A Colorado dentist is accused of his wife’s murder. Did he poison her protein shakes?

In Aurora, Colorado, James Craig was a widely known dentist. He and his spouse Angela Craig have been elevating six kids. On March 6, 2023, Angela Craig reported feeling sick and her husband took her to a hospital.

There can be two hectic weeks and three hospital visits. On March 15, Angela Craig was placed on life assist; three days later, she was lifeless. Inside hours, James Craig can be charged with first-degree homicide. He has pleaded not responsible.

Angela Craig’s post-mortem revealed she had been poisoned. And police declare the proof factors to her husband —  alleging he searched on-line movies about poison after which bought potassium cyanide and arsenic.

Podcaster Steffan Tubbs, who lined the case, says police allege within the arrest warrant that James Craig had made a Google seek for “What number of grams of pure arsenic will kill a human?” Authorities consider he went additional, lacing his spouse’s drinks with poison. “He administered, allegedly the poison through her protein shakes,” mentioned Tubbs.

Skye Lazaro, an legal professional conversant in instances involving poison, tells “48 Hours” contributor Natalie Morales that James Craig’s protection would possibly argue that police rushed to arrest him. “It is primarily a three-day investigation,” she mentioned of the time it took police to cost him together with his spouse’s homicide.

James Craig’s protection has mentioned he has a historical past of despair and had sought counseling prior to now. Lazaro says they may argue he purchased poison to not use on Angela Craig — however on himself.

As for these allegedly poisoned protein shakes, Lazaro says that from what she’s seen of the proof made public thus far, “The state hasn’t offered you any proof that the poison was truly within the drink,” she mentioned.

ANGELA CRAIG TEXTS HER HUSBAND “I FEEL DRUGGED”

On March 18, 2023, within the Denver suburb of Aurora, Angela Craig died. Simply days later, former radio character Steffan Tubbs started his podcast in regards to the sensational case and the unimaginable information.

STEFFAN TUBBS (“Arsenic, DDS” podcast): I need to personally ship our condolences to the family and friends of Angela Craig, simply 43 years previous. She handed away, declared mind lifeless … And never misplaced on me … is the truth that this household has been briefly … destroyed.

James Craig had been virtually instantly charged with the first-degree homicide of his spouse Angela. He has pleaded not responsible. The story of the dentist, his spouse and the allegedly poisoned shakes can be advised world wide.

Steffan Tubbs: Come on. A dentist. Allegedly ordering potassium cyanide and arsenic. Actually?

However it was all as painfully actual as a dentist’s drill.

Chelsea Otoya: Dr. Craig and Angela Craig have been similar to two peas in a pod.

Chelsea Otoya: The 2 of them within the workplace was cute trigger they might play pranks on one another all day lengthy.

Chelsea Otoya received to know James and Angela Craig when she labored for Dr. Craig at Summerbrook Dental.

Chelsea Otoya: They appeared like the proper couple.

Till, in line with Colorado police, James took his shot on the excellent crime.

CBS NEWS STREAMING NETWORK: Investigators say he researched poisons within the days main as much as his spouse’s demise.

The concept the dentist stood accused of murdering Angela, his spouse of 23 years, appeared incomprehensible as a result of the Craigs appeared so shut. 

Chelsea Otoya: It simply was heartbreaking for everybody, and I felt unhealthy. 

Steffan Tubbs (driving): Arising on our left, the previous house of Summerbrook Dental.

For Tubbs, the workplace constructing as soon as house to Summerbrook, has turn out to be a tragic touchstone. 

Steffan Tubbs (driving): The final time that I had eye contact with Dr. Jim Craig, he gave me a root canal. 

Steffan Tubbs: I believed he was a terrific man. I received extremely competent pleasant care. … He was a household man. We talked about his household, his youngsters … I — I met his spouse. 

Angela Craig was the guts and soul of that household — mom to their six kids and a hands-on associate in what appeared like a thriving enterprise. 

Steffan Tubbs: She was not anyone simply sit there and keep quiet. She was engaged within the dental apply. … She was anyone who was speaking about concepts, and their advertising, their message. 

Tubbs helped refine that message, engaged on a few of Summerbrook’s promoting. He witnessed how these two peas in a pod labored aspect by aspect, with Angela pitching in as one among Jim’s workplace managers.

