in 2023. In April 2025, the Michelin Guide awarded Konro its star. Set off South Dixie Highway near the Norton Museum of Art, it is a menu-free restaurant with 10 counter seats and a three-figure-per-person price tag for admission. It does not appear to have opened since Bickelhaupt's arrest. Prior to opening Konro, Bickelhaupt ran a Michelin-starred restaurant in Chicago. Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@ and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Chef now facing attempted murder charge in alleged domestic assault
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Yahoo
Michelin-star chef called his assault victim from jail for help with bond: Court documents
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (WJW) — A Michelin-star chef is facing more charges after he reportedly tried to contact the woman he is accused of assaulting to help him get out of jail, court documents reveal. Jacob Bickelhaupt, 41, left a voicemail for the victim on June 4, telling her to call his public defender and say she didn't want a no-contact order that had been filed against him, according to a criminal affidavit obtained by FOX 8 News. He disappeared in 1991. Investigators now dig for clues in his family's old backyard 'I have nowhere to stay, nowhere to sleep. … I need your help,' Bickelhaupt reportedly said in one voicemail, asking her to help him post bond, which at the time was $90,000. Twenty minutes later he called again. 'Here is the deal, I know there is a lot going on, and you're in really bad shape. I'm going to be here for a very long time if you so choose, maybe a year,' he said. 'I'm not trying to sound inconsiderate right now. I really don't have a lot of time. I love you. Please call that number.' The number he called, according to the affidavit, was not the victim's own line, but a joint number for Bickelhaupt's high-end West Palm Beach restaurant, Konro. A business partner reported the calls to authorities, according to Palm Beach Sherriff's Office. With the discovery of the phone calls, witness tampering and contempt charges were added to Bickelhaupt's aggravated battery and battery charges. His bond now sits at $99,000, according to the sheriff's office. Man arrested in murder of missing father found dead in East Cleveland The West Palm Beach Police Department was originally called to Saint Mary's Medical Center on June 2, when a patient's story wasn't sitting right with the medical team. According to police, a patient told staff she had been in a car accident, but the story was inconsistent. The victim's injuries were so severe, with bruising and swelling to her face and upper body, she was rushed into an emergency brain bleed surgery. The victim reportedly told police the assault lasted two hours, leading in part to Bickelhaupt's arrest. The victim was recovering in an intensive care unit when Bickelhaupt attempted to reach out to her from jail, according to police. Konro is currently listed as 'temporarily closed' on the Michelin Guide's website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Daily Mail
11-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Michelin-star chef accused of battering woman calls victim from jail with 'inconsiderate' request
An acclaimed chef at a Michelin-star restaurant beat a woman so badly she needed emergency surgery to treat a brain bleed - then called the same woman from jail begging her to bail him out. Jacob Bickelhaupt, 41, was hit with new charges of witness tampering less than a week after he was arrested on charges of aggravated battery for assaulting the victim for two hours inside her home. The Michelin-star chef and owner of West Palm Beach restaurant Konro allegedly left the woman with a 'smashed up face' and horrifying injuries which required lifesaving surgery. The woman had escaped to the airport when she suffered a seizure trying to buy a plane ticket. She was rushed to hospital, where she told medics she had been involved in a car accident. Nurses called police because her injuries were not consistent with a car accident. 'I have nowhere to stay, nowhere to sleep... I need your help,' Bickelhaupt said in a voicemail left to the woman's phone. Using an unauthorized device, Bickelhaupt called a number for his business which diverted to the woman's personal cell, along with his own and a business partner's. It is understood the business partner alerted authorities to the voicemail, CBS 12 reported. 'Here is the deal, I know there is a lot going on, and you're in really bad shape. I'm going to be here for a very long time if you so choose, maybe a year,' he said in the desperate call. 'I'm not trying to sound inconsiderate right now, I really don't have a lot of time. I love you, please call that number,' he said in a second call just 20 minutes after the first went to voicemail. Bickelhaupt asked the woman to phone the bondsman and pay $1,500 upfront, agreeing to cover the remainder of the $9,000 bail amount via a payment plan. His total bond was initially listed for $90,000 with a 10 percent payment required upfront to walk free. 'I get out I have house arrest with ankle bracelet and no order to contact. So I need to find somewhere else to sleep, and I can't do the restaurant,' he said. 'I don't have any money, they took all my ID's and I don't have any shoes, it's in evidence. 