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Calarogus Shark Media. Good morning, I'm Read Carter, and welcome
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to Celebrity Trials on this Sunday, July twenty seventh. Today
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we're diving into one of the most calculated and cold
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blooded murder cases currently unfolding in American courtrooms. It's the
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story of James Craig, a Colorado dentist who allegedly used
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his medical knowledge and access to poisons to slowly kill
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his wife while carrying on a passionate affair with another woman.
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This isn't a crime of passion or a moment of rage.
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This is the story of systematic poisoning carried out over
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ten days, disguised as loving gestures like making his wife
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her mourning protein shake. It's a case that proves how
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the most trusted people in our lives, medical professionals, spouse's parents,
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can become the most dangerous when their secrets are threatened.
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Let me paint you the picture of the Craig family
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before everything unraveled. James Craig forty seven was a successful
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dentist in Aurora, Colorado, with his own practice and a
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reputation in the community. Angela Craig, forty three, was a
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devoted mother of six children and an active member of
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the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. From
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the outside, they looked like the perfect Mormon family. James
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was described as a loving father who was amazing with
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his children. Angela was the devoted wife and mother who
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kept the family together. They had been married for twenty
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three years and seemed to have built a life that
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many would envy. But beneath this carefully constructed facade was
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a marriage built on lies, infidelity, and ultimately murder. James
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Craig had been cheating on his wife throughout their entire marriage,
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not just casual affairs, systematic calculated relationships with multiple women
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that he managed like a part time business. He used
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dating websites, maintainecks, great email accounts, and spent thousands of
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dollars on these relationships while telling his wife he loved her.
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Angela knew about the affairs. She had caught him cheating before,
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but as a devout Mormon, she was committed to keeping
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the family together. The defense would later describe her as
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broken by his infidelity but determined to preserve their marriage
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for religious and family reasons. This dynamic a serial cheater
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who wouldn't divorce and a religious wife who wouldn't leave
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created the perfect storm for what prosecutors say became premeditated murder.
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In February twenty twenty three, James Craig attended a dental
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conference in Las Vegas. It was there that he met
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doctor Karen Kane, a Texas orthodontist who was going through
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her own divorce. What started as professional networking quickly became
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an intense romantic affair that would change both their lives forever.
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Craig told Cain he was getting divorced and living separately
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from his wife. He painted himself as a devoted father
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who was handling the end of his marriage with grace
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and consideration for his children. It was a complete lie,
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but Cain believed every word. That was the thing that
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drew me to him. Cain testified through tears. The conversations
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were very deep and honest and vulnerable. We talked a
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lot about faith. That was one of our primary connections.
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Over the next three weeks, Craig and Cain exchanged over
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four thousand text messages, numerous FaceTime calls, and love letters.
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Craig told her things like I love you so much,
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say the word, and I'm yours and suenya cunmigo, dream
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with me my eternal love, and may Heaven let us
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bloom together forever. But here's where this romance becomes deadly.
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Craig had promised Cain she could visit him in Denver
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in mid March. He had painted himself as a man
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who was free to start a new life. The only
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problem was that Angela Craig was very much still his wife,
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still living in their family home, and still committed to
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their marriage. As the date of Caine's visit approached, Craig
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faced a problem that many cheating spouses encounter. How to
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make his lies match reality. Most people would confess, cancel
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the visit, or face the consequences of their deception. James
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Craig chose murder. On February twenty seventh, twenty twenty three,
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just three days after returning from Vegas, James Craig created
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a new email account with the handle Jim and Dwaffles
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using a computer in exam Room nine at his dental practice.
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This wasn't for patient care or business purposes. This was
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the beginning of a murder plot. Using this secret email account,
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Craig began researching how to kill his wife without detection.
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His search history reads like a how to manual for murder.
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How to make murder look like a art attack. A
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dosage of tetrahydrosylene that is fatal? How long does it
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take to die from arsenic poisoning? Top five undetectable poisons
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that show no signs of foul play. These weren't idle curiosities.
