Pod Insights Murder In America EP. 223 - COLORADO: The Killer Dentist About this episode In today's episode, we examine the story of Dr. James Craig, whose disturbing crimes came to light in 2023 after the sudden and violent death of his wife. -
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Transcript 21,694 words · 14 speakers
Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:00 Colin Brown? 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.
0:11 Courtney Brown? Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.
0:18 Colin Brown? This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.
0:23 Courtney Brown? Doctors had never seen anything like this before. They swarmed the hospital room as alarms blared. Their patient's 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-Crack, 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 10 days, she had rapidly declined in health,
1:08 Courtney Brown? landing in the hospital four separate times. And through every visit stood her husband, Dr. James Crack, a leader in the local church who had a successful dental practice in Aurora, Colorado, 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
1:46 Courtney Brown? 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 Crack, 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 Brown.
2:17 Colin Brown? And I'm Colin Brown.
2:19 Courtney Brown? And you're listening to Murder in America.
3:22 Colin Brown? Our story today begins miles and miles away from a million dollar home in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. It starts long before the media's sensationalization, and the lies, and endless trips to the hospital in 2023. Because the story we have for you today isn't about the pain, turmoil, and infidelity of James Tolliver Craig. It's about the love, sacrifice, and grit of the woman who stood beside him. A woman who left magic in her wake, and smiles on the faces of everyone she passed. A woman named Angela Dawn Prey, who filled her family with love the instant that they laid eyes on her on April 15, 1979.
4:05 Colin Brown? Angela was born in Dodge City, Kansas, a town nestled in the middle of the majestic Great Plains, founded as a fort on the frontier, offering weary travelers a place to lay their heads. For her family, it still held that fortitude and safety, offering a warm, cozy community for her parents, Dawn and Elizabeth, to raise Angela and her nine siblings in. Angela was the baby of the family, and if you asked her, she would jokingly say, "the favorite." She grew up as a loyal member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, carrying her faith with her from a very young age. Even though she was the youngest, many of her older siblings looked to her as an inspiration, an example of what it meant to live a good, godly, and exciting life.
4:48 Colin Brown? From childhood forward, Angela loved sports, reading, history, and the outdoors. When she didn't have her head tucked in a Jane Austen book, she was riding bikes, playing volleyball, or just trying new things. As a child and adult, she wasn't a risk-taker by any means, but she was adventurous. She wasn't afraid to fail or make mistakes. She was the type to try everything and then laugh it off if it didn't go as planned.
5:15 Courtney Brown? Which may explain why in high school, Angela had a lot of hobbies. She was in band, the Foreign Language Club, the Pop Concert Committee, the International Club, the Junior Optimist International Club, and the Students Against Destructive Decisions Organization. After graduating from Dodge City High School in 1997, she went on to serve her church as a missionary. Now, if you're unfamiliar, many Mormons go on missions when they come of age, and they travel to other countries or areas of the US to spread their beliefs, and often do service within the community. Upon her return from her mission, Angela spent time with her siblings
6:00 Courtney Brown? 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 lays 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.
6:44 Courtney Brown? And when she met James, he swept her off her feet.
6:48 Colin Brown? 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 quote "was homeless", end quote, 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",
7:33 Colin Brown? 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.
7:56 Courtney Brown? After moving to Wichita with his parents in his early teens, James settled into his new school and 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 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,
8:39 Courtney Brown? 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 quote "didn't think his wife was there", end quote. But James felt differently. He saw Angela from across the room and decided that he had to... Ask her for a dance. And 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,
9:23 Courtney Brown? 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's words, 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 nineteen and twenty years old.
10:07 Courtney Brown? 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 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."
10:50 Courtney Brown? 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 and 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.
11:26 Colin Brown? 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. 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
12:09 Colin Brown? his zoology degree, and then pursued dental school at 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 Health, with a focus on conducting peer-reviewed studies on bone substitute materials.
12:49 Courtney Brown? 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. 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.
13:32 Courtney Brown? While doing his research, James began working at Summerbrook Dental, where he focused on general and cosmetic dentistry. He built a reputation as being both personable and professional.
13:45 Courtney Brown? And it didn't take him long to earn numerous loyal patients.
13:49 Speaker 02 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 their comfort level at the office. That's one of the hallmarks of Summerbrook Dental is that we try to be happy here.
14:20 Courtney Brown? 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.
14:39 Speaker 03 Look, he's gonna go visit a patient!
14:41 Speaker 02 Oh, I know, I'm gonna go see a patient.
14:45 Speaker 03 We've been waiting down here for Dr. Dr.
14:48 Speaker 02 Hi, I'm here to get a tooth extracted. I'm here to do the work.
14:53 Speaker 02 Hi Nicole, how are you?
14:54 Speaker 03 Good, how are you?
14:55 Speaker 02 Sorry you had to see me like this again.
14:58 Speaker 02 And our last weekend was a little bit of a shock, but here I am again, just like this. Sorry, 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.
15:11 Colin Brown? 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.
15:57 Colin Brown? 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.
16:27 Courtney Brown? 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 alike seemed to love. One of her husband's employees, Chelsea Atoya, 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,
17:12 Courtney Brown? the tight-knit relationship that Angela and James seemed to have served as a sort of inspiration for them. James talked about Angela and the kids often, telling his coworkers about all the adventures they went on together. Almost every year, they would go to Disney in Florida. Then in between, they often took trips around the US, 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.
17:57 Courtney Brown? 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.
18:13 Colin Brown? But beneath the surface, things weren't at all what they seemed. Behind their bright smiles, there was trouble in the Craig'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 showering 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,
18:58 Colin Brown? 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."
