"CRAIG GUILTY, DELGADO'S 50 YEARS & THE MADELINE SOTO HORROR: Justice for the Protein Shake Killer"

0:03 Callaroga Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Read Carter, and welcome to Celebrity Trials on this Friday, August first. Today, we're bringing you major verdicts in two cases we've been following closely, plus a deep dive into one of the most disturbing child murder cases you may have missed this year. James Craig, the Colorado dentist who systematically poisoned his wife with protein shakes, has been sentenced to life in prison without parole. Billy Delgado, who shot his ex wife five times in Texas, got fifty years after rejecting a plea deal that would have saved him a decade. And we're taking you inside the horrific case of Stephen Stearns, who received twenty one life sentences for raping and murdering thirteen year old Madeline Soto after years of sexual abuse. These cases show us different faces of evil, the calculated killer who uses his medical knowledge to commit murder, the rage filled domestic abuser who can't accept rejection, and the predatory monster who destroys innocence before taking life itself. Each case ended with justice, but the paths to those verdicts reveal how criminals think they can outsmart the system. Let's start with yesterday's verdict in Colorado, where James Craig discovered that all his medical knowledge, manipulation attempts, and jailhouse murder plots couldn't save him from life in prison.

1:31 After deliberating for more than eight hours over two days, and a Rapahoe County jury found James Craig guilty of first degree murder, solicitation to commit murder in the first degree, solicitation to commit perjury, and solicitation to commit evidence tampering. Judge Shay Whittaker sentenced the father of six to life in prison with no possibility of parole for his crimes. The evidence, the crime, the verdict, and the sentence all speak for themselves, Judge Whittaker said while handing down the life sentence. Doctor Craig unleashed a path of destruction as wide as a tornado, and just as devastating damage to his children, damage to Angela's family, damage to his own family.

2:18 This case was always about more than just murder. It was about the systematic destruction of trust, family, and love by a man who convinced himself he was smart enough to commit the perfect crime. Craig didn't just kill his wife, Angela. He tried to frame her for her own death, manipulate his own children into covering for him, and hire hitmen from jail to kill the investigators who exposed his lies. The prosecution called forty eight witnesses over two weeks to prove that Craig poisoned his wife's protein shakes, gave her prescription capsules he had emptied and refilled with cyanide, and injected her with a poisonous substance using a syringe while she lay dying in the hospital. The evidence was overwhelming and absolutely devastating. Craig used his dental practice computer to search for is there such thing as an undetectable poison?

3:12 And how long does it take to die from arsenic poisoning? He ordered potassium cyanide on Amazon and had it delivered to his office. Surveillance video from his home captured him preparing the fatal protein shakes in their kitchen. Text messages showed his affair with Texas dentist Karen Kin, whom he met at a Las Vegas conference and promised a new life with. Perhaps most damning were the testimonies from Craig's own daughters, who described how their father asked them to help fabricate evidence that their mother was suicidal. Two of Craig's children took the stand and testified against their father, showing just how completely he had destroyed his own family. But Craig's arrogance didn't stop with murder. While awaiting trial, he tried to orchestrate a murder for higher scheme, targeting the lead detective investigating his wife's death. He wrote letters trying to convince fellow inmates to kill investigators for twenty thousand dollars each. He asked his daughter to destroy computer evidence he plotted to create deep fake videos of his dead wife confessing to suicide. Even after all this evidence, Craig's defense tried to argue that Angela had killed herself.

4:21 His attorney claimed investigators had tunnel vision and suggested Angela was emotionally broken by Craig's affairs and took her own life. But, as prosecutor Ryan Brackley argued in rebuttal, the only evidence of Angela Craig's suicidal ideation comes from James Craig, and he is not trustworthy. The jury saw through Craig's lies and manipulation. Angela Craig was a forty three year old mother of six who was making plans for the future when her husband decided to kill her rather than face the inconvenience of divorce. She texted Craig during her first hospitalization, saying she felt drugged after drinking only her protein shake, and Craig's response was chilling. Just for the record, I didn't drug you. Following the verdict, Angela Craig's family members offered victim impact statements that captured the true cost of Craig's crimes. Angela's eldest daughter, tears streaming down her face, said life and the world will truly never be the same without her mom. She told her father he had betrayed her trust in the most fundamental way possible. I want my mom. I want more than anything to go home at the end of the day and just give her a hug and call her and tell her about the crazy stuff that's happened, she said. While Craig sobbed at the defense table, Angela's brother, Ricky Pray, spoke through tears.

5:49 I've always been impressed by Angie's obvious love and support for her children. She always found ways to draw in and include our extended family. Because because of his selfishness, lust, dishonesty, and narcissism, our Angie is gone. Assistant District Attorney Ryan Brackley said the evidence was absolutely stunning and never stopped getting worse. The case revealed not just a murder, but a web of deception, manipulation, and attempted cover ups that showed Craig's complete lack of remorse or human decency. Craig will appeal, but his conviction sends a clear message. Medical knowledge and professional status don't make you above the law.

