This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.
There are plenty of reasons we put off getting support, and for a lot of people, cost is
one of them.
With BetterHelp, insurance options may now be available nationwide, with an average copay
for eligible members of just $23 per session.
And while we're reconsidering old assumptions, maybe there are a few others worth questioning
too.
I have always supported the women in my life, from Courtney to my mom, my sister.
I am their biggest fan.
But sadly, in today's world, women inherit a lot of unwritten rules.
Be ambitious, but not intimidating.
Be there for everyone, but still make time for yourself.
Have it all together, but don't look like you're trying too hard.
I am a die-hard feminist, and I've always disagreed with the way society has treated
women.
And I've experienced unwritten rules being placed on me in my own different way, like
boys don't cry, being a good friend means always being available, or if everyone else
can keep up, I should be able to as well.
And rules like that that society places on people can put you in a weird state of mind
and can oftentimes make you question who you really are.
And if you're doing the right thing.
I've felt like the only way that I've ever been able to figure out if I was really on
the right path was through therapy.
BetterHelp is a great place to start.
If you've been wanting to start therapy, BetterHelp works with more than 125 health
plan networks, and eligible members have an average copay of just $23 per session with
insurance.
Don't have insurance or don't live in the United States?
You can still get 10% off your first month.
Just visit betterhelp.com slash MIA to explore your payment options.
That's betterhelp.com slash MIA.
You know those pieces in your closet that you reach for time and time again?
The permanent staples in your closet that last you season to season?
I have a number of these staples, and all of them are from Quince.
We love Quince at Murder in America because they make elevated everyday essentials using
premium materials like Mongolian cashmere, organic cotton, and premium stretch denim.
Now that the weather is getting colder,
I recently ordered some
down jackets and some cozy cashmere scarves and gloves.
Not only are they going to look incredible, but I also know that they are going to last
me for years and years to come, because Quince's quality is just that good.
As you know, everything at Quince is priced 50-80% less than similar brands, and they're
able to do that because they work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen,
so you're paying for the quality, not the brand markup.
As y'all know by now,
it is our go-to for both men and women's apparel, and if you haven't tried it yet,
I highly recommend you do.
Find the fall pieces you'll reach for the most at Quince.
Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com.
Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.
Now available in Canada and the UK, too.
And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Murder in America.
It's the best way to support the show.
This episode is brought to you by the Academy Museum.
Horror fans, this one's for you.
On September 26th, the Academy Museum opens its newest exhibition, The Horror Show.
An immersive journey through the characters, creatures, and terrifying worlds that have
haunted movie theaters and our nightmares for generations.
Enter through a darkened gallery and make your way down a hallway lined with classic
horror posters before exploring six chambers devoted to gothic, psychological, science,
slasher, religion, and horror.
And these rooms are packed with incredible pieces of horror history.
See Bela Lugosi's cape from Dracula, original storyboards from Psycho, come face-to-face
with legendary killers like Freddy, Michael Myers, Ghostface, and Art the Clown, and discover
haunted objects from The Conjuring, The Ring, and Talk to Me.
But there's only one way out.
Through the Blood Room.
Plus, there's the family-friendly Zombies Exhibition, horror screenings, special programs,
and retrospectives celebrating horror legends.
The Blood Room is available now at the Academy Museum, if you dare.
Warning, the following podcast is not suitable for all audiences.
We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers
even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects.
Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses
against children.
This podcast is not meant for children.
Not for everyone.
You have been warned.
Doctors had never seen anything like this before.
They swarmed the hospital room as alarms blared.
Their patient siblings looked on in horror, and they fought the horrible truth that was
welling inside them.
There was nothing they could do, because they had no idea what was wrong.
In the bed before them, flatlining before their eyes, was Angela Dawn Prey Craig, a
43-year-old mother of six.
She was a pillar of her community, a faithful woman full of laughter, and a comfort to all
who knew her.
But to doctors, she was a medical mystery.
Over the course of ten days, she had rapidly declined in health, landing in the hospital
four separate times.
And through every visit stood her husband, Dr. James Craig, a leader in the local church
who had a successful dental practice in the United States.
A beautiful home, and a family who adored him.
He had vowed two decades before to protect his wife for the rest of eternity.
But there in the hospital, there was nothing he could do.
At least, that's what doctors thought.
In reality, Angela's husband held the key to her mysterious illness, because he was
the spider weaving the web of her symptoms.
Also, he could use her sickness to hide his own.
A double life, affairs, endless debt, and decades of manipulation.
So this is the story of Angela Craig, and the one person who she was supposed to trust
the most in the world.
The man who vowed to love her, keep her safe, and honor her, and who in the end, betrayed
every vow he ever made.
I'm Courtney Browen.
And I'm Colin Browen.
And you're listening to Murder in America.
spread their beliefs, and often do service within the community.
Upon her return from her mission, Angela spent time with her siblings and continued to work
within the church, helping out with youth groups, and taking part in all the activities
designed to strengthen the bonds of her religious community.
Sometimes that was through hikes, sometimes it was mixers, and sometimes, like in October
of 1999, it was dances.
This one in particular was a Hawaiian-themed dance, where everyone in attendance was given
leis to wear, and it was there where she met the eye of her future husband, James Tolliver
Craig, for the very first time.
She was just 19 years old, out exploring the world and romantic relationships for, essentially,
the very first time, and when she met James, he swept her off her feet.
You see, James and Angie had almost
as much in common as they didn't.
They both loved the outdoors, art, and above all, their faith.
James, who usually went by James, was also raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
Born in Provo, Utah, while his family was attending Brigham Young University, James
was largely raised within the confines of Mormonism, along with his two brothers.
When he was 13, his father graduated from BYU with a Master's in Technical Management.
Then, according to James in a podcast,
"The Voices of South Shore Ward," he "was homeless," stating that he and his family
lived in an RV in the woods of Washington State.
He described his father as "the most educated homeless man ever," and claimed that they
remained living in the RV for several months until his father got a job in Wichita, Kansas,
at Cessna.
We did find an address registered to the family in Spokane during this time period, so we
can't necessarily say whether the story James has told here is entirely true.
As you'll see, we have some reason to doubt his veracity in most aspects of his life.
After moving to Wichita with his parents in his early teens, James settled into his new
school in church.
He performed well in school, and especially excelled in band where he played the saxophone,
as well as several woodwinds.
He had aspirations of becoming a jazz musician after graduating high school, but according
to him, he knew that life wasn't very comfortable.
It was very conducive to having a family, which was his greatest goal.
After graduating high school, he went on his mission, and when he returned, he set out
to achieve that goal, starting with finding himself a wife.
It was at that church-sanctioned dance in October of 1999, where both he and his friend
were searching for love.
Halfway through the dance, his friend nudged him, saying he was ready to leave because
he "didn't think his wife was ready to leave."
But James felt differently.
He saw Angela from across the room and decided that he had to ask her for a dance.
In looking at photos of Angela, it's easy to see why.
Not only is she beautiful, but in so many photos that her family has posted of her,
her personality really shines through.
Angela was goofy.
She loved to laugh.
She was confident in herself.
And above all, she had this warm, welcoming energy.
When James approached her that fateful night, she smiled at him and complimented his lay.
In response, James pointed to the nearby speakers that were blaring music and said, "Sorry,
the music's too loud.
Did you just ask me to dance?"
Angela, laughing, accepted his offer.
And as the night went on, one dance turned into two, which turned into three.
Angela told him that she wanted to go out with him again, and in James' words, "I'm
not going to go out with him again."
That's when he decided to, quote, "lock it down."
The two ended up going on just two more dates before James asked Angela for her hand in
marriage.
Overjoyed, she said yes.
At the time, the two were only 19 and 20 years old.
And if you weren't raised in this religion, that probably strikes you as young.
But taking a look at their beliefs, the reason for that becomes a little more understandable.
You see, according to the LDS government, the LDS government, the LDS government, the LDS
according to the LDS guidelines, in order to reach the highest exaltation in the kingdom of heaven,
you have to be wed. Marriage is the cornerstone of their religion. So much so that the LDS website
even states, quote, the Lord knows that not all of his children will have the opportunity to be
married in this life. He has promised that all who accept the gospel and strive to keep their
covenants will have the opportunity to be married and have children either in this life or the next,
end quote. So in other words, the ultimate goal of life is marriage and children. And when that
is what you're told to do in order to achieve the highest level of success in godliness,
it's not entirely surprising that people are comfortable marrying at such a young age.
In addition, marriage within the church is known as sealing.
Because in LDS beliefs, when you say your vows to one another, you are sealed together for all
of eternity. Your loyalty to one another is synonymous with your loyalty to God.
Following those beliefs, Angela and James were married in Provo, Utah on December 18th,
1999, just three months after they met for the very first time. Angela moved to Provo with James,
where he began attending BYU, where he worked towards his undergraduate degree in zoology.
Along with James, Angela and James were married in Provo, Utah on December 18th, 1999, just three months after they met for the very first time.
A little bit over a year after their wedding, Angela became pregnant with their first child,
a son who they named Tolliver. For Angela, being a mother was absolutely everything.
And by all accounts, she was an incredible one, which is especially impressive when you look at
how quickly she was outnumbered. A little over a year after having Tolliver, she had her first
daughter, Mira. Over the next six years, Angela had two more children with James while he finished
up his zoology degree and then pursued dental school at the University of Michigan.
She was the first one to graduate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry.
Through it all, Angela was the glue that held the family together. She took her children to try new
things, encouraged them to be themselves, and educated them on one of her favorite things in
the world, history. While James worked as a professor at the school early in his career,
soon after his graduation with his doctorate in 2006, the family decided to head for the
Rocky Mountains. In the suburbs of Denver, James spent two years doing research for the National
Institute of Dentistry. He was a professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry.
He was a professor at the
Institute of Health with a focus on conducting peer-reviewed studies on bone substitute materials.
By 2008, as James finished his research and the couple welcomed their fourth child into the world,
they decided that Aurora was where they wanted to put down their roots.
Although the two bounced around various areas of Denver, the South Shore neighborhood proved to be
everything they had dreamt of. It's a blend of nice homes, lakes, walking paths, and trails,
and it's a blend of nice homes, lakes, walking paths, and trails, and it's a blend of nice homes, lakes, walking paths, and trails,
nestled along the shores of the Aurora Reservoir, the community thrives on its peaceful surroundings,
good schools, low crime, and family-friendly activities. So after moving here, everything
for the Craig seemed to be falling beautifully into place. While doing his research, James began
working at Summerbrook Dental, where he focused on general and cosmetic dentistry. He built a
and professional, and it didn't take him long to earn numerous loyal patients.
My approach to dentistry begins with sincerely listening to the patient and wanting to find out
more about where they're coming from and what they're looking for and what they want.
I also have a very strong philosophy that a happy team makes happy patients,
and we have such a wonderful team here at Summerbrook. There's really no weak links,
and I love hearing patients talk to me about how the positive interactions with my staff have affected
me. I love hearing patients talk to me about how the positive interactions with my staff have affected
their comfort level at the office.
That's one of the hallmarks of Summerbrook Dental
is that we try to be happy here.
Like in his role at home as the cool dad,
James often brought his goofy side to work as well.
He was wearing white wings, a sparkly tutu,
and a magic wand as he happily pranced through the halls
on his way to joke around with one of his patients mid-exam.
Look, he's going to go visit a patient.
Oh, I'm going to go see a patient.
I'm going to go see a patient.
