316. The Bizarre Stalking of Kristil Krug

On this episode, Garrett and Payton dive into the case of a Colorado mother who begins receiving terrifying messages from a stalker who seems to know her every move. What starts as a disturbing blast from the past quickly turns into a deadly nightmare. Links: Netflix Video Every Monday @11am PST, 12pm MST, 2pm EST 1pm CST https://www.netflix.com/murderwithmyhusband Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Sources: ABCNews.go.com - https://abcnews.go.com/US/colorado-womans-stalker-turns-husband-shocking-murder-case/story?id=124780858 KATU.com - https://katu.com/news/local/oregon-lawmaker-working-to-propose-legislation-to-protect-domestic-violence-victims-colorado-kristil-krug-true-crime-murder-police-kevin-mannix-local-laws The Hindustan Times - https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/where-is-daniel-krug-now-all-on-his-life-behind-bars-after-stalking-and-killing-his-wife-kristil-krug-101758990233388.html District Attorney Adams & Broomfield Colorado - https://adamsbroomfieldda.org/blog/15067/Update-Broomfield-Defendant-Sentenced-to-Life-in-Prison-Without-Parole-Following-Conviction-for-Murdering-Stalking-Wife-After-Multi-Week-Trial Denver7.com - https://www.denver7.com/news/crime/broomfield-man-found-guilty-of-murdering-wife-after-impersonating-her-ex-boyfriend NBC4i.com - https://www.nbc4i.com/news/u-s-world/dateline/dateline-kristil-krug-murder/ Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/colorado-mom-kristil-krug-stalked-and-murdered NewsDay.com - https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/fake-stalking-woman-killed-colorado-sentenced-x56674 HoranCares.com - https://www.horancares.com/obituaries/kristil-grimsrud-krug NBCNews.com - https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kristil-krug-murder-convicton-daniel-krug-husband-text-threats-rcna233527 KSAT.com - https://www.ksat.com/news/national/2025/04/17/colorado-man-convicted-of-killing-his-wife-and-posing-as-ex-boyfriend-and-stalking-her/ BroomfieldEnterprise.com - https://www.broomfieldenterprise.com/2025/12/04/daniel-krug-faces-pay-restitution-broomfield/ People.com - https://people.com/where-is-daniel-krug-now-11817939 KLCC.org - https://www.klcc.org/crime-law-justice/2026-01-14/oregon-lawmakers-to-consider-domestic-violence-bill-inspired-by-colorado-murder APNews.com - https://apnews.com/article/fake-stalking-woman-killed-colorado-broomfield-c227990d6efdf1dbf4e0dcca86cb3754 CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kristil-krug-daniel-krug-broomfield-colorado-murder-threats-48-hours/ StalkingAwareness.org - https://www.stalkingawareness.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Stalking-IPV-Fact-Sheet.pdf SacBee.com - https://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/national/article304507601.html Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Payton Moreland?

  You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my Husband. I'm Payton Moreland.

• 0:08Garrett Moreland?

  And I'm Garrett Moreland.

• 0:09Payton Moreland?

  And he's the husband.

• 0:09Garrett Moreland?

  And I'm the husband. Good morning, good afternoon, good night. But.

• 0:14Payton Moreland?

  You love to say that.

• 0:15Garrett Moreland?

  It just depends. Maybe someone's listening in the morning, maybe they're listening at nighttime, maybe it's the middle of the afternoon. Never know.

• 0:22Payton Moreland?

  Hey, you know, maybe they're up on the moon listening.

• 0:25Garrett Moreland?

  You never know. Maybe someone in the spacecraft right now is listening. Where is the cra- I wonder the craziest place you're listening to the podcast or watching the podcast?

• 0:35Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, like if you think it's wild.

• 0:37Garrett Moreland?

  Like you're on top of Mount Everest currently watching on Netflix right now with Starlink. Like that would, that would win the cake. Anyways, but we can go a little smaller. So if there's any other crazy ones, let me know. Thanks for being here. Thank you for supporting us. Tired? Not gonna lie. I need to drink some caffeine or something. Wake me up.

• 0:58Payton Moreland?

  I'm not gonna lie, Garrett's been, like, I feel bad.

• 1:01Garrett Moreland?

  There ain't no rest for the wicked.

• 1:04Payton Moreland?

  Because you guys know the bagel shop's getting closer. And when I tell you Garrett has done, like, has, has just done this by himself.

• 1:12Garrett Moreland?

  Okay, yeah, yeah, no.

• 1:14Payton Moreland?

  I know. Just let me brag for a minute.

• 1:16Garrett Moreland?

  You know, I appreciate it, baby, so much.

• 1:18Payton Moreland?

  Like, he, he, he just, he's a man of many talents. You're in everything, Bagel.

• 1:24Garrett Moreland?

  Thanks, baby.

• 1:25Payton Moreland?

  You can do it all. And so he's been doing it all. And he has been so busy. He's been gone all day long.

• 1:32Garrett Moreland?

  It's crazy.

• 1:33Payton Moreland?

  It's pretty amazing.

• 1:35Garrett Moreland?

  I appreciate that, baby. I'm really excited. Are you, I don't know if you saw the grand opening is April 25th. So for anyone in Utah, please come check it out. Yeah, I mean, recipes, I, I'm gonna stop. Busy, working a lot, loving it. I'm excited. Please come by the Bagel Shop if you like bagels. I hope you guys like the bagels. If not, then just lie to me. Just lie. Lie straight to my face. Do not tell me they're bad. I do not want to hear it.