6:31 All the poison in the world can't kill the truth, and all the manipulation in the world can't escape justice back in a moment. Our second verdict comes from Texas, where Billy Delgado learned that rejecting a plea deal and betting on a jury's sympathy was a costly mistake that will keep him in prison for an extra decade. A jury sentenced Billy Delgado to fifty years in prison Wednesday for shooting his ex wife, Erica Torres, five times during a custody exchange in twenty twenty four. The punishment comes one day after jurors found Delgado guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the shooting that left Torres hospitalized for nearly a year. Delgado had been offered a forty year plea deal, but declined, choosing instead to face a jury trial. That decision cost him ten additional years behind bars and put his victim through the trauma of reliving her near death experience in open court. The incident happened June first, twenty twenty four, outside a Laredo home where Torres had gone to pick up their daughter. Delgado allegedly shot at Torres more than a dozen times, hitting her five times in the abdomen as she sat in her car. Despite being critically wounded, Torres managed to drive toward a hospital before losing consciousness and crashing her vehicle.

8:00 Torres testified about the horrific attack, saying, I realized I got shot because I felt like I couldn't breathe. I felt like something was tying around my waist so tight. She was hospitalized for three hundred sixty three days and underwent more than twenty surgeries. I was in excruciating pain. I kept passing out I just did not want to die, she told the jury. But Delgado's defense collapsed when investigators found no evidence to support his claims that he shot Torres because their daughter had been abused by Torres's brother. Sergeant Vaka, a twenty six year veteran of the Laredo Police Department, testified that a forensic investigation found no evidence supporting Delgado's allegations, so Delgado's entire defense was based on fabricated child abuse claims. He invented a story about protecting his daughter to justify attempted murder, showing the same pattern of manipulation and lies we saw with James Craig. During the punishment phase, Torres took the stand once again, telling jurors she and her daughters now live in constant fear.

9:04 You didn't just hurt me, you hurt them. You both are families, the people who trusted you, who believed in you, and carried a different kind of wound. Despite everything, I forgive you, Billy Torres said, But her forgiveness came with a clear message about consequences. You didn't just try to take away. You changed everything. You changed our daughter's lives forever as well. They are victims too. They carry the trauma of what you did, even if they didn't see it with their own eyes. They feel the pain in ways you may never understand. The jury deliberated for only thirty minutes before assessing the fifty year sentence, showing they saw through Delgado's lies and fake remorse. Like Craig Delgado thought he could manipulate the system with fabricated stories and jailhouse claims of regret, both men learned that juries can distinguish between genuine remorse and calculated manipulation. Now we turn to a case that many of you may have missed this year, but one that represents perhaps the most disturbing intersection of child abuse and murder we've seen. The case of Madeleine Soto shows us how predators operate within families and how the justice system handles the most heinous crimes against children. On Monday, July twenty first, Stephen Stearns was sentenced to twenty one life sentences without the possibility of parole after pleading no contest to the murder of thirteen year old Madeleine Soto and guilty to twenty counts of

10:35 sexual abuse. The plea deal spared him from the death penalty, but ensures he will never walk free again. This case began as a missing child report, but quickly revealed years of systematic sexual abuse that ended in murder. Madeleine Soto was reported missing on February twenty sixth, twenty twenty four, when she didn't show up to Hunter's Creek Middle School in Orange County, Florida. Her body was found five days late in the woods along Hickory Tree Road near Saint Cloud. Stephan Stearns, who was dating Madeleine's mother and lived with them in their Kissimee apartment, was supposed to have dropped her off at school that morning, but investigators quickly discovered that Madeleine never made it to school, and Sterne's story began to fall apart under scrutiny. What investigators uncovered was a nightmare that had been hidden in plain sight for years.

11:24 While searching for Madeline, detectives found disturbing images on Stearns's phone and Google Drive that showed him sexually abusing the teenager. Despite Stearne's factory resetting his phone on the day Madeleine went missing, claiming he was trying to update it. Investigators recovered extensive evidence of ongoing abuse. The evidence showed that Stearns had been sexually abusing Madeline since she was just eight years old, beginning in twenty nineteen. Court documents filed by the state Attorney's office revealed a pattern of systematic abuse that escalated over four years until Sterns decided to silence his victim permanently. Surveillance footage captured Sterns throwing items into a dumpster at a Kissimee apartment complex the morning Madeleine disappeared. Her backpack and school issued laptop were later found in that same dumpster, proving that Sterns was disposing of evidence rather than taking her to school. Investigators believe Madeleine was sexually molested, strangled, and dumped in the wooded area by Sterns. The medical examiner determined that she died from strangulation, ending four years of abuse at the hands of the man who was supposed to protect her. Sterns originally faced sixty charges related to sexual abuse, plus first degree murder charges that carried the possibility of the death penalty.