'Zelle and cash app 1,500 and the bail bondsmen will pay the 9K and we'll clear out the rest.' After authorities learned of the two calls, Bickelhaupt was hit with three fresh charges - two counts of witness tampering and one contempt charge. Bickelhaupt is the chef behind Michelin-star restaurant Konro Each new charge carried a $3,000 bond, taking his total bond amount to $99,000. Bickelhaupt will return to court to face both sets of charges. The initial complaint related to a June 2 assault on a woman who required emergency surgery to stem a brain bleed caused by her injuries. She also had two black eyes, facial swelling and bruising from her shoulders down to wrists. Police allege she was the victim of a sustained two-hour assault. At her home, police found blood splatter on the bedding, walls, and furniture. Newly released bodycam footage of Bickelhaupt's arrest shows the chef sitting on his front porch as officers approach. 'I'm assuming she wasn't in a car accident because there was no damage to her car,' the officer told Bickelhaupt in the clip as he's discussing the woman's injuries. 'She had to go through surgery to save her life. Her face is all smashed up. 'One of two things is happening. Either she's covering for the person who beat her, or the brain bleed is affecting her thought process.' Bickelhaupt simply said: 'I don't know.' The officer asked to see Bickelhaupt's fists and the top of his hands before later informing him that he was the prime suspect and placing him in handcuffs. Bickelhaupt's last restaurant, the famed Chicago-based 42 Grams, was awarded two Michelin stars before it was suddenly closed under a cloud of controversy in 2018, after Bickelhaupt had been accused of seperate and unrelated domestic violence offences.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Yahoo
Police: Star chef defied no-contact order in domestic battery case, asked woman for bail
The renowned chef accused of assaulting a female relative in his West Palm Beach home is facing new criminal charges after authorities alleged he violated a court order by attempting to contact his accuser. Investigators said Jacob Bickelhaupt — the owner of Konro, Palm Beach County's first Michelin-starred restaurant — made two phone calls from the county jail on June 5 seeking help from the woman he is accused of assaulting. According to a new arrest report, Bickelhaupt left voicemail messages on a business line in which he asked the woman to contact the Public Defender's Office and request that a no-contact order against him be rescinded. Circuit Judge Daliah Weiss declared him indigent after his first arrest. He also asked the woman to help him find someone to pay a percentage of his $90,000 bail. "I love you so much," the arrest report quotes Bickelhaupt as saying on one of the messages. Police had arrested Bickelhaupt, 41, on June 2 on aggravated battery and domestic battery charges after alleging he repeatedly punched and kicked a woman in his home, leaving her with two black eyes, and swelling and bruising on her face. Investigators said the woman attempted to leave the state after the attack by taking a flight from Palm Beach International Airport, but ended up in a West Palm Beach hospital after she suffered a seizure while waiting at the airport's ticket counter. A business partner of the accuser called police and informed them of phone messages, on which Bickelhaupt also reminded the woman that "I can't do the restaurant" while in jail and that he might be in custody "for a very long time … maybe a year" if she did not help him. Bickelhaupt, 41, remains in the Palm Beach County Jail. Bail in his two arrests totals $99,000. As a policy, the public defender's office does not comment on open cases. Bickelhaupt opened Konro in 2023 In April 2024, the Michelin Guide awarded Konro its star. Set off South Dixie Highway near the Norton Museum of Art, it is a menu-free restaurant with 10 counter seats and a three-figure-per-person price tag for admission. It does not appear to have opened since Bickelhaupt's arrest. Bickelhaupt previously ran 42 Grams, a popular restaurant in Chicago, where he also faced an allegation of domestic violence involving a different woman. In June 2017, Chicago police arrested him on charges that he threw the woman to the ground and struck her in the head with a bottle, according to multiple published reports. He pleaded guilty to a charge of simple battery and was ordered to undergo mandatory drug and alcohol testing, complete a domestic violence program and pay fines. Shortly after the Chicago arrest, Bickelhaupt closed 42 Grams, which at one time also earned Michelin-star status. Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@ and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Michelin-starred Konro chef faces new charges in domestic battery case
Chicago Tribune
04-06-2025
- Chicago Tribune
South Florida Michelin-star chef, formerly of 42 grams in Chicago, charged with second violent domestic assault