19:44 Courtney Brown? 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, "How many times has James come home from work, looked at the house, and looked at me in obvious confusion? See, I've told him throughout the day about how busy I am. But when he comes home, he only sees me standing amidst a disaster, smiling and saying, 'I finally got those pictures hung.' To his credit,
20:29 Courtney Brown? he totally understands and jumps right into help every time. And that's what makes him smokin' hot." End quote. Her page was often flooded with photographs of their family enjoying birthday celebrations, spa days, and dinners in their backyard. In 2017, she shared a photo from her son's 15th birthday party with the caption, "Love this crazy life." But by 2018, in spite of all the happy photos, effort, and praise that she gave her husband, things took a turn for the worse. It was a Sunday morning, and when Angela's sister Toni picked up the phone to speak to her little sister, she knew instantly that something was wrong. According to Toni,
21:14 Courtney Brown? Angela was sobbing, hiding away somewhere so her children wouldn't hear. At the time, she was responsible for a 15-year-old, 13-year-old, 12-year-old, 10-year-old, 5-year-old, and 3-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.
21:56 Courtney Brown? 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 comprehensible, 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.
22:38 Courtney Brown? 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.
23:21 Courtney Brown? 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.
23:41 Colin Brown? Following this horrific incident, James and Angela worked together to save their marriage. James begged Angela for forgiveness, and following the doctrine in 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 include 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 file.
24:26 Colin Brown? 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's 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.
25:11 Colin Brown? But James's 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
25:55 Colin Brown? 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 pick-up lines, begging other women to give him the attention and love that his wife was already giving him.
26:36 Courtney Brown? 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 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.
27:19 Courtney Brown? He presented himself as a devoted father, a hard-working 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,
28:04 Courtney Brown? 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 Accord. 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
28:49 Courtney Brown? 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 "completely broke and destitute." When the two discussed the movie "The Purge," James admitted that if he was given the opportunity, he would "purge" his wife, meaning "kill her." Shockingly, James also bragged that he knew how to get away with murder, stating that
29:31 Courtney Brown? 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:
30:09 Colin Brown? Geez, 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 that this is so new, but I'm jumping in with both feet.
30:24 Courtney Brown? At trial, Elizabeth testified that she "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 "sex things." And all the while, James's 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.
31:07 Courtney Brown? So it didn't take long for his wife Angela to discover what was happening. In early December, James sent this text to Carrie.
31:17 Colin Brown? 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.
31:44 Courtney Brown? James had been discovered. At least, his affair with Carrie had been discovered. And of course, it absolutely crushed his wife Angela. On December 9, 2022, Angela called her sister in tears. She told Tony that she had found something on James's computer that made it "impossible" for her to stay. Through her sobs, she told her that she was feeling "broken and completely alone."
32:16 Courtney Brown? 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 ninth, 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.
33:01 Courtney Brown? Around the same time, after not getting an initial response from Carrie, James texted Carrie again, saying this:
33:10 Colin Brown? "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 so glad you're loving your attorney and doing well, though. I've been worried about you."
33:23 Courtney Brown? 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
34:09 Courtney Brown? 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, "There's nothing left for you to break. That's how shattered this is." Soon after that, she sent him another text that read, "You had a month's worth of chances to save your marriage,
34:52 Courtney Brown? but what you wanted with her was more important to you than us. I hope she was worth it." 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 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.
35:37 Courtney Brown? 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 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.
36:06 Colin Brown? 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.
36:49 Colin Brown? 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 her, "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.
37:33 Colin Brown? 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."
37:44 Courtney Brown? 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 texts with proclamations of love. And as you've surely realized with James, she wasn't the only one. On February 24, 2023, James attended an out-of-state dental conference in Las Vegas.
38:29 Courtney Brown? 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, "The conversations were deep and honest and vulnerable. Well, honest, I thought."
39:12 Courtney Brown? He had this incredible gift of like, making people feel so understood. 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 "forever person." 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.
39:57 Courtney Brown? In a text on February 27th, he wrote, "Sonar conmigo, my eternal love. May heaven let us bloom together forever." Now, "sonar conmigo" roughly translates to "dream with me."
40:12 Colin Brown? 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, Angela 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.
40:56 Colin Brown? And as February neared an end, his plan for their total destruction began in earnest.
41:03 Colin Brown? 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 can 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.
41:42 Colin Brown? The listing was originally titled, "Arsenic Metal, 99.9999% crystalline metalloid, 10 grams for element collection." The description of the item read, "Buying arsenic might immediately trigger suspicion that murder is intended. It has certainly been a favorite weapon in crime novels, but this is more due to the waning romance and literary sophistication for exotic materials than its inherent lethality. Swallowing a handful of ibuprofen would be deadlier, if perhaps less newsworthy. That's not to dismiss this element's toxicity. While directly handling a small sample is inadvisable, it is classified as a skin irritant, the real danger is in swallowing it, which could very well prove fatal."
42:24 Colin Brown? The chemical, with that description, cost him a mere $13.
42:29 Courtney Brown? James also searched, "Is arsenic detectable in autopsy?" On the Carlson Company website. Once clicked, there was an abundance of information regarding, quote, "All you need to know about arsenic poisoning." It read, quote, "Poisoning is a common cause of death. Many people die accidentally from poisoning. Even though poison is not the common choice of weapon for homicide, it is not unheard of. According to statistics, poisoning only amounts to a handful of deaths in the total number of criminal homicides. Death by poisoning is rarely ruled as criminal homicide, while most go as undetermined.