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These were research queries for a man planning his wife's death,
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and he was using his medical background to make those
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searches more precise and deadly. On February twenty eighth, just
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one day after creating the secret email account, Craig ordered
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arsenic on Amazon. The timing is crucial. This was during
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his intense romantic correspondence with Cain, when he was promising
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her a future together and she was planning her visit
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to Colorado. The evidence shows that Craig began poisoning his
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wife on March sixth, twenty twenty three, exactly nine days
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before Cain was scheduled to arrive in Denver. As prosecutor
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Michael Morrow told the jury, he's got nine days to
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solve this problem. He's got nine days to be the
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man he promised to be. March sixth started like any
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other morning. Angela Craig drank a protein shake her husband
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made for her, something they often did for each other
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as part of their healthy lifestyle. She worked out, but
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then started feeling strange. Angela texted her husband, my stomach
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feels fine, but my head feels funny and dizzy, very strange.
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Craig missed his usual six forty five am staff meeting
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at his dental practice, arriving closer to seven am. When
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questioned by his office manager, Caitlin Romero, he apologized and
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said his wife wasn't feeling well, possibly because he had
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put too much protein powder in the shake he'd given her.
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Think about that for a moment. Craig was already creating
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cover stories for why his wife was getting sick, and
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he was doing it with his employees, creating witnesses to
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his supposed innocence. Angela's condition worsened throughout the day, and
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Craig took her to advent Health Parker Hospital. Tests including
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mri CT scan and blood work, showed nothing conclusive, so
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she was sent home. But here's the most chilling detail.
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While his wife was in the emergency room, Craig texted
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his mistress Karen Kin, just for the record, I will
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never drug you. Think about the psychology of that message.
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While his wife was suffering from the poison he'd given her,
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Craig was reassuring his lover that he would never do
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the same thing to her. It's a level of calculated
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cruelty that's almost incomprehensible. Back in a moment. Angela Craig
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returned home from the hospital that first time, but her
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symptoms continued. On March ninth, just three days later, her
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condition deteriorated dramatically. There's a moment on March ninth where
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her kids find her passed out fainted, Prosecutor Ryan Brackley
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said in his opening statement. There's a moment on March
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ninth where she crawls across the floor because she can't
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get up, and she goes back to the hospital. This time,
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Angela was admitted to advent Health Parker Hospital and remained
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there until March fourteenth. Blood tests taken at eleven twenty
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four a m on March ninth showed high and toxic
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levels of arsenic in her system. But even as his
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wife lay in the hospital with arsenic poisoning. Craig wasn't finished.
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On March eighth, while Angela was fighting for her life,
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Craig ordered potassium cyanide from a Nebraska based company called
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Midland Scientific. He told the customer service representative, Cassie Rodriguez,
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that he needed overnight shipping and that he intended to
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use the cyanide for some type of seminar. He was
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presenting it was another lie to cover his true intentions.
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The potassium cyanide was delivered to Craig's dental office on
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March thirteenth, the same day Angela was released from the
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hospital after her second admission. Office manager Caitlin Romero testified
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that she found the package and was shocked to see
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it contained potassium cyanide. She had no idea why a
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dental office would need such a dangerous substance. When she
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showed it to Craig, he seemed nervous and told her
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he would take care of it. Angela Craig was readmitted
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to the hospital for the final time on March fifteenth,
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twenty twenty three. About three hours after arriving, she had
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a seizure and unexplained rapid medical decline, which led to
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her being placed on life support in the hospital's intensive
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care unit, but prosecutors say Craig wasn't finished with his
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murder plot even with his wife on life support. They
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alleged that Craig administered a final fatal dose of cyanide
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to Angela while she was in the hospital. He didn't
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go into that room to save Angela's life, Prosecutor Ryan
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Brackley said, he didn't go into that room to fight
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for her life or support her. He went into that
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room to murder her, to deliberately and intentionally end her
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life with a fatal dose of cyanide. On March eighteen,
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twenty twenty three, Angela Craig was pronounced brain dead. The
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Arapahoe County Coroner ruled her cause of death as acute
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cyanide and tetrahydrosylene poisoning, with subacute arsenic poisoning listed as
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a significant condition. She was forty three years old. She
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left behind six children and a community that believed she
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had died from a mysterious illness. In one of the
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most callous aspects of this case, Karen Kin arrived in
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Denver on March sixteenth, just two days before Angela Craig
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was pronounced dead. Craig had maintained his romantic correspondence with
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Cain throughout his wife's poisoning, keeping up the pretense that
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he was a divorced man free to pursue a new relationship.
