How a Dentist planned his wife's murder.

This is one of the most disturbing murder cases in Colorado history.

In March 2023, Dr. James Craig, 45, a dentist from Aurora, Colorado, appeared to have a charmed life. He had a dental practice at Summerbrook Dental Group. He had a loving wife, Angela, 43, and they had six beautiful kids, whom they were raising together.

To his friends and family, he looked like a loving family man. But Dr. Craig was leading a double life. And it was about to explode.

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Dr. James Craig

It seemed James wanted out of his 23-year marriage to Angela. According to the case affidavit, Angela ( she worked with him at the Dental Summerbrook Dental Group ) told her sister that James had numerous affairs throughout their marriage and that he had an addiction to porn. Contrary to popular belief, their marriage was neither happy nor stable. They often fought, and the marriage was under great stress.

In 2020, James filed for bankruptcy, citing business debts in the millions. Soon after, his friend Ryan Redfearn became his business partner to help the dental practice.

Reportedly, Craig was on the verge of another bankruptcy.

Craig goes to a dental conference in Las Vegas. He meets an orthodontist from Texas, Dr. Karin Cain. He falls hard for Cain and wants to be with her. He allegedly told her he was in the process of divorcing his wife. They begin a long-distance relationship, communicating through Texas and phone calls. An emotional bond was forming between Craig and Cain. But his wife was in the way, and he needed to deal with Angela before he could live happily ever after with Cain.

But a divorce would hurt his public image, and he’d lose money. However, if his wife died, he would be the sole beneficiary of a multi-million-dollar life insurance policy, and he would look like the grieving husband. A win-win for Craig.

Craig’s online footprint

Evidence presented by the prosecutors suggests that this was carefully planned and premeditated. Weeks before Angela died, prosecutors presented evidence that Craig was searching for poisons on his office computer. He set up a secret Gmail account at Jimandwaffles@gmail.com.

His search History included searches on arsenic and cyanide. Can arsenic toxicity be found in an autopsy? Are certain poisonings difficult to trace after death? And how to disguise a homicide as a natural cause of death?

Prosecutors alleged that he watched YouTube videos on how to prepare poisons and how long they took to work.

It’s at this time that Angela started feeling sick: shaking, dizziness, vomiting, and headaches.

Angela texted him. “ I feel drugged.’ And sick after I drink the shakes.” He would tell her it wasn’t the protein shakes; she was dehydrated, stressed out, or was working too hard. It was Angela who was wrong, not the protein shakes. A clear case of gaslighting her.

According to prosecutors, Craig sweetened the protein powder to mask any bitter taste from the poisons he slipped into the shake.

Craig rushed Angela to the hospital. He stays by her side and looks like the loving, devoted husband that he pretended to be. At the hospital, the doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with Angela.

So they sent her home. But her condition didn’t improve. They got worse, and days later, she collapsed on the bathroom floor after drinking her protein shake. She went back to the hospital.

Days before, A Potassium cyanide order was delivered to Craig’s office. An office worker opened the package, found Potassium Cyanide, and told Redfearn about it, knowing they had no use for cyanide in the dental practice.

Redfearn knew something was very wrong. He rushed to the University Hospital in Aurora and told one of Angela’s nurses that she may have been poisoned.

The nurse notified the Aurora Police Department.

Angela continued to deteriorate, was put on life support, and on March 18, was declared brain dead.

The toxicology confirmed a lethal dose of arsenic, cyanide, and tetrahydroline (eye drops) in her system.

The Prosecution Case

Craig would routinely make Angela a protein shake in the mornings. He had access to what she drank and ate. He had a search history on his office computer for how to kill people with poisons.

And he gave her a fatal cyanide dose when she was in the hospital.

The Defense

He pleaded not guilty. The defense's attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, argued that this was not murder, but that Angela had committed suicide. Her husband’s numerous infidelities had broken her heart and soul to the point that she wanted to die.

Moses stated that this was a rush to judgment. The prosecutors had no evidence that Craig poisoned the shakes. The defense maintains that it was Angela who poisoned her protein shake.

Also, his history of cheating had not been a motive for murder in the past. So why would he murder his wife now?

The couple was not experiencing financial hardships as reported.

The defense did not put Craig on the witness stand.

While Craig was in jail, an inmate, Nathan Harris, testified that Craig told him that the Detective was out to get him and was lying on him. He wanted someone to kill the detective, and wanted pictures of a sheriff's deputy's son getting off the school bus. He felt the deputy was mistreating him while he was in jail. And he wanted to scare the deputy into thinking his family was being watched. This was meant to intimidate the deputy, but there was no evidence that he wanted to hurt his son.

The prosecutors argued that Craig was trying to manipulate witnesses and discredit the investigators.

Harris testified that Craig gave him a letter to give to his wife, promising her twenty thousand for any fake witness she could get to discredit the detective. And that Angela had been suicidal.

Craig tried to get his oldest daughter to destroy a computer and make a deepfake video of Angela saying she wanted to commit suicide.

The Defense stated that Harris was looking for a get-out-of-jail-free deal. And he had no credibility.

During a jail search, they found Craig’s 11-page letter in Harris’s cell.

In 2025, the jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, solicitation to commit perjury, and tampering with evidence. He got mandatory life for murder and an additional 33 years for the other convictions.