43:10 Courtney Brown? The common reason for this is that clinical autopsies are done by pathologists, who are not consciously looking for malicious intent." Now, the link also featured a list of symptoms from arsenic poisoning, including dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and muscle cramps. James then watched several YouTube videos titled, "Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play", other videos were titled "How to Make Poison", "Oleander How to Make Poison", and "The Top 10 Deadliest Plants They Can Kill You".
43:47 Colin Brown? Now, in the video titled "Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play", uploaded by It's All Viral, James learned that polonium, mercury, cyanide, botulinum toxin, and arsenic were all undetectable, and he also learned how each one affected people. He also searched oleagren, and learned how to make poison from oleander. James Googled "buy oleander", and then searched Nerdfighteria Wiki, "6 Deadly Undetectable Poisons and How to Detect Them". On the Nerdfighteria Wiki page, James found an abundance of information on multiple poisons, and watched a video titled "Perfect Poison". The article was lengthy, and provided details regarding the symptoms of cyanide poisoning,
44:32 Colin Brown? including nausea, difficulty breathing, seizures, weakness, and cardiac arrest. Shockingly, the video also said that cyanide was extremely hard to detect, and if it was detected, it was often too late for doctors to do anything or diagnose what happened to the patient. Apparently, James's new email address, [email protected] , was not only created to correspond with Karen Kane, but also to purchase several poisons. While James was finding the perfect, undetectable way to kill his wife, Angela was visiting her sister, Toni Kofoid, in Utah. When Toni laid eyes on her sister, she was concerned. She thought Angela looked tired and worn down. Angela explained to her
45:16 Colin Brown? that she had had a fight with James the night before she left, but she promised him that she wouldn't go into the details of the fight with her sister. Likely, that's due to the text exchange she had with him on her way to see Toni. After telling James she wished him healing and happiness, and that their marriage was more important than her having a good day, he responded, "Thank you. I know you're getting ready to go out and spend some time with Tony, and I would like to ask that you keep last night's conversation details just between you and I. I trust Tony, but it was hard for me to even tell you that stuff. I'm definitely not ready for anybody else to hear it." What he told 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.
46:01 Colin Brown? 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 finally unlock this door and step 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,
46:44 Colin Brown? government cover-ups, and suspicious suicides. On my new show, The Conspiracy Files. Available now on all streaming platforms.
46:54 Courtney Brown? 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.
47:35 Courtney Brown? 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 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 facedown 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.
48:19 Courtney Brown? But Angela reassured him that she would be fine and that he needed to stay at work.
48:24 Colin Brown? 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 responded, "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.
49:09 Colin Brown? Angela was frightened and asked James to come home. At 4:19 PM, 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.
49:52 Colin Brown? But instead, he returned to Sunnybrook Dental to, in his words, "take care of some work."
49:58 Courtney Brown? 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 nine to drop something off. But 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.
50:43 Courtney Brown? 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.
50:58 Colin Brown? 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 Aduc 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.
51:40 Courtney Brown? "That would be great. Sorry, meant to say that."
51:44 Colin Brown? The text messages exchanged between the two suggested that James was 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, forty-three-year-old woman would suddenly become so sick. She started Googling her symptoms obsessively. "Way too much vitamin V.
52:27 Colin Brown? 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?"
52:43 Courtney Brown? 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.
53:27 Courtney Brown? 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-
53:40 Colin Brown? "If it wasn't my wife, this would be kind of a fun puzzle to try to work out."
53:44 Courtney Brown? 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,
54:27 Courtney Brown? 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.
54:42 Colin Brown? On the same day she was admitted to the hospital, James returned to exam room number nine and purchased Sigma 20781025G 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." 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.
55:27 Colin Brown? Two hours after the original email was sent, James responded saying, "Thanks, I'm 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 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..."
56:05 Colin Brown? Identification number is PROV4684. My license number is CO9285 and my MPI number is 1942301502. My professional email address is [email protected] . 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, Inc. and told the employee, "Oh, man, so inconvenient. Well, ship it out anyway.
56:50 Colin Brown? 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?"
57:00 Courtney Brown? 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 10. 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 I'm 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 10:47 a.m. on Friday, March 10,
57:42 Courtney Brown? 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 11. 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.
58:11 Colin Brown? 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, right?
58:20 Courtney Brown? 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.
58:48 Colin Brown? I woke up dreaming about making love to you. I love you, and I want you.
58:53 Courtney Brown? 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 nightfall came, the package still hadn't arrived. So James emailed Midland Scientific this.
59:26 Colin Brown? 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.
59:39 Courtney Brown? On Monday morning, March 13th, an employee responded to James's email saying, quote, "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." End quote. However, this time, they were able to provide a tracking number for his order via FedEx. At 8:00 a.m., James responded saying, quote, "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 the package soon. Thanks for your help." End quote.
1:00:22 Courtney Brown? 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, Catty 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."
1:01:05 Courtney Brown? 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.
1:01:17 Colin Brown? Now, this may seem a bit unbelievable, but you have to remember dental offices, especially ones that perform invasive surgery like this one, aren't strangers to all kinds of chemicals. Upon seeing the biohazard sticker, Caitlin originally assumed it was fentanyl. However, after seeing the packing slip, curiosity got the best of her. She Googled potassium cyanide, wondering what it could possibly be used for in the office. When she saw that the side effects matched the symptoms Angela had been experiencing, nausea, vomiting, and low blood pressure, her heart sank. She knew that Angela and James were having marital problems. Sometimes during his lunch break, he would leave the office because he and Angela were fighting. He had even told Caitlin that he wanted a divorce.