Steffan Tubbs: I believed it was type of cool. You understand, you have received a husband and spouse, big household. I believed it was — it was nice to see a small Colorado enterprise operated by, you recognize, husband and spouse. 

Tubbs’ podcast would delve into the disturbing particulars of Angela’s medical journey: how and why she was allegedly murdered. That account from police is contained in a 52-page arrest warrant.

Steffan Tubbs: In practically 34 years of being a newsman, probably the most unbelievable and seemingly thorough arrest affidavit I’ve ever learn.

The warrant alleges that “James has proven the planning and intent to finish his spouse’s life by trying to find methods to kill somebody undetected.”

Steffan Tubbs: This was not the James Craig that I knew. 

The James Craig Aurora knew was on show that March 6, 2023, the day Angela’s odyssey started. James was at Summerbrook Dental when Angela texted from house: “My eyes do not need to focus.” She texted “I really feel drugged.”

James Craig headed proper house.

He picked up Angela and drove to the ER at Parker Adventist Hospital. She reported feeling dizzy and weak. Medical doctors quick went to work. 

Natalie Morales: She finally ends up going into the hospital, first time was March sixth, is that appropriate? 

George Brauchler: That is proper. March sixth was her first time into the hospital. 

On the time, George Brauchler was one other pressure in Colorado speak radio.

He’s additionally the previous elected district legal professional for Arapahoe County, the place Angela Craig lived and would die, rattling this neighborhood.

George Brauchler: It is a big story.

Like Tubbs, Brauchler has immersed himself within the particulars of Angela’s last days—a determined two-week ordeal. However on that March 6, because the hours handed within the ER, there have been plenty of questions, however few solutions.

George Brauchler: They actually did not have a great reply for what she was going via and … they find yourself releasing her and sending her house.

Residence — the place Angela Craig appeared to assume she was protected in her marriage. Not less than that is how she sounded in messages the couple despatched one another, with Angela now house, recuperating from her ER go to.

George Brauchler: There have been texts … that will counsel a really supportive loving relationship.

James Craig texts, “I like you. It was so good hanging out with you and simply watching a present and snuggling.” Angela Craig texts James: “Hello Child! I like your face.” 

Again house, the busy couple picked up the day by day routine that sustained them.

George Brauchler: Jim and Angela apparently labored out within the morning. They labored out collectively. And one of many issues that Jim did for his spouse was to arrange her a protein shake … It was an absolute routine. 

George Brauchler: This was simply a part of the conventional day.

James Craig texts: “I will must ask what you are hungry for and convey it to you. I am kinda feeling only a smoothie or one thing.”

“I am not feeling something.” Angela Craig replies. “Do not convey something, I will eat one thing right here.”

Inside 24 hours, Angela Craig’s signs got here again quick and powerful. She headed again to Parker Adventist. This time she can be admitted. 

Steffan Tubbs: The docs and nurses try. They’re conducting assessments. … They only can not determine what’s ailing this comparatively regular and wholesome 43-year-old girl.

George Brauchler: All of the steps that the docs and medical employees had taken appeared to not be working. … it was an actual thriller.

UNRAVELING A MEDICAL MYSTERY

Steffan Tubbs: There was nothing that will be even remotely a purple flag, or it is a rocky, troubled marriage. None of that in any respect.

With Angela Craig nonetheless terribly sick, in March 2023 she was again at Parker Adventist a second time, now as an admitted affected person. In accordance with the warrant throughout her keep, Angela Craig texted her husband James Craig to say, “Now I am hungry” and he texted again later that was bringing meals, writing “Okay I gotchu.”

George Brauchler: The loving husband who desires to see his spouse stay wholesome.

That arrest warrant incorporates quite a few texts detailing how as Angela Craig was hospitalized, James Craig went forwards and backwards from their house to her bedside to Summerbrook — a husband seemingly supporting his spouse and caring for his or her youngsters.

Steffan Tubbs: He is persevering with to go to work, and I do not begrudge him for that. He is received a household of six youngsters.

And the warrant would present that obvious belief that Angela Craig positioned in James, how she reached out to him to share her signs, texting, “I am chilly, tremendous drained, weak, shaky and dizzy”

And James Craig despatched compassionate texts to Angela Craig: “I like you and miss you and I am so apprehensive. I want you have been wholesome sufficient to come back house tonight and snuggle me.” 

Steffan Tubbs: Angela Craig was so sick.

