Colorado dentist James Craig found guilty of murdering wife in poisoning plot

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A Colorado dentist was found guilty of murdering his wife in a methodical plot to poison her.

Dr. James Toliver Craig, 47, a Colorado dentist, was convicted Wednesday of first-degree murder for poisoning his wife, Angela Craig.

He was also convicted on five additional counts: two counts of solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence, two counts of solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree, and one count of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. He was found not guilty on one lesser charge of manslaughter.

Craig was sentenced afterward to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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Immediately following the guilty verdict, the court proceeded directly to sentencing, where family members gave heartfelt statements honoring Angela Craig’s memory.

One of her sons described setting a nightly 10 p.m. alarm labeled “Mom” as a personal ritual to remember, miss, and mourn her.

Angela’s oldest brother, Ricky Pray, spoke through tears: “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 of his selfishness, lust, dishonesty, and narcissism, our Angie is gone,” he said.

Angela’s older sister, Catherine Pray, delivered a searing statement during sentencing, describing Craig as a “snake in the grass” who betrayed the very family he had vowed to join and protect.

“We were fooled. We were unable to help her. We were unable to save her. We were unable to rescue her from the person who was supposed to honor her, protect her,” she said. “To save himself, he and his lawyers attacked her—her mental health, her faith, her loyalty, even accusing her of taking her own life. Shameful.”

Angela’s sister, Cheri Pray Earl, tearfully addressed the court, calling Craig a “heartless excuse of a human being.”

“I stand here knowing that no matter how I feel or what I say, it won’t affect you. You’re incapable of real feelings—for anyone, even yourself. So I speak today for my baby sister and best friend, Angela.”

Rejecting the narrative presented by the defense, Earl declared: “She was not isolated, not angry, not broken. She was not the woman your defense tried to describe.”

One of Angela and James Craig’s daughters described the pain of navigating life’s milestones without her mother:

“I was supposed to hug my mom when he died,” she said. “Instead, I was left to take him home and figure out what to do. My mom was gone.”

“I was supposed to get through my sister’s wedding with my mom. Even though I didn’t want to plan weddings—she did. I was supposed to tell her my stories, my projects, even the ones I never finished.”

Speaking of her father, she said: “My dad was supposed to be my hero. But he’ll forever be the villain in my story. And that hurts so bad.”

James Craig declined to speak during his sentencing.

Angela Craig, 47, died in 2023 during her third trip to the hospital in a little over a week. Her official cause of death was ruled acute poisoning by cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient found in over-the-counter eye drops.

Throughout the three-week murder trial, prosecutors said that the Colorado dentist killed his wife due to mounting financial pressures and an extramarital affair with a Texas orthodontist. The defense argued that Angela Craig was depressed and suicidal. 

The murder plot

According to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, Angela Craig began experiencing mysterious symptoms, including dizziness, vomiting and severe headaches, in March 2023.

Her symptoms progressed between March 6-16, 2023, court documents allege, including blurred vision, feeling “drugged,” seizures and rapid medical decline. 

She was hospitalized several times before slipping into a coma and being declared brain-dead on Aug. 18, 2023.

Her official cause of death was ruled acute poisoning by cyanide and tetrahydrozoline. 

READ THE INCIDENT REPORT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE

Throughout the trial, medical staff testified about Angela’s decline, saying that the once-healthy mother rapidly deteriorated.

Her friend, Nicole Harmon, took the stand and testified that her lifelong best friend never expressed wanting to die. 

“She wasn’t a risk-taker. She wasn’t manipulative,” Harmon told the jury. “And she never said anything—ever—about wanting to die.”

On March 9, 2023, approximately one week before the 43-year-old was pronounced brain-dead, Angela texted Harmon asking for help checking her blood sugar. When she arrived, she found Angela curled up, she testified.

“She hadn’t eaten. She couldn’t stand,” Harmon said, testifying that James Craig had given Angela a shake that morning.

When the friend texted and asked what was going on, she said James Craig brushed off Angela’s ailment: “Post-COVID. Not diabetes.”

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In opening statements in Colorado, defense attorney Ashley Whitham acknowledged the couple’s rocky 23-year marriage but described Angela not as a victim of betrayal, but as someone who was emotionally broken, deeply private and at times manipulative.

In the trial, two of Craig’s children took the stand and testified against their father. 

“She would talk to me about how fun it would be when I had kids of my own and when she could meet them,” their daughter said. “She was so excited to be a grandma.”

She described Angela as her “best friend” and said Angela had hobbies, including woodworking and exercise. She also loved animals, and, above all, her children. 

Craig’s daughter testified that while her mother was in the hospital, she was frustrated she could not be with her children.

“She wanted to get back home,” she said. “She just wanted to get back to her girls.” 

She told the jury her parents struggled in their marriage several years before the alleged murder but said things had gotten better before Angela’s death. 

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Central throughout the trial was Craig’s extramarital affairs with women, including a Texas orthodontist and women he met on a dating website. Dr. Karin Cain, the Texas orthodontist, testified that she and James Craig exchanged over 4,000 messages in just 18 days after meeting at a dental conference in Las Vegas. 

“This was the first man I had a one-on-one convo with in 30 years,” Cain told the jury. “It felt exciting, like a high school girl… It felt like love.” 

She said their texts turned romantic and spiritual, with some becoming sexts.

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Cain said Craig claimed he was newly divorced and living in an apartment. But under cross-examination, she acknowledged that wasn’t true. 

“Yes, a lot of what the defendant told me wasn’t true,” she admitted. 

Just three days into their relationship, Craig wrote, “I’ve fallen in love with you so deeply that the list of attributes has become endless.” 

Prosecutors argued Craig’s lies and secret relationship were key to his motive.

Another woman, Carrie Hageseth, also took the stand, describing how she met Craig on the dating site Seeking.com. She said their relationship was transactional. He paid her daughter’s car bills.

During one dinner, she testified, Craig referenced the movie “The Purge,” in which there is one day when everyone can kill whomever they want without consequence.

Craig, she testified, said that if he could “purge” someone, it would be his wife. He went into detail, Hageseth testified, describing how a person could be killed via injection without consequence.

Together, the women’s accounts painted Craig as a man leading a double life. Prosecutors used the volume and tone of his communications to argue this was a calculated scheme.

Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.