We've been waiting down here for you, Dr.
Hi, I think you need a tooth extracted.
I'm here to do the work.
Hi, Nicole, how are you?
Sorry you had to see me like this again.
I know last weekend was a little bit of a shock,
but here I am again just like this.
Sorry, are you in the middle of an exam?
I didn't mean to interrupt.
Okay, good luck, Nicole.
If you don't have any cavities, if you do, I'll take care of them.
That's fine.
As you'll hear,
James had a multitude of flaws,
but he was good at what he did,
and in time,
the practice grew to become more and more financially successful.
While James was able to support the family financially,
Angela opted to be the homemaker.
Being a mother was a role she excelled in.
She was nurturing, patient, loving, and supportive.
Even outside of her own family,
Angela made sure to attend every important milestone
in her friends, family members, and neighbors' lives.
Whether it was a graduation, birthday,
wedding, baptism, or funeral,
Angela was there to offer her support.
She went above and beyond for everyone she knew.
And truly,
reading all the fond memories people have of her it's unbelievable that she somehow found the time
to do it all when she wasn't running her kids to piano lessons or swim club she was going to
doctor's appointments with a sick friend to ensure they asked the doctors the right questions when
she wasn't taking her kids snowboarding or teaching them how to rollerblade she was planning
a pride and prejudice watch party with freshly baked cake for a friend simply because she had
mentioned in passing that she'd never seen the movie that's the kind of person angela was she
was never too busy to brighten someone else's day especially when it came to her children and
her husband that attitude extended to summerbrook as well there angela often helped out at the front
desk fielding patient calls and helping look over financials she was at the office as often as she
could to help things run smoothly something that the office employees and dentists don't
alike seem to love one of her husband's employees chelsea otoya would later say that the couple
appeared to be two peas in a pod they both leaned on each other's sense of humor and they enjoyed
playing pranks on each other in the office for many summerbrook patients the appeal of a small
family-owned dental practice in colorado is what drew them into the business and for the workers
there the tight-knit relationship that angela and james seemed to have was one of the most important
things for angela and james when they first met each other angela and james seemed to have
served as a sort of inspiration for them james talked about angela and the kids often
telling his co-workers about all the adventures they went on together
almost every year they would go to disney and florida then in between they often took trips
around the u.s camping fishing snowboarding mountain biking and hiking then when they were
home they served as pillars within their church and community james consistently
arose through the ranks within the temple and angela took on role after role working as the
church's youth community leader choir director and youth group teacher they posted pictures online
frequently updating all of their loved ones about their lives and in all of the photos they looked
overjoyed even knowing the story it's hard to believe that they aren't what they portrayed
a happy perfect family but beneath the surface
things weren't at all what they seemed behind their bright smiles there was trouble in the
craigs's marriage since the very beginning james had been hiding a dark secret one that could only
stay concealed for so long now we don't know when angela first learned of her husband's extramarital
affairs but according to her sister their marriage had always been tumultuous due to james's
infidelity james would repeatedly promise to be better when his infidelity was discovered swearing
to angela that he would change and shout out to angela that he would change and shout out to her
in love compliments and affirmations for angela it wasn't as simple as walking away she had bound
herself for all of eternity to james and she deeply believed in her faith and in that faith
divorce is highly frowned upon on the lds website it reads the sanctity of marriage and families
is taught repeatedly in the scriptures it has been reaffirmed by modern prophets and apostles
despite the truths taught about the sanctity of marriage divorce has become commonplace in the
world because the family is central to heavenly father's plan for his children satan seeks to
destroy marriages and families because of the poor choices and selfishness of one or both marriage
partners marriages sometimes end in contention separation and divorce if instead of resorting
to divorce each individual will seek the comfort and well-being of his or her spouse couples will
grow in love and unity the gospel of jesus christ provides the remedy for conflict in marriage by all
accounts that's what angela did in spite of at least six separate partners that angela learned
of leading up to 2018 she did all she could to be a good parent a good wife and as her leaders called
her to be a forgiving partner who loved her spouse in spite of his flaws in 2016 she posted a facebook
status saying quote how many times has james come home from work looked at the house and looked at me
and said i can't believe how many times i have to go to work i can't believe how many times i have to
go to work i can't believe how many times i have to go to work i can't believe how many times i have to
10-year-old, five-year-old, and three-year-old.
And when that many lives depend on you,
your own troubles are often tossed to the wayside.
But Angela rightly couldn't hold them in anymore.
She needed to talk to someone who cared.
And through her tears, Angela confided in her sister
that James had come home and told her
that he had been having an affair for the last six months.
This wasn't just a casual hookup or flirting.
It had been going on right under her nose for half a year.
And she wasn't sure she could stay in her marriage any longer,
especially after what James had done.
Soon after Angela discovered the affair,
she began to feel ill.
The world around her was blurry.
Her heart was racing and her mind,
it just wasn't working right.
She said she could hardly keep her eyes open
and the noises around her were so distant
and inaudible.
Incomprehensible.
She knew that something was deeply wrong.
It wasn't just from the horrific discovery
she had made about her husband's infidelity.
There was something physically wrong.
And as the realization swept over her,
she was gone, asleep.
And what happened after, we will never know.
What we do know is what Angela told her sister
and her friends.
James, her husband of nearly 20 years at this point,
had drugged her.
Angela told her sister, Toni,
that James had drugged her
because he was going to go into the bathroom
and give himself a lethal injection of a drug
from his office to die by suicide.
He told Angela that he only drugged her
so that she wouldn't be able to intervene,
allowing plenty of time for the drug to take his life
before Angela knew what was happening.
That's not what happened at all.
James never tried to take his life.
And when Angela awakened,
she awakened to this story and explanation from her husband.
What his actual plan was, we don't know.
But what happened just five years later
might provide some insight.
Following this horrific incident,
James and Angela worked together to save their marriage.
James begged Angela for forgiveness
and following the doctrine and her loving heart,
she remained loyal to her husband.
The two continued the dance they had been doing
for nearly two decades.
Only now, Angela wasn't as trusting.
And she had every reason not to be.
Because things weren't just collapsing in their marriage,
they were collapsing at work too.
On July 1st, 2020, James filed for bankruptcy.
Despite earning $800,000 in 2019,
his debt included back taxes owed to the IRS,
credit card bills, and money that he lost in cryptocurrency.
By 2020, he had racked up $2 million in personal debt
and felt he had no choice but to pay for it.
He had no choice but to file.
Angela told one of her closest friends
that it was a struggle every day to stay afloat.
But despite having significant financial problems,
James continued to spend money on women,
vacations, gifts, and gambling.
All with money the Craigs didn't have.
Things got so bad in August of 2022
that Dr. Ryan Redfern,
one of James's longtime friends from dental school,
had to step in and acquire Sunnybrook Dental.
The practice was simply failing under James' advice.
James' mismanagement,
and Ryan took over to keep it from collapsing entirely.
Ryan had known James for 20 years
and described him as a risk-taker.
Ryan reportedly told James that he needed to work harder,
not only to save his marriage,
but his dental practice as well.
But James' attention was elsewhere,
and the facade of growth that he was putting on began to crumble.
Because James,
the supposedly loving husband devoted to his job and his faith,
was doing the unthinkable behind the scenes.
At church,
James was elected as the elders' quorum president,
a position of leadership where he was expected to guide
the elder men of the community in their faith.
And yet, at home,
he was actively using websites to seek out more extramarital affairs.
In October of 2022,
James signed up for a website called Seeking.com.
Now, the website publicly claims
that they do not condone sugar daddy-sugar baby situations,
which are essentially older men exchanging money and luxury goods with younger women for sex or companionship.
However, it's undeniable that that's what several people use it for, including single mother Carrie Hegseth.
Carrie met James in October after stumbling on his profile, James and Waffles.
His description read,
James and Waffles, two of the best things to wake up to.
We aren't ones to throw our opinions into cases.
We like to give you guys the facts, you know this.
But I would be remiss not to highlight just how gross reading that made me feel.
While Angela was raising their children and painstakingly trying to hold their family together,
James was writing cheesy pickup lines,
begging other women to give him the attention and love that his wife was already giving him.
For Carrie, chatting with James was a no-brainer.
During an interview with Dateline,
she admitted that she was going through a hard time financially when she decided to join the website.
Carrie said,
Carrie had a child to support, and she was willing to do whatever it took to make that happen.
James flaunted his money, and he made it clear to her immediately that he was willing to help her out
in exchange for, essentially, an ego stroke.
Carrie agreed to meet up with James at a restaurant called the Bonefish Grill in Loveland,
about an hour north of his family home.
Carrie was impressed with James.
He was smart, wealthy, and successful.
He presented himself.
He presented himself as a devoted father, a hardworking dentist, and someone who had it all together.
The two bonded over their shared experiences raising children
and navigating the ups and downs of past relationships.
Carrie opened up about her recent separation and impending divorce.
And according to Carrie, James told her that he was also going through a separation.
And based on the testimony of all the other women he became involved with,
this was his go-to story.
Now, after a romantic dinner a few days later in Greenwood Village,
James and Carrie met at a nearby hotel for their very first sexual encounter.
In exchange, James showered Carrie in financial support, gifts, and positive affirmations.
Not only did he text her at all hours of the day, complimenting her,
but he also went so far as purchasing her daughter a $9,000 Honda.
In addition, he paid her divorce attorney's $3,000 retainer
and gave each of her three children $100 as a Christmas present.
Now, once again, he had six children of his own at home and a wife who loved him.
He also had that pesky trail of debt,
one that he was only worsening in exchange for attention from women.
So while Angela was panicking about how they were going to pay their bills
and how their business was going to be,
he was also panicking about how they were going to pay their bills.
He was panicking about how their business was going to stay afloat.
James was writing his mistress checks for $9,000.
At the same time, he was complaining about Angela.
Carrie testified that he told her he wasn't happy,
but that he didn't think divorce was an option.
He admitted that going through with a divorce would leave him,
quote, completely broke and destitute, end quote.
When the two discussed the movie, The Purge,
James admitted that if he was given the opportunity
he would, quote, purge his wife, meaning kill her.
Shockingly, James also bragged that he knew how to get away with murder,
stating that he would inject someone in the neck with a toxic substance.
And if that wasn't bad enough,
Carrie wasn't the only woman James was involved with.
In total, there were three separate women that he met on Seeking.com,
all of which he pursued affairs with,
and all around the exact same time.
In October of 2022, he began wooing Elizabeth,
a data analyst from Aurora.
The two eventually met up for dinner,
and immediately after, he began texting her incessantly.
In one text, he wrote this.
Jeez, is this normal to meet someone one time
and start making plans for all the things you like to do together?
I hope this doesn't freak you out.
I just feel a strong connection to you.
I just hope it doesn't weird you out.
I know that this is so new, but I'm jumping in with both feet.
At trial, Elizabeth testified that she, quote,
didn't feel that serious about James.
He, however, was smitten.
From October to January, he purchased her a new iPhone and clothes,
on top of sending her around $8,000.
He also suggested that she should get an allowance to buy, quote,
sex things.
And all the while,
James' relationship with Carrie had also heated up.
Now, remember, the same time he was urging Elizabeth
to buy stuff for their sexual encounters
and meeting up with her in hotels,
he was buying Carrie's daughter a car
and meeting up with her at local hotels.
So it didn't take long for his wife, Angela,
to discover what was happening.
In early December, James sent this text to Carrie.
Hey, so, big problems.