12:44 Prosecutors had announced their intention to seek capital punishment, but the plea deal was reached in close consultation with Madeleine's family to spare them the trauma of lengthy trials. During Monday's plea hearing, family members spoke about the vibrant, talented girl they had lost. They described Madeleine as someone who enjoyed art, was a talented singer with a trademark laugh, and loved sour gummy candies. She was learning Spanish and had just turned thirteen before she was killed. Because of the actions of this depraved man, I will never meet the woman she was becoming, Madeleine's father, Tyler Wallace, told the court, and I can't I can't grasp it. Madeleine's aunt, Letitia Nunez, spoke about the void left by her death, a world that feels less vibrant, less colorful than it did before. Even Stearns seemed to understand the magnitude of his crimes, saying in court, I agree that it is not fair that Madeleine is not here anymore. It's been a hard time contemplating a world where she's not around, a world that feels less vibrant, less colorful than it did before. I've prayed to God countless times to trade places with her and to take me instead. Unfortunately, that just not how he works. But Stern's expressions of remorse ring hollow when we consider the calculated nature of his crimes.

14:08 He spent four years systematically abusing a child, then murdered her when she became inconvenient. He disposed of her belongings before she was even reported missing, showing premeditation and planning. State attorney Monique Warrel emphasized that the plea deal was designed to provide finality for the family. The individual responsible has been sentenced to twenty one concurrent life sentences and will never walk free again. He has also waived all of his rights to appeal, ensuring finality and sparing the family from reliving this trauma in courtrooms for years to come. The Madeleine Sodo case highlights several disturbing patterns we see in child abuse cases. First, the predator was in a position of trust. Stearns was dating Madeleine's mother and living in their home. Second, the abuse use escalated over years, showing how predators groom their victims and normalize horrific behavior. Third, when Sterns felt threatened by discovery, he chose murder rather than face consequences. Most disturbing is how Sterns used his relationship with Madeleine's mother as cover for his crimes. Jennifer Soto, who was not charged with any crime, became an online target despite there being no evidence she knew about the abuse.

15:27 This shows how predators manipulate entire families and communities to hide their crimes. The case also shows the importance of digital evidence in modern prosecutions. Despite Sterens's attempts to destroy evidence by factory resetting his phone, investigators recovered the images and videos that proved years of abuse. Technology that predators used to document their crimes becomes the evidence that convicts them. Madeleine Soto's case represents the worst case scenario for child protection, a predator opera rating within the family unit, escalating abuse over years, and ultimately committing murder to cover his crimes. But it also shows how law enforcement, prosecutors, and the justice system can work together to ensure that even the most depraved criminals face consequences back in a moment. What connects today's three cases James Craig, Billy Delgado, and Stephan Stearns is how each defendant tried to manipulate the system through lies, fake stories, and calculated presentations of remorse. Craig fabricated evidence of his wife's suicide and tried to hire hitmen from jail. Delgado invented child abuse allegations to justify shooting his ex wife five times. Sterns expressed remorse while

16:58 having spent four years systematic abusing and then murdering a child, but in each case juries and judges saw through the manipulation. Craig got life without parole despite his medical degree and elaborate cover up attempts. Delgado got fifty years instead of forty because he rejected a plea deal and bet on jury sympathy. Stearns avoided the death penalty but will spend the rest of his life in prison for his crimes against Madeline. These cases also show different aspects of how justice works in America. Craig's case involved sophisticated forensic evidence, digital forensics, and complex financial motives. Delgado's case was more straightforward surveillance, video, and ballistics evidence proving attempted murder. Stern's case relied on digital evidence recovered from phones and computers, plus physical evidence from the crime scene, but Regardless of the complexity of the evidence, each case ultimately came down to the same fundamental question, did the defendant commit the crimes charged? In each case, the answer was a resounding yes, despite elaborate attempts at manipulation and misdirection. The sentences also reflect the different approaches to justice in different jurisdictions. Craig got life without parole in Colorado for first degree murder plus additional crimes. Delgado got fifty years in Texas for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Stearns got twenty one life sentences in Florida for murder plus extensive sexual abuse charges.

18:33 What's consistent across all three cases is that the justice system ultimately worked. Complicated cases with manipulative defendants, extensive evidence, and multiple charges resulted in appropriate convictions and sentences. Money, professional status, fabricated stories, and fake remorse couldn't prevent justice from being served. These cases remind us that evil comes in many forms. The calculate, lating poisoner, the rage filled domestic abuser, the predatory child killer. But justice recognizes them all. Craig thought his medical knowledge made him untouchable. Delgado thought his lies about protecting his daughter would save him. Stearns thought he could hide his crimes forever within a family structure.

19:19 All three were wrong. The truth has a way of emerging, and justice has a way of finding those who think they're above the law. That's celebrity trials for today. I'm read Carter. Whether you're a dentist with poison, a welder with a gun, or a predator with access to children, the justice system eventually catches up with you. Manipulation and lies might delay justice, but they can't prevent it. The verdicts this week prove that no matter how smart you think you are, how justified you believe your actions were, or how well you think you've covered your tracks, justice isn't always immediate, but when it arrives, it's absolutely final.

20:02 From Neway