It appeared that every one her signs had returned.

Steffan Tubbs: She had horrible complications. Horrible nausea … She was dizzy. … And docs have been at a loss.

George Brauchler: Struggling to determine what within the hell is inflicting this. What’s making her sick?

Steffan Tubbs: They usually simply couldn’t get a solution.

As Angela Craig stayed within the hospital with out a analysis, James Craig was in contact together with his mates Michelle and Ryan Redfearn.. Ryan Redfearn, a fellow dentist, had not too long ago turn out to be enterprise companions with James Craig, he would later inform police.

George Brauchler: Ryan Redfearn went to dental college with Jim Craig all these 20-plus years in the past. He’d identified him all that point. … He was a detailed confidant.

And with Angela Craig so sick, in line with the warrant, James Craig additionally texted with Ryan’s spouse, Michelle Redfearn, educated as a nurse.

Natalie Morales: What have been they texting about?

George Brauchler: The texts have been actually the sorts of belongings you would change with somebody who’s one other medical skilled. I imply, he was speaking about blood stress. He was speaking about issues the docs had expressed about symptomology … that ought to have resolved by now.

However one among James Craig’s texts, on reflection, appeared odd, because it appeared he was making mild of Angela’s mysterious sickness.

Steffan Tubbs: Jim Craig texts Michelle Redfearn, quote, “If it wasn’t my spouse, this may be type of a enjoyable puzzle to attempt to work out, exclamation level.” Who says that?

Nonetheless, a foul joke in instances of disaster is not uncommon, says  former DA  Brauchler.

George Brauchler: All people reacts to trauma in a different way.

And James Craig appeared apprehensive. It had been 4 hectic days since Angela was admitted. Police say Jim advised others he was sleeping on a stool subsequent to Angela that evening when her very important indicators crashed. Medical doctors responded via the evening.

Steffan Tubbs: I’ve thought of each agonizing minute that Angela Craig was in.

However over the following day Angela Craig appeared to stabilize. And on March 14,  nonetheless with no solutions as to why she was sick, Angela was launched from Parker Adventist. As soon as once more, Angela Craig got here house to her husband of 23 years. However she would not be house for lengthy. Inside a day she began feeling sick once more.

On March 15, she was admitted to close by College Hospital. There can be extra tubes, assessments and screens. James Craig was quickly by her aspect.

Steffan Tubbs: That they had no concept what was improper together with her.

Police say James Craig did not keep lengthy at first. Inside half an hour, he drove house from the hospital. Then about an hour-and-a-half later, he returned, carrying meals. Police say he then went into Angela Craig’s room, alone. Quickly after, Angela Craig had a seizure and as soon as once more her very important indicators crashed.

George Brauchler: It was essential.

James Craig took pictures of his spouse as hospital employees tried to avoid wasting her.

George Brauchler: She is moving into dire, dire medical penalties.

Angela Craig, as soon as so lively, was placed on life assist.

George Brauchler: Medical doctors are struggling to determine what within the hell is inflicting this? What’s making her sick?

What medical employees did not know on the time was that days earlier, in line with police, a bundle had arrived at James Craig’s workplace. Authorities say what was in that bundle, ordered by James Craig himself, would turn out to be key proof on this case. James Craig allegedly advised a employees member “that he can be receiving a private bundle” and “to not open it.” 

Steffan Tubbs: Jim Craig had mentioned do not open this bundle. Any person did. She sees the phrases “potassium cyanide.”

Steffan Tubbs: Why are we getting potassium cyanide to a Colorado dentist’s workplace?

A PACKAGE MARKED POISON

Angela Craig was on life assist and combating to outlive. James Craig texted the pictures he took to Michelle Redfearn, writing “crash” “intubated” and “doc says she’s ‘very very apprehensive’.” The couple raced to the hospital.

Ryan Redfearn would later inform police he watched as James Craig broke down.

Natalie Morales: He noticed Craig crying after chatting with docs about Angela’s prognosis.

George Brauchler: Yep. He did say he noticed him crying afterwards.

However in line with police, Ryan Redfearn was removed from satisfied these tears have been actual. That is as a result of, on his strategy to the hospital, he had gotten a name from a employees member on the workplace. The decision was to alert Ryan Redfearn about that bundle marked potassium cyanide that had arrived at Summerbrook Dental — allegedly addressed and later given to James Craig.

