A Colorado dentist accused of lacing his wife’s protein shakes with poison did so because of financial problems and an affair with another woman, prosecutors said Tuesday on the first day of his murder trial.
James Craig, 47, allegedly used a combination of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient found in over-the-counter eye drops, to kill his wife of 23 years, Angela Craig, in Aurora more than two years ago.
The 43-year-old victim was killed on March 18, 2023, while at a hospital to recover from previous poisonings. Craig was arrested the following day for what police called a “heinous, complex and calculated” killing and later pleaded not guilty to all charges, including first-degree murder.
At the time of her killing, Craig was allegedly having an affair with a fellow dentist. He was also experiencing financial difficulties, prosecutors told the jury Tuesday during opening arguments at the Arapahoe County District Court in Centennial, just south of Denver.
When Craig went to see his wife at the hospital in early 2023 — where she had been recovering from mysterious symptoms that had baffled doctors — he wasn’t there to help her, prosecutors said. He was there to deliver a fatal dose of poison.
“He didn’t go into that room to fight for her life or support her,” Assistant District Attorney Ryan Brackley said. “He went into that room to murder her, to deliberately and intentionally end her life with a fatal dose of cyanide.”
The defense, however, rejected the claim that Craig killed the mother of his six children over an affair with one woman — a Texas orthodontist — arguing that Angela Craig had long been aware of her husband’s multiple extramarital relationships during their marriage.
She knew Craig was cheating, defense attorney Ashley Whitham told the court: “He was candid with Angela that he had been cheating.”
According to Whitham, Craig’s wife even insisted that the two — both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints — stay together despite his infidelities.
With News Wire Services
