When Angela Craig passed away in 2023, doctors were left puzzled by her death. However, just days before, she had confronted her husband James at their Denver home.
Their argument was caught on home surveillance video and shows Angela accuse him of hinting to hospital staff that she was suicidal.
Two years on from that row, prosecutors are now claiming that James Craig was behind the mystery symptoms that led to his wife’s death.
Angela, 43, died in March 2023, with toxicology tests finding she had been poisoned with cyanide and tetrahydrozoline.
Craig is accused of causing the ailments that ultimately killed her by poisoning her protein shakes and trying to make it look as if she ended her own life.
His trial, where he faces a murder charge alongside others, is set to begin Monday with the questioning of potential jurors.
Craig, 47, has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder, solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury.
He allegedly purchased arsenic online at the time his wife was experiencing unexplained symptoms including headaches and dizziness.
The dentist had also searched for answers to questions including ‘how to make murder look like a heart attack’ and ‘is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?’, prosecutors said.
A shipment of potassium cyanide by Craig supposedly for surgical purposes was accidentally discovered by a colleague at his practice on March 13.
Police said Craig appeared to have started a relationship with a fellow dentist and was trying to start a new life following financial troubles.
As part of their evidence, prosecutors intend to show the footage of the couple arguing in the kitchen.
‘It’s your fault they treated me like I was a suicide risk, like I did it to myself, and like nothing I said could be believed’, Angela told her husband after her first trip to the hospital.
A judge has allowed jurors to see the video clip after being convinced it helps disprove the case that Angela committed suicide.
The couple had been married 23 years and had six children.
Craig’s attorneys have argued police were biased against him and claimed testing of his wife’s shake containers did not turn up signs of poison.
They have questioned the reliability of a jail inmate who said Craig offered him $20,000 to kill the case’s lead investigator, an alleged plot for which Craig is also on trial.
To avoid being held accountable, prosecutors said, Craig tried to fabricate evidence to make it appear his wife killed herself.
He tried to get another fellow inmate to plant fraudulent letters at Craig’s home to make it look like his wife was suicidal, prosecutors said.
Then, in the weeks before Craig had been set to stand trial in November, prosecutors said he also sent letters to the ex-wife of the inmate he allegedly tried to get to kill the investigator, offering her $20,000 for each person she could find to falsely testify that his wife planned to die by suicide, they said.
Two of Craig’s previous attorneys have withdrawn from the case, with one saying he disagreed with actions taken by Craig.
The second stepped back after he himself was charged with arson of his own home, leaving his wife Lisa Fine Moses to defend Craig.
Angela’s brother, Mark Pray, said she had been subject to ‘torment and demise’ by Craig, who had shown disregard for others, including their children.
Craig’s business partner, Ryan Redfearn, told a nurse treating Angela Craig that he was concerned she could have been poisoned with the cyanide.
The nurse reported this to the police, who launched an investigation.
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