• 2:03Payton Moreland?

  He's, he's put a little too much effort into this.

• 2:06Garrett Moreland?

  You overboard. It'll send you overboard.

• 2:10Garrett Moreland?

  But I'm excited and also really important to me is like treating the employees right. I'm trying to pay a way above standard, like all of our employees are making between 20 and $25 an hour. The average is gonna be like $22 an hour.

• 2:25Payton Moreland?

  For our state.

• 2:26Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, yeah, that's true. First day, I feel like that's really above average. I feel like everyone's like 15 to like 16, 12. Anyways, I'm kind of ranting, but I just think it's important to pay people fair wages. And so I'm trying to do that and be profitable and have a good store at the same time. So also healthy ingredients, really healthy. So yeah, that's what I got. That's my plug. That'll be my 10 seconds because that was kind of long, but thanks for bragging, baby.

• 2:51Payton Moreland?

  It is. You're, you know, he was the same way with the podcast. I don't know if you've all been here since the beginning, but it was very much a two, just a two man show, really just a one man show of Garrett behind the scenes.

• 3:02Garrett Moreland?

  No.

• 3:02Payton Moreland?

  Making this, okay, the content, yes, but I mean, Garrett was the whole business and all of it behind and didn't love having any help or any outside hands on it, which has served us well. Moving forward and he's been the exact same with the bagel shop.

• 3:18Garrett Moreland?

  Kind of has served us well.

• 3:19Payton Moreland?

  It has. I think it'll serve you well with the bagel shop too. Hard work and like dedication and passion. It's a talent. You have a talent for it and it's amazing.

• 3:28Garrett Moreland?

  Thanks, baby. Anyways, Peyton and I got distracted in the middle. I don't remember where we left off, so we're gonna hop into today's case.

• 3:36Payton Moreland?

  All right, you guys, our sources for this episode are abcnews.gov, katu.com, the Hindustan Times, District Attorney Adams and Broomfield, Colorado, Denver7.com, NBC4i.com, Oxygen.com, Newsday.com, Horningcares.com, NBCNews.com, KSAT.com, BroomfieldEnterprise.com, People.com, KLCC.org, APNews.com, CBSNews.com, stalkingawareness.org and sacbee.com. I don't know about you, but is there a chance you have someone from your past that feels like a bit of a wild card? Maybe an old roommate, an ex-partner, a high school acquaintance, someone that will.

• 4:19Payton Moreland?

  Check in randomly, either for a favor or to meet up for coffee. Someone that when you see their name pop up on your phone, you wonder what sort of drama is headed your way. But for most of us, this ends up being a little story we could share later. We never expect those awkward little encounters from someone from our past to be something that changes our lives forever. And yet, that was the case with 44-year-old Kristil Krug. When someone from Kristil's past reappeared, it probably felt like an inconvenience at first, an uncomfortable blast from the past.

• 4:59Payton Moreland?

  But what came next in this case was a never-ending flood of disturbing messages, photos, and threats, and a horrifying truth that no one ever saw coming. So for this episode, I am taking you to Broomfield, Colorado. This is a small city nestled between Denver and Boulder. And this is where in 2023, though not too long ago, 44-year-old Kristil Krug calls home. Now, Kristil is someone I would call a jack-of-all-trades. She's a mother of three at this point, ages 14, 11, and 8.

• 5:41Payton Moreland?

  She is a talented dancer, she loves to work on old cars, and she is a biochemical engineer by trade. Okay. So she's really the kind of person who could do anything they set their mind to, and always doing it with a smile. Those who knew Kristil described her as someone who was known for her, quote, "kindness, generosity, and infectious laughter." She was the person everyone wanted to be around. Kristil had spent her entire life in Colorado. She was actually born in Boulder on November 24, 1980. And it was pretty clear from a young age that Kristil was going to be this multifaceted person.

• 6:26Payton Moreland?

  She showed an interest in the arts and sciences pretty early on. She was given an academic scholarship to the Colorado School of Mines. This is a public research university where she began studying for her biochemical engineering degree, before eventually transferring to the University of Colorado, which was in Boulder. After graduating, she went on to get a job at a place called Agilent Technologies. They basically make scientific instruments, software, lab supplies, that sort of thing that I could never understand or do. I probably wouldn't even be able to read a manual. And she worked there for the next nineteen years of her life. And when she wasn't climbing her way up this professional ladder,

• 7:11Payton Moreland?

  Kristil spent a lot of time with her father, working on old classic muscle cars in his garage. They would fix them up and then race them together. And it was something that they had bonded over all throughout Kristil's life. It was in that garage that Kristil also eventually confided in her father. Told him about the tough times, exciting new developments, like when she met and fell in love with a guy named Daniel Krug. And I'm not sure how the two met, but I know Daniel was a financial analyst with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. And back in 2007, they actually decided to tie the knot.

• 7:57Payton Moreland?

  And then for the next sixteen years, they went on to build a life together. Like I said, they had three children. They created a beautiful home and what many thought would actually be a happily ever after. That is, until someone from Kristil's past came back to haunt her. And this is where we get into the meat of today's case. So on October 2nd, 2023, Kristil got a text message from someone that she hadn't heard from in a while. It read, quote, "Hope it's okay. I looked you up."

