July 30, 2025:
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A jury convicted a Colorado dentist of first-degree murder on Wednesday (July 30, 2025) in the poisoning death of his wife.
Prosecutors at trial had accused James Craig of repeatedly poisoning his wife Angela Craig, including by lacing her smoothies, over 10 days in March 2023. When those attempts failed, prosecutors said the dentist gave his wife a final dose of cyanide as she was hospitalized in suburban Denver with symptoms that puzzled doctors. She was declared brain dead soon after.
On Wednesday afternoon, Craig stood with his attorney while verdicts on murder and lesser charges were read out in court. He then sat down and his attorneys rested their hands on his shoulder. Afterward, he huddled with his attorneys, quietly whispering as they waited for the judge to sentence him.
The dentist didn’t testify during the two-week trial, and his attorneys didn’t present other witnesses. The defense had suggested earlier at trial that Angela Craig may have taken her own life and faulted police for focusing solely on James Craig as a suspect.
However, prosecutors said the dentist had offered other conflicting explanations for her death to other people.
Toxicology tests determined Angela Craig died of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient commonly found in over-the-counter eye drops, according to the coroner.
Prosecutors argued Craig wanted to kill his wife to get out of a marriage he felt trapped in, adding he didn’t want a divorce so he could protect his money and image.
They also accused him of trying to cover up the killing by asking others, including his daughter and fellow jail inmates, to fake evidence and testimony that would make it appear that his wife killed herself or wanted to frame him for her death.
Prosecutors said photos from a hospital security camera shown in court depict Craig holding a syringe before he entered Angela Craig’s room. After administering the fatal dose through her IV, Craig walked out and texted a fellow dentist with whom he was having an affair, Senior Chief Deputy Michael Mauro told jurors in closing arguments. His wife’s condition quickly worsened.
One of Craig’s attorneys, Lisa Fine Moses, had told jurors earlier this week that the image was blurry and syringes that investigators recovered did not contain any poison. She also said the couple wasn’t in financial trouble, and that Craig’s cheating had been going on for years and had never been a motivation for murder.
July 29, 2025:
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado dentist accused of killing his wife by gradually poisoning her wanted out of a marriage he felt trapped in, but didn’t want to seek a divorce to protect his money and image, a prosecutor said Tuesday (July 29, 2025).
During closing arguments in the murder trial of James Craig, Senior Chief Deputy Michael Mauro disputed Craig’s claim that his wife wanted to kill herself rather than get divorced. Mauro said Angela Craig was a hopeful person who had pushed forward through Craig’s infidelity for years while leaning on her faith.
After poisonings, including of his wife’s smoothies, failed to kill her, prosecutors allege, Craig gave her a fatal dose of cyanide as she lay in her hospital bed on March 15, 2023, as doctors tried to figure out what was ailing her. She was declared brain dead soon after.
“She is the ultra-marathon runner of dealing with this man’s betrayal, but she couldn’t outrun it at University Hospital on March 15,” Mauro said, pointing repeatedly at Craig and referring to him as “this man.”
James Craig is charged with first-degree murder in his wife’s death in suburban Denver in 2023. He is also accused of trying to fabricate evidence to make it look like she killed herself and of asking a fellow jail inmate to kill the detective who led the investigation into his wife’s death.
Jurors have the option of finding Craig guilty of manslaughter if they believe he helped his wife kill herself. But prosecutors say the only evidence Angela Craig wanted to end her life comes from James Craig, who they say isn’t reliable and who allegedy tried to fabricate evidence making it look like his wife died by suicide.
Photos from a hospital security camera shown in court depict Craig holding a syringe before he went into her room before her condition severely worsened, Mauro said. After administering the fatal dose through her IV, Craig walked out and texted with a fellow dentist he recently began having an affair with, he said.
But one of Craig’s attorneys, Lisa Fine Moses, told jurors that the image was blurry and the syringes that investigators recovered did not contain any poison. She also said the couple wasn’t in financial trouble and that Craig’s cheating had been going on for years and had never been a motivation for murder before.
“So you know what, good job,” Moses said sarcastically, looking at the prosecution, “you proved beyond a reasonable doubt that this guy is a cheater.”
Moses suggested Angela Craig, after struggling in her marriage for years, was suicidal. She pointed to a journal entry where Angela Craig wrote in 2009: “I feel depressed. I feel a huge sense of loss with no hope” — and similar entries in 2018. Her journal ended that year.
Craig, wearing a light gray suit and white shirt, appeared to grow emotional as the entries were read. He wiped his nose and eyes with a tissue.
Angela Craig, who had six children with James Craig, died during her third trip to the hospital in a little over a week. Toxicology tests determined the 43-year-old died of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient found in over-the-counter eye drops.
James Craig didn’t testify, and his lawyers didn’t present any witnesses. Instead, the defense faulted police for focusing solely on James Craig as a suspect.
In notes that police found on James Craig’s phone, the dentist said Angela Craig asked him to help kill her with poison when he sought a divorce after he had affairs. In the document, which was labeled “timeline,” Craig said he eventually agreed to purchase and prepare poisons for her to take, but not administer them. Craig said that he put cyanide in some of the antibiotic capsules she had been taking and also prepared a syringe containing cyanide.
