James Craig Murder Trial: Closing Arguments Begin for ‘Family Man’ Dentist Accused of Poisoning Wife
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Closing arguments began Tuesday morning in the murder trial of James Craig, a Colorado dentist accused of killing his wife.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, an affidavit indicated that in 2023, Craig ordered arsenic and cyanide multiple times before his wife, Angela Craig’s, death.

According to the affidavit, an office manager at Craig’s dental practice told police that Craig prepared protein shakes for Angela every morning before their workouts.

After drinking the shakes, Angela often felt faint and subsequently ended up in an emergency room at UCHealth.

Angela, a 43-year-old mother of six, passed away on March 18, 2023.

The defense rested their case Monday without calling any witnesses, while the prosecution rested after calling almost 50 witnesses.

During opening statements, Craig’s defense team suggested that Angela took her own life. They also blamed investigators for centering on Craig as the only suspect.

Lead Detective Bobbi Olson testified Monday that Craig admitted to adding poison into capsules that looked like antibiotics.

According to 9 News, Olson testified that Craig provided a timeline, claiming Angela asked him to poison the capsules. Craig also reportedly alleged that his wife asked him to add poison to a syringe “as a backup.”

“She asked me to do something like a dozen capsules.” Craig told Olson, adding that his wife was suicidal and “she asked me to help her finish the job.”

James and Angela Craig
James Craig and Angela Craig/ Facebook

Loved ones, including Angela’s siblings, previously testified that she was not suicidal and loved her life and children.

“She absolutely loved being a mother and that was her number one thing in life,” her brother, Mark Pray, testified last week.“Angela was the one who would bring things back into the proper directions.”

“There’s only one person in this world who would say Angela was suicidal, and that’s the person who murdered her,” Pray added, before the judge removed the comment from the record.

Angela’s sister, Toni Kofoed, also argued against the suggestion that Angela had been suicidal. Kofoed testified that Angela had a “broken heart” but not a “broken mind.”

Two of the couple’s daughters also testified last week, arguing that not only was their mother not suicidal, but that Angela spoke fondly about the future.

The pair’s second-eldest daughter testified that Craig asked her to access “the dark web,” in order to buy a video-making service, to create a “deepfake” video. He then instructed her to place the video on a thumb drive, then place the drive in her mother’s bag.

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Craig also allegedly asked a fellow inmate in jail to enter the Craig home and plant fake journal entries to detail how Angela had been suicidal.

Olson testified that although Angela had been depressed due to Craig’s ongoing infidelity, she never once mentioned suicide in her journal.

Some of the journals, which dated back years before her death, expressed her unhappiness in the marriage,

“I feel so lost and so alone. The farther into this process we get the less able I feel I can forgive… I looked at Jim today, and I couldn’t feel any love, all of the things I loved about him, about us, were a lie,” an entry dated January 8, 2009, read.

Five days later, she wrote,”How could he do this to me if he really loves me? He doesn’t think I’m good enough… he’d rather be with someone else.”

A week later, she journaled about being depressed at how her marriage had turned out.

“I felt really sad today… I don’t feel just sad, I feel depressed. I feel a huge sense of loss with no hope… I feel like the good times were a lie. I feel so betrayed… the good times were a lie. He was a lie. We now have a long hard road in front of us because of the choices he’s made.”

In February 2018, Angela wrote again about Craig’s affairs, adding that “he said he didn’t love me and I wasn’t enough.

“All I wanna do when that happens is crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep. I haven’t figured out yet if I should give in or push through.”

Multiple women who had affairs with Craig took the stand during the trial, including a Texas orthodontist who gave investigators over 4,000 text messages and calls made between her and the defendant.

The prosecution also presented evidence that Craig researched poisoning prior to his wife’s death. On Thursday, a cellphone and computer investigator, who specializes in device data, testified that Craig made searches from his dental office that included:

  • “How long does it take to die from barium poisoning”
  • “How long does it take to die from arsenic poisoning”
  • “undetectable poisons”
  • “tetrahydrozoline poisoning timeline”

Craig is facing numerous charges, including murder, solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence (two counts), solicitation to commit perjury (two counts), and solicitation to commit murder.

He has pleaded not guilty. Check back for updates.

[Feature Photo: James Craig and Angela Craig/Facebook]

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