Post Mortem | Who Poisoned Angela Craig? [Live from CrimeCon]

0:00Natalie Morales:Hi, 48 Hours listeners. Today, we have a special postmortem for you that was recorded live at CrimeCon Denver, a large annual gathering of true crime fans and creators. I was joined by my colleague Natalie Morales and the district attorney for Colorado's 23rd Judicial District, George Brockler, to discuss all the twists and turns surrounding the case of Aurora, Colorado dentist James Craig, who went on trial for the murder of his wife in July of 2025. Here's the episode.

0:43Natalie Morales:Welcome, everyone, to a live edition of the Postmortem Podcast. Thank you so much for being here. Awesome. So, of course, I'm a 48 Hours correspondent. My name is Anne-Marie Green. And I'm Natalie Morales, a 48 Hours correspondent for many years now. And I think what—thank you. Nice to be here. And I just want to point out, we actually have some people in this room, front row with us, who were very involved in this case. So we will talk about them. And we only hope we do you justice and get you right. But you know what? We should probably do a little bit of an introduction because we are recording this as a podcast.

1:21Natalie Morales:Of course, you all know the case we're talking about today. Colorado case, it captured really worldwide attention. The poisoning death of Angela Craig and the dramatic trial of her husband, James Craig, a local dentist. We actually covered this story at 48 Hours pre-trial. He and his wife, Angela, on the surface, they seem to have it all. They seem like the perfect couple, loving couple, married for 23 years. They had six kids together. So on March 6th, 2023, Angela Craig texts her husband, says she's not feeling well. And over the next two weeks, Angela was then in and out of the hospital three times, really in 10 days.

2:05And during that time, the doctors could not figure out what was wrong with her. Her symptoms just kept, you know, she was dizzy. She was, you know, feeling faint. Her vital signs were all over the place. Very mysterious symptoms. And then on March 18th, she was pronounced brain dead. She was taken off life support. Just hours after she died, though, James Craig was arrested. He was charged with first-degree murder. And later, her autopsy would reveal she died of poisons in her body. tetrahydrosaline, which if you don't know what that is, it's commonly found in eye drops, also cyanide and arsenic, all found in her system.

2:48Now, investigators allege that James Craig was the one who was poisoning her protein shakes. They used to work out every morning and he would make her a regular shake. And also investigators had video of him in that time of him in scrubs entering into the ER with what appeared to be a syringe. And the prosecutor says that was the fatal dose. That was the cyanide that then ultimately would kill her. Now, James Craig, during all of that, pleaded not guilty. And as you all know, if you follow the case here locally, the trial took place this past July in Centennial, Colorado.

3:27Natalie Morales:And if you thought this was an intriguing case before the trial, boy, the stuff that the trial turned up was mind-blowing. James was, of course, convicted of her murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. So joining us to talk further about this, somebody who has also been covering this case at great length is District Attorney George Brockler, the former District Attorney for Arapahoe County, where Angela Craig lived and ultimately died. George is also now the District Attorney for the newly created 23rd Judicial District in Colorado. And George, we relied on you a lot for our coverage early on on this story at 48 Hours.

4:09What was your interest in it going in? Well, I mean, listen, one, I'm like everybody else here, and oh my goodness, you can't see it from where you're sitting, but there's a ton of you here. I mean, there's a million of you in this room. I'm not just fascinated as a citizen, you know, who's also part of the community, but as the former district attorney that would have handled this case, your instant reaction is, I want to see justice here. I want to figure out a way to get justice for Angela. And frankly, for this case and one other, I reached out to the district attorney at the time, a guy named John Kilner, and I said, bring me back.

4:44Bring me back and let me try this case. And that bastard said no. But nonetheless, I still got to be a part of this thing by watching it closely. Very impressed with the investigation and the prosecution. And you covered it on radio as well. You had a radio broadcast at the time. I did. I was a morning talk show guy out here. I took over for a guy named Peter Boyles, who if you're from the area, you know, Pete's been doing this for a billion years. He hung it up and they turned it over to this clown show. And I talked about this a lot on the radio. The other thing, and I know you were going to mention this, we had this incredibly weird connection where my producer for my show and the guy that covered the afternoon drive time, a guy named Stephan Tubbs, both were patients of the dentist, of Dr.

5:35Craig. And he had seen every member of their families over the years. That is a weird coincidence to have.