According to that timeline, Craig wrote that just before she had to go to the hospital on March 15, 2023, she must have ingested a mixture containing tetrahydrozoline, the eye drop ingredient, because she became lethargic and weak. Then, he wrote, she took the antibiotic laced with cyanide that he prepared for her.
Mark Pray, who was visiting to help the Craig family because of his sister’s mysterious illness, testified that he gave Angela Craig the capsules after being instructed to do so by James Craig, who was not at home. Pray said his sister bent over and couldn’t hold herself up after taking the medicine. He and his wife then took her to the hospital.
July 15, 2025, update:
DENVER (AP) — A financially-troubled Colorado dentist who had long been cheating on his wife but didn’t want a divorce killed her by giving her poison including in protein shakes, prosecutors said Tuesday (July 15, 2025) as the murder trial against James Craig got underway in suburban Denver.
Craig, 47, allegedly used cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient in over-the-counter eye drops, to kill his wife of 23 years, Angela Craig, two years ago in Aurora, Colorado.
He gave Angela Craig a final dose of the poison after she had already been admitted to the hospital and as doctors scrambled to figure out her mysterious ailments, Assistant District Attorney Ryan Brackley said.
“He went in that room to murder her, to deliberately and intentionally end her life with a fatal dose of cyanide,” Brackley told jurors during opening arguments.
Craig has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including first-degree murder.
His attorney, Ashley Whitham, said James Craig loved his wife but had cheated on her throughout their marriage. Whitham rejected prosecutors’ suggestions that Craig became so enamored with one of those other women — a fellow dentist from Texas — that he was motivated to kill Angela Craig.
“That’s simply not the case,” Whitham said. “She knew Craig was cheating….He was candid with Angela that he had been cheating.”
Whitham said Angela Craig had insisted that the couple — members of The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints — stay together despite his infidelities.
The defense attorney described Angela Craig as being “broken,” seeming to suggest that she may have taken her own life.
Prosecutors say Craig allegedly purchased arsenic around the time of his wife’s symptoms — dizziness and headaches that perplexed doctors — and that after his initial attempts to poison her failed, he ordered potassium cyanide.
They also said Craig searched Google for “how to make a murder look like a heart attack” and “is arsenic detectable in an autopsy,” and that he tried to make it appear his wife had killed herself.
Angela Craig, 43, who had six children with James Craig, was hospitalized several times. After the first time, she can be seen on home surveillance video accusing her husband of implying to medical staff that she was suicidal.
“It’s your fault they treated me like I was a suicide risk, like I did it to myself, and like nothing I said could be believed,” she said to her husband on the video.
After Craig’s arrest in 2023, prosecutors alleged that he offered a fellow jail inmate $20,000 to kill the case’s lead investigator and offered someone else $20,000 to find people to falsely testify that Angela Craig planned to die by suicide.
In addition to first-degree murder, Craig has pleaded not guilty to the other charges, including solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury.
Craig’s attorneys have questioned the reliability of the inmate’s claims, said the police were biased against the dentist, and that tests of the protein shake containers didn’t reveal signs of poison.
Around the time of his arrest, prosecutors said Craig was experiencing financial difficulties and appeared to be having an affair with a fellow dentist, though they have not yet described a motive in his wife’s death.
Craig remains in custody, according to jail records.
July 15, 2025:
DENVER (AP) — The murder trial of a Colorado dentist accused of killing his wife by poisoning her protein shakes and later trying to pay someone to kill the lead investigator on the case will begin with opening arguments Tuesday (July 15, 2025).
James Craig, 47, allegedly used cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient in over-the-counter eye drops, to kill his wife of 23 years, Angela Craig, two years ago in suburban Denver.
Craig has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including first-degree murder.
Prosecutors say that Craig allegedly purchased arsenic around the time of his wife’s symptoms — dizziness and headaches that perplexed doctors — and that after his initial attempts to poison her failed, he ordered potassium cyanide.
They also said Craig searched Google for “how to make a murder look like a heart attack” and “is arsenic detectable in an autopsy,” and that he tried to make it appear his wife had killed herself.
Angela Craig, 43, who had six children with James Craig, was hospitalized several times. After the first time, she can be seen on home surveillance video accusing her husband of implying to medical staff that she was suicidal.
“It’s your fault they treated me like I was a suicide risk, like I did it to myself, and like nothing I said could be believed,” she said to her husband on the video.
After Craig’s arrest in 2023, prosecutors alleged that he offered a fellow jail inmate $20,000 to kill the case’s lead investigator and offered someone else $20,000 to find people to falsely testify that Angela Craig planned to die by suicide.
In addition to first-degree murder, Craig has pleaded not guilty to the other charges, including solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury.
Craig’s attorneys have questioned the reliability of the inmate’s claims, said the police were biased against the dentist and that tests of the protein shake containers didn’t reveal signs of poison.
Around the time of his arrest, prosecutors said Craig was experiencing financial difficulties and appeared to be having an affair with a fellow dentist, though they have not yet described a motive in his wife’s death.
Craig remains in custody, according to jail records.
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