Ange found the Doubletree Hotel receipt,
discovered the missing money I used to pay for your daughter's car.
I told her that we met on seeking, but that I'm not sleeping with you.
I just really wanted to help you out with your situation.
I got you a hotel to stay in because you didn't have anywhere to sleep.
Told her I bought your daughter the car and the hotel
to get you out of the dangerous situation you were in.
I'm going to have to go radio silent for a while.
And if you do get a call, now you know what I told her.
James had been discovered.
At least, his affair with Carrie
had been discovered.
And of course, it absolutely crushed his wife, Angela.
On December 9th, 2022, Angela called her sister in tears.
She told Tony that she had found something on James's computer
that made it, quote, impossible for her to stay, end quote.
Through her sobs, she told her that she was feeling, quote,
broken and completely alone, end quote.
Now, Angela never explicitly stated
what she found.
But according to investigators timeline,
it would appear that this call was in regards
to her finding a hotel receipt
and discovering that her husband had spent $9,000 on a car
for another woman's daughter instead of his own.
However, it seems that at least for a short while,
Angela chose to believe the cover story
that James had told her.
A couple of days after the 9th,
when her sister called to check and see how she was doing,
Angela told her,
that everything was okay.
She also said that what she found wasn't, quote,
what she thought it was, end quote.
Tragically, things were even worse than she had imagined.
Around the same time,
after not getting an initial response from Carrie,
James texted Carrie again, saying this.
So I've just had to lay low
and I'll still need to keep doing that.
I'm sorry.
I'm not mad, just doing some serious damage control over here.
I'm sorry.
I'm so glad you're loving your attorney
and doing well, though.
I've been worried about you.
But James wasn't doing enough damage control.
In fact, he was rapidly making things worse
because while he was radio silent with Carrie
in order to protect his marriage,
he was texting Elizabeth at a dizzying pace.
He and Elizabeth met up for dinner in December
and soon after, he took her on a ski trip to Montana.
That's right.
Soon after one of his affairs was discovered.
And with Christmas just around the corner,
James thought he could get away
with taking a different mistress on a romantic getaway
under the guise of being on a business trip.
However, soon after they landed,
James pulled their rental car into a parking lot
to take a call from his wife.
For two hours, Elizabeth sat in the car
as James stood outside speaking to his wife,
out of earshot.
When he returned, he told Elizabeth that he had to go home.
And swiftly, he bought tickets to return to Colorado.
Obviously, Angela had discovered what he was up to.
But she wasn't the one demanding he come home.
She had actually told James not to come home,
telling him through text,
quote,
there's nothing left for you to break.
That's how shattered this is, end quote.
Soon after that, she sent him another text
that read,
you had a month worth of chances to save your marriage,
but what you wanted with her was more important to you than us.
I hope she was worth it, end quote.
Now, James begged Angela for forgiveness,
pleading with her to go to counseling with him
and help save their marriage.
But in reality, Angela was the only person
who had been trying to save it all along.
And by the start of 2023, she was exhausted.
She was heartbroken.
She was heartbroken from trying to bail out of a sinking ship.
Yet, she had six kids,
a mountain of debt that had all been accumulated
by her cheating husband,
and a church that she knew would encourage her to stay.
But most heartbreaking of all,
Angela had a husband with narcissistic traits.
And if you've never been with a narcissist,
you may underestimate the hole that they can have on a person.
James was a master of love bombing.
So while Angela was constantly,
contemplating leaving and trying to figure out
if it was even possible,
James was showering her with more love and attention
than she had gotten in their 20 years of marriage.
But sadly, as you would likely expect,
she still wasn't the only one
getting that love and attention.
On January 14th, 2023,
James texted Carrie,
I hope you know I'm not putting you off.
I still want to support you in every way,
including financially.
I have to do something about this situation
I'm in first though.
That situation was Angela,
the same woman he was begging
and manipulating into staying with him.
Soon after sending that text,
James texted Carrie again saying,
do you know anyone who can help me
with my problem down here?
I can pay handsomely.
I want to be with you.
Once again, that problem was Angela.
Carrie jokingly responded
that he should hit up a homeless person.
James responded,
hitting up a homeless person
actually sounds like the only choice right now.
I made $66,000 in January
and I want desperately to share that with you
and help you.
I feel so trapped.
James though was trapped
in a trap of his own design.
He shared with his affair partners
that he believed Angela would bleed him dry
if they divorced.
In reality, James didn't have much to take.
He was drowning in debt
and dragging his wife and six kids down with him.
Still, he was more concerned with Carrie
who was struggling to make ends meet
for her three kids.
In mid-February, he texted,
I know you're used to it and you're strong
but this day is honestly killing me.
I want to be with you so bad.
And I know that money doesn't solve problems
but it can exacerbate a lot of problems
when there isn't any of it.
I've had some really amazing profitable months.
I just can't get any of the money
into your hands right now.
It sucks, especially when I think about
how you can't feed your kids
and you are on the brink of homelessness.
We need to find a way to solve my problem.
Apparently, solving that problem
simply meant moving on to someone else.
While still desperately chasing Elizabeth
who was growing more and more uninterested
with every text that James sent her.
James sent Elizabeth flowers
and repeatedly stated
that he wanted to take her to Paris
and he also wanted to meet her kids.
Elizabeth told him that she wasn't ready for that.
But still, he continued sending her overzealous text
with proclamations of love.
And as you've surely realized with James,
she wasn't the only one.
On February 24th, 2023,
James attended an out-of-state dental conference
in Las Vegas.
And it was during that time
when he met an orthodontist from Marble Halls, Texas,
Dr. Karen Kane.
Karen was in the midst of a divorce
and when she met James while waiting in line,
he too claimed to be going through
the same traumatic ordeal.
He told Karen that he was separated
from his wife, Angela,
and that she had moved
out of their family home
and into an apartment.
According to Karen,
James stated that Angela was extremely upset
over their impending divorce
and had even attempted suicide multiple times
with sedatives from his dental office.
Karen said, quote,
"The conversations were deep and honest and vulnerable.
Well, honest, I thought.
He had this incredible gift of, like,
making people feel so understood," end quote.
And once again, James fell head over heels for the new woman.
Their meeting in Las Vegas quickly turned
into the most intense emotional and physical affair yet.
Though according to Karen,
the two only made out while they were in Vegas.
She claimed they never had sex.
She said she refused to sleep with him
until she knew he was her, quote,
"forever person," end quote.
And it seems that James was pretty eager
to convince her that he was.
He was so infatuated with her
that within just three days of meeting her,
he was already confessing his love to her.
In a text on February 27th, he wrote, quote,
"Sonar conmigo, my eternal love.
May heaven let us bloom together forever."
Now, sonar conmigo roughly translates to "dream with me."
- And dream they did.
Over the next 18 days, the two exchanged 4,000 text messages,
all laced with the same flowery language.
In an effort to hide the affair from his wife,
James created an email account just for his exchanges
with Karen,
[email protected].
But within days of its creation,
that email would serve a far more disturbing purpose,
one that had nothing to do with love.
Because while James showered Karen with attention and love,
he was secretly planning on killing the woman
he had vowed to spend eternally with.
All the while, Angelo remained the glue of their family.
In spite of knowing exactly what her husband was doing,
again and again, he was destroying the family
they had spent over two decades building.
And as February neared an end,
his plan for their total destruction began in earnest.
The internet offers endless possibilities.
And as we all know, with it, endless horrors.
With the click of a button,
you can change the lives of dozens,
if not hundreds or thousands of people.
With a single Amazon purchase,
you could end a life and with it,
end a marriage.
On February 27th, James searched chemical suppliers
in Aurora, Colorado.
Then he searched on Google,
"Where can I buy arsenic?
"The five most dangerous chemicals on earth.
"How to purchase arsenic metal.
"Top five undetectable poisons
"that show no signs of foul play."
It seems that James settled on arsenic,
because on Amazon, he made a purchase.
The listing was originally titled
"Arsenic Metal 99.9999% Created."
It was a very popular item, and it was a very popular product.
It was a very popular product, and it was a very popular product.
What he told Angelina was true.
Angela, we will never know. Because, staying true to the loyal and loving wife that she was,
she didn't tell her sister, or anybody else. Are you ready to have your mind blown?
I want you now to imagine that in front of you was a locked door, symbolizing all that you know,
everything you've been taught in your time on earth, the lies your government has fed you.
With my podcast, The Conspiracy Files, I now give you the door's key. And, once you've listened to
the show, you've finally unlocked this door and stepped inside. Beyond the door is another
dimension. A dimension of false narratives. A dimension of hidden evidence. A dimension of
truth, lies, and murders. You're moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of deadly
secrets and explosive ideas. You've just crossed over into The Conspiracy Zone.
I'm your host, Colin Brown. Join me now on this journey into the world of secret pedophile rings,
government cover-ups, and suspicious suicides, on my new show,
The Conspiracy Zone.
The Conspiracy Files. Available now on all streaming platforms.
When Angela returned to Aurora on March 5th, she was healthy and happy. She was revitalized and
determined to fix their marriage. On the morning of March 6th, 2023, Angela and James awoke and
went about their usual routine, coffee and a workout together. Now, prior to her workout,
James made Angela a protein shake,
which he told her contained extra B vitamins and a full scoop of caffeine to help her recover
from her trip. And then the day continued on as normal. James went to Sunnybrook Dental,
and Angela stayed home to tend to the children and chores. But within a few hours,
things changed, and they would never be the same again. While working on a patient,
James received a text from Angela that read, quote,
I am dizzy, and my eyes don't want to fall.
I can't focus, but I can get the stuff done that I need to this morning, end quote.
James suggested that she lie down, but she told him she was already face down on her workout mat.
Angela sent more messages saying, quote, I don't feel right in my head. I'm dizzy in my head,
and my eyes are working slowly, and my body is responding slowly, end quote.
Pretending to be concerned, James told her that her symptoms didn't sound normal,
and that he wanted to come home.
But Angela reassured him that she would be fine, and that he needed to stay at work.
But the messages continued. Angela said,
It feels more like I feel when I take heavy meds and everything adjusts and moves slowly,
like I'm moving in thick gel. My eyes are struggling to stay focused.
James asked if she had eaten anything or if she felt nauseous. Angela responded,
No, I feel drugged.
Apparently, this text hit a nerve based on the previous incident in 2018.
He said,
Given our history, I know that must be triggering. Just for the record, I didn't drug you.
I am super worried, though. You really looked pale before I left. Like your lips, even.
Although Angela tried to shake it off and lie down in her bed, her symptoms were getting worse.
There was a tingling sensation throughout her body, and her vision was blurred.
Angela was frightened and asked James to come home.
At 4.19pm, he told her he would come, but it would take him another two hours before he was on the road.
When he arrived, he drove her to the Parker Adventist Emergency Room.
Upon arrival, Angela told medical staff that she was dizzy and weak.
She also stated that her head felt funny, her eyes wouldn't focus, she was tingling and tired.
Doctors were baffled at her symptoms. Her blood pressure was unstable,
but despite numerous medical tests, including a CT scan, MRI, and blood work,
they didn't have a conclusive answer as to what was going on. After hours at the hospital, Angela was
released and sent home. She believed that James would take care of her. But instead, he returned
to Sunnybrook Dental to, in his words, "take care of some work." Office manager Caitlin Romero
happened to be working late that night as well. It was odd to see James return to the office.
But what was even more bizarre was where she discovered him soon after he arrived.