Steffan Tubbs: And there is the dominoes that at the moment are falling one after the opposite.

Ryan Redfearn led the best way.

George Brauchler: He does what some other regular individual would do.

In accordance with police, whereas Angela Craig was on life assist, Ryan Redfearn tells a nurse that James Craig “not too long ago ordered Potassium Cyanide,” including that there was no medical purpose or function to order Potassium Cyanide for a dental apply.”

Steffan Tubbs: The nurse, being a compulsory reporter, calls Aurora police, and I imply it is like that. Inside 5 hours, most likely even much less, there’s a member of the murder unit with Aurora P.D. is at College Hospital.

Police began asking questions. Then, in line with the warrant, “Ryan acquired a name from James’s private cellular phone.” 

Natalie Morales: Inform me about that telephone name.

George Brauchler: I feel Ryan and his spouse are within the parking zone of the hospital when Jim calls them.

In accordance with police, James Craig requested Ryan Redfearn “if he had mentioned something to the hospital employees.” Ryan Redfearn confirmed that he had and advised James Craig that he knew what James Craig had ordered. And James Craig replied that the “bundle was a hoop for Angela and that he wished to shock her.”

George Brauchler: And Ryan … says, “… it is not a hoop, we all know what was in there.” I imply it is a testomony to Ryan Redfearn.

A decades-long friendship was about to be examined, then shattered. This story was as soon as once more advised in a textual content, revealed in that warrant, as the following morning James Craig pleaded together with his pal and associate, texting partly: “I need to make an pressing plea to you. … please do not speak to anybody … together with any legislation enforcement officers. You might be below no obligation to reply their questions except you might be served a subpoena and you’ll do extra harm than good to my household by persevering with to insert your self into this.”

Natalie Morales: How damning is that textual content in itself?

George Brauchler: I am making an attempt to consider all of the harmless purposes of the phrase, please do not speak to the police. I can not provide you with any. 

George Brauchler: It is a determined effort to attempt to maintain Ryan from cooperating any farther with legislation enforcement.

But when that is what he was making an attempt to do, it was too late. Police had already launched their investigation.

On March 18, 2023, Angela Craig was taken off life assist. A buddy, spouse, and mom of six was lifeless.

Chelsea Otoya: I used to be in full shock, in full disbelief. … In my head, I am like, that is loopy, it is not true.

Chelsea Otoya: I believed perhaps it was an accident.

However investigators did not assume so. Simply hours after Angela Craig died, Dr. James Craig can be arrested and charged with the first-degree homicide of his spouse.

Steffan Tubbs: There’s my dentist, a mugshot.

James Craig would plead not responsible. Months later, Angela Craig’s post-mortem can be launched. That post-mortem states Angela Craig died from “deadly concentrations of cyanide” and “a deadly focus” of tetrahydrozoline, the chemical present in some eye drops. And it says that Angela Craig had “poisonous concentrations” of arsenic in her blood in these two earlier hospital visits.

Steffan Tubbs: To consider what Angela Craig endured. … This girl was in agony, dying, for thus lengthy.

Only a week earlier than Angela Craig received sick, in line with the warrant, James Craig arrange a brand new e-mail account utilizing the alias “Jim and Waffles” and used it to analysis a number of poisons — all a part of his plan, in line with investigators, to homicide Angela Craig.

Steffan Tubbs: One explicit Google search, “what number of grams of pure arsenic will kill a human?”

James Craig, investigators say, additionally discovered movies on-line with titles like “Prime 5 Undetectable Poisons That Present No Signal Of Foul Play.”

And police say on the identical day he did that on-line analysis, James Craig made a purchase order — arsenic — and had it delivered straight to his household’s mailbox.

George Brauchler: I feel he legitimately believed that he would be capable to poison his spouse, she would die, he would have her cremated. After which they’d … transfer on.

Poison. Some name it the recipe for the proper crime. A silent, invisible killer — no blood, no gun, no fingerprints. Even docs can have a tough time recognizing it.

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: It is a fairly uncommon medical subspecialty.

Physician Jeff LaPoint is the director of the division of medical toxicology at San Diego’s Kaiser Permanente Hospital.

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: If it is a poison or a venom … that is what we focus on.

Natalie Morales: You are that man?

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: Yeah.