1:02:01 Colin Brown? Fearing the worst but not really expecting it, Caitlin told her other boss, Dr. Ryan Redfern, about the package they had received. Dr. Redfern was surprised by this, but initially, he assumed there had to be some explanation. This was only bolstered by Angela being stabilized and released on March 14th.
1:02:19 Courtney Brown? At home, Angela was frightened 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.
1:03:02 Courtney Brown? 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.
1:03:43 Courtney Brown? 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 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.
1:04:11 Colin Brown? 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 work things to do.
1:04:53 Colin Brown? 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 2:08, 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's 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.
1:05:34 Courtney Brown? At 2:00 PM, 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 "madhouse of activity." Multiple medical staff members were working to revive her and keep Angela alive.
1:06:10 Courtney Brown? As Mark and Tony'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 cellphone. 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 into the ICU and hooked her up to life support,
1:06:55 Courtney Brown? while her husband continued to flirt with the woman he had met just three weeks prior.
1:07:00 Colin Brown? 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.
1:07:44 Colin Brown? 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 on the poison and how it affected the human body.
1:08:25 Colin Brown? 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 cellphone 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.
1:09:08 Colin Brown? 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 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 silent, caught.
1:09:53 Colin Brown? 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.
1:10:36 Colin Brown? 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.
1:10:47 Speaker 04 I am one of the forensic nurses at University Hospital. We have a suspected cyanide, passing cyanide poisoning. And the patient presented to ER this morning, walked in, normal labs, normal everything. She does not know we're calling you guys either. Okay, because she's wanting, my understanding is to withdraw care on her pretty quickly. My understanding is he was trying to get the children here to say goodbye to her and withdraw care.
1:11:14 Courtney Brown? Within a few hours, Detective Chamberlain and Detective Bobby Olson were at University Hospital, 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 cellphone, but he didn't answer. Instead, he received a lengthy text message that read this.
1:11:42 Colin Brown? 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 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, this would make so much sense to you, but there's
1:12:24 Colin Brown? 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 6:45 PM. The hospital said we
1:13:07 Colin Brown? 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 10 PM 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
1:13:50 Colin Brown? 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 gossip 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
1:14:33 Colin Brown? 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.
1:14:53 Courtney Brown? 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 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,
1:15:37 Courtney Brown? 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. 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.
1:16:19 Courtney Brown? 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
1:17:01 Courtney Brown? 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.
1:17:22 Colin Brown? Unfortunately, at 4:29 PM 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, "The individual has sustained 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
1:18:04 Colin Brown? 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 a 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.
1:18:43 Speaker 05 Our detectives are gonna want to talk to you. Would that be okay?
1:18:47 Speaker 02 I think so. Okay. I've never done this before. Do I need to do like on the show?
1:18:53 Speaker 02 I will. And I think I have to do that. Well, I think I have the information that they're looking for, but I'm scared to death to share it without an attorney. So I'll go down there, but I don't want to talk to him. Okay. But I have the information. Well, yeah, I mean, it's. And I'm not dangerous. I'm not a flight.
1:19:06 Colin Brown? 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 cellphone, Angela's cellphone, and the hard drive connected to the computer in Exam Room Number Nine. What they discovered was horrifying. A newly created email account, [email protected] , numerous internet searches about arsenic, oleander, cyanide, and tetrahydrozoline, and even an online order for three of the poisons. They theorized that when the arsenic failed to work fast enough, he ordered oleandrin.
1:19:52 Colin Brown? 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 chased a cyanide order, irritated that it was taking too long to be delivered. Investigators believe 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.
1:20:36 Colin Brown? 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 2:00 a.m. on the morning of March 19th.
1:21:18 Speaker 05 How you doing?
1:21:19 Speaker 02 Well, thank you.
1:21:23 Speaker 05 Oh, how are you?
1:21:24 Speaker 02 Okay, how are you guys doing?
1:21:26 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:21:29 Speaker 05 Hi.
1:21:32 Speaker 05 Hi, Bob. You are under arrest. Okay. Okay, first degree murder. Wait.
1:21:39 Speaker 05 Sorry.
1:21:42 Courtney Brown? Shockingly, 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.
1:21:59 Speaker 05 Um, basically, obviously, I didn't find you by a miracle. Um, we are aware, um, of yours and James' 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.
1:22:24 Speaker 05 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.
1:22:43 Speaker 05 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 gonna come out here. So I don't know if you can shed any light on any of that?
1:23:08 Speaker 06 I can show you when I bought my ticket, but I bought my ticket. Couple of weeks ago, probably so.
1:23:14 Speaker 05 Yeah.
1:23:15 Speaker 06 Timing was set before she went into the hospital.
1:23:21 Speaker 05 She come out here twice.
1:23:24 Speaker 05 Did you come out here on the eighth? Stay till the ten?
1:23:27 Speaker 06 Ticket for the eighth that I changed to.
1:23:30 Speaker 05 You didn't come out here then?
1:23:32 Speaker 06 No.
1:23:32 Speaker 05 Okay.
1:23:33 Speaker 06 Pay or I add Southwest, so it's free to change.
1:23:36 Speaker 05 Change, okay.
1:23:37 Speaker 06 Uh, so I just changed the eighth to the sixteenth.
1:23:40 Speaker 05 So this is the first time you've come out here?
1:23:43 Speaker 06 Mm-hmm.
1:23:44 Speaker 05 How did you meet him?
1:23:46 Speaker 06 At a meeting, a dental meeting in Las Vegas.
1:23:50 Speaker 05 Las Vegas, okay.
