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Daily Mail
6 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Dentist's chilling iPhone reminder about lacing sick wife's medication with poison heard at murder trial
The Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife admitted in writing to filling her antibiotic capsules with cyanide and bringing a poison-filled syringe to her hospital room, his murder trial heard on Monday. Craig, now 47, made the sensational confessions in an iPhone note he wrote on his device in the hours after he was confronted by a longtime friend about a suspicious order of cyanide to his workplace - and in the hours after doctors told Craig his wife was essentially brain dead. Craig is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the March 2023 death of his wife, Angela, 43, the mother of his six children. Prosecutors argue the dentist poisoned her with cyanide, arsenic and tetrahydrozoline, a chemical found in eyedrops, amidst mounting financial troubles and extramarital affairs, particularly a budding romance with a Texas orthodontist. The defense contends Angela was suicidal and 'manipulative' - and jurors heard portions of Craig's iPhone note explanation read out in court Monday by Aurora Det. Bobbi Jo Olson, whose testimony was continuing from Friday. Police had cordoned off Craig's home and denied the dentist access by the time he typed the four-page 'timeline' into his iPhone in the early hours of March 16, 2023. The trial has heard from witnesses how, on March 15, Craig's longtime friend and business partner, Ryan Redfearn, told hospital staff Craig had ordered a 'personal package' of potassium cyanide to the dental practice. That set off a police investigation. Craig and his children stayed overnight with friends - and Craig apparently authored the note within the same timeframe. In it, he wrote that his wife, Angela, had become suicidal after he asked for a divorce, the court heard - and that he was helping her die by poisoning. Angela was taken off life support on March 18. Craig was arrested the following day. When first confronted about cyanide by his friend Dr Ryan Redfearn - who also alerted the hospital, ultimately prompting a police investigation - Craig insisted Angela had asked him to order poisons in a game of 'chicken.' There was no mention of any game of 'chicken' in the iPhone note, Olson testified on Monday. Craig did, however, continue insisting that Angela had wanted to take her own life - and that he'd helped her. 'She told me she intended to drink eyedrops again and then do the cyanide,' Craig wrote in the iPhone note. 'She asked me to put it in a capsule and then, as a backup plan, have a syringe with potassium cyanide dissolved in water.' He wrote: 'I got her Clyndamycin [an antibiotic she was taking for sinus trouble] prescription and filled two capsules with 300mg each of potassium cyanide ... she asked me to do something like a dozen capsules.' Angela's brother and sister-in-law, who'd driven from Utah to help with the couple's children as she grew sicker with mystery symptoms, last week that Craig repeatedly checked to make sure they'd given her Clyndamycin. Olson also read out a text from Craig to his wife saying that the hospital had 'said yeah' to the prescription - despite his iPhone note claiming she'd asked for the pills herself. According to Craig's timeline, he'd returned home from a dental conference in late February to ask for a divorce after meeting his new orthodontist paramour - but Angela refused and 'said she was just going to end her life.' That's when they both began researching poisons, he insisted - though no such searches were found on Angela's phone, Olson testified. Instead, trial testimony and exhibits have shown Angela made desperate searches for her symptoms while trying to figure out what was making her so sick. Her friends and family have also testified that she loved life, loved being a mother and was in no way suicidal. Craig also claimed in the note that, when briefly alone with Angela in her hospital room on March 15 - after nearly 10 days of her illness, during which she'd repeatedly complained to loved ones that she didn't know why doctors couldn't find a cause - 'she asked me to help her finish the job. 'I told her that I would not administer any of her poisons, but I could give her the syringe that she had asked me to prepare,' Olson read out in Craig's own words. 'I gave her the syringe and turned my back; the next thing I knew, she was saying that her arm hurt, and I turned around and saw the empty syringe' next to her IV port. Craig wrote that he put the syringe in his pocket and informed nurses. 'That must've done the trick, because I don't think she ever regained consciousness,' Craig wrote. Olson testified that, according to hospital surveillance footage, Craig was only in the room with Angela for 60 seconds during this alleged interaction. Against repeated defense objections, Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro on Monday asked Olson to confirm that Craig's iPhone note contradicted other explanations he'd given about Angela's death. The dentist has alternately claimed that Angela was playing a game of 'chicken;' that she miscalculated her poison dosage; and that she'd been trying to frame him. None of these scenarios appeared in his iPhone note, Olson told the court. The trial also heard on Monday how the Clindamycin prescription bottle vanished from the house after Craig was allowed back in - before investigators could test its contents. Craig's defense team argues that Angela was suicidal and 'manipulative.' Defense attorney Lisa Fine