While taking care of her business, Caitlin entered the exam room number 9 to drop something on her.
When she walked into the room, she discovered James sitting in the dark,
illuminated by a single beam of light from the computer screen. She nearly jumped out of her
skin. She had never seen James on a computer outside of his office before. He was always on
his desktop or his laptop. But she shrugged off the incident, leaving her boss to take
care of business. However, 30 minutes later, she received a text from him saying that he had a
personal package coming to the office. He wanted Caitlin to be on the lookout for it and to alert
him as soon as it arrived without opening it. Little did she know, the personal package was
an order of three 1-milligram vials of oleandrin, the poisonous compound in oleander plants,
that he had purchased from Aduke Bioscience for $330. Apparently, the arsenic wasn't working fast
enough for him. But back at the Craig residence, Angela was in utter misery.
She desperately tried to rest and recuperate, but the symptoms were still there.
She continuously texted James throughout the day on March 7th, saying that she was still dizzy,
tired, and had a headache. She wondered if her bizarre symptoms were from a sinus infection
that had turned into an ear infection. James said, "Would you like me to call in a Z-Pak for you?"
Angela responded, "That would be great. Sorry meant to say that."
The text messages exchanged between the two suggested that James was a character
of a caring and attentive husband. He told her, "I love you. It was so nice hanging out with you and
just watching a show and snuggling. I'm sorry that you still aren't feeling well and that you feel
like I'm disappointed about that. I'm not disappointed at all. Just feeling empathy
for how hard that must be for you. Hopefully things can improve and get better. I'm also
grateful that the last couple of days have allowed me to have more flexibility in my schedule. God
really does know what he's doing." Angela was worried, and rightfully so. It was bizarre that
a healthy, active 43-year-old woman would suddenly become so sick. She started googling her symptoms
obsessively. Way too much vitamin V, pre-workout supplement made me dizzy and eyes are blurry an
hour later, side effects of high blood pressure, dizziness, trouble focusing, hearing distortion,
mini seizures, cold lips, body shakes and lips go cold, and can the flu cause vertigo?
But Angela wasn't getting better. Her symptoms continued getting worse.
And on the morning of March 9th, she was too weak to stand on her own. Once again,
she returned to the hospital and was admitted for low blood pressure and vomiting.
For the next five days, Angela went through numerous tests, including an MRI on her brain,
an ultrasound of her heart, and a CT scan of her head, chest, abdomen, and metabolic panels.
But everything came back normal. The doctors were baffled.
During this time, James texted Michelle Redfearn, his business partner's wife,
who also had a PhD in nursing. He texted her Angela's symptoms, giving Michelle an update
and playing the part of a concerned husband looking for more information.
But even for Michelle, it just didn't make sense. James texted her,
If it wasn't my wife, this would be kind of a fun puzzle to try to work out.
For Angela's friends and family, seeing her in the hospital,
was horrific. She was swollen, unable to eat, and could barely even lift her head.
But if James was concerned, it was hard to tell. Through various text messages with friends and
family, James never appeared distraught about his wife's mysterious symptoms.
For him, the situation seemed more like a normal day than anything out of the ordinary.
He continued to go to work and take care of the children at home. Angela texted him
with updates and told him that she was still nauseous, shaky, dizzy, and had a headache.
But he played the role of a loving husband well, often bringing Angela food when she was hungry
and texting her sweet messages that he loved and missed her and couldn't wait for her to come home
so they could snuggle. But James knew that she wasn't coming home, and he was counting on it.
On the same day she was admitted to the hospital, James returned to exam room number 9 and purchased
Sigma-207-81025G from Midland Scientific Inc. The item was potassium cyanide. And if you've
listened to any true crime, you know cyanide is not something you want to mess with.
Which is precisely why, after it was purchased, an employee with Midland Scientific emailed James
regarding additional information needed for his purchase. They wrote,
James, our product screening team would like a usage statement for what you will be using the
item for. Please provide that as soon as possible. James, our product screening team would like a
use statement for what you will be using the item for. The employee also informed him that the item was not in stock, but that the supplier could
overnight it and have it delivered to his dental office. Two hours after the original email was
sent, James responded saying, Thanks, I am a surgeon and I perform craniofacial reconstruction.
Rarely, the prosthetics that we use contain metals that patients are intolerant to,
causing severe localized contact immune response. We are investigating whether
electroplating with a thin layer of alternative metals will eliminate the
this problem. This chemical is sort of that process.
If this is successful, we hope to publish a paper in the archives of the National Institutes
of Health, specifically the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
My ADA CERP, Continuing Education Recognition Program, identification number is PROV4684.
My license number is CO9285, and my MPI number is 194-230-1502.
My professional email address is drcraig at summerbrookdental.com.
I hope we can still get this overnighted.
I'm teaching a course tomorrow and Saturday and would love to demonstrate the process.
Now, once again, James was lying through his teeth to try and get what he wanted,
and while at Parker Adventist Hospital visiting his sick wife,
James returned to the email chain between him and Midland Scientific.
He filled out the Restricted Item Usage Statement form for Midland Scientific Incorporated
and told the employee,
Oh man, so inconvenient.
Well, ship it out anyway.
The course is Friday and Saturday, so I'll shuffle some things around and make sure I
can utilize it on Saturday.
What method will it ship?
And will it ship for a Saturday delivery?
The employee apologized, but told James that it would be shipped for next day air, meaning
it would be at Sunnybrook Dental on Friday, March 10th.
On the morning the delivery was expected, James visited Angela in the hospital.
After he left, she texted him saying she loved him and missed him.
He responded,
You're welcome.
I wish I could have stayed longer.
I love you and am so glad you seem to be doing better.
End quote.
But while he wasn't at the hospital, he was pestering Midland Scientific,
desperate for the delivery that he hoped would end his wife's life.
At 10.47am on Friday, March 10th, James emailed Midland Scientific asking for tracking information.
An employee told him that the shipment was unable,
to be overnighted, and the expected delivery had been pushed to Saturday, March 11th.
As for the tracking information, she could not provide details as the item was currently
in the delivery process.
But James sent another email later that same day, asking for tracking information once again.
He wrote this.
So they know that it has been shipped, but they don't have the tracking info yet.
Is that about right?
And they won't have the tracking info until Monday, but it is set to deliver tomorrow.
So they don't have the tracking info until Monday, but it is set to deliver tomorrow.
The employee responded in the affirmative, and James was relieved.
He was desperate for the package to be delivered on a weekend, when the practice was closed.
For him, it looked like things were going to work out.
He was going to get the poison.
And, as he waited at the office for it to arrive on March 11th,
he seemed to be thrilled by what he was going to do.
He texted Angela this.
Angela did not respond.
While he waited for the package to arrive, he continuously texted her throughout the day,
asking how she was feeling and what the doctors told her.
Now, looking at that, I can't help but draw the conclusion
that he found some sick pleasure in what he was waiting for,
and what it meant for his wife to be in the hospital bed.
But that pleasure quickly turned to anger,
because by the time he was in the hospital,
by the time nightfall came, the package still hadn't arrived.
So, James emailed Midland Scientific this.
Wow, it's 7.30 at night, and I've been waiting at my office all day for the shipment.
Looks like it didn't come.
I wish they would have just told me they weren't going to be able to get it to me overnight.
Please send me the tracking information when you get it.
On Monday morning, March 13th, an employee responded to James' email saying,
Dr. Craig, I'm so sorry it did not get to you in time.
It looks like it did ship out and was expected for Saturday delivery,
but must have been some transit delays, which unfortunately is out of our hands."
However, this time they were able to provide a tracking number for his order via FedEx.
At 8:00 a.m., James responded saying, "It's not your fault.
I was just feeling frustrated and needed somebody to vent to.
Looks like it's out for delivery this morning, so hopefully we will see that."
James replied, "I will see the package soon. Thanks for your help."
It's clear that James was anxious about the delivery, especially now that the office
was open and he would be busy with patients all day.
But once again, he mentioned to his office manager, Caitlin, that if a package was delivered,
no one should open it.
But apparently, Caitlin didn't receive the potassium cyanide that was delivered at 9:47
a.m.
Instead, another employee, Cathy, said, "I'm sorry.
I'm sorry."
Cathy Van Horn signed for the package.
By the time Caitlin realized there was a package at the front desk, it had already been opened.
Caitlin peered into the box and saw a biohazard sticker and a package slip that read, "potassium
cyanide."
Caitlin had never seen anything like that come into the dental office, but she decided
to reseal the box and hand delivered it to James.
There are plenty of reasons why you should consider getting a better care.
You can get a better care at a better place.
This is the end of the video.
as she still had no idea what was going on,
and she was terrified that her symptoms would return.
Her friends and family members were also concerned,
not only for Angela,
but also because of James's attitude
towards the entire situation.
He was quick to respond about clinical updates,
but he never seemed concerned or upset
that they didn't have solid answers.
Even when he spoke to Angela,
he assured her that it was most likely stress
or some sort of virus,
he even suggested COVID,
but Angela's symptoms were much more concerning.
She told her brother, Mark,
that she felt like she was shaking internally.
On the morning of Wednesday, March 15th,
James decided to stay home with Angela for a few hours
before going into work,
but once he believed she was okay,
he left.
From there, her brother, Mark,
opted to stay home with her
to make sure everything was taken care of.
James reminded Mark,
that Angela was to take her antibiotics
he had prescribed her for a sinus infection.
A sinus infection that Angela didn't have,
and one that, even if she did have,
wouldn't be treatable with that antibiotic.
But Mark agreed to give it to her,
and at 10 a.m., he handed her over two capsules.
Mark thought that what he was doing
was needed to take care of his baby sister.
However, shortly after giving her the pills,
at around noon,
at around 11 a.m.,
less than 24 hours after being released from the hospital,
Angela collapsed on the floor.
Luckily, Mark was with her,
and he rushed her to University Hospital.
He hoped that taking her to a different hospital
would have better luck diagnosing her symptoms.
But by this point, Angela's condition was dire.
She had a severe headache and intense dizziness.
This time, it seemed different.
There had not been a gradual decline.
Instead,
her symptoms had come on suddenly with alarming speed.
Once again, doctors ordered tests,
and she was hooked up to multiple monitors
as doctors spoke with her
to try and get to the bottom of her symptoms.
But it proved to be impossible.
As doctors asked her questions to help diagnose her,
she repeatedly blacked out in the middle of her sentences,
losing track of where she was and what the doctors had asked.
Not long after Angela arrived,
James was at his wife's side,
but he didn't stick around too long,
saying that he had worked things
to do.
He left the hospital for an hour and a half,
while his wife suffered from unusual,
debilitating symptoms.
When he returned quite some time later,
he was carrying sandwiches for himself and Mark.
Apparently, his wife being near death
didn't affect his appetite.
As the two ate,
James nonchalantly told Mark to go home and get some rest.
Though Mark wanted nothing more than to stay by his sister's side,
he chose to respect James' wishes,
assuming he wanted alone time with his wife.
So,
he left.
Mark thought his sister would be safe.
There were doctors there and her husband,
the one who had sealed himself to her for all of eternity.
But sadly,
he was wrong.
At 2pm,
just 15 minutes after Mark left the hospital,
Angela suffered a seizure.
During it,
she stopped breathing.
Her blood pressure completely crashed.
Mark,
halfway home,
received a text from their sister Toni,
telling him,
that Angela had crashed.
He quickly whipped his car around in a panic
and raced back to the hospital
only to find the room a quote,
madhouse of activity.