5:43Natalie Morales:Can we go back in time a little bit? Because for the people living here, they may be familiar with you. But outside of this area, I mean, you have quite a history here. Just give me sort of a list of some of the other cases. Yeah, thank you for asking. In a very Forrest Gump-y sort of way, I was involved as one of the two prosecutors of the felony cases that grew out of the Columbine tragedy. I prosecuted myself the Aurora Theater Batman mass murder case. We had a mass shooting at a school in Highlands Ranch called STEM School. Many of you may know the name Kendrick Castillo. I prosecuted that case.

6:23Somewhere in between there, I was asked to play a role as a pretend defense attorney doing the mock cross-examination of the victim in the Kobe Bryant rape case. And just all along the way, it seems like I have bumped into these larger cases and it really makes me feel good to be able to try to bring some justice to it. The conversation that we're going to have here is about a fantastic outcome for a well-investigated case.

6:48Natalie Morales:So one of the things I found really fascinating about this case is the volume when it came to text messages. I mean, you could follow their entire relationship through these text messages. And certainly, you know, the tail end where she's getting sicker and sicker. But it wasn't just that. I mean, this was a loving couple. People described them as being playful. You know, she helped out in the dentist's office. So my question is, why does he emerge as the main suspect right away when at least everything else and people that knew them quite well would say that they had a good relationship? Yeah, that's a good question.

7:27I think part of that answer we have sitting in the front row here. For those that haven't followed this thing, there was every reason for Jim Craig to believe that he was going to get away with this. And he would have gotten away with it. I believe that. But for the fact that there was a conscientious set of employees that worked at this dental practice, including his partner. And one thing led to another. They discovered that poison cyanide had been sent to the practice. The only reason they know that is an employee opened this box, right? They weren't supposed to open the box, but they hadn't gotten the direction from him the way another employee had.

8:09They open the box. They see it. People look inside. They begin talking about it with his partner. And then all of a sudden, as Angela is suffering with this sort of unknown ailment, no one really can figure out what it is. That's when I think his partner says, I got to do something. I got to say something. Let me say this about the text, though, because we're going to end up talking about the paramour for a minute, I imagine. 4 ,000 texts within a short period of time, just between him and this other woman who he had been philandering with. You combine that with the texts that they had, and my presumption is other texts, it's hard to imagine this guy had time to put his fingers in anyone's mouth because they were constantly on his phone.

8:53And we should point out, you know, all of this is happening while Angela is at the time she's sick in the hospital and he's carrying on. And we're going to get into more detail with this other woman who during the trial, she testified, Karen Kane. But going back to what I think is an important development, and that is, you know, we talk about the partner, and that's Ryan Redford, and he's sitting with us right here. He was the one who told the nurse, who has a mandated reporter, then tells the police that potassium cyanide appears to be perhaps what is causing this illness. And so that's when they immediately start investigating him and start looking into this as her vital signs then crashed.

9:32And then she was taken off life support and she then ultimately died. Then they knew this, this is a homicide. And, and all fingers at this point, they, at that point, start investigating, going backwards and reviewing everything they can. And from there, when you consider all of that, the trail unfolds pretty quickly, you know, with all the text messages, but the email accounts that he also had set up, it's called Jim and Waffles. And I don't even know. Do we know why Jim and Waffles? I suspect because it's so much more innocuous than Jim the Poisoner or something like that. Like no one's going to hook up with that guy.

10:11Yeah. You know, he was he was looking for on YouTube top five undetectable poisons that show no signs of foul play. Is arsenic detectable in an autopsy. I'll tell you, it is detectable in an autopsy. And also, apparently he bought arsenic off of Amazon, which, you know, you can do this. I will say potassium cyanide, he needed a medical license for that. That said, that's what triggered alarm bells because he wrote as a doctor, you know, the potassium cyanide by stating he needed it for a special procedure that he was doing. And there was no reason that that potassium cyanide was needed for any kind of dental procedure.

11:03But clearly he was able to get what he wanted.

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12:21Natalie Morales:We've talked a lot about the kind of digital evidence, right? The text messages. But that video inside their home. I don't know how many of you have sort of a running video of your day-to-day activities. I thought that was kind of interesting. But I feel like more and more people have that. How crucial was that video? Well, I think it certainly gave, you know, again, detectives an opportunity to look at a thousand hours of, OK, what were what were they doing? What did they seem like as a couple? But then they also saw the morning routine. They saw the protein shakes that he was making. And during the trial, they showed that video of him pulling out like it's a pink top lid.

