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A Colorado dentist charged with murdering his wife with poison-laced protein shakes sent her text messages in hospital enquiring about her condition and professing his love – even as she told him: ‘That drink you gave me tastes weird.’
James Craig, 45, was arrested in Aurora, Colorado, on Sunday.
His wife Angela, the mother of his six children, died in hospital the day before, having first reported pain and nausea after drinking a protein shake he prepared for her on March 6.
Craig’s mistress – an orthodontist in Texas – sent him worried messages, asking about his wife’s condition. She even flew to Colorado to visit Craig from March 8 to March 10, while his wife was in hospital.
James and Angela Craig pose for a family picture with their six children aged eight to 20
James Toliver Craig was arrested for murder on Sunday after detectives discovered his wife Angela Craig, 43, had been fatally poisoned
Craig’s charging documents state that their relationship ‘had always been tumultuous.’ She told a confidant several times over their 16-year relationship that she was leaving him, but he always convinced her to stay.
He ‘had multiple affairs with several women,’ the documents state, and told his wife he had been addicted to pornography since he was a teenager.
He admitted to having drugged her five or six years ago, telling her he did it because he wanted to take his own life, and wanted to give himself time to kill himself without her disturbing him.
Craig referenced the incident in a text message to his wife, sent while she was ill.
‘Are you nauseous?’ he asks his wife.
‘No. I feel drugged,’ she replies.
‘Given our history, I know that must be triggering,’ Craig tells her. ‘Just for the record, I didn’t drug you. I am super worried though. You really looked pale before I left.’
Prosecutors allege that Craig first gave his wife the poison on March 6, in a shake he mixed before their workout.
According to the charging documents, Craig had researched poison on his office computer.
Search terms included: ‘how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human’; ‘Is Arsenic Detectable in Autopsy’; ‘Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play’; ‘how to make poison,’ and ‘The Top 10 Deadliest Plants (They Can Kill You).’
When Angela Craig began complaining of feeling ill, her husband expressed concern, and sent repeated declarations of love. At one point he apologized for not bringing her flowers in hospital, and said he was looking forward to her returning home and to the marital bed.
‘I love you. It was so nice hanging out with you and just watching a show and snuggling,’ he writes on March 7 – the day after he allegedly administered the poison.
He tells her: ‘I’m planning on coming home to eat lunch with you though.
‘I’ll need to ask you what you’re hungry for and bring it to you. I’m kinda feeling just a smoothie or something.’
She tells him she’s not hungry.
While she wrestles with her nausea, headaches, exhaustion and vomiting, Craig texts her repeatedly, telling her he loves her and wants her to recover.
‘I’m going to trust that you are just sleeping and not dead somewhere,’ he says at one point, when she fails to reply to his text.
He says he is ‘heading home to make you some dinner.’
On March 9, Angela is in hospital. As her symptoms worsen, Craig texts his wife: ‘Man, baby, you’ve got to stop scaring me like this! I love you so much, and I’m not used to all of this excitement!’
At the same time, prosecutors say, Craig’s mistress was visiting him, having flown in from Austin, Texas.
On March 10, with his mistress still in town, Craig texts his wife: ‘I wish I could have stayed longer. I love you and am so glad you seem to be doing better.’
On March 11, he tells his wife: ‘I just work up dreaming about making love to you. I love you and I want you.’
As she is discharged, he tells her: ‘I can’t WAIT to see you at home in my bed tomorrow!’
She says she needs to stop vomiting before she can think about sex.
Craig is meanwhile ordering more poison, with a delivery of cyanide dispatched on March 13.
On March 14, she returned home, and accused her husband of trying to poison her, he told a confidant.
‘James told her when Angela was discharged she made accusations that James had poisoned her,’ the charging documents state.
‘Angela said something to James along the lines of ‘there are poisons they don’t test for.”
Back home, her condition dramatically worsened and she was readmitted on March 15, suffering a seizure and never regaining consciousness.
On March 16, with Angela’s condition worsening, his mistress emails him, saying she wants to comfort him, but does not want to be there and ‘conceal what I feel for you’.
‘I am sorry I am not a part of your world to be of more help to you and instead I am pulling you away,’ she writes.
‘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 do want to give you any comfort I can but I do not feel it is right for me to mix in with those gathering to mourn Angela either and I do not want to meet your family as a friend and conceal what I feel for you.’
Craig was reported to the authorities by one of his co-workers, who was suspicious about his behavior and the poison deliveries.
He refused to conduct an autopsy on his wife, despite pleas from concerned friends, who were worried the cause of death could be genetic and passed on to the children.
The affidavit said Craig planned to: ‘end his wife’s life by searching for ways to kill someone undetected, providing her poisons that align with her hospitalized symptoms, and working on starting a new life with [his lover].’
The dentist allegedly ordered the arsenic online on February 27 and received a package at home on March 4.
Craig’s second package arrived at work on March 13 and when an employee opened the box she found a bio hazard sticker and a canister marked ‘Potassium Cyanide’.
She googled the chemical compound and realized the symptoms of cyanide poisoning was similar to the symptoms Angela was experiencing.
When the employee heard Angela had been readmitted to hospital on March 15 she told Craig’s business partner about her shock discovery.
He then told a nurse, during a visit to check up on her.
The nurse called police and her death was investigated by Major Crimes Homicide Unit detectives who determined she was poisoned.
‘As a mandatory reporter, the nurse called the police, and an investigation ensued,’ the affidavit states.
Craig told investigators that his wife had been intentionally overdosing on opioids since had asked for a divorce in December 2022.
Police raided his home and business seizing protein powders, shakers, a computer tablet, phones and two Ziploc bags with powdery substances.
Craig was a practicing dentist and part of the Summerbrook dental office in Colorado, which filed for bankruptcy protection in 2021
Craig’s internet history showed he placed an Amazon order for ‘Arsenic Metal 99.9999% Crystalline Metalloid 10 grams for Element Collection’ among other poisons he ordered online
A data analysis of his devices revealed the chilling searches he had conducted online, including a $13 Amazon order for ‘Arsenic Metal 99.9999% Crystalline Metalloid 10 grams for Element Collection.’
When police combed through his email account jimandwaffles@gmail.com they found additional purchases of poison, according to the affidavit.
Craig and his practice, Summerbrook Dental, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2021, according to court records.
The couple had been married for more than 20 years and were parents to six children – five girls and a boy – aged eight to 20.
In a 2021 press release, Craig described himself as ‘happily married’ to Angela.
The release went on to say that the pair ‘have six children, and they all enjoy the outdoors, especially camping, snowboarding, fishing, hiking, rock climbing, and mountain biking.
‘They also enjoy visiting theme parks and are often traveling to Disney, Universal, and Sea World.’
It noted as well, that James Craig volunteered with WE CAN HELP, an anti-bullying program sponsored by the Denver Police Department.
Poisoning is a rare method murder. According to studies, poisoning accounts for less than 0.5 percent of cases.
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