• 8:35Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, no, it's not okay. No, it's not okay.

• 8:39Payton Moreland?

  "I go to Boulder every few weeks and thought we could hook up. You game?" Question mark. A little crazy to send a married woman, like out of the blue, too.

• 8:50Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

• 8:52Payton Moreland?

  So the person who sent this text to her phone identified himself as Anthony, AKA Jack Anthony Holland. Now, Jack Anthony and Kristil had, they did know each other. They had dated for about a year. From her senior year of high school going into college. So this is definitely a blast from the past. The two had broke up back in the fall of 2000. So at this point, that's about two decades earlier.

• 9:32Payton Moreland?

  Now, this whole texting actually isn't totally shocking or even out of the blue, according to Kristielle herself. Apparently, every so often, Anthony would check in with Kristielle to see how things were going. It was usually on Facebook. And during these times when he would just check in as she went about life, he would sort of hint about how he was still thinking about her. She was the one who got away. He could not stop thinking about his senior year girlfriend.

• 10:03Garrett Moreland?

  Okay, time to move on.

• 10:05Payton Moreland?

  So according to her, this had supposedly happened once in 2005, once in 2010, and then in 2016. And presumably, Kristielle told Daniel, her husband, about it too, especially because she felt like there were times where his messages crossed the line. He obviously knew she was married. He's reaching out on Facebook. But he would say things like, quote, "I feel like we're meant to be together." When this happens again in 2023, Kristielle's obviously a little annoyed because she has told him to stop. Like when he would send these messages.

• 10:45Garrett Moreland?

  Extremely creepy.

• 10:46Payton Moreland?

  In the past, she would tell him to stop. It actually got to the point where she even deleted her Facebook to keep it from happening because he kept reaching out via Facebook. And so she was like, you know what? 2016, I'm not using Facebook, I'm gonna delete it.

• 11:02Garrett Moreland?

  Can you imagine being married? Someone from like 20, whatever, plus years ago reaches out and goes, hey, do you want to hook up? Also, the fact that he looked her up, stalked her to find her phone number. No, that's not okay.

• 11:13Payton Moreland?

  It's scary, especially after he's been doing this for two decades.

• 11:17Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, that's not okay.

• 11:18Payton Moreland?

  23 years.

• 11:20Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 11:20Payton Moreland?

  He's been doing this and she's told him no and even deleted her Facebook, like.

• 11:24Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 11:25Payton Moreland?

  So despite this, despite her high school boyfriend just not being able to move on, according to Kristielle and her family, like when they dated in high school, they remembered him as being a kind, friendly, polite, good guy. So it's. It's not like she was, oh, this is my crazy ex from the past.

• 11:45Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 11:46Payton Moreland?

  So you can imagine Chris Steele's shock when the following day, so October 3rd, she gets another message and this one is way more aggressive. This one definitely stops her in her tracks.

• 12:04Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 12:05Payton Moreland?

  This time Anthony says, quote, "You should kill yourself. Don't waste my time."

• 12:11Garrett Moreland?

  What's up?

• 12:12Payton Moreland?

  So this is a pretty explosive reaction to someone who just didn't text you back after basically ignoring you and telling you to stop on Facebook for years. But this time it's different because it doesn't stop there. Over the next few days and even weeks, Anthony's messages escalate big time. So some of the texts actually talk about getting rid of Daniel, her husband. So the two of them could finally be together. Messages from an a.holland email address sent sexually explicit photographs to Chris Steele's phone. And then there were messages that showed he was likely stalking her, saying he knew

• 12:56Payton Moreland?

  her registration stickers on her car were expired and sending texts like, quote, "Saw you at the dentist, see you soon." And then came more photos, particularly one of her husband, Daniel, getting out of his car at work, which showed someone was obviously taking this photo from a distance. So this is when Chris Steele goes to the police. This is at the end of October. This has happened all through October. Now, remember who Chris Steele is. She's extremely smart. She is detail oriented. So she had been keeping a log of information on this stalker, documenting every single

• 13:37Payton Moreland?

  interaction from dates and times to forms of communication and so forth. She'd put this all together, probably because she knew this day would eventually come where she would end up taking it to the police.

• 13:49Garrett Moreland?

  Okay, yeah.

• 13:50Payton Moreland?

  Now, by this point, Still says she's terrified for her safety, the safety of her family. And the police can see how serious the stalking actually is. I mean.

• 14:01Garrett Moreland?

  Like, why? Like, why out of, like, why out of nowhere?

• 14:04Payton Moreland?

  When there's like threats of hurting or killing your husband and then a picture of your husband comes through. That's as real as it gets. And the threats are not just taking a toll on her, but on Daniel as well. He seems equally as terrified. So luckily, the police do offer to help. They say they are going to send search warrants to a few different communication companies. Basically looking for a digital confirmation that Anthony Holland, her ex boyfriend from over 20 years ago. Is really the person behind the stalking. And then that way they can actually get a warrant for his arrest because he has been threatening murder.

• 14:47Garrett Moreland?

  I'm actually curious. I would assume it is, but I guess you never know.

• 14:50Payton Moreland?

  But the problem is a lot of information that was requested through those warrants doesn't come back right away. So detectives had sent the warrants on November 12th. Remember the stalking had begun in early October. But for most of the companies that the police are reaching out to Google, Verizon, Text Now. They say, hey, it's going to take weeks before we can get this information to you, the information on this specific user.

