A dentist, James Craig, from Colorado in the US, has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his wife, Angela, after poisoning her protein shakes and delivering a lethal dose of cyanide while she was hospitalized. Craig had searched the internet for ways to make murder look like a heart attack and how to determine if arsenic would be detectable in an autopsy prior to his wife’s death.
Angela Craig, the mother of Craig’s six children, died after being poisoned over a period of 10 days. Upon failing to kill her during these initial attempts, Craig administered the final cyanide dose while she was in Denver hospital. This led to her being declared brain dead during her third hospital visit following the poisoning.
Craig’s dental practice partner and friend alerted the police to the dentist’s suspicious behavior after he ordered potassium cyanide, which was not necessary for their work. Craig was subsequently convicted of first-degree murder and other charges by a jury at the Arapahoe County Justice Center.
District Judge Shay Whitaker sentenced Craig to life without parole, the mandatory penalty for first-degree murder in Colorado. The jury rejected Craig’s claim that he had assisted his wife in suicide, following his alleged desire to divorce her after having extramarital affairs.
Trial proceedings revealed that toxicology tests confirmed Angela’s death resulted from poisoning with cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient found in over-the-counter eye drops. Craig had been trying to cover up the murder by asking others to create fake evidence and testimony.
Craig was additionally found guilty of soliciting one of his daughters to create a fake video of her mother requesting to be poisoned and attempting to persuade a fellow jail inmate to assassinate the lead detective investigating his wife’s death. However, he was acquitted of manslaughter.