13:03And at the time, prosecutors said this is this appears to be when he's mixing and he puts it in the microwave and he prepares it. Then you see Angela's drinking it. And then that day, March 6th, was the first day she showed symptoms and went to the hospital. So you connect those dots. And then, you know, they had a whole trail, a couple of days of him making these shakes for her. And then we should also point out motive in this. Because, like, let's talk about, we talked about the affairs, but there was also the question about money. and apparently he put on a good front that his practice was doing well, but he was in financial straits.

13:43We're talking northwards of$2 million in debt and liabilities. Within two weeks of plotting what appeared to be, you know, to try to kill his wife, he was starting an affair in Las Vegas at a dental conference with a dental hygienist, Karen Kane from Texas. So that was sort of all in the background as he starts to think about his plan and put it in motion.

14:10Natalie Morales:It certainly seems like, you know, after that Las Vegas trip, things started to accelerate. But what we learned during the trial is that was not, as you point out, that was not the start of his odd behavior, the problems in his marriage, his infidelities. And I think that when you're watching it, you keep on going back to this question as a woman who's married, why did you stay? Why did you stay? Have you any inkling as to what the answer to that question would be? You know, I'm not sure it's ever going to come down to one thing, but, you know, I think that Angela was a person of deep faith. I think her place in church mattered to her.

14:53I think that being a mother of six kids and wanting to try to preserve as much of a normal family as she could, probably also factored into it. She seemed to me to be so forgiving over and over and over again at a time when a lot of people would have stopped forgiving and just figured out a way to move on. And ultimately, it was that big heart that pledged to live out her promise to be married forever. Those were the things that actually got used against her in that betrayal by her husband, who no matter what he did, including, and we'll probably get to this, the prior drugging, she always seemed to find a way to fight to save the family.

15:36and it was her success at keeping the family together that provided not only the opportunity, but honestly, probably the motivation for Jim Craig to do this. Because at the end of the day, I don't think it was just the money. And I don't think it was just the relationships and the lust and all that. What I think it was, is he realized that the impediment to all the things he wanted was his marriage, but he couldn't bring himself to get divorced. And so the only way to solve that problem was to make his wife go away. You talked about, George, about the past attempt to drug her. Let's talk about that because that was in reference to text exchanges between them.

16:22When she first started feeling the symptoms, he wrote to her at one point. What were the exact words? I think you remember. It was something along the lines of, hey, I know this must be triggering for you. But to be clear, I didn't drug you. Now, that may not be verbatim, but it's pretty darn close to verbatim. And I have to say, if you ever find yourself in a relationship where that text is being exchanged.

16:46Natalie Morales:Get out. It's time to think about a change. Yeah. Run. What do we think that was about? He said one thing. What do you think that was about? Was that do you think that was an attempt on her life? His story was that he had been contemplating suicide himself, and he felt like if his wife was not unconscious, she would try to save him or stop him, and he didn't want that. Now, there was also another major document ahead of the trial in the days leading up to her death. Apparently, James Craig wrote a four-page iPhone note. It was a first-person statement to investigators about what allegedly happened to her, as if Angela was wanting to take her own life.

17:35Do you have it in front of you? Yeah. Angela said she started talking about poisons, according to James Craig, and asked him to research the ones that would kill her. And then the note apparently walks through a timeline of how Angela allegedly poisoned herself before she ended ends up dying. Craig, though, did admit to preparing a syringe with a cyanide and details that time in the ER. He said in the ER, it looked like she was probably going to pull through and be OK. He wrote in that moment when no one else was in earshot. She asked me to help finish the job, which is crazy. Bonkers. The problem is, is that the same time he's creating this narrative that all of his searches were to facilitate some suicidal ideation that she had, she is doing a search history on her phone and computers that's like, what's wrong with me?

18:30Why am I suffering this symptom? What can I do to be better? Those two things don't make sense. Right. And the detectives pointed that out at trial because they were asked by the prosecution, what did her phone history show? And her search history before March 6, 2023, it was all benign kinds of things that anybody would be looking up. After March 6, everything was dizziness, symptoms of nausea, feeling no energy, and all of it related to her symptoms. And that right there shows you how she did not plan for any of this.