• 15:19Garrett Moreland?

  We've talked about this before. I truly think stalking falls in that same, one of the most dangerous things and like the same category as domestic, um, like abuse and domestic violence. Like it as in it can escalate so quickly. For like a DV situation that can pretty quickly, all of a sudden someone can end up dead. Same thing with stalking. Like, if you don't get it under control. Someone could die.

• 15:46Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 15:47Garrett Moreland?

  And so it just, it's, it's, I mean, I get it. There's so much to it, but it sucks that it takes all this time to get all this information.

• 15:55Payton Moreland?

  It's so frustrating that these companies can't just give this information over immediately, but detectives say this is not unusual. When serving a search warrant to a major company like this, it can take them weeks, if not months, to get the information back to police. Which means in a case like this, a stalking case, Kristiell is very vulnerable. Until they had the proof to make an arrest, Kristiell had to take her own measures into her own hands if she wanted to protect herself against her stalker. So she keeps maintaining that stalker log. She installed security cameras around her house. Hopefully it was simply

• 16:37Payton Moreland?

  safe using code HUSBAND. And after telling her father what was going on, he ends up loaning her a handgun, which she started carrying with her when she left the house. And she even started taking firearm safety classes and hired her own private investigator to start looking into Anthony.

• 16:59Garrett Moreland?

  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. But 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.

• 17:21Payton Moreland?

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• 17:53Garrett Moreland?

  And Peyton and I are big advocates for therapy. Give it a try. Life can be crazy. There's a lot going on. Like we were talking about, sometimes it feels like you need to have everything figured out. You don't. Go talk to someone. Go see what's going on. Visit betterhelp.com/husband to explore your payment options. That's better help, H E L P dot com slash husband.

• 18:15Payton Moreland?

  All right, guys, we are getting into a sponsor and it is one of my favorites. Quince. You know those pieces in your closet that you find yourself reaching for over and over again? The sweater that just somehow works with everything, the jeans you know are always gonna fit. That bag you carry everywhere. Well, that is Quince in my closet. Okay? All of my Quince products have become my staples, which is why I highly, highly recommend going to Quince's website. Checking everything out. It is the quality. It is the quality that sets them apart. I mean, you have the price that they've been able to cut out the middleman and work directly with factories.

• 18:55Payton Moreland?

  So it is cheaper, but the quality of Quince items, I have had them for years. And again, I continue to reach for them time and time again. I'm talking loungewear, silk skirts, cashmere sweaters. And not to mention, they sell baby stuff. Okay? Find the fall pieces you'll reach for most at Quince. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com. Give free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And guys, at the very end, when Quince asks you where you heard about them, please, please, please just let them know. Murder with my husband. It is the best way to support the show. It lets them know that you heard about it here and it would mean a ton.

• 19:39Payton Moreland?

  Again, if you've never shopped on Quince, go take a look and then let them know Murder with my Husband sent you. Now meanwhile, police were still doing what they could on their end. Even going undercover to see if they could catch the stalker following Chris Steele and Daniel. While he was in the act, because then they don't necessarily need the information from the warrants. But as time ticked on, the harassment got worse. Chris Steele started to understandably grow frustrated with the police's investigation. Especially because she had mentioned to some friends that she truly believed someone was gonna end up dead in this situation.

• 20:19Garrett Moreland?

  Same thing happens with DV situations.

• 20:22Payton Moreland?

  And again,

• 20:22Garrett Moreland?

  Very similar.

• 20:23Payton Moreland?

  On the surface, we've talked about this before as Garrett was saying, but stalking just seems like a word, right?

• 20:29Garrett Moreland?

  People are nuts. Come on.

• 20:31Payton Moreland?

  It's like, oh, stalking, but stalking is so scary. I don't think you understand the gravity of a situation like that.

• 20:38Garrett Moreland?

  Like, can we just, as a society, can we not kill people? You don't know, but stalking is blows my mind.

• 20:45Payton Moreland?

  And it is so eerie, like,

• 20:47Garrett Moreland?

  Weird.

• 20:48Payton Moreland?

  It takes and it really leaves an impact on the victim more than society, I think, addresses because it's, again, on the outside looking in, it's like, ooh, someone took a picture of your husband. But like, when you actually think about how this guy's threatening your husband's life and then is following him around, it's actually really scary.

• 21:07Garrett Moreland?

  People are so, people are so weird.

• 21:09Payton Moreland?

  I know.

• 21:10Garrett Moreland?

  Anyways, okay, sorry, keep going.

• 21:12Payton Moreland?

  So anyways, she's telling people in her life, like, this is real, this is a big deal, and I think someone's gonna end up dead. And she was gonna do everything in her power to make sure that it was not her. So by December 2023, Kristielle and her family had been dealing with this harassment for two entire months. And it honestly didn't seem to be letting up. If anything, it was getting worse. So you can imagine Daniel's fears when he called Kristielle on the afternoon of the 14th, and she didn't answer. So that was when Daniel called the police to say, quote, which, again, this isn't like normal behavior. Your wife doesn't answer the phone. But in this situation, they're probably being more careful than ever.

• 21:57Payton Moreland?

  So he calls the police and says, I don't think it's an emergency. But again, due to our situation, this feels really weird. My wife isn't responding to text messages or phone calls. He then asked if someone was able to go over to his house to do a welfare check on his wife while he was at work. Now, shortly thereafter, around noon, an officer named John O'Hare takes a trip to the Krug's home in Broomfield, Colorado, and he knocks on the door. There's no answer. So O'Hare pulls his truck closer to the garage door, and he climbs on the hood to see if he can see in through the upper windows, like into the garage.