Multiple medical staff members were working to revive her
and keep Angela alive.
As Mark and Toni's worst nightmare unraveled before their eyes,
James sat in a nearby chair by the nurse's station.
He wasn't glued to the scene
or fighting to hold his wife's hand.
He was simply staring down at his cell phone.
Unbeknownst to everyone,
he was casually texting his mistress,
Karen Kane,
updating her on Angela's condition.
But they weren't texts of concern.
They were text messages trying to garner sympathy.
All while his wife laid in another room,
her brain swelling as she slipped into a coma.
Tragically,
doctors discovered no sign of brain activity.
They moved Angela to the hospital.
They took Angela into the ICU
and hooked her up to life support
while her husband continued to flirt with the woman
he had met just three weeks prior.
During the chaos,
James also texted Michelle Redfern
two photos of Angela being worked on in the hospital room.
Following these horrific photos,
he sent a text that read,
crash intubated, 5544, pulse 115.
Doc says she should be mentally responsive by now
and she's not.
Doc says she's very, very worried.
Use the word tenuous.
Michelle was also worried
and told James that she and Ryan
were on their way to the university hospital.
When they arrived,
they briefly spoke to James,
but he excused himself after receiving a phone call
from one of Angela's doctors.
Once James was occupied,
Ryan pulled one of the nurses aside
and voiced his concerns that Angela
may have been poisoned with potassium cyanide.
He told her about the mysterious package
received at the office.
A few minutes later,
a forensics nurse arrived
and spoke with Ryan for roughly 30 minutes.
About what was found at Sunnybrook Dental
and Angela's symptoms.
Ryan later said,
after that conversation,
the significance of what was happening
was even more significant.
Remember, Ryan originally had no reason
to think that James would ever kill his wife.
He had known James for over 20 years
and he had never seen him hurt a fly.
But after speaking to the forensics nurse,
Ryan no longer had any doubt.
After speaking with the nurse,
he returned to the ICU waiting room
and searched for more information.
He found no information on the poison
and how it affected the human body.
He also took this time to inform Angela's brother,
Mark, about what was going on.
Ryan noticed James speaking with the medical staff
in the hallway as they gave him an update
on his wife's prognosis.
Apparently, it wasn't good.
And when James learned the details,
he got extremely emotional.
Eventually, Ryan and Michelle left the ICU waiting room
and returned to Michelle's car in the parking lot.
As they sat together and discussed
their horrific suspicions about James
and the poison,
Ryan received a phone call.
It was James.
The cell phone call immediately connected
to Michelle's vehicle's Bluetooth
and she was able to hear the entire conversation.
James was distraught and told Ryan
he had heard some disturbing information.
He asked Ryan if he had talked to the hospital staff
about what was going on.
Ryan admitted that he had.
He couldn't hold in his frustration, his fear.
He snapped.
Jim, what was in the package?
But James dismissed it as nothing.
Nothing serious, saying it was just a ring
he had purchased for his wife.
Ryan knew it wasn't a ring
and he called his longtime friend out on his lie.
At this point, James had no idea
that anyone had opened the package
and he responded, well, it wasn't opened.
But Ryan informed him that the package was opened by mistake
and then he asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
Jim, why do you need potassium cyanide?
There was absolutely no medical reason for having it.
James was shocked.
He was silent, caught.
His business partner and best friend of two decades
saw right through him.
He knew that he was a monster
and with that realization,
the facade James was carrying fell away.
He became emotional over the phone,
asking in a panicked tone,
what have you done?
He immediately became defensive,
claiming that he and Angela
had been playing a game of chicken.
James told Ryan that there were significant problems
in their relationship
and due to that,
Angela wanted to take her own life.
Saying she was suicidal and couldn't buy it herself
because you need certain credentials.
But he admitted that he did not think Angela
would have actually taken the poison.
Ryan was crushed.
He knew his friend was lying,
but he was too far gone.
He told James to stop talking and to get an attorney.
And with that, he hung up.
Meanwhile, someone else made a call.
The forensic nurse who Ryan Redfern had spoken with.
I am one of the forensic nurses at University Hospital.
We have a question.
I have a suspected cyanide,
potassium cyanide poisoning.
And the patient who's in the ER this morning
walked in from normal labs, normal everything.
He does not know we're calling you guys either.
Okay.
Because he's wanting my understanding
is to withdraw care on her pretty quickly.
My understanding is that he was trying to get the children here
to say goodbye to her and then withdraw care.
Within a few hours,
Detective Chamberlain and Detective Bobby Olson
were at University Hospital
asking for help.
They were asking questions about Angela's prognosis.
While she was fighting for her life in the ICU,
James was spinning lies and covering his tracks.
On the morning of March 16th,
James called Ryan on his cell phone,
but he didn't answer.
Instead, he received a lengthy text message that read this.
Good morning, Ryan.
Thank you for taking my patient load today.
I want to make an urgent plea to you.
If we were ever friends, please do this favor for me.
Please don't talk to me again.
Please don't talk to anyone about what we talked about last night,
including any law enforcement officers.
You are under no obligation to answer their questions
unless you are served a subpoena,
and you will do more damage than good to my family
by continuing to insert yourself into this.
Angela is gone, and I am devastated.
There is nothing we can do to bring her back,
and I want desperately to tell you all the details
so that you can better understand
what's gone on behind the scenes with her.
There is so, so much that you don't know
that I wish you did.
If you knew everything,
Everything.
this would make so much sense to you, but there's no use in telling you right now.
You and I have a history of you and the other partners and Jackie all talking about me behind
my back and deciding what you think is best, and then you're always the fall guy that has
to pull the trigger or tell me what you've all decided about me. In fact, yesterday you didn't
even come to me. I had to seek you out. You've never given me the advantage of talking with me
first. You just decide, then act and hope I'll pick up the pieces later. This is a pattern in
our business dealings and now has become a factor in our personal dealings. Let me paint a picture
for you of what this has done. Yesterday I had to tell my kids their mom was not going to wake up
and they were there to say their final goodbyes. This was at 6.45pm. The hospital said we could
bring the kids up to say goodbye at the time, but because of the investigation you opened by
your incomplete information, the hospital made those poor, grieving, hysterical kids wait until
10pm to see their mom.
After an hour or so of saying goodbye to her, we went home just before midnight,
only to have our house sealed against our entry by the police. Instead of getting to go home and
find comfort, they were met with flashing lights and cold, unfeeling cops, and the kids,
scared and confused, had to go sleep at the home of a ward member. Family is starting to come to
town and I have to tell them they can't come to my house and try to explain why.
I have to hire a homicide attorney to make sure I don't end up being painted in the light that you
know some hungry DA is anxious to paint me in because I am most likely going to be charged
even though that is absolutely not what happened. Ryan, I understand why you did what you did. I do.
I get it. But if you had come to me personally, man to man, instead of talking to everyone else
about what you thought you knew, I might have let you in on some details that would have made you
less likely to cause this horrible storm. Man, Ryan, if you had only put me higher on your list
of priorities, instead of putting everyone else's opinions and gossiping on you, I would have let you
ahead of me. For that, I am very, very mad at you. I have talked to you multiple times,
but you don't seem to care and now what you thought was responsible has become reckless
and so, so destructive. And so, I'm asking, if there was ever any love in your heart for me,
please don't make this any worse by talking to any officers or anyone else about this
unless you are legally forced to. And whoever else on the team you think is going to be questioned,
I would ask that you privately ask them to honor this request too.
Also,
please do not respond to this text message until I text you again.
If James cared at all that his wife was only alive because she was hooked up to life support,
he didn't show it. Instead, while his minor children were with a ward of the state
and police were beginning to investigate him, James took this opportunity to spend time with
his mistress, Karen Kane. In fact, Karen was supposed to visit James between March 8th and
March 10th. James was supposed to visit him on March 8th, and he was supposed to visit him on
March 10th of 2023, all while Angela was sick in the hospital. But she ended up rescheduling.
Her second flight, which was purchased on March 4th, was between the dates of March 16th and March
20th, 2023. While Angela was brain dead in the ICU, Karen arrived from Texas and spent time with
James. Apparently, he told her all about what was going on with his wife, and she wanted to be there
to support him. And so, she went to the hospital. And so, she went
him. At this point, Karen still believed that James and Angela were in the midst of a divorce,
and she had no idea about the details surrounding her mysterious illness. But on March 16th,
Karen checked into a hotel room and met up with James. The two went hiking, they spent time
together, and they enjoyed a sushi dinner. Eventually, James left the hotel and told Karen
he had, quote, business matters to attend to. She later sent him an email saying, quote,
Hi, honey. I'm so sorry for what transpired this week in your world. I'm sorry I am not a part of
your world to be more to help you. And instead, I'm pulling you away. This is so hard. I want to
be and do whatever I can to support and encourage you.
And I don't want to add to what has become an incredibly difficult time. I can't imagine what
it is doing to you to walk your kids through this. I do want to give you any comfort I can,
but I do not feel it is right for me to mix in with all of those gathering to mourn Angela either.
And I do not want to meet your family as a friend and try to conceal what I feel for you.
I am praying for you and seeking God's wisdom for this time. I love you, end quote. But unbeknownst
to Karen, James's business that he had to attend to was actually purchasing a gravestone for his
wife, Angela, who at the time was still on life support. Unfortunately, at 4.29 p.m. on March 18th,
2023, Angela was pronounced brain dead by Dr. Natalie Held at University Hospital,
and she was taken off of life support. The determination of death stated,
Irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or the individual
has sustained irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the
brainstem. When James learned that Angela was dead, he refused to allow the hospital staff
to conduct an autopsy. Angela's sister, Toni, begged James to let them figure out what had
happened in case it was genetic and his children were in danger of it happening to them.
But he wouldn't budge and stated that if the hospital staff couldn't figure out what was
wrong with her when she was alive, he wasn't going to allow them to poke and prod her body
in death. But Ryan Redfern's tip had ignited something far more sinister,
an unraveling of lies, betrayal, and a potential homicide investigation.
Hours after Angela's death, the Aurora Police Department arrived at the Craig residence
and informed James that he would need to leave the home, as it was now part of an active
investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death. Although he was not under arrest,
he immediately asked for an attorney before going down to the police station.
On March 16th,
investigators obtained a search warrant for James and Angela's house at 6795 South Robertsdale Way
and the Sunnybrook Dental Office. They confiscated protein powders,
shake holders, and numerous Ziploc baggies filled with white powder.
They also took his personal laptop and cell phone, Angela's cell phone,
and the hard drive connected to the computer in exam room number 9.
What they discovered was horrifying. A newly created email account,
jamesandwaffles at gmail.com, numerous internet
searches about arsenic, oleander, cyanide, and tetrahydrazoline, and even an online order for
three of the poisons. They theorized that when the arsenic failed to work fast enough,
he ordered oleandrin. Apparently, the order of oleandrin that James purchased on March 6th
had been intercepted by FedEx and was not delivered. Frustrated, he then ordered the
potassium cyanide through Midland Scientific Incorporated. But instead of supporting his
wife in the hospital while she was sick and suffering, he ordered the potassium cyanide
order. Irritated that it was taking too long to be delivered. Investigators believed that James had
first given Angela arsenic through a protein shake, which significantly weakened her but
wasn't enough to kill her. So, he took it one step further, administering a fatal dose of cyanide.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC,
ingesting arsenic can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. It can also cause confusion,
dizziness,
shortness of breath, and rapid heart rate. The poison ultimately prevents the cells from using
oxygen, and the organs will start to shut down immediately. In the case of Angela Craig,
this is exactly what happened. The cyanide shut down her body's ability to use oxygen,
leaving her brain and organs starved within minutes. By the time doctors placed her on life
support, the damage was irreversible. With all of the evidence against James,
an arrest warrant was issued on March 18th, 2023.
