The 45-year-old Colorado dentist is accused of poisoning his wife to death in a ‘complex and calculated’ plot
A dentist accused of murdering his wife and mother of his six children was allegedly having an affair and researched poisons that cannot be detected in an autopsy before mixing his wife’s protein shakes with arsenic and cyanide.
James Toliver Craig, 45, of Aurora, Colorado, used a shared computer at his workplace to run multiple online searches for poison before his wife Angela, 43, was declared brain dead, according to his statement. arrest juror.
Searches included: ‘how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human’. ‘Is arsenic detectable at autopsy?’ ‘Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs Of Foul Play’, ‘How To Make Poison’ and ‘Top 10 Deadliest Plants (Can Kill You)’.
Craig allegedly ordered the arsenic online on February 27 and received the package on March 4, police said.
James Toliver Craig was arrested for murder on Sunday after detectives discovered his wife Angela Craig, 43, had been fatally poisoned.
James and Angela Craig pose for a family photo with their six children, ages 8 to 20.
Angela was admitted to the hospital with symptoms consistent with poisoning two days later.
Craig had taken her to the Colorado hospital around 8:45 p.m. Wednesday after she complained of headaches and dizziness.
Her condition deteriorated rapidly and she was soon placed on a ventilator in the intensive care unit.
The mother-of-six was soon declared brain dead and doctors eventually made the decision to turn off her life support.
Her death was investigated by detectives with the Major Crimes Homicide Unit who initially determined that she was poisoned.
“This was quickly discovered to be a heinous, complex and calculated murder,” Division Chief Mark Hildebrand said.
Craig brought a woman he had exchanged sexually explicit messages with from Texas to Colorado while Angela was in the hospital fighting for her life.
“It appears that James was taking this woman to Denver while his wife and the mother of his children were dying in the hospital,” police wrote in the affidavit.
Craig had told the poison vendor that he was a surgeon and intended to use the potassium cyanide for a medical procedure.
He proceeded to give the seller his dental license number and work email to order the poison.
Craig shipped the cyanide to his dental office, where an employee opened the package and viewed its contents before resealing it and giving it to the dentist, who told his business associates that the package was a ring he had ordered for his wife.
Craig was a practicing dentist at the Summerbrook Colorado dental office, which filed for bankruptcy in 2021.
A person close to Angela Craig’s family told the Daily Beast that she was a “phenomenal woman, outgoing and the best mother you can imagine.”
“She was very supportive of her husband, even working in his practice during financial difficulties.”
Craig and his practice, Summerbrook Dental, filed for bankruptcy in 2021, according to court records.
The couple had been married for more than 20 years and were the parents of six children, five girls and one boy, ages eight to 20.
Angela began experiencing symptoms of dizziness and headaches a few weeks before her death and told her family about it.
She was examined at the hospital at least twice before her admission Wednesday morning, but family members thought it might be a sinus infection because she was susceptible to it.
The individual who spoke to the Beast said, ‘One of her brothers who lives in Salt Lake came out to be with her.’
There was, until his admission to the hospital, any reason to suspect foul play.
But, after Angela was hospitalized, James apparently vanished.
“He hadn’t been with the family much in recent days,” which “raised some suspicions,” the source said.
In a 2021 press release, Craig described himself as “happily married” to Angela.
The statement went on to say that the couple “have six children and they all enjoy the outdoors, especially camping, snowboarding, fishing, hiking, rock climbing and mountain biking.”
“They also enjoy visiting theme parks and often travel to Disney, Universal and Sea World.”
He also noted that James Craig volunteered with WE CAN HELP, an anti-bullying program sponsored by the Denver Police Department.
Poisoning is a rare method of murder. According studiespoisoning represents less than 0.5 percent of cases.