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Cain testified that she spent several days in Denver with
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Craig while his wife lay dying in the hospital. She
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said Craig kept her updated on Angela's condition, portrayed himself
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as a caring ex husband dealing with his former wife's
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mysterious illness. At this point, I mean today, in today's world,
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I really don't know anything, Doctor Karen Kin told the
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jury about her relationship with Craig. She called her past
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self foolish and said she now doesn't know what was
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real and what wasn't in their relationship. When prosecutors read
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her a text where she had told Craig, I don't
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want to watch her, meaning Angela's heartbreak, so mine can
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find joy, Cain choked up and her hand hovered over
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her heart. On March nineteenth, the day after Angela Craig died,
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Craig was arrested. Detective Bobby Olsen contacted Cain at her
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hotel before she flew back to Texas, and Cain learned
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for the first time that the man she thought she
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loved was accused of murdering his wife. Perhaps the most
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heartbreaking aspect of this trial has been the testimony from
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Craig's own daughters. These young women, who lost their mother
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and now face the reality that their father may have
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killed her, took the witness stand to tell the truth
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about what they witnessed. Craig's oldest daughter testified that her
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father did not want an autopsy conducted on her mother.
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He didn't want to satisfy their curiosities and have them
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poking at her. She said he told her after Angela's death,
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when the daughter expressed concerns about her mother's illness being
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hereditary and that she might have passed it on to
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her youngest children, she testified that her father stayed quiet,
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a telling reaction for a medical professional who should have
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been able to provide reassurance about genetic versus environmental causes
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of illness. But perhaps most shocking was the testimony about
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Craig's attempts to manipulate evidence from behind bars. Craig's daughter
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testified that her father asked her to create a deep
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fake video of her mother with step by step instructions
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in a letter written in his handwriting, I love you.
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I'm sorry to even have to ask ask you for
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this help. The letter read, Craig wanted his daughter to
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make it appear that Angela had wanted him to order
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the poisons that killed her, essentially asking his child to
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help him frame her dead mother for suicide. The letter
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included detailed instructions buy a cheap laptop, install a private
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network and dark web browser, pay for the project using
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a prepaid Visa gift card, and create a video that
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appeared to have been made before Angela's death. He wanted
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his daughter to burn the video to thumb drives, find
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them in her mother's bag, and then destroy the laptop.
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During her emotional testimony, Craig's oldest daughter said that while
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her mother struggled like anyone else, she wouldn't have taken
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her own life. We were making plans, the twenty one
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year old woman said, as if murdering his wife wasn't enough.
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Prosecutors say Craig tried to orchestrate additional murders from behind
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bars while awaiting trial. Craig allegedly tried to pay his
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cellmate and others to cut his tracks, including offering twenty
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thousand dollars to kill Detective Bobby Olsen, the lead investigator
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in his case. During a February twenty twenty five hearing,
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prosecutors introduced a letter they said Craig wrote to a
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fellow inmate, calling Olson the worst dirtiest detective in the world.
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Craig also allegedly offered someone twenty thousand dollars to find
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people to falsely testify that Angela Craig planned to die
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by suicide. He tried to convince inmates to create false
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evidence and testimony that would support his claim that his
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wife had killed herself. These aren't the actions of an
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innocent man. These are the desperate moves of a killer
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trying to escape responsibility for his crimes. The James Craig
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case represents a particularly chilling form of domestic violence medical murder.
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Craig used his knowledge as a dental professional and his
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access to controlled substances to slowly torture and kill his
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wife over more than a week. What makes this case
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a spec disturbing is the premeditation and calculation involved. This
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wasn't a crime of passion or a moment of rage.
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This was systematic, methodical murder disguised as loving care. Craig
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made his wife's mourning protein shakes, a gesture that should
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represent love and care between spouses. Instead, he turned this
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daily ritual into a delivery system for poison. Every morning.