The police located James at the Marriott Hotel around 2am on the morning of March 19th.
James was not alone in room 203. He was with his mistress, Karen Kane.
After he was arrested, investigators returned to the hotel room and spoke with Karen,
who was completely blindsided by what was going on.
Um, basically, obviously, I didn't find you by a miracle. Um, we are aware, um, of,
yours and Jim's relationship, and, um, basically, your emails and stuff back and forth between each
other, and he's been taken into custody for killing his wife.
so i don't know um you know obviously we consider you to be a motive for him to do that
i don't know what kind of communications he's had with you about his wife um and what's been
going on with her um we have noticed that you seem to come to denver when his wife was in the
hospital and i don't know if that's just uh what kind of timing is you know that is or what he's
telling you or how he you know you guys are setting up when you're going to come out here
um so i don't know if you can shed any light on any of that i can show you when i bought my ticket
but i bought my ticket a couple of weeks ago at least so yeah the timing was set before she
went
you know
come out here twice you come out here on the 8th stay till the 10th ticket for the 8th i changed
you didn't come out here then no okay hey all right at southwest so it's free to change change
okay so i just changed the 8th to the 16th so this is the first time you've come out here
how did you meet him at a meeting at dental meeting and
las vegas
did you i mean like was this um you know i don't want to get too personal but i mean is this like
something he was telling you was a serious relationship um i mean did you consider it
to be a serious relationship i mean we shared a lot of you know personal information practically
just like history and i don't know kind of
but we haven't been physically intimate
um did what did he tell you he's been going on with his wife
just that he said he told her in november that he
wanted a divorce they told the kids together in december he filed and
jane
jane
jane
jane
jane
jane
early everywhere something and um you know we got um back from a meeting and he said i'm gonna sit
down with her tonight we're gonna start to talk about what just about the kids about how things
are gonna look during the beach and things like that and that uh she had said that she probably
was gonna move back to where her family is you know and just they had been just kind of talking
about what things were gonna look like he said he did tell me when they talked that night
i'm kind of worried that she might hurt herself so we've had a history of that what night was that
that would have been
the night well he had
he had said that probably even before that
but i feel like he said that the night that they talked about whether or not she was gonna
keep living here with the kids or move the kids to utah and he was worried about you know
neither of them really wanted the kids to move back to utah and all that so
that would have been you know somewhere around
first of march
did he talk to you at all about why she was in the hospital
just told me that the girl said she was acting strange and
we actually just had this conversation a couple days ago i was like okay well that makes because
i didn't know about um her history of attempting suicide and i said well that makes a lot of sense
uh sense why you jumped right to i mean taking her to the hospital and she was just kind of acting
like to me it was like he's he explained that to me again he said she was acting weird the girls
meaning the kids
to say mommy well mom's not feeling well and she's not getting up or she's laying down and
okay so here's basically where we're at
um he's never told her he wants a divorce he's never told her he's there's no talk of him moving
out with the kids she has no idea anything about a divorce um he's purchased poisons and she's now
dead because of poisons so he is in jail for scream murder um he's not getting out there's no bond
um he will be in jail
so um a lot of the things he's told you assuming you've told me the truth um are all nonsense
um there's no history of suicide by her there's no anything um we have text messages between
two of them for going way back there's no talk of anything um the only talk of a suicide is him
drugging
her so that he could kill himself and she couldn't wake up and stop him and that's confirmed
from him talking to her on text messages
so this would be if he disclosed anything about buying poison about trying to kill her about
trying to do things so that he could be with you or anything along those lines you know i don't we
don't want to find something or he's going to tell us that you're in on this or you've gotten poisons
through your office or you know what i'm saying um he's never said i mean he even said he had a
conversation this evening with his son because his son found the reversal agents that he's had
because he's had to reverse her he had the little bottle like this at narcan
um we don't know what that is he said that that his son had found it was a
well narcan doesn't do anything for cyanide poisoning so um i don't know
what he's talking about basically he's lying to you that i'm very very confident about um so
that's kind of well that's is where this is at so he's like i said he can't bond he
will be able to make phone calls at some point um you know obviously all of his family no one knows
about you they all think this is some tragedy that she got sick and died
and that they were doing just fine there was no indication from any of the kids when they
spoke with dhs that um from the kids if there was any marital problems there was anything wrong with
mom that mom was you know suicidal nothing like that none of the kids and some of them are adults
all the way down through mentioned anything about anything with mom
so unfortunately i think he's told you a very elaborate story of which probably
most of it if not all of it's nonsense meanwhile james was taken to the aurora police department
where he sat down with the only two female homicide detectives within the unit detective bobby olson
and detective molly harris after being charged with first-degree murder with intent after
deliberation james denied having any involvement in his wife's murder um so now you're here so i
do have an arrest warrant for the murder
of angela my gosh
so i know that you know you've expressed
a few times that you have the answers and want to tell us um i just want to give you that opportunity
to tell us what you know and if you have insight on kind of what happened or i mean i know you've
talked to dhs department of human services um and you've kind of alluded when i've talked to you
i i just wanted to just give you the opportunity i really want that i i haven't had my phone so i
haven't been able to talk to the attorney that i reached out to because as you can imagine this is
terrifying for me and you both seem very nice and like you're on my side but i know how this works
and i don't want to incriminate myself or say anything stupid or there are answers there are
answers and this makes a lot of sense once those answers come out but i don't know how to navigate
this i've never done this before and i'm scared to death i can tell you i did not
of my life.
Okay.
Like I said, again, I just
wanted to give you that opportunity.
This is really your only opportunity
to tell us what happened
and I wanted to give you that, okay?
Yeah. So,
what happens if, right
now I say, I just really needed an attorney
with me and I can't talk to you, then what happens next?
I think
the uniformed
officers here will just take you down to the jail.
And how long will I stay there for?
So, you'll be booked into our Aurora Municipal Jail.
And then
ultimately, I don't know,
24, 48,
72 hours, then
the marshals will take you down to the Rappahoe County
Jail. And then that's where you'll
stay. You'll have your, I guess,
first appearance.
And that's, you have
the warrant is for first degree murder.
So, there is no bond.
So, you are not allowed to
pay a bondsman and get out.
And then, so you'll have
kind of a series of
court dates.
And then, and court hearings
and so on.
So, kind of for months
down the line. And then you'll have
what they call proof evident hearing.
And at that time will be when
the judge will decide if you will get a bond
or not. And that's usually with like 30 to
60 days from today.
So, you will be in custody for at least
that long until a judge
will determine if you
can get a bond.
Okay. And then what happens if
I talk to you and tell you
everything I know? Then what?
I still go to jail
and I wait for 30 to 60 days to see
if I can get a bond. Well, I don't know. I mean,
you have a warrant. So, you're going to go to jail
today. I can't change that.
Is,
do you have something
to say and maybe I can verify
it and that'll clear you
and take away all the evidence
that I have? Then I
would submit all that to the district attorney's
office and they would submit it to the judge
to say that.
But again, nothing
will change the fact that you're going to go to jail
today because the judge
signed it, right? So, I can't
just take that away. It's a judge's order.
But again, anything you have to say,
and if I can, you know, kind of prove
that, right? Like, we have to vet that stuff, right?
Yeah. And see if
there's validity to what you have to say,
right?
You know, we can obviously take that into account.
And then
if that's verified, then that, yeah,
it might change the circumstances.
But it won't for what will
occur tonight.
So, either
way, I'm going to jail tonight.
Correct.
Could the outcome
change, like I said, if we can vet
that information?
It's always possible. That's what she's trying
to say. It's always possible
that people talk to us, that they provide
information where we can find
they provide information and tell us where
we can get said information to confirm it
if we don't already have it. And then we
can, like, again, touch base with
the district attorney's office of how they want to navigate
that going forward.
Every case is different. So we
can't really, I guess, give you direction
if that makes sense, because we don't know what
information you have.
So, we only know
what we have currently.
And what do you have currently?
Well, that's typically
how we do this, is if
we're going to have a conversation, we would
Mirandize you, and then
you would talk to us, and we would talk to you
type of thing. But
we don't go into all the details
of what we have.
Because, you know,
this is your opportunity to talk, really,
if you want to. And we can't force that.
We're not going to force that.
It's just, we provide that opportunity
because, again, like she said,
there are two sides to every story.
We only have what we would consider
to be one side right now.
We don't know your side.
You've expressed to Detective Olson
and Detective Graw that you have answers
for the police department, or for the situation,
if you will. And so, this is, I guess,
really your opportunity. But you have every right
to have an attorney, too. So, it's whatever
you feel is best fitted for you.
- I was never really getting my phone back, was I?
- Yeah, I mean, it's done. It's downloaded.
I literally had to bring it back to the lab.
Yeah.
I mean, we typically download them,
and then we give them back.
I mean, it's not customary for us to keep them.
- But--
- Because we have all the info.
That's not why I was coming here tonight, though, was it?
- Tonight, no.
- Yeah.
- Mm-mm.
- I thought that's why I was coming.
- Right.
I mean, had I not obtained, I guess, probable cause,
enough evidence for a judge to sign the warrant,
yes, by all means, you would have gotten your phone back.
And not been arrested.
- Wow.
- Oh my gosh.
I have all of the answers that you need,
but I can't talk, I can't.
- Okay.
- The one attorney that I've talked to has said,
"Don't say anything because you can just incriminate yourself
and I'm totally naive at this.
I don't know what I'm doing."
And you both seem very nice,
but I know that your job is to put me away.
- Our job is to figure out what happened.
- Happened.
- And we have a lot of evidence.
I don't know what happened.
- I don't know what happened.
- We have, again, like we've both reiterated,
we only have one side of this situation.
We have the information that we have obtained,
the people we have talked to.
Just like any other investigation,
we strictly work death cases
and specifically homicides more than anything.
So we have kind of routine things that we do.
We have done that in this scenario.
We have a lot of information.
We certainly have a lot of questions too.
And sometimes,
the information does make sense of things
that we've been provided.
But if you don't feel comfortable talk,
we totally understand that.
Our point is not to put you away.
It's to put the person away
that caused this to your wife.
And that's where we're at.
- Unless that person is my wife.
- We don't have that information, though.
- Yeah.
- So as you can tell,
it's again based on the investigation
that Detective Olson has started
and that I have helped her with in the last,
72 hours approximately,
the information at this time leads to you.
So that's where we're at right now.
- I'm sorry, what?
- I mean, our goal is just to find the truth.
- Yeah.
- Right?
I mean, that's our goal.
It's not to put someone away.
I mean, my goal isn't to put,
I mean, I need to be confident, right?
So it's really to find the truth is my job.
- Yeah, I appreciate that.
Thank you.
Is there any situation in which
I can get out and go to the funeral?
- Not right now, no.
- What does that mean?
- Currently, you don't have a bond, right?
So you cannot be released.
- Like even if I tell you everything I know,
I still can't go out and go to the funeral.
- We don't know what you know is the problem.
So you could always coordinate with an attorney
and do an interview with us as well.
You can talk to us right now.
Or you cannot talk.
