Colorado dentist convicted of murder, gets life sentence for lacing
wife's shakes with poison
[July 31, 2025]
By JESSE BEDAYN and COLLEEN SLEVIN
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A Colorado dentist was sentenced to life in
prison Wednesday after being convicted of killing his wife by lacing her
protein shakes with poison before delivering a fatal dose of cyanide
when she was in the hospital.
District Judge Shay Whitaker sentenced James Craig to life without the
possibility of parole, the mandatory sentence for a first-degree murder
conviction in Colorado. He was convicted of murder and other charges by
a jury, which rejected his claim that he had helped his wife kill
herself after he said he wanted a divorce following his repeated
extramarital affairs.
Prosecutors said at trial that James Craig poisoned his wife Angela
Craig over 10 days in March 2023. When those attempts failed,
prosecutors said, the dentist gave his wife a final dose of cyanide as
she was hospitalized in suburban Denver with symptoms that puzzled
doctors. She was declared brain dead soon after.
Craig stood in a hushed courtroom Wednesday afternoon as the jury
delivered a litany of guilty verdicts. His sentencing followed tearful
testimony by Angela Craig’s relatives about the impact of losing her,
including one of the couple's six children who cast her father as a
villain.
Angela Craig’s older sister, Toni Kofoed, lamented the loss of phone
calls, texts and trips with her sister where they could laugh and talk
through the night.
“You have taken away our opportunity to grow old together,” Kofoed said.
“Her life was not yours to take,″ Kofoed said in turning to the
defendant. “Angela had a love and a passion for life. She loved her
children and, unfortunately, she loved you.”
James Craig appeared to shake with tears as his oldest daughter spoke
about how much she missed being able to talk to her mother about her
life and how she felt betrayed by her father.
“I was supposed to be able to trust my dad; he was supposed to be my
hero, and instead he’ll forever be the villain in my book,” the
daughter, Miriam “Mira” Meservy, said, inhaling through tears. As
Meservy spoke, Craig’s attorney patted the defendant's back.
The couple’s son Toliver Craig said he and his mother didn’t always get
along. But two weeks after she died, he set an alarm on his phone that
still goes off every night at 10 p.m. It just says “Mom.”
“I’m sad there’s not more time with her,” he said.
James Craig declined to make any statement before being sentenced.
Afterward, he was handcuffed and led out of court.
In court, James Craig’s family members sat on his side of the room and
Angela Craig’s family on the other. But afterward, they hugged each
other and shook hands, many wiping tears from their eyes.
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Miriam Meservy, right, returns to her seat after making a statement
after her father, dentist James Craig, had a verdict rendered in his
murder trial in district court in Arapahoe County Wednesday, July
30, 2025, in Centennial, Colo. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, Pool)
Besides murder, James Craig also was found guilty of trying to cover
up the killing by asking others to fake evidence and testimony that
would make it appear that Angela Craig had killed herself or wanted
to frame him for her death. He was found guilty of asking another
daughter to make a fake video of her mother asking to be poisoned
and of trying to get one fellow jail inmate to kill the lead
detective investigating his wife’s death, among other things.
James Craig himself didn’t testify during the two-week trial, and
his attorneys didn’t present other witnesses. The defense had
suggested earlier that Angela Craig may have taken her own life and
faulted police for focusing solely on James Craig as a suspect.
However, prosecutors said the dentist had offered other conflicting
explanations for her death to other people.
Toxicology tests determined Angela Craig, 43, died of poisoning from
cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, an ingredient commonly found in
over-the-counter eye drops, according to the coroner.
Prosecutors argued Craig wanted to kill his wife to get out of a
marriage he felt trapped in, adding he didn’t want a divorce so he
could protect his money and image.
They said photos from a hospital security camera shown in court
depict Craig holding a syringe before he entered Angela Craig’s
room. After administering the fatal dose through her IV, Craig
walked out and texted a fellow dentist with whom he was having an
affair, Senior Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro told
jurors in closing arguments Tuesday. His wife’s condition quickly
worsened.
Speaking after sentencing wrapped up, Mauro said Craig clearly
wanted out of his marriage but gave in to “greed and cowardice” with
murder.
"The jury said it loudly: Angela was not suicidal. She had no
knowledge of or participation in what happened to her,” the
prosecutor said.
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