• 22:42Payton Moreland?

  And this is when he spots her. Kristielle, unmoving and currently bleeding on the floor of her garage with a wound to her head.

• 22:54Garrett Moreland?

  Wow.

• 22:55Payton Moreland?

  So the officer kicks open the door of the house, weapon drawn, unsure if the attacker is still inside. And when he finds the scene is all clear, he then obviously beelines to the garage to Kristielle. But when he gets in there, he can tell it's too late.

• 23:14Garrett Moreland?

  Like she's dead.

• 23:15Payton Moreland?

  Kristielle Krug is dead on her garage floor. So the officer, who was just called to do a wellness check, but knowing it was a stalker situation, calls for backup. The medical examiner finds that Kristielle was likely ambushed from behind and hit multiple times in the head with a blunt object before she was then stabbed in the heart. Stabbed in the heart. Daniel and Kristielle's family are called to the scene and they feel completely certain. Obviously, there was only one person who could have done this. They have been dreading this day. Kristielle's stalker, Anthony Hollins.

• 23:57Payton Moreland?

  Now meanwhile, Daniel, her husband, is an absolute mess. He's hysterical on the shoulder of a victim advocate that is at the crime scene. He's taken down to the station for questioning and he keeps insisting one thing. He wants to tell his kids about his wife's passing. He doesn't want the police to do it. So once detectives calm him down, they're able to get a little more out of him about that morning. He's like, no, I mean, nothing stood out. Their mornings in the house were pretty routine. That day was no different. He said Kristielle took the kids to school. She was usually home by 8 a.m. while he headed into the office around that time, as always.

• 24:40Payton Moreland?

  He said, as he was driving in, his phone dinged with a message from her asking if he could pick up one of their kids after school. He said he texted back, okay, yeah, what time? But then Kristielle never replied back. So he says.

• 24:56Garrett Moreland?

  I'm sorry to interrupt. I just feel like, I feel like there's gonna be a twist. You better bite those cheeks.

• 25:02Payton Moreland?

  I'm not.

• 25:02Garrett Moreland?

  I feel like there's gonna be a twist.

• 25:04Payton Moreland?

  I just let you, I let you.

• 25:05Garrett Moreland?

  Okay, keep going, keep going. I'm waiting for it now.

• 25:08Payton Moreland?

  So he's like, she never responded. He waited, he waited. And he's like, and because of our circumstance, I got nervous. I made the call to the police to do the welfare check. Now, the police are thinking the same thing as the family. There's obviously one person who seems glaringly responsible for this. The person who's been threatening her life for the last couple of months, Chris Steele's stalker. And thanks to that P I she had hired, they know where he lives. In Eagle Mountain, Utah.

• 25:39Garrett Moreland?

  No way.

• 25:41Payton Moreland?

  About an eight to nine hour drive.

• 25:44Garrett Moreland?

  I know exactly where that is.

• 25:45Payton Moreland?

  From Broome Field, Colorado.

• 25:48Garrett Moreland?

  Wait, you, sorry, keep going. I keep interrupting, nothing.

• 25:51Payton Moreland?

  No, you can say it.

• 25:51Garrett Moreland?

  No, I just got, my mind's moving right now.

• 25:54Payton Moreland?

  So the police investigating Chris Steele's case need to contact a local sheriff's department there. They need the sheriff from Utah to go talk to him since he, I mean, on paper, he lives far away. Now, a few hours after Chris Steele's body is found, they descend on Anthony's home. And what they discover is pretty, let's just say confusing. Anthony is home alone, watching TV when he gets a knock on the door. When he answers, one of the first things the deputies ask him is, hey, have you heard the name Chris Steele Krug before? And he's like, yeah, she was one of my first girlfriends. We broke up years ago, back in 2000. So then they ask, well, when was the last time you spoke to her? And he's like,

• 26:40Payton Moreland?

  uh, not for years. I think 2016. He was like, that was when I last messaged her on Facebook to say that I missed her. But he couldn't understand why police were now knocking on his door in Utah, asking him about his ex-girlfriend in Colorado. Now, they didn't mention at this point that Chris Steele had been murdered. And they're like, okay, well, where were you earlier today? He says, well, I've been mostly at home, but I did run out to Cole's earlier because he needed a new sweatshirt.

• 27:13Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, my gosh. I, I'm not going to say anything if you guys don't know where this is going, but this is nuts.

• 27:20Payton Moreland?

  So deputies are like, great, can you prove this? And he goes and gets his receipt. And sure enough, in his home, he has a receipt from Kohl's dated that same day. And the time of the purchase was 1216 PM. This was right around the time that Chris Steele's body was found. Meaning there was absolutely no way he could have driven to Colorado and back in time to kill Chris Steele and secure that alibi for himself. This is something that's also confirmed and backed up with license plate readers and presumably surveillance video at the store. But what's interesting is Anthony said something mysteriously came over him that morning.

• 28:04Payton Moreland?