1:23:54 Speaker 05 Did you, I mean, like, was this, um, you know, I want to get personal, I mean, is this like something he was telling you was a serious relationship?
1:24:05 Speaker 06 Um.
1:24:07 Speaker 05 I mean, did you consider it to be a serious relationship?
1:24:12 Speaker 06 I mean, we shared a lot of, you know, personal information, practically, just like history and I don't know, kind of.
1:24:21 Speaker 06 But we haven't been physically intimate or.
1:24:31 Speaker 05 Did, what did he tell you's been going on with his wife?
1:24:35 Speaker 06 Just that he said he told her in November that he wanted a divorce, that they told the kids together in December. He filed in January, early February, something. And, um, then we got, um, back from the 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 meeting and things like that. And that, uh, she had said that she probably was gonna move back to where her family is, you know?
1:25:17 Speaker 06 And just, uh, they had been just kinda talking about what things were gonna look like. He said, he did tell me when they talked that night, I'm kinda worried that she might hurt herself. So we've had a history of that.
1:25:33 Speaker 05 What night was that?
1:25:36 Speaker 06 That would have been.
1:25:40 Speaker 06 Then the night, well, he had.
1:25:45 Speaker 06 He had said that probably even before that, but I like. He said that the night that they talked about whether or not she was gonna.
1:25:57 Speaker 06 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.
1:26:12 Speaker 06 That would have been, I know somewhere around.
1:26:17 Speaker 06 First of March.
1:26:25 Speaker 05 Did he talk to you at all about why she was in the hospital?
1:26:31 Speaker 06 Just told me that the girl said she was acting strange and. We actually just had this conversation. A whole days ago, I was like, well, that makes, cause I didn't know about um. Her history of attempting suicide. And I said, well, it makes a lot of sense why you jumped right to, I mean, taking her to the hospital and she was just. Kind of acting weird like to me, it was a.
1:26:57 Speaker 05 He's, he, just point out to me again, he said she was acting weird?
1:27:01 Speaker 06 Said the girls.
1:27:02 Speaker 05 Meaning the kids.
1:27:05 Speaker 06 To say. Mommy won't, mom's not feeling well, she's not being up or she's. Playing down and.
1:27:15 Speaker 05 Okay, so. Here's basically where we're at, um, he's never told her he wants 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.
1:27:37 Speaker 05 So he is in jail for screen 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
1:28:18 Speaker 05 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?
1:28:57 Speaker 06 Um, he's never said, I mean, he even said he had a conversation
1:29:04 Speaker 06 this evening with his son because his son found the reversal agents that he's had because he's got to reverse her.
1:29:15 Speaker 05 He had the little bottle like this of Narcan. Um, we don't know what that is.
1:29:22 Speaker 06 He said that, that his son had found. It was a rumor.
1:29:28 Speaker 05 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.
1:29:40 Speaker 05 That I'm very, very confident about. Um, so.
1:29:47 Speaker 05 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.
1:30:00 Speaker 05 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 that there was any marital problems, there was anything wrong with mom. 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.
1:30:40 Speaker 05 So, unfortunately, I think he's told you a very elaborate story of which probably most of it, if not all of it, is nonsense.
1:30:51 Colin Brown? 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.
1:31:10 Speaker 07 Um, so, um, now you're here, so I do have an arrest warrant for the murder of Angela.
1:31:18 Speaker 08 My gosh.
1:31:22 Speaker 07 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.
1:31:49 Speaker 07 I, I just wanted to just give you the opportunity.
1:31:52 Speaker 08 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. 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 kill my wife.
1:32:29 Speaker 07 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?
1:32:38 Speaker 08 Yeah. So.
1:32:42 Speaker 08 What happens if, right now, I say, "I just really need an attorney with me, and I can't talk to you"? Then what happens next?
1:32:49 Speaker 07 Then the uniformed officers here will just take you down to the jail.
1:32:54 Speaker 08 And how long will I stay there for?
1:32:55 Speaker 07 So you'll be booked into our Aurora Municipal Jail. And then ultimately, I don't know. Twenty-four, forty-eight, seventy-two hours. Then the marshals will take you down to the Rappel County Jail. And then that's where you'll stay. You'll have your, I guess, first appearance.
1:33:15 Speaker 07 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 evidence 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 thirty to sixty days from today.
1:33:50 Speaker 07 So you will be in custody for at least that long, until a judge will determine if you can get a bond.
1:33:57 Speaker 08 Okay. And then what happens if I talk to you and tell you everything I know? Then what?
1:34:08 Speaker 08 I still go to jail and I wait for thirty to sixty days to see if I-
1:34:12 Speaker 07 Uh, well, I don't know. I mean, you have a warrant. You're going to go to jail today. I can't, I can't change that. Um, 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, but again, nothing will change the fact that you're gonna go to jail today. Cause the judge signed it, right? So I can't just take that away. It's a judge's order.
1:34:48 Speaker 07 But again, anything you have to say and if I can, you know, can approve that, right? Like, we have to vet that stuff, right?
1:34:53 Speaker 08 Yeah.
1:34:54 Speaker 07 Um, and see if there's validity to what you have to say, right? Um, you know, we can obviously take that into account.
1:35:03 Speaker 07 And then if that's verified, then that, yeah, might change the circumstances. But it won't for what will occur tonight.
1:35:15 Speaker 08 So either way, I'm gonna go to jail tonight?
1:35:18 Speaker 07 Correct.
1:35:21 Speaker 07 Could the outcome change, like I said, if we can vet that information?
1:35:30 Speaker 09 It's always possible, is 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 wanna navigate that going forward. Every case is different, so we can't really, I guess, give you direction, if that makes sense, cause we don't know what information you have. So, we only know what we have currently.