19:06Natalie Morales:that's right okay so i want to talk about before you actually get to trial because he had gone through a series of attorneys right a series of teams yes he had he did they quit didn't he fire them what he had he had reputable reputable defense attorneys representing him and um the attorney that was on that case withdrew from the case so he gets another attorney um and then he He withdraws from the case that looks like because of what this guy was doing in jail. And so one of the things that he had done was he had solicited a cellmate to kill the lead investigator, which who's present with us here in the front row right now.

19:56Nothing screams I'm innocent like trying to kill the lead investigator. But wait, there's more. Yeah. He solicits his daughter, who he encourages to plant evidence that would suggest that Angela was, in fact, suicidal and had asked Dr. Craig to get these drugs to kill her, get these poisons to kill her. The good news is daughter wasn't really going to have any of it. And she ends up testifying at court as well. Also, you know, in a real way, very poignant testimony, but such a tragedy. There's no parent that could watch that testimony and not feel like, my God, how could you do that to your kid?

20:42My heart breaks for her. Also, one of the other daughters was asked to testify about their mother's state of mind at the time. And where she the daughter said she was great. She was in great spirits. She was talking about building her dream home, you know, doing a renovation project, a fixer-upper. So there was no way that my mom was thinking about taking her life.

21:06Natalie Morales:So we want to talk a little bit more about that. So in the trial, right, there are almost 50 witnesses. We heard about some of them. We're talking about jailhouse informants, women that he had had affairs with, his own children. But of course, there's one person who cannot testify, right? It's Angela. and his defense is pinning it on her that she's the one that wanted to die and he was just helping her. He's actually assisting in what his wife ultimately wanted. So how do you create a case where you let the victim's voice speak? I think they looked into her journals a lot, right, George? So, you know, there's an effort by the defense.

21:47They want this in because there's some discussion that could lead to a conclusion of some thoughts of suicide or harming herself from back in the day. I know the prosecution resisted that, but the judge ruled, no, we're going to let this thing in. And we got to see the excerpts from it and have it read from it. And I'll be honest, having sat through and listened to it, I'm not sure it was as good for the defense as they thought it was. I didn't come away with that conclusion. I came away with the conclusion that this is a woman who has fought through a depression that was put upon her by this guy and that she had worked through it, fought through it, and was going to continue on the fight.

22:30But that's how they do it is in part some of the videos, in part some of the texts, in part some of the journal and stuff like that. Yeah. And as we have talked about, of course, trying to get to that timeline of leading up to, okay, so then when does all of this start to unravel for her? And really, it all goes back to right before March 6th. And it goes back to, again, James Craig going to Las Vegas, meeting this woman, Karen Cain. And so that's when they get Karen Cain up on the stand. And investigators looked at 4 ,000 text messages, which is the equivalent of being love bombed. And, you know, this was a relationship that got intimate very, very fast.

23:18And in fact, I think when you look at the timeline, you know, while his wife is fighting for her life in the hospital and then later on life support, he is having sexual encounters with Karen Cain in Denver. Like she came here to the area. He was going from the hospital to go see Karen Cain at her hotel room. I mean, what does she know about his life? I really think that Karen Cain is just another victim of Jim Craig's lies and that she at no time had any idea that this was going on. She had been told that they had been that they were in the process long into the process of getting divorced, that this guy had his own apartment.

24:05He wasn't even living at the house. He would tell her these stories about how hard it was to leave the kids at home while he went back to the apartment. And I think she was in a place where whatever connection they had, and this guy is kind of like an emotional vampire, in that he loves to have that sense of being wanted, needed, and loved. And he will suck it out of anybody he can. And that's what all of these relationships were. And, you know, the other thing to remember here is that after this case gets all spread out, the only conclusion you can draw is this guy lies like he breathes, that you would be hard pressed to find anyone in his life to whom he has told the truth on a consistent basis.

24:53whether it's the red ferns, whether it's his children, his now deceased wife, any of the women that he was fooling around with, he lied to them as well. This guy had the ability to just make stuff up.

25:07Natalie Morales:So you mentioned any of these women, because what we learned during the trial is that he was cheating on his wife long before, and we had a couple of women testified. Can you talk a little bit about that testimony, what we learned about his extracurricular activities? Well, fascinating in a disturbing prosecutor kind of way. And that was that before this, he had ended up hooking up with a woman who was, I'm not sure destitute's the right word, but she needed money for her teenage daughter's car. this dude comes up with 9 ,000 bucks to buy this paramour's daughter a car. But it didn't come without strings.