So “48 Hours” requested him, and Dr. LaPoint centered in on the alleged actions of James Craig  and the ultimate days of Angela Craig’s life.

He reviewed the arrest warrant for us, and among the lethal medicine it lists.

Natalie Morales: Let’s begin with arsenic.

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: OK … yeah, arsenic is a really well-known poison. It is … not detectable by style or odor.

LaPoint says Angela Craig’s signs in these first two hospital visits are according to arsenic poisoning.

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: Nausea and vomiting.

Natalie Morales: Decrease blood stress, increased blood stress? 

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: Typically decrease. 

Natalie Morales: How a lot would kill an individual? 

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: It doesn’t take very a lot. 

However police say there was extra. Per week after he bought that arsenic, they allege James Craig — as “Jim and Waffles”— went again on-line. He ordered a second poison.

Natalie Morales: Oleandrin, what’s that?

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: So, oleandrin is a toxin present in oleander.

Natalie Morales: I am pondering of these white flowers.

Jeff LaPoint: Yeah, they’re actually stunning.

As beautiful as a rose. Solely lethal.

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: It prevents the guts from beating very effectively.

However after three days, the oleandrin hadn’t been delivered. That is when investigators say James Craig upped the ante. Police say he positioned an order with a medical provide firm for his strongest toxin but: potassium cyanide.

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: Cyanide is likely one of the best poisons that exist.

Natalie Morales: Only a microdose may kill you then?

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: Yeah, a really small quantity per kilogram and you are not gonna stay. … When you find yourself poisoned with cyanide, you are being suffocated on a mobile stage. … It is a very potent poison. … Your sufferer would die very quickly. 

Cyanide is so lethal that you just want a medical license to purchase it. And police say that when Dr. James Craig positioned his order from a medical provide firm, he said he wanted it for a posh dental process. 

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: There is no use for potassium cyanide in my apply or I can not consider many medical practices. 

Natalie Morales: So, a dentist ordering arsenic, potassium cyanide and oleandrin … What does that counsel to you?

Dr. Jeff LaPoint: Somebody is making an attempt to gather poison. 

However this father and husband would provide a really completely different story about why he wished these lethal poisons.

WAS INTEREST IN ANOTHER WOMAN A MOTIVE FOR MURDER? 

Detectives suspected James Craig had purchased all these poisons to kill his spouse, however they wished to know why. They’d discover a lead miles away from Aurora on a visit James Craig made — and a lady he met — simply earlier than Angela Craig received sick.

Steffan Tubbs: Would not it simply at all times seem to be there’s one other girl concerned? At all times, virtually at all times. 

“What occurs in Vegas, stays in Vegas.” It is a rule of the highway there, however investigators allege it’s but another rule James Craig did not assume he needed to play by, when he met Karin Cain.

Steffan Tubbs: Karin Cain, an orthodontist from Austin, Texas … She meets James Craig at a dental convention in Las Vegas.

It was Feb. 23, a week-and-a-half earlier than Angela Craig first went to the hospital. The physician was touring alone. And he rolled the cube.

George Brauchler: They strike up a relationship.

Steffan Tubbs: They hit it off … it is a whirlwind.

A number of weeks later, in line with the warrant, Cain would fly to Colorado and rendezvous at a resort with James Craig. He would use that newly created e-mail, “Jim and Waffles,” to flirt together with her. 

Skye Lazaro: It isn’t unlawful to have affairs.

Skye Lazaro is an skilled protection legal professional conversant in instances involving poison. James Craig and his legal professional declined our request for an interview. Lazaro reviewed the case in opposition to James Craig for “48 Hours.” And she or he recognized potential weaknesses.

Skye Lazaro: Is it cheap that you’d kill your spouse to be with somebody that you just had had a 10-day relationship with?

Natalie Morales: The frequent protection technique is affairs don’t make a assassin.

Skye Lazaro: Proper. … One does not robotically imply you probably did the opposite.

On the time she visited James Craig in Colorado, Cain did appear to know Angela Craig was very sick and within the hospital. The truth is, she had despatched a involved e-mail to James Craig. It learn partly: “Hello honey, I’m so sorry for what has transpired this week in your world. … I’m praying for you and searching for God’s knowledge for this time. I like you.”

However there isn’t a proof to counsel Cain knew something extra.

George Brauchler:  Nothing that I’ve seen … provides any indication that she knew that Jim was making an attempt to kill his spouse.