1:36:02 Speaker 08 And what do you have currently?
1:36:04 Speaker 09 Well, that's typically how we do this is if we're gonna have a conversation, we would Mirandaize 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, your oppor- this is your opportunity to talk, really, if you want to. And we can't force that, we're not gonna 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 Grau that you have answers for the police department, or for this situation, if you
1:36:47 Speaker 09 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.
1:36:56 Speaker 08 I was never gonna be getting my phone back, was I?
1:37:00 Speaker 09 Um, yeah, I mean, it's done. It's downloaded. I literally, I had to bring it back to the lab. Yeah. Um, I mean, we, we typically download them, and then we give them back. I mean, it's not customary for us to keep them.
1:37:14 Speaker 08 But...
1:37:14 Speaker 09 Because we have all the info.
1:37:16 Speaker 08 That's not why I was coming here tonight, though, was it?
1:37:19 Speaker 09 Tonight? No.
1:37:21 Speaker 08 I thought that's why I was coming.
1:37:23 Speaker 09 Right. Ha- I mean, had I not obtained, I guess, probable cause, enough evidence to, you know, for a judge to sign the warrant, um, yes, that means you'd have gotten your phone back and not been arrested. Um...
1:37:42 Speaker 08 Wow.
1:37:47 Speaker 08 Oh, my gosh.
1:37:52 Speaker 08 I have all of, I have all of the answers that you need, but I, I can't, I can't talk. I can't.
1:37:58 Speaker 09 Okay.
1:37:58 Speaker 08 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 to this. I don't know what I'm doing. And you both seem very nice, but I know that your job is to help me away.
1:38:12 Speaker 09 Our job is to figure out what happened. And 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, information does make sense of things that we've been provided, but if you don't feel comfortable talking, we totally understand that.
1:38:51 Speaker 09 And 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.
1:39:00 Speaker 08 That person is my wife.
1:39:02 Speaker 09 We don't have that information, though.
1:39:04 Speaker 08 Yeah.
1:39:05 Speaker 09 So, as you can tell, like, 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 why we're where we're at right now.
1:39:24 Speaker 08 I'm sorry.
1:39:27 Speaker 07 I mean, our goal is just to find the truth.
1:39:29 Speaker 09 Right. I mean, that's our goal. It's not to put someone away.
1:39:32 Speaker 07 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.
1:39:40 Speaker 08 Yeah. I appreciate that. Thank you. Is there any situation in which I can get out and go to the funeral?
1:39:48 Speaker 09 Not right now, no.
1:39:51 Speaker 08 What does that mean?
1:39:53 Speaker 07 Currently, you don't have a bond, right? So you cannot be released.
1:40:01 Speaker 08 Like even if I tell you everything I know, I still can't get out of the tunnel.
1:40:04 Speaker 09 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.
1:40:23 Speaker 08 Yeah.
1:40:24 Speaker 09 We would obviously have to create a future date. I don't know when you guys are planning to do the funeral.
1:40:29 Speaker 08 I guess we're planning on a week from today.
1:40:31 Speaker 09 Okay.
1:40:35 Speaker 09 So it really just, I mean, you'll have a first appearance and then yeah, either assign attorney or hire one. Whatever your family and you find is best for yourself.
1:40:49 Speaker 09 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.
1:41:09 Speaker 08 That's what I want too.
1:41:10 Speaker 09 Yeah.
1:41:11 Speaker 08 That's what I want too. So there's three options. The first option is talk now. The second option is?
1:41:19 Speaker 09 Not talk.
1:41:20 Speaker 08 Not talk until I get an attorney?
1:41:22 Speaker 09 Or not talk at all.
1:41:23 Speaker 08 Or not talk at all.
1:41:24 Speaker 09 Yeah.
1:41:24 Speaker 07 Attorneys don't come out at night.
1:41:27 Speaker 09 Right.
1:41:28 Speaker 07 So getting one tonight is?
1:41:30 Speaker 09 Usually they'll want to meet with you and then coordinate whatever they're gonna do going forward.
1:41:35 Speaker 08 So without a way to contact my attorney that I had in mind, how does that look? Like if in that essay, I'd really like to talk to my attorney.
1:41:45 Speaker 09 I mean, if you know the attorney's phone number, you'll be able to make calls from the jail.
1:41:49 Speaker 08 I don't. I'd have to look it up.
1:41:52 Speaker 07 Yeah, I, you would have to ask. Probably the jail could help you look up attorney's information.
1:41:58 Speaker 09 Or you can call a family member and they can get that person's information for you.
1:42:03 Speaker 08 Oh, this is horrible.
1:42:13 Speaker 08 Detective Olson, what'd you do if you were in my position?
1:42:21 Speaker 07 I feel for you, I really do.
1:42:24 Speaker 08 I trust you.
1:42:25 Speaker 07 So.
1:42:26 Speaker 08 What'd you do?
1:42:27 Speaker 07 And I can't give you your advice and I can't tell you what to do. Um, oh, I can, I mean, I sympathize with you, I do. Um, 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,
1:42:51 Speaker 07 you know, friendly, upstanding citizens. Um, I mean, you've raised good kids.
1:42:57 Speaker 08 I really have.
1:42:58 Speaker 07 Yeah, I mean.
1:43:00 Speaker 08 And she has too, we have together.
1:43:02 Speaker 07 Yeah.
1:43:02 Speaker 08 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 gonna look.
1:43:11 Speaker 08 Has the toxicology report come back?
1:43:15 Speaker 07 Um, for?