Moses, during cross-examination of Olson, began by highlighting the publicity surrounding the case - implying inmates who testified against Craig had gleaned information from the news or internet. She also queried why police hadn't seized Angela's laptop, devices, medications and other items during their search of the Craig residence. Moses also pointed out that, while Craig was the beneficiary of life insurance policies totaling $4million in the event of Angela's death, she would have equally benefited if the dentist died. The defense lawyer - whose husband had also been representing Craig, before he was arrested for arson earlier this month and removed himself from the case - read out portions from Angela's journal from 2009 and 2018, when the mother of six discovered past affairs, expressing hopelessness and sadness. The trial has heard how Angela discovered another affair in the months before her murder - but believed her marriage was 'on the mend.' Moses also showed clips from home surveillance in which the couple appeared 'loving toward each other' - which Mauro pointed out on redirect were taken both before and after Craig claims he told Angela he wanted a divorce ... allegedly sparking her suicidality. Both prosecution and the defense rested following Olson's testimony. Closing arguments are scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Fox News
22-07-2025
- Fox News
Colorado dentist drugged wife years before alleged poisoning murder, friend testifies
Angela Craig's lifelong best friend took the stand Monday as the Colorado murder trial of dentist James Craig entered its second week, telling jurors that the mother of six was never the kind of woman who gave up easily. "She wasn't a risk-taker. She wasn't manipulative," Nicole Harmon told the court. "And she never said anything — ever — about wanting to die." Dr. James Toliver Craig, 47, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2023 death of his wife, 43-year-old Angela Craig. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline. On March 9, 2023, approximately one week before the 43-year-old was pronounced brain-dead, Angela texted Harmon asking for help checking her blood sugar. When she arrived, she found Angela curled up. "She hadn't eaten. She couldn't stand," Harmon said, telling the jury that James had made his wife a shake that morning. When the friend texted and asked what was going on, she testified, James brushed it off. "Post-COVID," he texted. "Not diabetes." Not once, she told jurors, did he mention poison. "Angela never knew what was killing her," the witness said. Harmon shared that she and her husband, Mike, had known the Craigs since the 2000s. Angela was hospitalized for five days. Through Angela's prolonged hospital stays, Harmon said that she never expressed that she wanted to die. Harmon's testimony went back to 2019, when the witness said James made a confession to her and her husband. He told them in 2019 that he planned to inject himself with a lethal substance and had drugged Angela first so she wouldn't stop him. David Gelman, a criminal defense attorney who has been following the case, told Fox News Digital that the drugging incident could help the prosecution "because it shows that James was predisposed to drugging Angela before." "It required intent and thought. The same motive that the prosecution has now for James," he said. "That is an aspect I would really hammer if I'm the prosecution." James also admitted to the Harmons that he, in 2019, was dealing with a "sexual addiction," and told them that he was in therapy, she testified. Angela, her friend said, never brought it up. Harmon testified that she sent Angela a message later: "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were dealing with this." Angela replied: "You weren't there when I needed you." From that moment, the decades-long friendship fractured. "She was angry," Harmon said. "Really mad at her life and how it was turning out. And I was OK with that. I was OK with her taking it out on me." Gelman said the years-long gap in communication between Angela and her best friend doesn't undermine the witness's reliability. "It doesn't hurt her credibility. She can only testify by what she has observed and her conversations with Angela," he said. "Obviously, she is not privy to the inner workings of the marriage with James since the relationship fractured, but her credibility is still intact since she was not confused or crossed up on the stand." The longtime friend testified that Angela never opened up about the inner workings of her marriage. "She had all the chances," the witness said. "She never told me. She didn't want me to see her husband differently." READ THE INCIDENT REPORT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE GET REAL-TIME UPDATES AT THE FOX NEWS TRUE CRIME HUB Investigators alleged in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital that, in the weeks before his wife's hospitalization and death, James used a dental office computer to search for "undetectable poisons" and how to obtain them (later purchasing arsenic and cyanide by mail), "how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human" and "is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?" Alongside these online searches, investigators alleged he made YouTube queries such as "how to make poison" and "Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play." Fox News Digital has reached out to James Craig's lead attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, for comment.
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Daily Mail
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.'
