James Craig is accused of murdering his spouse, Angela. His trial started on the Arapahoe District Courtroom in Centennial, Colo., on Tuesday.
Stephen Swofford/Related Press by way of Denver Gazette, Pool
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Stephen Swofford/Related Press by way of Denver Gazette, Pool
A Colorado dentist is standing trial for allegedly killing his spouse by poisoning her protein shakes after which making an attempt to impede the case towards him, together with by allegedly inserting a success on the lead investigator from behind bars.
James Craig, 47, is accused of fatally poisoning Angela Craig — his spouse of 23 years and the mom of his six youngsters — over the course of greater than every week in March 2023.
Angela Craig went to the hospital 3 times in 10 days, experiencing signs like dizziness and complications earlier than her situation deteriorated and he or she was ultimately declared mind lifeless. Toxicology exams later confirmed that the 43-year-old had been poisoned with cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a substance present in over-the-counter eye drops and nasal sprays.
A 52-page possible trigger affidavit — citing browser historical past, textual content messages, witness interviews and different proof — accuses James Craig of shopping for poisons on-line as a part of a deliberate effort to kill Angela, alleging he was going through monetary troubles and having an affair with one other girl.
“Primarily based on the totality of the investigation, James has proven the planning and intent to finish his spouse’s life by looking for methods to kill somebody undetected, offering her poisons that align along with her hospitalized signs, and dealing on beginning a brand new life with Karin Cain,” Detective Bobbi Olson wrote within the affidavit, referencing the Texas orthodontist he was seeing romantically, together with whereas his spouse was sick.
In opening statements on Tuesday, Assistant District Lawyer Ryan Brackley mentioned Craig might have been motivated by the payout from his spouse’s life insurance coverage, and in addition accused him of giving her a remaining dose of poison at the same time as she lay within the hospital.
“He went in that room to homicide her, to intentionally and deliberately finish her life with a deadly dose of cyanide,” Brackley mentioned.
Craig has pleaded not responsible to first-degree homicide and 5 different fees associated to his alleged actions whereas awaiting trial, together with solicitation to commit first-degree homicide, solicitation to commit tampering with bodily proof and solicitation to commit perjury.
On Tuesday, protection lawyer Ashley Whitham did not dispute that Angela had poison in her system, or that James was having an affair. However she argued that the proof didn’t present that James was liable for his spouse’s dying, and that his affair with Cain was not a motive as a result of he’d had quite a few affairs throughout their marriage.
Whitham urged Angela might have died by suicide, echoing claims James Craig had made to investigators about her psychological state on the time. And the protection lawyer requested the jury to “take away the blinders from this case and to take a look at every part.”
“You could not like him, you might not assume he is an excellent husband, however that is not what you are right here to resolve,” Whitham mentioned.
If convicted, Craig faces life in jail with out the potential of parole.
What can we find out about Angela’s dying?
In accordance with the affidavit, Angela visited her sister in Utah and returned dwelling to Aurora, Colo. — a suburb of Denver — on March 5, 2023.
The subsequent day, earlier than the couple’s morning exercise, James made Angela a protein shake with additional protein as a result of she was feeling sluggish, a staffer at his workplace later advised investigators. Angela grew faint and dizzy after the exercise, and James took her to a hospital.
Angela mentioned “she didn’t really feel proper in her head and that her physique was responding slowly,” in response to the affidavit, with signs like dizziness and vomiting that investigators say are according to arsenic poisoning.
She went again to the hospital on March 9 and stayed there for an additional 5 days, with docs unable to find out the reason for her signs. She was admitted as soon as once more on March 15 with dizziness and a headache.
Throughout that hospital keep, Angela had a seizure. After declining quickly, she was ultimately positioned on life assist within the intensive care unit. Angela Craig was pronounced mind lifeless on March 18.
The affidavit contains many screenshots of texts between James and Angela earlier than and through her hospitalizations — about their youngsters, his visits, her signs and extra — together with one by which she wrote “I really feel drugged” and mentioned she’d solely consumed a protein shake.
James responded: “Given our historical past, I do know that have to be triggering. Only for the file, I did not drug you.”
However the affidavit alleges he did so as soon as earlier than, primarily based on an interview with Angela’s sister.
She advised investigators that James had drugged Angela 5 or 6 years in the past as a result of he deliberate to commit suicide at dwelling and did not need her to search out or cease him. She mentioned the couple’s marriage was tumultuous, with James having “a number of affairs with a number of ladies” and a pornography habit.
However James later advised investigators that Angela was suicidal, claims investigators say weren’t backed up in interviews with their kids or anybody else.
In reality, because the Related Press reviews, throughout an argument captured on dwelling surveillance after Angela’s first hospitalization, she mentioned to James: “It is your fault they handled me like I used to be a suicide threat, like I did it to myself, and like nothing I mentioned might be believed.”
A reserving photograph supplied by the Aurora, Colo., Police Division exhibits James Craig, who was arrested after his spouse’s dying in March 2023.
AP/Aurora Police Division
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AP/Aurora Police Division
Why was James investigated?
In accordance with the affidavit, the police had been tipped off by Craig’s enterprise associate, Ryan Redfearn.
Redfearn and his spouse Michelle had been additionally pals with the couple. They had been on their strategy to go to Angela within the hospital on March 15 when Ryan acquired a involved name from considered one of his workplace managers.
