5 days ago
Dentist used lewd affair email to have chemical used to poison his wife fast-tracked delivered, murder trial hears
The Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife tried to have potassium cyanide overnighted to him, telling the company selling it that he'd be using the lethal substance for a fictional presentation, jurors heard on Thursday.
James Craig, 47, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the March 2023 death of his wife, Angela, who'd repeatedly visited the hospital with mystery symptoms in the weeks before she died.
Prosecutors say Craig used poisons - including cyanide, arsenic and a chemical found in eyedrops - to taint protein shakes he prepared for her, even administering a fatal dose in her hospital room.
Cassie Rodriquez, a customer service representative for Midland Scientific, told jurors on Thursday how she first began dealing with Craig's order via email on March 9, 2023.
He wrote to her from the same personal address he'd used for extramarital relationships – jimandwaffles@ – and such Gmail accounts usually raise a flag at her employer, Rodriquez testified.
Craig filled out and returned a 'usage statement,' she said, 'saying he was using it for some type of seminar he was presenting.'
The dentist had originally noted he wanted the order for 'pick up,' but that wasn't allowed for such chemicals, she said.
She worked on 'trying to get the product to him as soon as possible … he wanted it overnighted.'
Craig was so desperate to get his hands on the chemical that he attempted to call Rodriquez, though they were never connected and continued correspondence via email, she testified.
He repeated his urgency and kept checking on delayed delivery, writing on March 11: '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've just told me they wouldn't be able to get it to me overnight,' Craig wrote to Rodriquez.
He later followed that with: 'It's not your fault I was just feeling frustrated and needed somebody to vent to.'
Craig listed his billing address for the order as the Aurora home he shared with Angela and their children – but listed his dental practice as the shipping address. Craig also marked the order 'personal.'
Craig physically turned up at Midland Scientific's Aurora location, the warehouse supervisor testified on Thursday, asking about a storefront customers could use - but it closed during COVID.
Witness Ashley Donohue testified that Craig turned up on the afternoon of March 13 in 'blue scrubs' in the parking lot - something he'd never seen happen during his five years of working there.
Donohue alerted the company's HR department 11 days later after recognizing Craig on the news, he testified.
Earlier on Thursday, jurors heard testimony from the lead detective in Craig's case - whom he allegedly tried to arrange a hit on from behind bars.
Aurora Police Det. Bobbi Jo Olson told the court that she and other officers served a search warrant at 8.30am the day after first hearing allegations of Craig's cyanide purchase.
Olson will be recalled to testify further later in the trial, the court heard.
A forensics digital expert also testified on Thursday about the process used to extract data from the Craigs' devices.
Upon cross examination on Thursday and since the beginning of the trial, defense lawyers questioned witnesses' credentials and repeatedly noted that receipts, texts and emails did not prove who, in fact, had used the cards and addresses.
Correspondence may have come from Craig's number and jimandwaffles@ they argued, but witnesses couldn't verify he'd personally written it, they argued.
Defense lawyers have tried to paint Angela as 'manipulative' and suicidal. They have explained away Craig's behavior from behind bars as 'not great.' After his arrest, Craig allegedly tried to arrange assassinations and get his daughter to plant evidence, in addition to offering free dental work in exchange for fabricating cover stories to clear him, prosecutors have argued.
'He just lost his wife because law enforcement looks at this case with blinders,' defense attorney Ashley Witham said during opening arguments.
'He's been arrested, which means he's also lost his children ... he's anxious and he does some not great things from jail.'
Jurors also heard testimony this week from the office manager at Craig's dental practice - who told the court how she'd seen him mysteriously using an exam room computer in the dark late at night. After that, she said, he texted her that he'd be receiving a personal package at work, and she should put it on his desk and not open it.
A front desk employee opened the package when it arrived a week later, however - the same day Craig emailed Rodriquez to say the cyanide was out for delivery, he'd noted by tracking it.
Romero saw the invoice listing the package's contents as 'potassium cyanide' before she re-boxed it up and put the delivery on his desk as instructed.
She googled potassium cyanide, however - and, after learning its symptoms, comparing them with Angela's mystery illness and noting two unusual statements Craig made to her that his wife might not 'make it through the night - alerted her bosses.
The wife of Craig's dental partner, Michelle Redfearn - a longtime friend of Angela's with a PhD in nursing - testified on Wednesday how she and her husband confronted Craig about the cyanide.
They did so on a phone call on March 15 as the Redfearns sat in their car outside the hospital after learning that Angela had been declared brain dead.
First Craig claimed the package had contained a ring for his wife; when the Redfearns countered that they knew he was lying, he said Angela had asked him to buy the cyanide for her.
He said she was suicidal and lacked the necessary credentials to purchase the chemical.
When Ryan Redfearn pressed him as to why, still, Craig would agree to order the cyanide, he said it was like 'a game of chicken.'