Those are kind of, I guess your three options.
The attorney option wouldn't be like the second.
- Yeah.
- We would obviously have to create a future date.
I don't know when you guys are planning to do the funeral.
- This is planning on a week from today.
- Okay.
So it really just, I mean, you'll have a first appearance
and then either a signed attorney or hire one.
Whatever your family and you find is best.
Best for yourself.
No matter what, obviously,
you're gonna approach the attorney issue.
So it's, can wait to get an attorney.
Talk to us now, post Miranda or not talk.
That's kind of the three options.
And like she said, we only have the information we have.
We just want the truth.
We just wanna make sense of it all.
- That's what I want too.
- Yeah.
- There's three options.
The first option is talk now.
The second option is?
- Not talk.
- Not talk until I get an attorney.
- Or not talk at all.
- Yeah.
- The attorneys don't come out at night.
So getting one tonight is,
usually they'll want to meet with you
and then coordinate whatever they're gonna do going forward.
- So without a way to contact the attorney
that I had in mind, how does that look?
Like if tonight I say I'd really like to talk to my attorney,
then yeah.
- I mean, if you know the attorney's phone number,
you'll be able to make calls from the jail.
- I don't, I'd have to look it up.
- Yeah, you would have to ask.
Probably the jail could help you look up
attorney's information.
- Or you can call a family member
and they can get that person's information for you.
- Oh, this is horrible.
- What would you do if you were in my position?
- I don't know.
feel for you, I really do. I trust you. What would you do? And I can't give you your advice and I
can't tell you what to do. Oh, I can, I mean, I sympathize with you, I do. I mean, you're a
successful businessman, you have six children that I've spoken to, a few of them, I mean, they're all
you know, friendly, upstanding citizens, I mean, you've raised good kids. I really have. Yeah, I
mean. And she has too, we have together. Yeah. Yeah, but I don't want to incriminate myself,
you know, I'm really being careful because I know how this looks. I knew exactly how this
was going to look. Has the toxicology report come back? Um, for?
For what? For Angela, I know they were running talks on her. I mean, there's a ton of toxicology, I mean, they just don't know what happened, they don't know what caused any of this, so, I mean, they ran, the park route Venice ran a bunch and the doctors ran a bunch. The doctors can't give us that information. Why not? Because it's a privacy and HIPAA issue. But you'll get it eventually. We'd have to write a warrant. Yeah. A search warrant. It's a, it's, it's a
really a protection of anybody's rights. It would be no different if something happened to detectives in our eye. They would not release that information. The only way that information is released is, like, a family member would give us, like, sign off on a form to allow us to have that information, or we write a warrant.
Throughout the interview, James continued to probe the detectives on what information they had and why he had been arrested. Apparently, he originally believed he was being taken to the station to retrieve his cell phone.
Despite
the
fact that they told him he was under arrest, but without him willing to speak without an attorney, they were unable to go into particulars with him. Obviously, James knew what had been found on his office computer and on his cell phone.
As the news continued to spread throughout Aurora, that one of their own, a beloved family dentist, father, and husband, had secretly poisoned his own wife, the community was left stunned and heartbroken. But then the shocking news of James'
multiple affairs throughout the marriage came out. More specifically, his three-week relationship with Karen Kane. Through 4,000 text messages between James and Karen over a short period of time, investigators read messages where James confessed his love to the orthodontist in Texas and how he hoped to marry her someday. The investigators couldn't believe that the affectionate messages were all sent while Angela lied dying in the hospital.
But as we know, Karen wasn't the only woman receiving James' attention. There were others, women he had met through the Seeking website. Reports also indicated that during a trip to Las Vegas, James paid for the services of a sex worker. But even with this information, James continued to deny any involvement in Angela's death. Instead, he blamed her passing on her mental health, claiming that for years, he had been a victim of sexual abuse.
However, no one close to Angela, including her children, her siblings, and her church members, had ever even heard that she was struggling with depression.
On March 23, 2023, Angela Craig was laid to rest in a private ceremony in Aurora, Colorado. Not only were Angela's family and close friends having to say goodbye to her far too soon, but they also had to grapple with the fact that she was going to die.
However, no one close to Angela, including her husband, James, a man who appeared to be a devoted husband and father, was the one responsible for her death. Angela would be remembered for her energetic personality and her devotion to her husband and children. In a later interview, Angela's brother, Mary Pray, spoke with Denver 7 and described everything he would miss about his younger sister.
She was outgoing and dynamic and generous and kind and loving.
All the words in the world.
She's crazy. She's loud.
Just aren't enough.
So how do you describe that person in a word or two?
For Angela Craig.
It's Angela. You can't. She's sarcastic. She's funny. She doesn't take things personally. She has a thick skin. She's just like mostly the rest of us, but Angie's also herself.
I notice when you describe her, you talk in present tense.
Do you do that on purpose?
Well, she's just still with us.
I don't think of it as past tense, really.
As for their six children, they hadn't just lost their mother, but also their father.
Tolliver Craig would say, it's hard to lose your mom and then a few days after that, lose your dad.
A few months after her death, an official autopsy stated that Angela died from lethal concentrations of cyanide and a lethal concentration of tetrahydrozoline.
Which is a common chemical found in eyedrops.
There was also arsenic found in her system, with the report stating,
There were toxic concentrations of arsenic during prior hospital admission.
A later test of one of the protein shaker bottles indicated that the presence of tetrahydrozoline, commonly found in visine.
The truth was finally out for certain.
James had poisoned Angela.
But the most shocking discovery was that the levels of cyanide in her body increased on March 15th,
the same day that she was diagnosed with tetrahydrozoline.
This was the day that she went into a seizure that ultimately left her comatose.
Leading professionals to believe that James administered the fatal dose while he was alone with her in her hospital room.
After he urged her own brother to go home and get some rest.
Sadly, during the last weeks of Angela's life, she really suffered.
But what makes her story even more tragic is that she had no idea the person behind that suffering was the one she trusted the most.
Investigators now knew that James had poisoned his wife.
And the motive was that he wanted to pursue his three-week-long relationship with Karen Kane.
But there was also another possible motive, a financial one.
Apparently, Angela had a $3.4 million life insurance policy.
And in the event of her death, James would be the one to collect the money.
With it, he would be able to pay off his $2 million.
Now, during their investigation, Detective Olson and Harris combed through over 1,000 hours of surveillance footage in the Craig household.
And when they did, they saw James mixing protein shakes for Angela.
They also heard a heated conversation between the couple after she returned home from her first hospital visit.
On the footage, Angela scolded James, saying, quote,
While James was being held at the Arapahoe County Jail,
only a few days after being arrested on March 27th, 2023,
he asked a fellow inmate to deepfake a video,
of Angela asking him to purchase the poisons for her.
Apparently, the inmate told James he could create the video using a burner laptop and a dark web browser.
But there was only one problem.
The inmate was still in jail.
But James thought of an elaborate plan.
He called his adult daughter, Miriam, with an odd request.
He wanted her to bail out the inmate, claiming that they were a distant cousin.
Ultimately, she did as she was told.
And once the inmate was out, he handed her a letter,
from her father.
It began,
"I love you.
I'm sorry to even have to ask you for this help."
According to KUSA,
the letter detailed step-by-step instructions on how to create the fake AI video.
It also included a written statement telling her to go to the investigators
and tell them that the video had been found on a thumb drive in her mom's purse
and for her to destroy her mother's laptop.
He told her to use prepaid Visa gift cards to hire someone for the job, if necessary.
Of course,
none of this happened.
And James' daughter immediately turned the letter over to the police.
Despite everything that he had done, he continued to torture his own family.
One day later, on March 28th, 2023, James emailed his children a series of fake journal
entries written by Angela.
He told them that Angela came to him on February 20th and asked him to research and order the
poisons.
In April 2024, James wrote a letter to a fellow jailmate,
asking him to find two attractive women and instruct them to lie about a relationship
with him to the District Attorney.
In November 2024, only two weeks before his trial was set to begin, he approached another
cellmate who was about to be released and asked him to kill lead detective Bobby Olson
and several other key witnesses in the case, including a former inmate who had been supplying
information to investigators about his behavior behind bars.
In a letter to a former jailmate, Nathaniel, who was a former jailmate, said that he had
been working with the police for a long time.
He said that he had been working with the police for a long time and that he had been
working with the police for a long time and that he had been working with the police for
a long time.
In a letter to Nathaniel, James wrote that Detective Olson was "the worst, dirtiest
detective in the world."
He also asked Nathaniel whether his ex-wife, Cassiani, could photoshop pictures of the
to make it appear as though she had been suicidal. James even offered cash, specifically a blank
check, and free dental care to anyone who could help him. James even wrote a letter to Cassiani
saying this, Hey Casey, I know you don't know me and I don't know you. I would never normally be
this trusting, but I've been unjustly accused of a truly horrible crime, thus fighting fire with
fire to clear my name and return me to my kids. Favor I am asking you, there will be of course a
financial incentive, but I know you do not need my money, but it's worth it to me. So I'd like to
offer $20,000 to each witness. I'd like for you to be one of the witnesses and your sister, after I
pay you, you can pay the others in accordance to what you feel is appropriate. I can pay you once
I'm out and my assets are unfrozen. My attorney is Harvey Steinberg, who I think you know, but I
think it might be best if you went directly to the DA.
to execute this plan. First, someone in jail set me up. I wrote letters to his family and friends
offering to pay them. Instead of sending them to his family and friends, he sent them to the DA
in an effort to negotiate his own case. I also want to give you a lot of latitude in these stories.
Nate has expressed tremendous confidence in you. I would rather you do what seems natural to you
instead of sticking rigidly to a plan I devised. Nate also said you go above and beyond using
Photoshop. These additional proofs may be necessary to
affect your future. I would rather you do what seems natural to you instead of sticking rigidly
You essentially have, within reason, a blank check here. I think now is a good time to share
with you several details about my wife, Angela. Role one, this is for you. You are a good friend
of Ange's. How you met and how far back your friendship goes is up to you. You knew because
Ange confided in you about the threat of suicide. The next part is crucial. The worst, dirtiest
detective in the world is on my case. Her name is Bobby Olson. We have to discredit her. I need you
to say that after Ange died, you reached out to APD to share the above details. You told her this
whole story. When you finished, Detective Olson berated you, said she didn't believe you, accused
you of lying, and told you to keep quiet. Obviously, you need to refuse to communicate with
Olson. If no one will listen to you, you need to go to the media. Role two, for your sister, I hope.
Also go to the DA. Your sister used to visit the family history library Ange volunteered at. Often,
there was nobody there except your sister. Also go to the DA.
Your sister and Ange, so they became casual friends. If you're worried about the DA linking
you and your sister, you can use a fake name. Make sure Harvey can contact you both after your
statements make it into discovery, because I'm sure the DA is not going to call you as witnesses.
Harvey will need to call you as defense witnesses. Role three, someone who can say they were either
there with your sister at the family library, or even better, if the third witness can corroborate
your story. If your sister feels comfortable incorporating more of your story, you can
the details from your own into her story, the better. Role four, go to Harvey about this,
not the DA. This person is either a friend of, or somehow overheard Caitlin Romero,
my former office manager. She's about 25 years old, plump, pretty face. Caitlin was recently
heard bragging that she has been subpoenaed. It sounded like she fabricated evidence or testimony,
something about the search history at work. Also something about how she ordered the cyanide that
killed Ange. Caitlin said she did what she did because her sister was there. Role four, for your
defense, her boss has pushed her to do it. Said they gave her a huge financial incentive to help
them. Thank you in advance for making me and my kids the happiest people on earth. James Craig.