Fox News
16-07-2025
- Fox News
Victim or manipulator? Colorado dentist's murder trial paints dueling portraits of wife in troubled marriage
As prosecutors attempted to paint a Colorado dentist as a calculated killer who poisoned his wife to pursue a new romantic life, the defense took a dramatically different route by portraying his wife of 23 years as emotionally manipulative and mentally unstable. Dr. James Toliver Craig, 47, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2023 death of his wife, Angela Craig, a 43-year-old mother of six. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline. In opening statements Tuesday in Colorado, defense attorney Ashley Whitham acknowledged the couple's rocky 23-year marriage but described Angela not as a victim of betrayal, but as someone who was emotionally broken, deeply private and at times manipulative. "You're going to hear her own daughter describe her that she was also manipulating words," Whitham revealed to jurors Tuesday. "Again, that if she wanted to try to get something, she would be manipulative." The Colorado couple's marital strife was laid bare in Tuesday's opening remarks. Prosecutors pointed to his relationship with a Texas orthodontist, Dr. Karin Cain, as the motivation for the murder. Cain has not returned Fox News Digital's requests for comment. The defense said the 47-year-old husband had extramarital affairs throughout the couple's marriage. "Karin Cain was just like the others. This wasn't some new obsession," Whitham said. Along with a series of affairs, Craig also allegedly used the website advertising himself as "Jim and Waffles" and claiming a net worth of $10 million in search of "sugar babies." Whitham described Angela as an "extremely private" stay-at-home mom of six who, due to her deeply held Mormon faith, was reluctant to share the couple's marital issues. She claimed Angela was isolated and someone who was "not about to tell people about her marital struggles" and who was "broken." Defense attorney Kelly Hyman delved into the dueling strategies as the high-stakes murder trial kicks off. She noted that the defense's strategy to cast Angela as manipulative and unstable plays into their aims to create reasonable doubt and reframe the context. "By doing so, the defendant implies that [he] wasn't responsible," she explained to Fox News Digital. "That could go to the heaty of the defense that Angela killed herself and that it was suicide." While prosecutors argued Tuesday that Craig's alleged Google searches, chemical orders and romantic messages to his alleged mistress amount to premeditation, Hyman warned that speculative interpretation of digital evidence isn't always a slam dunk. "A way to do this is to challenge admissibility and the reliability of the digital evidence. This can be done on cross-examination or through a defense witness to counter the digital forensic and timeline reconstruction," she said. The defense argued Tuesday that investigators operated with "tunnel vision" and failed to investigate other leads. The defense said Angela's personal laptop was never seized or searched despite prosecutors showing images of her using it from her hospital bed to research symptoms. "The defense could argue that the unexamined laptop may contain information supporting an alternative theory of events or potentially pointing to another person and/or a different timeline," Hyman said. "This omission may suggest an incomplete and/or biased investigation." Hyman also noted that the absence of direct physical evidence, such as cyanide residue on containers or packaging, could work to the defense's advantage. "The absence of direct physical evidence like poison residue on the protein shake containers or the victim's body presents a key argument for the defense to use," she said. READ THE INCIDENT REPORT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE GET REAL-TIME UPDATES AT THE FOX NEWS TRUE CRIME HUB Investigators alleged in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital that, in the weeks before his wife's hospitalization and death, Craig used a dental office computer to search for "undetectable poisons" and how to obtain them, later purchasing arsenic and cyanide by mail, "how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human" and "is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?" Alongside these online searches, investigators alleged Craig made YouTube queries such as "how to make poison" and "Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play." Fox News Digital has reached out to James Craig's lead attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, for comment.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Gold prospector 'scared' by crumbling five-metre discovery in Aussie bush
Deep in the bush are the ruins of pits that once contained one of the 19th Century's most dangerous and commonly used chemicals, cyanide. The pits were used to extract gold from ore, and their locations can prove valuable for modern-day prospectors searching for long-lost nuggets. Others search for ruined huts, abandoned mines and even old maps. Dusty, who quit her job to search for gold full-time, recently photographed several five-metre-wide pits outside the central Victorian town of Moliagul. 'I never knew it was there. I was just climbing up the hill and realised I was standing on top of the tank, it's wild to have this hidden history,' she told Yahoo News Australia, after reporting the find on her social media page. Back in the day, the pits were drained directly into the bush, and this could contaminate fresh water, killing off fish, wildlife and even people. Death in humans can occur within minutes of cyanide poisoning, and within seconds, exposure can cause headache, loss of consciousness, nausea, and difficulty breathing. Related: ⛏️ Gold prospector's incredible find in 'remote' Aussie bush Historical pictures show men standing on top of the pits at great risk to their own safety. 'When I come across them in the bush, I stand roughly where they would have been working, and I think one slip and they would have been in the tank, and they would have been dead,' Dusty said. 'I just don't know how people could have walked along with their big wooden paddles and stirred the cyanide slurry and thought nothing of it. It scares me even now, and it always blows me away when I find them.' Today, undisturbed pits pose little danger to walkers, according to Heritage Victoria, which manages several of the historic sites around the goldfields region. Although there are alternatives, cyanide continues to be used for gold extraction around the world. Even though the methods have been modernised, and the risks of contamination are low, University of Western Sydney water expert, Associate Professor Ian Wright, is concerned about the practice. 'There are different forms of cyanide, and there are lots that have long-term impacts,' he told Yahoo News. 🥺 Emotional decision looms as ancient graveyard faces one in 100 year storm prediction 🌵 Remarkable 26-year change revealed on Aussie desert property ☔️ Weather event sees Aussie town overrun by 'rarely observed' phenomenon Twenty-five years ago in Romania, a joint venture between the country's government and Australian company Esmeralda Exploration resulted in 100,000 cubic metres of water contaminated with cyanide leaking into the Somes River and then into the Danube. Foxes, otters and birds all died after eating contaminated fish, and the problem spread to neighbouring Serbia and Hungary. Last year, elevated levels of cyanide were detected around Victoria Gold's Eagle gold mine in Canada's Yukon Territory following the discharge of millions of litres of water laced with the chemical. The leak resulted in the company being placed in receivership and its stock being delisted. 'In most mine operations, they do things well. But the tragedy for something like cyanide, even if leaks are super rare, is that the consequences can be absolutely terrible,' Wright said. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
