Poison shakes, an illicit affair and ‘crocodile tears’: What we know about Denver’s alleged killer dentist

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A Colorado dentist and father of six – who was allegedly having an affair with a Texas orthodontist – is gearing up to face trial for the poisoning murder of his wife in suburban Denver.

James Toliver Craig, 45, was arrested following the death of his wife, Angela Pray Craig, who presented with severe headaches and dizziness at UC Health University of Colorado Hospital on the morning of Wednesday 15 March. Within three hours, she suffered a seizure and began to “rapidly decline medically,” according to court documents, before being placed on life support in the intensive care unit.

She was pronounced dead on 18 March; Mr Craig was arrested the following day and charged with first-degree murder.

As Mr Craig appears in court for a preliminary hearing, here’s what we know about the case:

Craig ran a Summerbrook Dental Practice in Aurora, Colorado – not far from the home he shared with Angela and their children – along with Ryan Redfearn, who went to dental school together in Kansas City, Mr Redfearn told 9News. They’d known each other for years when Mr Redfearn and his brother approached Mr Craig to join their dental support organization, and they became business partners.

He married Angela Pray in December 1999; at the time of her death, he was still saved as “The Boy” on her phone. Angela was heavily involved in their children’s lives and school activities, and the family was also active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with Angela “filling various positions including choir director, teacher, and youth organization leader,” according to her obituary.

“However, she most loved working as a family history consultant. She worked on her own family’s history with a powerful dedication, but she also helped friends complete theirs. No doubt she has many friends and family members on the other side of the veil because of the work she has done in this life for them.”

Angela, 43, was also known for her wit, love of animals, sense of humour and dedication to family and “large capacity to forgive.”

A relative of Angela told police that the victim had admitted her husband had drugged her at least once before.

“Angela and James’ marriage had always been tumultuous,” she said, according to court documents. “James had multiple affairs with several women, told Angela he had been addicted to pornography since he was a teenager, and drugged Angela approximately five to six years ago. Angela told [redacted] that James drugged her (an unknown drug) because he planned to go into their bathroom and give himself a lethal injection of something and commit suicide. James told Angela he drugged her so she wouldn’t find him nor be able to save him, which would give the lethal drugs time to kill him.”

The mother of six remained with her husband, however, who police believe went on to lace his wife’s protein shakes with potassium cyanide he ordered from Amazon for just $13. At the Craigs’ residence, they found workout-style shakers and two Ziploc-style bags with white powdery substances in them.

In Mr Craig’s internet history, they also found chilling searches for “how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human,” “how to make poison” and “is arsenic detectable in an autopsy.”

Through all of this, Mr Craig was making travel plans with and sending “sexually explicit” emails to an orthodontist in Austin, Texas, with whom he was having an affair, the affidavit shows.

The mother of six had been getting increasingly ill throughout the month of March. She went to the hospital on 6 March; 9 March, when she was admitted until 14 March; and again on 15 March, her final fateful stay. She had been suffering from extreme vomiting, headaches, low blood pressure and dizziness; her eyes couldn’t focus, and she knew something was seriously wrong.

In text message exchanges with her husband that are pictured in court documents, Angela complained to her husband that she felt as she did when she took heavy drugs, as if she were moving through gel.

Texts obtained by detectives between the couple also indicate that Mr Craig referred to previous poisoning suspicions himself in the days leading up to his wife’s death, telling her: “Given our history, | know that must be triggering. Just for the record, I didn’t drug you.”

Doctors could not figure out what was wrong with Angela, but her husband’s colleagues had their suspicions. Some knew that the couple had been having marital problems, and an office manager had also noticed strange behaviour, detailing in the affidavit how she’d seen Mr Craig working on a computer in an exam room, though he rarely used the space and had his own devices.

He’d also told her to be on alert for a personal package he’d ordered to the office, adding that she shouldn’t open it. But when another employee did, according to documents, the manager glanced inside – and saw potassium cyanide. She Googled it and realised the symptoms matched up with Angela’s recent illnesses.

One of Mr Craig’s colleagues informed a nurse at the hospital about the dentist’s potassium cyanide purchase, and police were called. He tried to explain his way out of the situation by claiming that his wife had been suicidal – and had made past attempts – which Angela’s friends and children denied ever witnessing.

Mr Craig went as far as claiming that he had to revive Angela on not one, but several occasions. He also alleged that Angela’s supposed suicidal ideation had worsened after he brought up the possibility of divorce in December 2022.

But text messages between the couple paint a very different image. Exchanges shown in the affidavit for Mr Craig’s arrest show that he had his wife under the impression that he wanted to patch things up.

And while his wife fought for her life in a hospital bed, the disgraced dentist continued to thank church friends for their prayers, noting that it was “pretty scary not having answers.”

While Mr Craig was expressing worries to friends and family, he was also discussing his wife’s deteriorating condition with the Texas orthodontist with whom he was having an affair.

“It appears James was flying this woman into Denver while his wife and the mother of his children was dying in the hospital,” the affidavit states.

When he tells the woman that something happened to his wife, she “sent James an email explaining how sorry she was for him and that she wished she was helping him, not pulling him away. She stated she knew it had to be so hard what he was going through and that she wanted to be there for him but did not want to mix in with his family and friends and pretend to be only a friend when there was something more,” the affidavit says.

That email was sent on 16 March; Angela was pronounced dead two days later – and her husband refused requests to conduct an autopsy, including from relatives pleading for answers in case the cause of her illness had been genetic. Mr Craig argued that if doctors couldn’t find the source of his wife’s sudden illness while she was alive, he did not want them “poking holes when she was dead.”

Mr Craig was arrested on 19 March to the shock of many friends, family and community members.

“It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions,” Michelle Redfearn, the wife of Mr Craig’s business partner who’d known the couple for two decades, told 9News last month. “There’s a lot to deal with as you go through that. It was coming to terms with deception and thinking that you knew somebody but you didn’t.”

The dentist was granted $10m cash-only bond by a Colorado judge on 27 June after the state’s Supreme Court ruled the previous week that judges must set bond in murder cases.

Mr Craig was scheduled to appear in the 18th Judicial District Court on Wednesday at 9am. His lawyer has not responded to The Independent.

In the meantime, Angela’s family has set up a GoFundMe for the couple’s children, writing: “The Craig children lost their mother and their father in a recent tragic event that has shocked and saddened us all. As a result, many of our friends and family have asked us, Angela’s brothers and sisters, to create a fund so they can show their love and support for Angela and her six incredible children; we’re making that possible for you here. The funds will be used for the children’s immediate and future financial support.”

The GoFundMe – which had raised more than $68,700 as of Wednesday morning – notes that Angela’s “death has been ruled suspicious and her husband is charged with first-degree murder with intent after deliberation” before directing people to authorities’ websites for more information.

If convicted, Mr Craig faces life imprisonment.