Timeline: How prosecutors say James Craig plotted his wife's fatal poisoning

CNN

4 days ago

Former Colorado dentist James Craig is on trial for murder, accused of killing his wife and the mother of their six children by poisoning her protein shakes.
Angela Craig was 43 when she died in 2023, by which point she'd been hospitalized three times in 10 days with symptoms no one could initially explain. A coroner's report later said her cause of death was acute cyanide and tetrahydrozoline poisoning, with subacute arsenic poisoning listed as a significant condition.
Police arrested Craig for first-degree murder on March 19, 2023, hours after his wife was taken off life support. Prosecutors added additional charges against him earlier this year, alleging he plotted to kill four people from behind bars while awaiting trial.
As the trial continues, here's what we've learned about the events in Angela Craig's final weeks.
February 22-25, 2023: James Craig attends a dental conference in Las Vegas where he meets Karin Cain, a Texas dentist going through a divorce, prosecutor Ryan Brackley said in his opening statement. The two begin a relationship and discuss seeing each other again.
Monday, February 27: Craig creates a new email account with the handle 'jimandwaffles' using a computer in an exam room at his Aurora dental practice, according to a probable cause affidavit. The Gmail address was used to conduct searches on arsenic and undetectable poisons, order arsenic on Amazon and make arrangements for Cain to travel to Denver, the affidavit says.
February 28: Search queries for 'how to make murder look like a heart attack' and 'a dosage of tetrahydrozoline that is fatal' are in the search history on this day for the 'jimandwaffles' account, according to a forensic exam of the computer from exam room 9 at Craig's dental practice, testified Molly Harris, an Aurora Police detective with the Major Crimes Homicide Unit.
March 1: Angela Craig visits family in Utah and attends a genealogy conference with her sister, Brackley said. It was a shared hobby, he said.
When Angela Craig leaves for her trip, Craig texts Cain: 'Maybe she will decide to stay gone for a long time,' according to the prosecutor.
A search for 'how long does it take to die from arsenic poisoning?' is found in the search history of the computer from exam room 9, Harris says.
March 4: The arsenic order is delivered to the Craigs' house, according to the affidavit.
March 5: Angela Craig returns home from Utah, the affidavit says.
Monday, March 6: After waking up, Angela drinks a protein shake her husband made for her; Brackley said the couple often made them for each other. She works out but starts to feel 'strange.' She texts her husband, 'My stomach feels fine, but my head feels funny and dizzy. Very strange.'
James misses the daily 6:45 a.m. staff 'huddle' at his dental office and arrives closer to 7 a.m., when the practice opens, according to testimony from office manager Caitlin Romero. He apologized and said his wife wasn't feeling well, possibly because he had put too much protein powder in the shake he'd given her. He works for a couple of hours but then leaves to take Angela to the hospital, Romero testified.
At the emergency room of AdventHealth Parker Hospital, Angela has tests including an MRI, CT scan and bloodwork, but she is sent home after nothing is found, Brackley said.
James Craig texts Cain that his wife is at the hospital and says, 'Just for the record, I will never drug you.'
He returns to the practice that evening after business hours, according to Romero, who said she frequently stayed there late. Craig said he wanted to be alone and came back 'just to get away for a minute.' Romero said his office lights were off when she was leaving and she thought he'd left again, so she was 'startled' to see him working on a computer in one of the exam rooms with the lights off. She testified that while on her drive home, she received a text from Craig saying he'd be receiving a personal package at work and not to open it.
Craig orders oleandrin from Adooq Bioscience, according to the probable cause affidavit. The compound had come up when Craig had searched lists of the world's deadliest plants, Brackley said. Detectives intercepted the package before it could be delivered.
There were searches found on the exam 9 room computer on this day for 'visine' and 'tetrahydrozoline poisoning timeline,' according to Harris.
March 7: Angela still feels sick and goes to an urgent care clinic but is sent home without a diagnosis, Brackley said.
March 8: James Craig orders potassium cyanide from Midland Scientific, according to the affidavit. He notes in the order: 'Hopefully this is in stock and I can come pick it up tomorrow, March 9.'