And in line with investigators, James Craig lied to Cain, telling her that he “filed for divorce and was residing separate in an condo.”

Steffan Tubbs: He provides the usual male, typical, “I am going via a divorce.” No, he isn’t.

And a detective mentioned she advised them her relationship with James Craig was “intimate however not sexual.” Cain despatched “48 Hours” an e-mail, writing: “I had completely nothing to do with this horrific ‘crime’ and ‘my coronary heart is completely damaged for Angela Craig and her household.'” And she or he says she is “cooperating absolutely with the police and prosecution.”

Steffan Tubbs: Karin Cain … met the improper man on the improper time. … She did not know something.

Tubbs and Brauchler indicate perhaps nobody knew something about who James Craig actually was. His pristine picture — loving father or mother, church member, devoted husband—now all being questioned. And as cops continued to analyze, one other attainable motive emerged.

Steffan Tubbs: One of many issues that shocked me on this story … is the monetary duress that Summerbrook Dental was below.

The truth is, James Craig’s enterprise had filed for chapter in 2020, and shortly after, his then-friend Ryan Redfearn signed on as a associate.

Natalie Morales: Monetary issues?

George Brauchler: Monetary issues.

Natalie Morales: He was manner in over his head then, in debt?

George Brauchler: Means in over his head.

And at a preliminary listening to in 2023, prosecutors argued that James Craig had “about 3.4 million causes to kill his spouse” — the worth of Angela Craig’s life insurance coverage.

George Brauchler: Jim had liabilities in extra of $2 million and we all know that from among the chapter filings.

However Lazaro says she’s not satisfied these monetary issues give James Craig a motive for homicide.

Natalie Morales: Is that this kind of the portrait of a determined man?

Skye Lazaro: Not essentially.

Skye Lazaro: We see companies undergo chapter on a regular basis and are available out the opposite aspect.

And, as for any poisons he could have ordered, Lazaro states these purchases could not even be unlawful.

Skye Lazaro: He can legitimately buy it as a result of he has a DEA quantity.

Natalie Morales: As a physician. As a dentist, proper.

Skye Lazaro: Proper.

Skye Lazaro: Simply having it is not homicide.

Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm. Administering it. Proper.

However in line with the arrest paperwork, James Craig might need thought he had that discovered, too. Authorities say he may have slipped the poison into a kind of protein shakes he so usually made.

Natalie Morales: A morning routine at house for instance.

George Brauchler: Yeah.

On that morning of March  15 — the day Angela Craig would lastly crash earlier than she was taken to the hospital, she was house with James Craig. Investigators say that is when he could have made her a kind of protein shakes and laced it with potassium cyanide.

George Brauchler: It’s tasteless. It’s odorless. It’s colorless. It’s actually hidable inside one thing like a shake.

Natalie Morales: And extremely deadly.

George Brauchler: Extremely deadly.

However legal professional Lazaro counters the proof will not be there. She has reviewed the transcripts from that July 2023 preliminary listening to and says there’s nothing there that exhibits James Craig put poison in Angela Craig’s shakes.

Skye Lazaro: They went and examined all the things in the home and did not discover any hint proof of there being arsenic or cyanide or something within the protein powder, within the protein bottles.

Skye Lazaro: The state hasn’t offered you any proof that the poison was truly within the drinks.

And Lazaro says the protection can paint an image of James Craig as a sort and attentive associate.

Skye Lazaro: Jim’s textual content messages to Angela are extraordinarily loving and very caring. He repeatedly asks her how she’s doing. He tells her he loves her.

So if James Craig did not poison his spouse, who did? He had a narrative to inform about that.

WHAT ANGELA CRAIG’S AUTOPSY SHOWED

As Steffan Tubbs reported on his podcast, there could also be one other story to inform about James Craig and what occurred to Angela Craig. The story wasn’t about homicide; it was about suicide.

STEFFAN TUBBS (podcast): Craig says to the enterprise associate on the telephone … she was simply taking part in rooster.

In accordance with the warrant, when Ryan Redfearn confronted James Craig in regards to the cyanide, James Craig allegedly mentioned that Angela Craig requested him to order it for her. That it was all a dare—type of a lethal recreation of “rooster.”

Steffan Tubbs: In accordance with Jim Craig … She’s been threatening suicide. And this recreation of rooster is … Now … are you gonna take it?