WEST PALM BEACH — A renowned Michelin-star chef based in South Florida with former ties to Chicago is charged with a brutal assault on a woman that left her in critical condition with bleeding in her brain. Jacob Bickelhaupt, 41, a co-founder of Konro in West Palm Beach, had a well-known history of domestic violence. He had pleaded guilty in 2017 to attacking his ex-wife and business partner in Chicago, leading to widespread public backlash across the city and the closure of his Michelin-starred restaurant 42 Grams. But Bickelhaupt's career bounced back after his move to South Florida, where he earned another Michelin star and where, he told the Sun Sentinel in 2022, he was working on himself and making 'amends' for his past behavior. 42 grams chef battered his ex-wife. Now he has filed a $250,000 defamation lawsuit against the chef is charged with another violent domestic assault that left a woman in the intensive care unit in need of emergency surgery. He faces felony counts of aggravated battery causing bodily harm or disability and battery causing bodily harm. The victim, who also worked with Bickelhaupt, had collapsed while having a seizure at a Palm Beach International airport ticket counter as she was trying to purchase a flight to Denver, Colo., according to a probable cause affidavit. Had she gotten on the flight, doctors later told her family, she would probably have died. 'They caught her in the nick of time,' her sister said. Paramedics rushed her to St. Mary's Medical Center, where she told Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies that she had been in a car accident. But medical staff told deputies that the woman's injuries were not consistent with a car accident. She had two blackened eyes, facial swelling, bruising from shoulders to wrists, and a subdural hematoma requiring emergency surgery, according to the affidavit. Eventually, she gave a sworn statement to police, where she said that Bickelhaupt had attacked her for two hours as she tried to escape. The attack had begun when she approached him, asleep, on the couch in the early hours of the morning, trying to get him to come to bed, she said, according to the affidavit. They began to argue, and she went back to the bedroom. He followed her, then began to punch her in the face and kick her, causing her to fall to the floor. When she tried to crawl away, he continued to attack her. When West Palm Beach Police officers visited the victim's home later, they found blood splatter in multiple rooms, on bedding, walls, and furniture, according to the arrest report. When the attack was over, the victim managed to get a rideshare to the airport, where she planned to return to Denver, where she had grown up. At the hospital, the woman immediately identified Bickelhaupt as her attacker, but was unable to write her own name or sign the paper because of her 'physical condition rapidly deteriorating,' according to the affidavit. She required emergency surgery for the brain bleed and had an irregular heartbeat. Bickelhaupt was taken into custody the same day. He invoked his Miranda rights and requested his attorney when approached by police. Following a court appearance on June 3, Bickelhaupt was found indigent and granted a public defender. His bond was set at $90,000 along with a no-contact order with the victim, GPS monitoring, and a no-weapons order. He remained in the Palm Beach County jail as of Wednesday afternoon, according to inmate records. Bickelhaupt had initially gained fame with the Chicago-based restaurant 42 Grams, which earned two Michelin stars. Then, exactly eight years ago on June 4, 2017, he was charged with drunkenly attacking his ex-wife, Alexa Welsh, grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the ground, then striking her with a glass bottle of sparking water. Her injuries required staples, according to Eater Chicago. 'Violence is a cycle. How does the saying go?' Welsh told the Sun Sentinel on Wednesday. ''Those who do not learn history …' I sent [the victim] a message of support. I hope she's able to make a full recovery.' Court documents reveal domestic violence past of 42 Grams chefBickelhaupt was arrested in the 2017 attack on a charge of domestic battery, which was then downgraded to simple battery, to which he pleaded guilty. He was released a month later. 'What I did was a very situational, passionate, alcoholic long story,' he told the Sun Sentinel for a profile in 2022. 'It was horrible, and it never should have happened, and what I did was 100 percent wrong. And that's why I'm trying to make amends to all that stuff. I'm going to live with what I did forever. I punish myself more than anyone else can punish me, I promise you that.' After the attack and the ensuing backlash, he moved to West Palm Beach in 2022 and co-founded Konro, which earned its own Michelin star in 2025. In response to questions about Bickelhaupt, Michelin said in a statement Wednesday that it 'firmly condemns all acts of violence, aggression and harassment, which violate fundamental human rights and severely impinge on the values of an entire profession. Since its inception in 1900, The MICHELIN Guide's purpose has been to provide consumers with dining recommendations enabling them to enjoy high-quality food and drink. Above all, the Guide recognizes collective achievement by awarding distinctions to restaurants rather than to chefs.' Asked whether Bickelhaupt would have his star for Konro removed, the organization said 'MICHELIN Stars are annual distinctions and therefore our Inspectors revisit the restaurants annually. At this time, Konro has been listed as temporarily closed on our website as we update all restaurants in real-time.'