1:43:19 Speaker 07 For what?
1:43:20 Speaker 08 For Angela, I know they were running tox on her.
1:43:23 Speaker 07 I, I mean, there's a ton of toxicology, I mean, because they just don't know what happened. They don't know what caused any of this, so, I mean, they ran, Parker at Venice ran a bunch and.
1:43:34 Speaker 09 The doctors' offices can't give us that information.
1:43:37 Speaker 08 Why not?
1:43:38 Speaker 09 Because it's a privacy and HIPAA issue.
1:43:42 Speaker 08 But you'll get it eventually.
1:43:44 Speaker 09 We'd have to write a warrant.
1:43:46 Speaker 07 Yeah, that's right.
1:43:48 Speaker 09 It's a, it's, it's really a protection of anybody's rights. It would be no different if something happened to Detective Volz or I. They would not release that information. The only way that information's released is like a family member would give us, uh, like, sign off on a form to allow us to have that information, or, um, we write a warrant.
1:44:06 Colin Brown? 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 cellphone, 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 cellphone.
1:44:32 Courtney Brown? 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's 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
1:45:15 Courtney Brown? were all sent while Angela lied dying in the hospital. But as we know, Karen wasn't the only woman receiving James's 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 she had been depressed and wanted to take her own life. However, no one close to Angela, including her children, her siblings, and her church members,
1:46:00 Courtney Brown? had ever even heard that she was struggling with depression.
1:46:04 Colin Brown? 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 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 Prey, spoke with Denver Seven and described everything he would miss about his younger sister.
1:46:39 Speaker 10 She was outgoing and dynamic and generous and kind and loving and...
1:46:45 Speaker 11 All the words in the world.
1:46:46 Speaker 10 She's crazy, she's just loud.
1:46:49 Speaker 11 Just aren't enough.
1:46:50 Speaker 10 So how do you describe that person in a word to you?
1:46:54 Speaker 11 For Angela Craig.
1:46:55 Speaker 10 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.
1:47:06 Speaker 11 I notice when you describe her, you talk in present tense. Do you do that on purpose?
1:47:11 Speaker 10 Well, she's just still with us. I don't think of it as past tense, really.
1:47:16 Colin Brown? 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 eye drops. 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 vicine. The truth was finally out for certain.
1:48:00 Colin Brown? 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 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.
1:48:23 Courtney Brown? 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.
1:48:55 Courtney Brown? 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 debt. 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, "You weren't there for me because you were too concerned about what you were concerned
1:49:40 Courtney Brown? about. You ask all the details of every medical, everything, everywhere we go. And you didn't even ask. The only thing that saved my life last night was God. That's it. Because nobody else did anything for me." End quote.
1:49:57 Colin Brown? While James was being held at the Arapahoe County Jail only a few days after being arrested on March 27, 2023, he asked a fellow inmate to "deep fake" 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.
1:50:41 Colin Brown? 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's 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 28, 2023, James emailed his children a series of fake journal
1:51:25 Colin Brown? 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.
1:52:05 Courtney Brown? In a letter to a former jailmate, Nathaniel Harris, 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 Angela 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:
1:52:37 Colin Brown? 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.
1:53:21 Colin Brown? 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 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 effectively sell your story. 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.
1:54:04 Colin Brown? 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.
1:54:45 Colin Brown? Often, there was nobody there except 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 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.
1:55:29 Colin Brown? 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 bosses 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.
1:55:57 Courtney Brown? 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.
1:56:37 Colin Brown? 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 9. Multiple searches about poisons 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...
1:57:20 Courtney Brown? 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.
1:57:40 Colin Brown? 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 brain dead. Detective Bobby Olson claimed that the timeline was more of a manifesto.
1:58:23 Colin Brown? 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."
1:58:43 Courtney Brown? 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 cellphone 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 arsenic 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.
1:59:28 Courtney Brown? 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 timeline 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.
2:00:04 Courtney Brown? 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 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 to her husband were, "Why do I hurt?"
2:00:49 Colin Brown? 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 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."
2:01:33 Colin Brown? The defense did not dispute that Angela had cyanide, arsenic, and tetrahydrozoline in her system, but instead, argued that Angela had been the one that wanted to die and needed James's 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.
2:02:02 Courtney Brown? Yet on July 30, 2025, after two days of deliberation, the jury finally reached their verdict.
2:02:10 Speaker 12 At this time, then, I'll ask Dr. Craig and his team to please stand for the reading of 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. We 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 Volkanen.
2:02:53 Speaker 12 We 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 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, Nathaniel Harris. We 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
2:03:37 Speaker 12 Constantinidis. We 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, we the jury find the defendant, James Craig, not guilty of manslaughter, cause or aid to suicide. Let me then turn to the foreperson and ask, is this the verdict of the jury? Do all of you agree with this verdict? Yes. At this point in time, you can be seated.
2:04:14 Courtney Brown? Dr. James Craig was found guilty on all charges. Judge Shay Whittaker 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.
2:04:30 Speaker 03 A lot of people keep telling me that. Not in my worst case, but... I hope more than anything that she's not. I hope she smores so much better. You know, the people who don't believe in history pictures.
2:04:51 Speaker 03 You look all my videos and picture the stuff that we've seen throughout the duration of trial. You've seen some of the ugliest thoughts in the world.
2:05:02 Speaker 03 Two old fuzz balls that fall from my mom everywhere. She loved her so much.
2:05:10 Speaker 03 We were one of them. He should be dead by now. We don't always get this one. I was supposed to be able to love my mom when he died. And instead, I was supposed to take him home and figure out what to do with him. Till my mom was gone.