  The thought just popped up in his head. He said he got this weird sudden urge to go buy a sweatshirt. He wasn't even planning on doing that this day. And then Anthony later said, he actually believes it was Chris Steele's way of protecting him from beyond the grave, a way to help clear his name. Because it was now becoming obvious that Anthony Holland, like Garrett was hinting at, was most likely not the stalker. He denied playing any part in those messages, which meant this investigation was going to require some digital forensics, a search to find who was actually messaging Chris Steele,

• 28:47Payton Moreland?

  if it was not Anthony Holland, her real life ex-boyfriend that was in Utah. So detectives start by looking into the couple's surveillance cameras around the house, the ones that Chris Steele installed after the threats had began. And they find something odd. All of those cameras had actually been manually turned off the morning she died. And the doorbell camera had been covered with blue masking tape, which is obviously creepy, but it doesn't paint the whole picture. So they move on to another angle. Specifically, they reach back out to those big companies who still haven't responded to the warrants from the stalking case. Google, Verizon, text now. And this time they're like,

• 29:31Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, so she's been murdered. So we have exigent circumstances, meaning we've got a homicide case on our hands and you need to make this a priority. Now the information comes through within hours. And one of the things they learned from those warrants is the stalker used an IP address that was quote, similar to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Building.

• 29:55Garrett Moreland?

  That's crazy.

• 29:56Payton Moreland?

  And who works there? Kristil husband, Daniel Krug. In fact, two different accounts used to harass Kristil had come from the same IP location, which if you're thinking it right now, I'm going to say it out loud. If these companies had just responded to these warrants faster, they would have realized that these texts were not coming from Eagle Mountain, Utah, but were coming from her husband's place of work.

• 30:25Garrett Moreland?

  I'm just so, did he not think he was like, once they went to Utah and realized this guy didn't leave Utah, like, what did he think was gonna happen? You know what I'm saying?

• 30:37Payton Moreland?

  Maybe he was hoping that guy wouldn't go to Kohl's.

• 30:39Garrett Moreland?

  So confused. It's crazy.

• 30:42Payton Moreland?

  I don't know. For me, it's just frustrating because it's like so obviously preventable, or at least she could have protected herself from the correct person.

• 30:50Garrett Moreland?

  Her own husband.

• 30:51Payton Moreland?

  Yes. And it's like they, it's so obviously tied back to his place of work like that.

• 30:57Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 30:58Payton Moreland?

  I mean, this feels like a smoking gun, but police still have to rule out the possibility that this wasn't someone who just worked with Daniel, maybe an enemy, maybe an affair partner. So they bring Daniel in for another round of questioning, which is a good point. I mean, if he was fooling around with someone from work, that person could have easily been doing this. So this time they tell her husband, hey, we actually went to Utah to confront Anthony and he has a rock solid alibi. There is no way that this man is the one who murdered Kristil. And that's when Daniel's entire demeanor changes in this interview. He sits back on the couch, he crosses his arms, he begins getting defensive, a little bit combative.

• 31:42Payton Moreland?

  And as soon as he realizes what's going on, that he is now being considered a suspect in his wife's murder, he starts insisting that he had nothing to do with it. And he tells police, quote, I just want the F for to pay. He took my children's mother before Christmas. They're never gonna get over that.

• 32:04Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, God.

• 32:04Payton Moreland?

  I don't care if you capture him. I don't care if you kill him. Find him. Don't just assume it's me. Keep looking.

• 32:14Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 32:15Payton Moreland?

  So they're like, okay, bro. Enough with the drama. They start.

• 32:20Garrett Moreland?

  What a, okay.

• 32:21Payton Moreland?

  He's like, I don't even care if you find the guy, but don't say it's me. And he's actually talking in circles because he's also like, I just want the guy to pay. But I don't care if you find him. Don't just think it's me like, go find him. I used to think a camera or video doorbell was home security. And then I realized those can only record a break in. They literally can't stop one. And that is the difference with simply safe. When an intruder steps onto your property, simply safe's AI powered cameras detect the threat and alert a live US based agent who can then intervene to stop them before they even get into your door. Because it's not my house or valuables that I'm even worried about. It's a stranger getting anywhere close to the people I love.

• 33:04Payton Moreland?

  And I'm obviously taking this way more seriously now, which I already did. But now more than ever with a baby on the way. Like I said, unlike traditional security cameras, they only alert you after a break in. Simply safe is built to stop it before it starts. And they have so many different options. If you haven't got on and checked it out, just do it, guys. If you've been waiting for a sign to get some security, this is it. Join the more than six million people who entrust simply safe with their home security. Right now, save 60% off with professional monitoring. When you visit simply safe.com slash husband. That is an amazing code, guys. 60% off. That is simply safe.com slash husband.

• 33:46Payton Moreland?

  And when you order, again, just please let them know murder with my husband sent you. Write it in at the checkout survey. Um, it just lets them know we sent you and it helps support the show. Simply safe ahead of crime and in real time. Guys, we're getting into an ad and waiting sucks. I hate waiting for things, but earn it. Is an app, not a bank, that gives you access to money that you have already earned. Okay. If you don't understand, let me explain it. Up to $150 a day and up to $1,000 between paychecks. Tips are optional and standard transfers take one to two business days with no mandatory fees.

• 34:28Payton Moreland?

  There have been many times in my life where I literally was waiting on my next paycheck. I needed to go to the grocery store, but I had to wait until Friday. Earnin definitely would have been beneficial for me at a time like that. Time just feels different when you're not waiting around to make moves. You have already earned this money, so collect it. Download Earnin on the App Store or Google Play. Spelled like earning money, just without the G. And then type in murder with my husband under podcast when you sign up. It just lets them know we sent you. It really helps out the show. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank. Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors.