After the discovery of James's correspondence with other inmates, he was charged with additional
crimes. On top of his first degree murder charge for poisoning Angela, solicitation to commit
murder, tampering with evidence, and perjury. Ultimately, James Craig pleaded not guilty to
all of the charges.
In spite of the fact that he quite literally signed a document where he committed two of those
crimes. But as we've seen, James Craig isn't the type to own up to his wrongdoing. But in July of
2025, when his trial began, he was, at the very least, forced to face it.
Throughout the two-week trial, the prosecution focused on James's digital trail,
specifically what was found on the hard drive in exam room number nine. Multiple searches about
and their effects on the human body.
They presented credit card receipts,
which indicated he had purchased several bottles of eye drops
from a nearby grocery store
and showed surveillance footage from inside the Craig's home
with James preparing protein shakes for his wife.
The prosecution claimed that James was experimenting with different poisons,
feeding them to his wife under the guise of being a helpful, loving husband.
Other surveillance footage showed James rushing to the mailbox
after receiving his first delivery of arsenic
and another argument between the couple where Angela told James,
It may not be your fault if they didn't do their due diligence,
but it is your fault they treated me differently.
It's your fault they treated me like a suicide risk and couldn't be believed.
Nobody in their right mind would ever think I'd kill myself before I'd kill you.
Nobody. Name one person.
The jury was shown his dating profile from the Seeking website
and heard testimony from multiple women
he corresponded with.
They argued that his motive included extramarital affairs
and financial problems,
including a new relationship with Karen Kane
and how the $3.4 million life insurance policy
would have wiped out his debt and provided a clean slate.
They also believed that his image was of utmost importance to him,
saying that he
did not want to be the guy who left the mother of his six children
to go out and chase other women.
But one of the most damning pieces of evidence
was a timeline James constructed at 1 a.m. on March 16th,
the same night that Angela was pronounced braindead.
Detective Bobby Olson claimed that the timeline was more of a manifesto.
In the document, James admitted to several extramarital affairs,
but stated that when Angela found out about these affairs,
she threatened to kill herself.
He wrote,
I begged her not to do that, but she said she couldn't get a divorce.
She talked about driving her car into a pylon,
but was worried that she wouldn't die, but would just be maimed.
According to James,
Angela started researching various poisons
that could kill her quickly and painlessly.
However, during their investigation,
nothing was ever found on her cell phone or laptop
that indicated she ever searched for poisons.
Eventually, James said that he had a change of heart
and that he wanted to help his wife die by suicide,
which led him to researching all of those poisons.
His timeline indicated that Angela had taken arson
a few days before her March 6th hospitalization,
after she begged him to put it in her protein shake.
But James said that it wasn't enough
and that she wanted something more powerful.
He admitted that he filled Angela's medication
with potassium cyanide to finish the job.
Now, unfortunately, investigators were not able
to collect that medication as evidence.
They did take a photograph of the pills,
but when they learned of the poison,
and went back to collect the pills,
James had already tossed them.
Even further, James said that he filled a syringe
with potassium cyanide.
And shockingly, on university surveillance footage,
it showed James walking towards Angela's hospital room
with a syringe.
Within her room, he spent a total of 58 seconds
alone with her.
The prosecution believed that while no one else was around,
he injected the poison directly into her body.
And so Angela was taken to the hospital
and sent directly into her IV port,
administering the fatal dose that led to her death.
According to forensic toxicologist, Dr. James Brower,
the cyanide in Angela's system was more than doubled
from her arrival at the hospital around 11:50 a.m.
until a second blood test was administered at 8:21 p.m.
So in the end, Angela was subjected
to nothing short of agony, so much so that her final words,
words to her husband, were, "Why do I hurt?"
Defense attorney Lisa Moses said that James and Angela's
marriage was complex.
It was no secret that James often cheated on his wife.
And after 23 years of marriage, Angela was broken.
Lisa stated, "He broke her.
He broke her heart, her soul."
In Angela's personal journal, she described feeling depressed
dating back to January 2009.
One entry read, "I'm literally physically ill and a
child, and it just seems to be getting worse.
I looked at James today and I couldn't feel any love.
All of the things I loved about him, about us, were a lie.
I feel abused, worthless, unwanted, and unloved."
In 2018, she wrote, "It almost killed me when he said
he didn't love me and I wasn't enough."
The defense did not dispute that Angela had cyanide,
arsenic, and tetrahydrazoline in her system, but instead,
argued that Angela had been the one that wanted to die and needed
James' help getting the poisons.
In his timeline, James stated, "While I did prepare all of the
concoctions for her, I did not administer any of them to her."
The defense also argued that law enforcement was too quick to focus
on James and never searched Angela's personal laptop for other motives.
Yet on July 30th, 2025, after two days of deliberation, the jury
finally reached their verdict.
And at this time, then I'll ask Dr.
Craig and his team to please stand.
And I'm going to read you the verdict.
As to verdict form count one, murder in the first degree, we, the jury unanimously
and beyond a reasonable doubt, find the defendant, James Craig, guilty of murder in the first degree.
Verdict form count two, solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence, Annabelle Craig.
Lead the jury unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, find the defendant, James Craig,
guilty of solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence. Verdict form count three,
solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence, Casey Bohannon. Verdict form count four, find the defendant, James Craig,
guilty of solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree. Verdict form count five,
solicitation to commit murder in the first degree.
Lead the jury unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, find the defendant, James Craig,
guilty of solicitation to commit murder in the first degree. Verdict form count six,
solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree, as to Cassiani Constantinidis.
Lead the jury unanimously and beyond a reasonable doubt, find the defendant, James Craig,
guilty of solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree.
As to verdict form count seven, manslaughter, cause or aid to suicide, lead the jury,
find the defendant, James Craig, not guilty of manslaughter, cause or aid to suicide.
Let me then turn to the fourth person and ask, is this the verdict of the jury?
Do all of you agree with this verdict?
Yes, we do.
At this point in time, you can be seated.
Dr. James Craig was found guilty on all charges.
Judge Shea Whitaker allowed Angela's friends and family members to read victim impact statements.
Her daughter, Myra, gave a statement that speaks to her mother's warmth and the sorrow of her loss.
Shea Whitaker was found guilty on all charges.
excitement of expensive cars, rich food, and a constant stream of women won't ever drive
again. He'll never again be alone with a woman, and he won't even be able to pick the clothes
he wears or the food he eats, and I'm okay with that. Angela's gone. Losing a sibling
is like losing a limb. How is it possible? Angela has loved fiercely. We believe in life
after this month, and that we can be together again. I believe that when she left this world,
she was greeted by our parents, our grandparents,
our brother-in-law, our nephew, and so many others that cherish and love her, and know
she's happy. She's watching over her children and her siblings and all those she loves.
I will see her. I will hug her, and I will belly-lap her. In fact, I'm sure that Angela
when we leave this life will be the one to embrace us, to make us laugh, and to take
charge of the situation, because that's who I am for us. Thank God.
For Angela's family, friends, and children, there was no closure. Her life was taken far
too soon. And for what? Money? An affair? An image? None of it made sense. But the worst
part wasn't just that Angela lost her family. It was also the fact that she lost her family,
Angela was gone, but the man who was responsible was her own husband, Dr. James Craig. After the
victim impact statements were read in court, Judge Whitaker handed down James' sentence,
life in prison without the possibility of parole. After the sentence was read,
James quietly declined to speak and he was escorted out of the courtroom. The plan he
had orchestrated had backfired. He hoped to get rid of Angela by poisoning her so he could move
on with Karen Kane, inherit a large sum of money to pay off his debts, and avoid the upheaval of a
divorce and his own pristine image. Luckily, the jury saw right through his lies. Today,
James is housed at the Bent County Correctional Facility in Los Animas, Colorado.
Though her life was cut short in a horrific way, Angela Craig touched many lives during the 43
years she was here on earth. For her siblings, friends, and children,
she will always be remembered for her devotion to her family, faith, and the kindness she showed
everyone around her. For Dr. James Craig, the once-respected dentist, husband, and father,
he will spend the rest of his life behind bars, a far cry from the successful life he once had.
His lies, deceit, and sinister double life will forever be his legacy.
In the end, James thought he could fool everyone. But,
the truth always finds its way. But Angela's love will live on forever in her children,
family, and community. James's selfishness will die in a cell with him after a life of
self-imposed loneliness behind bars. Hey everybody, thank you for listening
to this week's episode of Murder in America. Courtney and I are so thankful to have everybody
out there tuning in every week. We have an incredible community here. And yeah, we have some
really big announcements coming next year, but we're going to save those for a little bit later.
Very soon, we are going to be starting one of our most in-depth series to date based on one of the
most notorious criminals in American history. So please stay tuned. We have a kind of exciting
series of episodes coming soon that Courtney has been working incredibly hard on. If you want to
support the work that we do here on the show, please consider joining us on Patreon. On Patreon,
you can get early ad-free access to all of our content. And if you're new to the show, please
subscribe to our YouTube channel. And if you're new to the show, please consider joining us on Patreon.
Every episode that is on the main feed of the show. So like the episode you just listened to today,
you could have listened to it a day before it was publicly released with no advertisements.
And for some of the higher tiers, we offer bonus episodes of the show. These are full-length
bonus episodes of Murder in America. Sometimes the bonus episodes are even longer than the
episodes that we release on the main feed that week. And they're edited the exact same. They
sound the exact same. So if you love the show and you want to listen to even more of it,
if you've never signed up for Patreon and you sign up today, you can get access immediately to
over 120, 130, I don't even know how many at this point, bonus episodes of the show that will never
be posted on our main feed. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram at Murder in America to see
photos and videos sometimes from every single case that we cover here on the show. And leave us a
five-star review if you love what we do here on the show, wherever you're listening on Apple
Podcasts, Spotify, whatever platform it is you listen on. Please,
be sure to leave us a positive review. Anyways, guys, thank you so much for tuning in this week.
We will be back next week with another episode of the show. I believe we're starting our big
series next week, so it's not going to be one you want to miss. Be sure to tune in.
Thank you, guys. And yeah, I'll catch y'all in the next one.
I coach football. Now, Coach Hank saves up to 25% off grocery store prices,
30 pounds of pasta, three cases of protein bars, 75 sports drinks.
And that's just pregame. He knows teamwork and BJ's knows savings.
This is your home, Coach. Home of the Save. Join for just $20 at bjs.com slash mesquite and save
10 cents per gallon for six months. Open soon. Limited time offer, new members only. BJ's,
home of the save.
First the air, then the light. And slowly the things you love begin to find each other.
A jacket meets a dress. A hoodie slips beneath a blazer. An old cap finds a new scarf. Because
you don't simply step into the season. You create it layer by layer until it finally feels like fall.
Find fall your way at Ross.
Finding a doctor is hard enough. Finding the right doctor is hard enough.
Even harder. Someone who takes your insurance, has an available appointment when you need one,
and feels like someone you can actually open up to. That's where ZocDoc comes in.
Download the ZocDoc app to search and compare doctors by specialty, insurance, and availability.
Read real patient reviews, find the right fit for you, and book instantly. Because getting
seen by the right doctor matters. ZocDoc. Ready to be seen? Download the ZocDoc app today.
PodcastTranscript AI