She mentioned had been contacted by one other workplace supervisor, Caitlin Romero, who occurred to be working late on the evening of March 6, when Angela first acquired sick. Romero advised her boss — and later investigators — that she noticed Craig sitting at a pc in one of many examination rooms with the lights off, which she mentioned was odd as a result of he had his personal workplace and pc.
Romero mentioned about half-hour after Craig left, he texted her saying he could be receiving a private bundle and he or she shouldn’t open it. A bundle arrived on March 13, and Romero noticed {that a} totally different worker had already opened it. As she went to seal the bundle again up and put it in James’ workplace, she regarded inside and noticed a bio-hazard sticker and a round canister labeled “Potassium Cyanide.”
Romero mentioned she had by no means seen that substance within the workplace earlier than, so searched the web for the makes use of of potassium cyanide and realized the results of potassium cyanide poisoning had been according to Angela’s signs. Two days later, when she discovered that Angela was again within the hospital a 3rd time, she known as her boss.
When the Redfearns arrived on the hospital, Ryan pulled a nurse away and advised her his issues about potential potassium cyanide poisoning. The nurse, as a compulsory reporter, known as the police.
Whereas Redfearn was on his method dwelling from the hospital, the affidavit says, Craig known as him to say he had heard “some disturbing data” and requested whether or not Redfearn had mentioned something to hospital workers. Redfearn admitted he knew concerning the potassium cyanide bundle.
Craig initially mentioned the bundle contained a hoop he wished to shock Angela with, however Redfearn pushed again. Ultimately, the affidavit says, Craig admitted it contained potassium cyanide however mentioned Angela had requested him to order it and he “did not assume she would truly take it.”
“At that time, Ryan advised James to cease speaking and get a lawyer,” the submitting reads.
What’s the different proof towards Craig?
Investigators searched Craig’s dwelling and workplace, discovering a number of gadgets of curiosity at every.
On the home, as an illustration, they famous the presence of a number of protein powders and workout-style drink shakers, in addition to two unlabeled plastic luggage containing white powdery substances.
In addition they searched the examination room pc that Craig had been noticed utilizing, and located a historical past of troubling Google searches and on-line purchases beginning in late February below an electronic mail handle they are saying he had created at the moment.
They discovered a number of searches associated to poison, together with: “What number of grams of pure arsenic will kill a human” and “Is Arsenic Detectable in Post-mortem?” They discovered a viewing historical past of a number of YouTube movies with titles like “easy methods to make poison” and “High 5 Undetectable Poisons That Present No Indicators of Foul Play” — an inventory that included arsenic and cyanide.
The pc additionally confirmed a number of orders for various types of poison, together with an Amazon buy of arsenic metallic and a back-and-forth with a laboratory merchandise distributor for an order of “Sigma 207810-25G,” the technical time period for potassium cyanide.
The affidavit factors out that whereas Craig advised the corporate that he wanted the chemical compound for his surgical procedures, he advised workplace workers that it was a private bundle and in addition used a private electronic mail handle to order it. He used that very same account to correspond with Cain, the lady with whom he was having an affair on the time, the affidavit states.
For instance, they exchanged emails about journey plans, with Cain touring from Texas to Colorado between March 8-10 — throughout Angela’s second, five-day hospitalization.
“It seems James was flying this girl into Denver whereas his spouse and the mom of his kids was dying within the hospital,” the affidavit reads.
Cain advised ABC Information in July 2023 that she had solely been seeing Craig for about three weeks at that time, and he had advised her he was going by a divorce and residing alone.
“If I had identified what was true, I’d not have been with this individual,” she mentioned.
James Craig regarded emotional throughout opening arguments on Tuesday.
Stephen Swofford/AP/Pool The Gazette
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Stephen Swofford/AP/Pool The Gazette
What occurred after Craig’s arrest?
Craig was arrested the day after his spouse’s dying in March 2023. However his authorized troubles continued.
Prosecutors allege that Craig tried to pay his cellmate and others to cowl his tracks, together with by providing to pay them to create false testimony and kill Olson, the lead investigator.
Throughout a February 2025 listening to, prosecutors launched a letter they mentioned Craig wrote to a fellow inmate, calling Olson “the worst, dirtiest detective on this planet.”
They allege he supplied to pay that particular person $20,000 every to kill Olson, one other police officer and two different inmates. In addition they accuse him of sending letters to that cellmate’s ex-wife providing her $20,000 every for getting 4 folks to falsely testify at his trial that they knew Angela and knew she deliberate to die by suicide, in response to the Related Press. Prosecutors allege he made different requests, together with asking his daughter to destroy a pc.
In April, Craig was hit with 5 extra fees in relation to that alleged coverup marketing campaign. Whitham, the protection lawyer, appeared to reference it in her opening arguments.
“His kids at the moment are on the surface with no mom, now with no father, he is anxious, and yeah, he does some not-great issues in jail,” she mentioned.
However Whitham additionally urged the jury to query the credibility of these inmates, calling a few of them “jailhouse snitches.”
One among Craig’s earlier legal professionals — he had two in a row who withdrew from his case earlier than the trial began — mentioned earlier that investigators did not look into whether or not Craig wrote these letters himself and urged they could have been forgeries.