• 35:12Payton Moreland?

  Standard cash outs take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. Expedited transfers available for a fee. Tips are voluntary and don't affect the service. Available in select states. Terms and restrictions apply. Visit earnin.com for full details. So, um, they start looking closer at what was going on in the marriage, obviously, prior to Kristielle's death. And after speaking with Kristielle's parents, they learned that this marriage wasn't great. Kristielle had been sleeping on the couch for the last few months and was actually questioning her future with Daniel. She told her family that he had a really bad temper and the smallest, most random things would set him off. Uh, that she was constantly walking on eggshells around him, unsure when he was going to lose control.

• 35:57Payton Moreland?

  And according to some sources, Kristielle had even started talking about divorce in the last few weeks of her life. And Kristil had begun looking into how she could get full custody of their three children. As far as I could tell, Kristil never filed any official reports against Daniel for domestic abuse. So for investigators, this is pretty circumstantial at the moment. You basically just have through word of mouth that their marriage wasn't going good and she was considering divorce. But nothing really on paper to prove that. Though it obviously is enough for them to keep focusing on him. And that is when they discover the burner phones.

• 36:41Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, I figured it was either a second phone or a burner phone. I mean, obviously at this point.

• 36:45Payton Moreland?

  Which is great evidence, physical evidence.

• 36:48Garrett Moreland?

  Out of all the ways to kill your wife, pretending to be a stalker from high school that lives in a different state.

• 36:54Payton Moreland?

  You're not.

• 36:55Garrett Moreland?

  And why, like, leave? I never understand this. Just leave. Like, if you really don't want to be with that person, leave.

• 37:02Payton Moreland?

  So their digital forensics expert found that not only had Daniel created fake email accounts to disguise himself as Anthony, which were created on a password protected network at his office, mind you. He also had burner phones, which he used to torment his wife. Phones that were tied to a Visa gift card that was registered in Daniel's name. I mean, he just.

• 37:27Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 37:28Payton Moreland?

  They also discovered Google searches on his devices in the days leading up to the murder. Things like, quote, "When is a head injury a cause for concern?" Quote, "How hard would you have to hit someone in the head to make them unconscious?" Quote, "How long can you be unconscious without brain damage?" So.

• 37:51Garrett Moreland?

  What?

• 37:51Payton Moreland?

  Those honestly.

• 37:54Garrett Moreland?

  Those are crazy. Those are.

• 37:56Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, but they don't feel like murder.

• 37:59Garrett Moreland?

  Almost like he wanted to knock her out.

• 38:01Payton Moreland?

  Yes.

• 38:03Payton Moreland?

  Which was just a little.

• 38:05Garrett Moreland?

  Strange?

• 38:06Payton Moreland?

  Yeah. I mean, the, the police were probably hoping for our typical Google searches of like, where to find a shovel and?

• 38:13Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 38:14Payton Moreland?

  How do you bury a human body?

• 38:15Garrett Moreland?

  Clean up after you kill somebody?

• 38:17Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 38:17Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 38:17Payton Moreland?

  Either way, they're still not great considering that she died of being hit in the head. So as far as how he pulled some of these things off, like the creepy photos of himself, if you remember, well, the digital forensics expert found that the, that photo was taken in selfie mode using a timer. It was propped up on a car next to him, set, and then Daniel staged it to look like he was getting out of his car while the photo was taken. And then he sent it to his own wife using a burner phone. But the bigger question for detectives was, how did his wife send him a text from her phone after he had already left for the day?

• 39:00Payton Moreland?

  Cause remember, he claims, I left and then she texted me and he never came back. Well, on the day of the murder, surveillance cameras caught him leaving for work a little later than usual, around eight 24. This is 30 minutes later than when he initially told police he left for work just before Chris Steele came home at eight AM. Plus, the digital investigator found Chris Steele had a feature on her phone that would allow her to schedule texts to be sent, meaning they could be pre-typed and then timed to automatically send to someone else's phone later on.

• 39:37Garrett Moreland?

  He put so much work into this.

• 39:39Payton Moreland?

  And that is exactly what Daniel did using Chris Steele's phone after she died. So here is how investigators think this entire thing played out. Around eight AM that morning, after dropping her kids off at school, Chris Steele pulled into her garage where her husband was waiting to attack her. Once she got out of her car, he ambushed her, hitting her in the head multiple times with a blunt object before flipping her around and stabbing her in the heart.

• 40:10Garrett Moreland?

  Gosh, dude. Why?

• 40:13Payton Moreland?

  And then he took her phone. He scheduled some texts to go out, one to himself, one to a detective investigating her stalking case, and then one to a family member. All of this to create an alibi for himself as in she was still alive after he had left. And then around 8:15 a.m., he used Chris Steele's phone to disable the home security cameras. He covered the doorbell camera with tape. He got into his car and then disabled his own dashboard camera. My eye ad, he then stopped for coffee and headed to work for the day.

• 40:51Garrett Moreland?

  I'm just trying to figure out why. Did he just not like his wife? Like, what's going on?

• 40:55Payton Moreland?

