A Colorado jury on Tuesday watched as Daniel Krug rolled his eyes, threw his head back and stared at the ceiling as detectives told him for the first time that he was his wife’s killer, not the ‘ex-boyfriend stalker’ who had been accused of the crime.

Krug is seen sighing and saying dejectedly ‘it has to be the husband’ in video of his police interview on December 14, 2023, the day his wife Kristil’s body was found in the garage of their suburban Denver home.

The footage, where he learns for the first time he is a suspect in her gruesome slaying, was shown to his murder trial at the Broomfield County courtroom on Tuesday.

The 44-year-old is facing first-degree murder charges for allegedly posing as his wife Kristil’s ex-boyfriend, stalking her for months and then bludgeoning her to death. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors say Krug sent Kristil threatening messages and emails and even placed an advertisement for her on a hook-up website before murdering her as they were on the brink of divorce.

The defense argues that police conducted a shoddy investigation, pointing out that Krug’s clothes had no traces of DNA or other physical evidence after the murder. 

Defense attorney Joe Morales told the court during opening arguments that the couple’s daughter confirmed he’d been wearing the same clothes before and after Kristil’s death.

The jury was shown video evidence on Tuesday of Krug speaking to detectives at the Broomfield Police Department on the day his wife was found killed. 

He initially seemed emotional, sobbing that he needed to see his children and repeatedly asking both where they were and where his wife’s body was.

The children, Broomfield Sgt Andrew Martinez testified on Tuesday, were ‘obviously very traumatized.

Kristil Krug, 43, was found fatally bludgeoned and stabbed in the garage of her family home in Broomfield, Colorado on December 14, 2023

‘They were screaming and crying,’ he said. ‘It was very difficult to watch.’

Krug told them ‘that there was some action at the house and that she was hurt and not going to be ok,’ Martinez said.

The father told his family that ‘Kickman’ was responsible – a nickname they’d given to Kristil’s ex from 20 years beforehand who they believed had been stalking her since October.

That man, Jack Anthony Holland, was located by police at his home in Utah in the hours after the murder. He was quickly ruled out, given that he was nearly an eight-hour drive away and had solid alibis for both the time of the killing and times that vulgar, threatening messages had been sent to Kristil.

She’d been receiving concerning texts and emails for two months, including a picture of her husband at his workplace and references to her newly expired vehicle tags and a dental appointment she’d attended – all indicating the family was being watched.

Krug told detectives in the hours after Kristil’s murder that he’d left for work later than usual that morning because his stomach had been upset. 

He last saw his wife in the kitchen before leaving the house, he said in the video interview shown to jurors.

The mother-of-three’s husband, Daniel Krug, is on trial for first-degree murder, stalking and criminal impersonation in the killing of his wife. Prosecutors allege he pretended to be an ex-boyfriend stalking her for months before her murder

A seemingly distraught Krug continued to blame Holland while speaking to detectives and professed to be too upset to remember details such as what he made for dinner the night before.

‘I just want to be in a safe place with my children,’ he said falteringly, also choking out that the children ‘should’ve had their mom for decades.’

But Sgt Martinez testified on Tuesday: ‘I did not see any actual tears.’

Krug was told that security cameras had been turned off at the home but denied doing it. He reiterated that he thought ‘Kickman’ aka ‘Anthony’ was responsible.

Krug seemed to lean over and cry into his hands as he sat on the department’s blue couch when police insisted Holland couldn’t have killed Kristil.

‘I think, if not him, I have no other suggestion,’ he said.

Krug offered an alternative theory of what happened, suggesting that maybe Kristil had thought she was opening the front door either to someone she knew or to receive a package; Christmas was just two weeks away.

He said he felt ‘terrified to bring my children home if it wasn’t’ Holland.

When also confronted with the fact that email addresses believed to be from Krug had actually originated at his workplace – including the address used to set up a fake ad from Kristil on a sexual hookup site – he insisted that passwords were often posted publicly.

Krug complained that the detectives’ interest in him ‘would suggest that I would put my children through this.

‘We were drilling the kids’ about how to handle the ‘stalker’ situation, he said.

‘I’m looking into counselling for the kids,’ he said. ‘I understand the narrative you’re putting together, but I just would not do this to my children.’

The detectives pointed out the ‘stalking’ could to have brought him closer to his wife after the couple’s marriage had been on the rocks for some time. They also raised the point that Kristil being dead meant Krug could perhaps get closer to his children than ever before.

The couple’s marriage was crumbling and Kristil told relatives she was hoping to soon divorce her husband and considering full custody; she’d moved out of the marital bedroom about a year before her death, with the couple essentially co-parenting and living together

He disagreed. And if Holland hadn’t killed Kristil, Krug also repeatedly suggested, maybe she had been having an affair. He noted on video that she’d ‘disappear’ without full explanation for hours as recently as that week.

Krug appeared resigned and annoyed as detectives told him his car had been impounded, then instructed him to undress on camera and hand over his clothes.

Jurors also saw Martinez’ body camera footage showing Krug continue to deny involvement in his wife’s death during conversations with the detective near department elevators after the initial taped interview.

‘He took my children’s mother before Christmas,’ Krug said of the unnamed killer, also appealing to Martinez as a father.

‘I don’t care if you capture him. I don’t care if you kill him. Find him,’ Krug said.

Martinez testified that he drove Krug back to his children and extended family, then placed him under surveillance until his December 16 arrest in a supermarket parking lot.

Upon cross examination, the defense pointed out multiple issues with the investigation. Martinez filed for a search warrant with the purported Holland email address misspelled. He was unaware that the sex ad listed Kristil’s incorrect birthday – inviting men to contact her for her 40th, when she was turning 43.

Krug’s attorney also pointed out his client was allowed to leave the police department with pepper spray and a baton weapon he kept on him – a decision the defense characterized as ‘a big screw-up’ on the part of Martinez.

Martinez also admitted under cross examination that, despite having Holland’s correct address and phone number since the beginning of the investigation, he never attempted to reach the Utah resident.

Jurors also heard on Tuesday from several other Broomfield officers and the dispatcher who took Krug’s call on the morning of her murder.

After allegedly last seeing Kristil in the kitchen, Krug says she sent him a message asking him to pick up their daughter from school. He responded and sent her several unanswered messages but, after three hours with no answer, called police for a wellness check. He also called his mother-in-law, who arrived as first responders were attempting CPR on her daughter in the garage.

Detectives asked Krug in the hours after the murder why he’d been so concerned about Kristil after not hearing from her for just three hours, jurors saw on video on Tuesday.

He said she would always quickly answer any question about the kids – and her failure to do so was enough to raise alarm bells.

In his initial call with the dispatcher, Krug said it ‘feels weird’ that Kristil didn’t answer – a phrase he repeated later in the day in conversations with detectives.

The trial continues on Wednesday.