The former mistress of Colorado dentist James Craig, who stands accused of killing his wife, took the stand Tuesday in Aurora, during the second week of his murder trial.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, an affidavit indicated that in 2023, Craig ordered arsenic and cyanide multiple times before his wife Angela Craig’s death. She died from poisoning in March of the same year.
According to the affidavit, an office manager at Craig’s dental practice told police that Craig prepared protein shakes for Angela every morning before their workouts.
After drinking the shakes, Angela often felt faint and subsequently ended up in an emergency room at UCHealth.
Angela, a 43-year-old mother of six, passed away on March 18, 2023.
On Tuesday, the prosecution called Dr. Karin Cain, a Texas orthodontist, to the stand. She testified that she first met the defendant at a Las Vegas continuing education course in February 2023.
Cain, who became emotional during her 4-hour testimony, said she met Craig during a vulnerable time, after her divorce. She said Craig began talking to her about dealing with divorce, and how he was at the end of his own, with plans to tell his children.
“That was the thing that drew me to him. The conversations were very deep, and honest, and vulnerable,” she testified.
“We talked a lot about faith… that was one of our primary connections, I would say. That came up right away.”
On March 19, 2023, Cain flew to Denver to meet up with Craig. However, on the same day, Detective Bobbi Olsen with the Aurora Police Department contacted her before she went back home.
Cain testified that she handed over her phone to Olsen, which had over 4,000 text messages between her and the defendant, along with FaceTime conversations and phone calls.
“You don’t seem that complex to me… it seems to me that what you need is to emotionally connect, to be vulnerable, and to be loved where you are,” James Craig said in one text. “If that’s what you need, I will try to be the man for you.”
When the prosecution asked if Craig ever mentioned his wife, Cain testified that initially, he did not, but once Angela became ill, “it came up a lot more.”
“[Angela] still thinks I did this to her” Craig allegedly stated in a text, and in another text, stated, “Just for the record I would never drug you.”
Angela was in the hospital, deteriorating, when Craig urged Cain to fly to Denver.
According to 9 News, defense lawyers told Cain that Craig had been talking to numerous women while telling his wife he loved her, and that he had been with a prostitute in Las Vegas.
Defense lawyer Lisa Fine Moses told Cain that Craig was “was playing the game with you,” and had no plans to build a future with her.
“It was all of these things, but this was not love,” Moses said, but Cain disagreed, adding that Craig wrote to her numerous times while in jail.
Cain testified that she burned a few of the letters but ended up giving investigators the other letters, which expressed his love for her.
Several others took the stand Tuesday, including the Arapahoe County coroner, doctors who helped treat Angela at UCHealth, and an FBI chemist forensic examiner who found poison in a shaker bottle at Craig’s home.
Along with murder, Craig is facing two counts of solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence, two counts of solicitation to commit perjury, and one count of solicitation to commit murder.
He has pleaded not guilty. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: James Craig and Angela Craig/Facebook]