  All of this while his wife is bleeding out on his garage floor. At 8:56 a.m., he gets that scheduled message from Chris Steele to create the illusion that she was still alive, even though investigators later found the last time her device was used was actually 8:22 a.m., a half hour before. And then he called the police around 12 p.m. to say, hey, I haven't heard back from my wife, that she has a stalker. I'm worried. Can you go do a welfare check? This way, they would find her body and he would look like an innocent grieving husband. So, two days after Chris Steele's death, on December 16th, 2023, two days, police have a warrant for Daniel's arrest.

• 41:38Payton Moreland?

  They follow him with eight police cars to a grocery store parking lot. They ambush him as he's getting out of his car. And that is when one of the detectives asks him this, quote,

• 41:49Speaker 02

  Do you want me to tell your kids that you killed their mother? Or do you want somebody else to?

• 41:54Payton Moreland?

  Do you want to tell your kids that you killed their mother? Or do you want someone else to do it this time?

• 41:59Garrett Moreland?

  That's so cool.

• 42:00Payton Moreland?

  So after-

• 42:01Garrett Moreland?

  I mean, horrible, absolutely horrendous that their kids have to figure out that their dad killed their mom.

• 42:06Payton Moreland?

  It's ironic to say the least. So Daniel was charged with first degree murder, criminal impersonation, and stalking, and pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. But one of the bigger questions in this case, Garrett just asked, why? Why did he do it? Why go about it in the way he did? Well, the theory is Daniel was actually trying to win Kristielle over. That this didn't start as a murder plan, just as a way to be her knight in shining armor. He wanted to be there for her in this time of need, but over time, it added more stress and tension to their relationship.

• 42:48Garrett Moreland?

  Okay, then stop doing it.

• 42:49Payton Moreland?

  The theory is he had started doing the stalking to try to reconnect with Kristielle, but it didn't do what he wanted it to do.

• 42:58Garrett Moreland?

  Like to stop.

• 42:59Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, and eventually, police believe Kristielle even started to suspect that maybe Daniel was behind some of this. Daniel told police in his first interview that Kristielle had said to him, quote, "I can't even rule you out as the stalker." And when she went to the police and they started an investigation into the stalking, that's when Daniel realized how he was losing control of the situation because they had just put a warrant out to figure out where these texts were coming from. And he knows they weren't coming from Eagle Mountain, Utah. So he figured it was only a matter of time before he was exposed.

• 43:39Payton Moreland?

  And the only way to keep this secret was to silence the one person who suspected him. And that was Kristielle. Maybe if she died, they wouldn't even look into the stalking anymore. So Daniel's trial began in April of 2025. Obviously, prosecution paints the picture I just told you, that he had created the stalker to win over his wife. And then it backfired. And actually, I find this interesting, so I want to include it. At trial, a former girlfriend testified that he kind of done a similar thing to her. So she gets on the stand and is like, "He created fake online personas to harass me after we broke up."

• 44:22Payton Moreland?

  So he's definitely done this whole pretend to be someone else to try to accomplish something with my person of interest. Obviously, the defense tries to argue the possibility that Kristielle was having an affair, maybe with someone that he worked with, and that was the person that attacked her. And that's why the messages came from there. They also mentioned the possibility that someone other than her husband was the stalker. The problem with this case was there was no physical evidence that connected Daniel to the murder. As far as there was like her blood wasn't found with him, there was no murder weapon.

• 45:00Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, interesting.

• 45:01Payton Moreland?

  Honestly, if it weren't for the stalking, like then proving that it came from him, he probably would have got away with it.

• 45:07Garrett Moreland?

  Good point.

• 45:08Payton Moreland?

  But after three weeks of testimony, jurors went to deliberate forty-four-year-old Daniel Krug was found guilty of first-degree murder, stalking and criminal impersonation. Now, as of January twenty twenty-six, some of Kristil family in Oregon was working with lawmakers to try and pass Kristil law.

• 45:27Garrett Moreland?

  Nice.

• 45:28Payton Moreland?

  They believed that if the warrants were acted on sooner. Yeah, the ones sent to places like Google and Verizon, Kristil might still be alive today. If they hadn't taken weeks to process, Kristil might have gotten confirmation that her husband was her stalker and would have been able to take the proper measures to ensure her safety. So Kristil law would try to prevent these specific delays. It would require communication companies to return search warrants within forty-eight hours of receiving them, specifically in the case of domestic violence and stalking. So if if you're doing a warrant to a communication company and it has anything to do with stalking, domestic violence, they have to do it fast.

• 46:13Garrett Moreland?

  Got it.

• 46:14Payton Moreland?

  This could lead to a lot of saved lives, honestly. If you or someone you know is a victim of stalking, there are resources to help. You can contact the Stalking Prevention Awareness and Resource Center at one eight five five four victim. And if you feel like you are in immediate danger, obviously, please call nine one one. And if Kristil story moved you today, her family has actually set up a GoFundMe page, which you can find linked in the episode description. That's on any audio platform. Again, just a way to be able to listen to this case and also, you know, do our part to try and help.

• 46:56Payton Moreland?

  All right, you guys, and that was the murder of Kristil Krug.

• 47:00Garrett Moreland?

  This crazy, now these kids have to grow up without a mom, without a dad. Again, I hate the domino effect. I hate it.

• 47:08Payton Moreland?

  There's always more than one victim.

• 47:09Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 47:10Payton Moreland?

  Thank you guys so much for listening to today's episode and we will see you next time with another one. I love it.

• 47:17Garrett Moreland?

  I hate it.

• 47:18Payton Moreland?

  Goodbye.