At 10:50 p.m., a credit card belonging to James Craig is used to purchase 12 packages of eyedrops from a King Soopers store in Aurora, according to testimony from a company representative. In his opening statement, Brackley said evidence will show tetrahydrozoline – a medication commonly found in eyedrops – was one of the poisons Craig used to kill his wife.
Thursday, March 9: Angela Craig drinks a protein shake in the morning and her symptoms worsen, Brackley said. 'There's a moment on March 9 where her kids find her passed out, fainted,' he said in his opening statement. 'There's a moment on March 9 where she crawls across the floor because she can't get up, and she goes back to the hospital.' She is admitted to AdventHealth Parker hospital and James Craig arrives. She will remain at the hospital until March 14.
James Craig receives an order acknowledgement from Midland Scientific for the potassium cyanide, according to the affidavit. He's told it is not in stock, but the company can overnight it to him. An employee then contacts him about additional documentation the product screening team requires for the order. Craig says he is a surgeon performing a craniofacial reconstruction and hopes to publish the results of using potassium cyanide for the procedure in a paper for the National Institutes of Health.
The employee reaches out again and says because James Craig is a new customer, the supplier needs an additional day to establish him in their system and process the order.
That night, at 10:16 p.m., seven packages of Visine eyedrops are purchased from the same King Soopers store as the day before, using James Craig's credit card, the company's representative testified.
March 10: James Craig contacts Midland Scientific to ask about the potassium cyanide shipment and is told it will arrive the next day, according to the affidavit.
March 11: James contacts Midland Scientific to ask about the shipment, saying it's 7:30 p.m. and he has waited all day for it at his office, the affidavit says. It is a Saturday. He doesn't receive an immediate response.
March 13: The potassium cyanide is delivered to James Craig's office, but another employee, unaware of Craig's instructions to Romero, opens it. Romero testified the employee handed her a silver foil package with a folded invoice from the box it was delivered in. The box was addressed to 'Jim Craig – Personal' and had biohazard stickers on it. She looked at the packing slip and saw it was potassium cyanide. Romero put the items back in the box and placed it on Craig's desk, but said she looked up potassium cyanide online because she'd never seen it delivered to the office before and was unfamiliar with what it was.
March 14: Angela is discharged from the hospital. Within an hour of returning home, she starts searching online for the possible causes of her symptoms, Brackley said.
That evening, video from the Craigs' kitchen security camera shows James making a protein shake for his wife.
Wednesday, March 15: At 9:35 a.m., James Craig texts Angela's sister to make sure she gives Angela a prescription. Brackley said Angela had been on medication (clindamycin) for a sinus infection and alleged Craig had emptied one of the capsules and refilled it with potassium cyanide.
At 11:08 a.m., Angela Craig goes to UCHealth Anschutz with severe headache and dizziness, accompanied by her brother. James Craig arrives later. At 2 p.m., she suffers a seizure and rapid decline and is placed on life support in the ICU.
James Craig calls Caitlin Romero and says he doesn't think Angela will make it through the night. She testified this was the second time he'd made that comment; she believes the first comment came on March 9, when Angela went to the hospital for the second time.
Romero leaves the office around 3 p.m. and calls Jacqueline Calderon, the office manager of an affiliated dental practice, telling her about the potassium cyanide delivery and how Angela's symptoms, as described by James Craig, lined up with poisoning symptoms she had found online. She testifies she didn't mention her concerns on the 13th 'because thinking that somebody was capable of possibly poisoning somebody else – it was not something that I was taking lightly.' Romero then speaks with Craig's business partner, Dr. Ryan Redfearn, and his wife about the potassium cyanide.
Redfearn and his wife visit the hospital where Angela is staying, the affidavit says. They speak briefly to James Craig, who steps away for a phone call. While he's on the phone, Redfearn pulls a nurse away and tells the nurse about his concerns that Angela may have been poisoned with potassium cyanide.
March 16: Karin Cain visits Denver, a flight itinerary shows. Police speak with the Redfearns.
March 18: Angela Craig is pronounced brain dead at 4:29 p.m.
CNN's Andi Babineau contributed to this report.