Attorneys for Jacob Bickelhaupt, the chef and co-owner of two defunct Michelin-starred restaurants, asked a judge Monday to free him from jail, arguing that his wife’s ongoing medical issues have stalled the case indefinitely.
“We’re just stagnant,” defense attorney Marc Shiner said. “Nothing’s happening.”
Circuit Judge Sherri Collins declined to order Bickelhaupt’s release but agreed he “shouldn’t just sit here ad nauseam until something happens.” She denied his motion without prejudice, meaning Shiner can refile it later, and told both prosecutors and defense lawyers to push the case forward.
“I’m not going to continue this case forever,” Collins said. “It needs to be resolved.”
Bickelhaupt is accused of beating his wife Nadia Bickelhaupt, a partner and sommelier at the since-shuttered restaurant Konro in West Palm Beach, for two hours in their home in June 2025. Police say she fled to the airport afterward and tried booking a flight to Colorado before she lost consciousness and began to seize.
Her arrival at the intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Medical Center with a brain bleed, two black eyes, a bloody nose and ragged heartbeat led West Palm Beach police back to the home she shared with her husband of four years.
Inside, officers found sheets, pillows, baseboards and walls spattered with blood. The chef stood outside, his knuckles red and swollen. He declined to answer officers’ questions and asked to speak with a lawyer instead.
Nadia Bickelhaupt filed for divorce in December. She initially blamed her injuries on a car crash before accusing her husband, whose restaurant became the first in Palm Beach County to earn a Michelin star just two months before.
Michelin dropped the restaurant from its guide in the wake of his arrest. Konro soon closed, and it wasn’t the first of Bickelhaupt’s restaurants to do so. 42 Grams, his Michelin-star restaurant in Chicago, closed in 2017 after Bickelhaupt attacked his then-wife and business partner in its parking lot.
Nadia Bickelhaupt documented much of her recovery on Instagram in the weeks after his 2025 arrest. She posted about undergoing three brain surgeries, including a procedure to remove a part of her skull to treat an infection, and shared a video filmed from her hospital bed with her head shaved and a scar across her scalp.
The scar was visible as she watched Monday’s hearing over Zoom.
“She is at risk for seizures and enduring seizures still to this day,” Assistant State Attorney Victoria Suarez told the judge. “I believe last Saturday she had two.”
Shiner said he’s tried repeatedly to schedule time to depose Nadia Bickelhaupt but was told each time that she remains “medically unable.” The defense attorney called her the only eyewitness and said her inability to meet with the attorneys has made it impossible for her husband to prepare to fight the charges at trial.
“No timetable has been provided as to when, if ever, the alleged victim will become available for deposition,” Shiner said.
Collins suggested the deposition could happen “in a hospital setting or a doctor’s setting,” with help on hand if something goes awry.
“This case needs to move,” she said.
Hannah Phillips is a journalist covering public safety and criminal justice at The Palm Beach Post. Reach her at hphillips@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Wife’s seizures, looming surgery complicate case against Michelin chef
Reporting by Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
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By Hannah Phillips, Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY Network