However in line with that 52-page warrant, none of Angela Craig’s members of the family advised police she was suicidal. A extra possible argument for the protection, says Lazaro, is that James Craig had been in search of cyanide to not kill Angela — however to kill himself.

Skye Lazaro: There was some statements that he, in actual fact, was suicidal, not her.

At that preliminary listening to in 2023, James Craig’s protection crew mentioned he had spoken to a buddy about his personal previous plans to die by suicide, and that “Dr. Craig had made an announcement” to that buddy that he was going to die by “suicide with one thing that was not traceable.” The protection identified that James Craig “suffered from despair” and went to counseling prior to now.

And, the protection indicated, James Craig advised Angela Craig at one level that he had truly drugged her years earlier, when he had tried to kill himself — hoping that whereas she was drugged, she would not give you the chance cease him.

Natalie Morales: It feels like there had been one thing that he had tried earlier than together with her.

Skye Lazaro: Mm-hmm. … That he had drugged her, in order that she would go to sleep, in order that he may go … primarily kill himself. And she or he would not be there to render any assist or name for assist.

And keep in mind when Angela Craig first began feeling sick, and she or he texted James Craig: “I really feel drugged”? James Craig’s protection factors out that he texted again, “Given our historical past, I do know that should be triggering. Only for the document, I did not drug you.” The protection mentioned this textual content helps the story of James Craig’s previous despair and suicide makes an attempt.

However Lazaro says it is unlikely the protection would attempt to inform a jury that Jim and Angela Craig have been each making an attempt to die by suicide.

Skye Lazaro: It’s a must to decide one in some unspecified time in the future.

Natalie Morales: Mm-hmm.

Skye Lazaro: And it is both she’s suicidal … or that he is suicidal … and that is why he purchased the medicine.

However maybe probably the most compelling proof authorities say they’ve is what Angela Craig left behind in her personal blood. That post-mortem revealed one thing investigators discover outstanding—the degrees of cyanide in Angela Craig’s physique truly elevated whereas she was within the hospital on that last day. The attainable implication?

Tubbs wonders if prosecutors will contend James Craig gave his spouse extra poison within the hospital.

Steffan Tubbs: If the allegations are true, that is about as merciless because it will get. Interval.

James Craig’s protection has employed its personal toxicologist. And, come his trial for homicide, Lazaro says James Craig, harmless till confirmed responsible, could himself be portrayed as a sufferer — of cops too desperate to make a quick arrest.

Skye Lazaro: It is primarily a three-day investigation.

James Craig’s fast arrest, she says, could possibly be a weak point for the state.

Skye Lazaro: You determined from the get-go that this needed to be poisoning … This was the foregone conclusion. … So that you by no means went and seemed for the rest.

And as for that concept that poison could be the important thing to somebody making an attempt to commit the proper crime, toxicologist Dr. Jeff LaPoint says that’s simply plain improper.

Jeff LaPoint: You are going to get caught.

Natalie Morales: That is an necessary message.

Jeff LaPoint: Yeah, very.

Natalie Morales: There are methods that these can be traced, and you can be discovered.

Jeff LaPoint: You will be discovered.

And whereas Angela Craig’s family and friends are ready for his or her day in court docket, they’re left with images and their recollections.

Three of Jim and Angela Craig’s six kids reside with James Craig’s brother. The opposite three at the moment are adults residing on their very own, together with their daughter Mira. On Mom’s Day 2023, Mira wrote this message on social media: “as of tomorrow my mother can be two months gone. I have never the phrases to precise the heartache my siblings and I really feel every single day.”

Chelsea Otoya:  There is no phrases, you recognize? … the entire state of affairs is simply traumatic.

Steffan Tubbs: It will all finish, the lights will come down, the cameras go away. Thirty years from now, these youngsters who’re of their teenagers proper now nonetheless can be with out a mother.

Mira’s final phrases in that put up: “I like you a lot mama” … “we miss you.”

Jim Craig’s trial is scheduled to start on Aug. 8, 2024.

Produced by Jamie Stolz and Sarah Prior. Elena DiFiore, David Dow and Michelle Sigona are the event producers. Doreen Schechter is the producer-editor. Gary Winter and Gregory Kaplan  are the editors. Michael Loftus is the affiliate producer. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Judy Tygard is the manager producer.