2:05:35 Speaker 03 I was supposed to be able to... When my sisters went and took my mom, even though I loved her, there was nothing in the world I wanted to do was. And then when I left, he's here. I was supposed to be able to share with her.
2:05:50 Speaker 03 This is the reason that things happened in my life and the projects that I started had never finished and...
2:06:01 Speaker 03 I was supposed to be able to trust my dad.
2:06:06 Speaker 03 He was supposed to be my hero and instead he'll forever be the villain in my life.
2:06:13 Speaker 03 And, and of course, I hope that every day that I miss her so much. And I know there are so many more people have the luck to be able to just stand up and say a lot about my mom and how wonderful she was and some people who might even want to stand up and remind us some of the stupid things she did and said and some of her crazy habits.
2:06:41 Speaker 03 But I think I am. I speak for everyone I say that.
2:06:48 Speaker 03 Life and the world will truly never be the same. It will never be as bright as it was when my mom was here with us.
2:06:59 Speaker 03 And I regret every single day that I didn't
2:07:04 Speaker 03 that I don't get to spend my days growing up and introducing her to my babies and their babies and worrying about, you know, like what we're covering at home. She should be in our children's, in a home nurse or something. I just, that's not a good idea. I miss her. I want my mom. I want her to be the girl from the other day. Give her a hug and call her, tell her all the crazy stuff that's happened. That I could get her advice, whether asked for or not.
2:07:43 Colin Brown? Her sister Toni didn't hesitate to look at James as she read her statement. It's truly a testament to a sister's love. In spite of their 13-year age gap, Toni looked up to her little sister. The loss she and everyone who loved Angela felt is insurmountable.
2:08:00 Speaker 13 Out of the nine oldest that went, there's not one of us that would have hesitated to put ourselves between her and future. None of us can have imagined that the person she chose as her companion, the father of six children and the man we welcomed into our family,
2:08:21 Speaker 13 as our trusted brother-in-law,
2:08:24 Speaker 13 went palest and cruelly without mercy to her life.
2:08:34 Speaker 13 And he perpetrated this murder while she was in her own home with her own children. A ransher.
2:08:42 Speaker 13 Heartless, cowardly. He's a pretender and a liar. He's a saint in the breast.
2:08:57 Speaker 13 Universally, Angela was generous. If you needed help, Angela was there. No matter if you were 15 or older than her or two. She wanted to improve herself and was always learning new things. And choosing to try new experiences. She was funny and happy. And we've heard all this over and over because we can't think of any other words. These are the words to describe her. She loved life, she loved her children without bounds. Family, whether it be her siblings and her parents, her children. They are, were and are a center for you, Urs.
2:09:41 Speaker 13 She was a force for good and wanted to accomplish so many things. She was so busy. She was a loyal friend. She'd never be up on her marriage. She never stopped to rebuild. She never stopped trying to rebuild trust when it was destroyed. Never stopped trying to love the man that she had committed herself to and he killed her for it. She could not know that this man was and is only capable of loving herself. It has been excruciating to hear the details of her life with this person whose judgment and treatment of her and his relentless infidelity were a constant source of anguish and hurt.
2:10:25 Speaker 13 To see the videos of him poisoning her over a period of 10 days, causing intense pain, confusion and helplessness that ended in her horrific death has been unbearable. He seemed almost giddy as he recorded her symptoms to us in our family chat. Even what kind of pain trauma he was inflicting, he was torturing her. It has been shocking. We were fooled. We were unable to help her. We were unable to save her.
2:11:13 Speaker 13 We were unable to rescue her from the person that was supposed to honor her, protect her, and love her. He killed her. And then, in an attempt to save himself from the consequences of his despicable crime, he and his defense team disparaged her by attacking her mental health, her trust, her strength, her faith, her commitment to family, and her ability to keep a confidence. In an act of ultimate betrayal and ridiculous irony, they accused her of taking her own life. Simply shameful.
2:11:52 Speaker 13 His name is intentionally omitted from my statement. I don't plan to ever speak it again. I will walk away from this courthouse and I will never look back. I will leave the final judgment to God. This convict is no longer my concern. He will join thousands of other prison inmates that are living a life they have earned because of their selfish and evil choices. Those are his people now. Ironically, this person who lived through the excitement of expensive cars, rich food, and a constant stream of women won't ever die again. He'll never again be alone with the women. He won't even be able to pick the clothes he wears or the food he eats, and I'm all care of that.
2:12:38 Speaker 13 Angela is gone. Losing a sibling is like losing a limb.
2:12:50 Speaker 13 How is it possible?
2:12:54 Speaker 13 Angela is loved fiercely. We believe in life after this one, and that we should be together again.
2:13:05 Speaker 13 I believe that when she left this world, she was greeted by our parents, our grandparents, our grandmother, our nephew, and so many others that cherish and love her. I know she's happy. She's watching over her children and her siblings and all those she loves. I will see her.
2:13:29 Speaker 13 I will hug her.
2:13:34 Speaker 13 And I will belly laugh for it then. 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 what I am.
2:13:57 Colin Brown? 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 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's 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,
2:14:42 Colin Brown? 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 Anamos, Colorado.
2:14:55 Courtney Brown? 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.
2:15:39 Courtney Brown? 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.
2:15:54 Colin Brown? 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 every episode that is on the main feed of the show.
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Previous EP. 222 - NEW YORK: The Amityville Horror Murders Next EP. 224- SERIAL KILLER: The PHANTOM Killer, The MOONLIGHT MURDERS & The Town That Dreaded Sundown Page updated October 31, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated