ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — James Craig's brother-in-law and sister-in-law recalled in court Thursday some of the odd behavior the Aurora dentist demonstrated both in text messages and in-person, as Angela Craig's health deteriorated before her death.
James Craig is on trial for one charge of first-degree murder, 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. Five of the charges were added to this case during his time in jail.
He is accused of killing his wife, Angela Craig, 43, in part by poisoning her workout smoothies. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant found in over-the-counter eyedrops. She suffered through several bouts of sickness before her passing, and doctors struggled to determine why she was ill.
He was arrested on March 19, 2023. His bond was set at $10 million on June 28, 2023. That October, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
James Craig's trial began on Tuesday, July 15, 2025.
You can read Denver7's previous reporting on this trial here:
- Opening statements/day 1 - Tuesday, July 15
- Day 2 - Wednesday, July 16
- Day 3 - Thursday, July 17
- Day 4 - Friday, July 18
- Day 5 - Monday, July 21
- Day 6 - Tuesday, July 22
- Day 7 - Wednesday, July 23
Denver7 reporter Colette Bordelon is in court Thursday and we are summarizing the eighth day of the trial in this story.
Woman who met James Craig though dating site acknowledges his advances as "too much" for her
Court resumed Thursday morning with prosecutor Michael Mauro calling their 43rd witness to the stand — Elizabeth Gore, a data analyst who met James Craig through Seeking.com, which she described as a dating website "geared toward finding a sugar daddy."
Gore told the court James Craig reached out to her first through the website before they started texting each other. Eventually, they met in-person about three or four times. The first time they met was for lunch somewhere around Aurora, which she said happened about a month after first messaging each other on the dating site. She recalled it happened around Thanksgiving.
A week or two after that, they met for lunch again. Possibly another week after, they went to REI, she said.
Following their meeting at REI, Gore said they took a trip to Bozeman, Montana. The morning after the two arrived, they were driving to ski when James Craig stopped the car and then took a call from Angela Craig that lasted nearly two hours. According to Gore, she waited in the car while James Craig took the call outside of the vehicle. After the call, James Craig told Gore he needed to go back home. She testified that they bought new tickets back to Denver and went to the airport.
Gore told the court she knew James Craig was married but asked for no further details as she "didn't want to know about it." She would later find out Angela Craig knew that James Craig was with another woman in Montana and that's why they left.
She testified James Craig gave her primarily monetary gifts, totaling to about $8,000. She also testified there was a "sexual component" to their relationship.
Gore said they continued texting after their failed ski trip and she eventually learned James Craig lied to Angela Craig, telling her he was no longer communicating with anyone through the dating website.
In cross-examination, defense attorney Lisa Moses questioned Gore about James Craig's intentions for going back home after his wife found out he was cheating on her with Gore.
"He wanted to go home and fix this, that was the messaging you got?" asked Moses. "To my knowledge," Gore replied.
Moses then presented to the court a series of texts between James Craig and Gore. In those texts, Gore agrees with a line of questioning from Moses, where she said that James appears to communicate with her in an endearing manner, using positive affirmations.
"You learned you were not the only person he was sending these kinds of messages to?" Moses asked. "Yes," Gore replied.
While in Las Vegas — during the continuing education conference where James Craig met Dr. Karin Cain, who testified in court Tuesday — James reportedly continued texting with Gore, and never told her he met Cain there.
In the texts, James Craig mentions how the conference rented out Allegiant Stadium and had dinner catered on the field — this was the first dinner he went to with Cain. Other texts sent from the Las Vegas airport showed that James Craig told Gore his flight was delayed. Since that flight was delayed, as Cain's testimony from Tuesday showed, he ran to another gate to give Cain a goodbye kiss before they parted ways.
Gore testified James Craig sent her flowers on Feb. 28, 2023, and explained that he would be going through a divorce. In other texts, James Craig tells Gore he wants to introduce her to his kids, but she was not ready for that.
In a March 2, 2023 text, James Craig talks about hanging out with his girls, singing Disney songs at the top of their lungs while doing dishes, and tells Gore that he looks "forward to the day when you can maybe be a part of this."
But communication between the two started decreasing, Gore said, and in a later text, James Craig asked Gore if he's texting too much. Gore replies that given James Craig's situation, "it's too much for her."
In the redirect examination, prosecutor Mauro asked Gore if James Craig came on too strong, and she said yes. She added that she never reciprocated any of James Craig's ideas of marriage in the future and blending families.
Gore confirmed with Mauro that James Craig gave her the impression that he was actively in a divorce proceeding after their failed ski trip to Montana.
Gore was then excused from the witness stand.
Angela Craig's brother takes the stand, describing his sister as someone who was "always happy"
Prosecutor Mauro then called their 44th witness to the stand, Mark Pray — Angela Craig's brother. Pray works for a cloud security company. He testified that Angela Craig is the youngest of the ten siblings.
When asked if he and Angela were close before she died, Pray said they were always close. "Our whole family's close."
In describing Angela Craig, Pray said she was kind of a Type A personality — "very in control, an organizer... took charge in instances, but also was really good at cooperating among the family." He also described her as "very strong, very dependable, and always happy... been that way since she was a kid," he said.
Before her death, Pray said Angela Craig's physical state was that of a strong woman who was always working out, and who loved biking. Describing her mental state, Pray said Angela Craig was "sharp but positive."
Pray also said Angela Craig loved being a mother. "That was her number one thing in life," he said, adding that Angela Craig was not reckless and not a risk taker.
"Angela wasn't manipulative, she was cooperative," Pray said.
"There's only one person in this world who would say she's suicidal, and that's the person who murdered her," Pray said — evoking a quick objection from the defense, with the judge striking that statement from the record.
Pray testified that the whole family — including James Craig — was part of a group text in which Angela Craig discussed not feeling fell. He recalled his sister expressing concerns that she wasn't getting answers from doctors about her deteriorating health.
Pray told the court that in one text from March 12, James Craig texted the family group chat that he was sleeping next to Angela Craig while at the hospital, when nurses rushed into the room because her oxygen saturation was low. In that same text, James Craig also said he could hear Angela Craig "snoring really loudly next to me" prior to the nurses coming into the room. Pray acknowledges that James Craig said he was both asleep and that he could hear Angela Craig snoring in the same text.
Pray and his family decided to drive from Utah to Colorado and help out with the Craig kids while his sister was struggling with her health.
During his first visit to the hospital, Pray said Angela Craig "appeared better than expected given all the things they'd heard on the text messages," and said there was no indication she knew what was wrong with her.
After she was taken home from the hospital the next day on March 14, Pray said it seemed like Angela Craig was exhausted, "like the trip home took something out of her." He said his sister told him that she felt like she was shaking internally, but not externally.
The following day on March 15, Pray recalled getting a text from James Craig reminding him that Angela Craig had to take a dose of Clindamycin due to a "sinus infection."
The antibiotic, which is used to treat certain types of bacterial infections, including infections of the lungs, skin, blood, female reproductive organs, and internal organs, is not recommended for use against colds, flu, or other viral infections, according to MedlinePlus.
Pray said he remembered a "dramatic change" in his sister's condition after taking those pills. James Craig had said Angela Craig needed the dose at 10 in the morning on March 15. Pray said she was able to eat something before — oatmeal with apples and cinnamon, that he prepared for her — so that the medication wouldn't upset her stomach, but "within 20-25 minutes, she couldn't even hold herself up."
He said he decided to take her to the emergency room immediately.
He recalled Angela Craig's condition worsening as they were getting through the hospital, saying she was able to answer some questions from medical staff, but sometimes they would have to repeat the questions. He said that if she wasn't being asked something, she would pass out, and had to be woken up for other questions.
The first time James Craig arrived at the hospital that day, Pray remembers that he didn't stick around very long, saying he had to go take care of "some work things" so he could come back and spend the rest of the day with his wife in the hospital.
When James Craig returned later that day, he brought sandwiches for himself and Pray. The two ate in Angela Craig's hospital room.
"At some point, does James Craig kind of get rid of you?" Mauro asked Pray. "He does," he replies, saying James Craig essentially told Pray he could go home for a while, since he had been at the hospital for most of the morning. Pray said the only reason he left the hospital is because he felt like spouses trump brothers, "and maybe he wanted to be alone with Angela" and he wanted to respect that.
Pray said he didn't make it 15 minutes away from the hospital when he got a call from one of his other sisters, Toni, who said Angela Craig had "crashed," so he turned around the car and went back to the ER immediately.
When Pray returned, he recalled that Angela Craig's room was "a madhouse. There's staff in there working on her... trying to keep her alive... [James Craig] was sitting in a chair just by the nurses station," he recalled.
He said that at some point after Angela Craig's crash, no one was allowed to see her when she was moved to the ICU, and Pray noticed that James Craig was nowhere to be found. Pray was the only one who was sitting by his sister's side before she was rolled to the ICU.
On the night of March 15, 2023, Pray testified that he talked with Ryan Redfearn, the suspect's former business partner, for a time before he texted James Craig the following:
"I think they view Angie's passing as suspicious because they can't find a reason and that's why it's taking so long," wrote Pray. "At least your partner (Redfearn) had talked to a nurse, and that's what he was telling me."
Pray said he sent that message because it appeared James Craig was growing increasingly frustrated by how long the family was waiting at the hospital. Pray added that he knew other information at the time when he sent the message.
After James Craig read the message, Pray testified that he left the room they were in for a while. Pray texted James Craig asking where he was because his children needed him at the time.
Two days later, on March 17, Pray recalled James Craig pulling up to the Craig home in his truck with an overnight bag. James Craig told Pray he just went for a drive. However, prior testimony from Karin Cain claimed James Craig stayed with her that night. Cain was one of his romantic partners who he met at a conference in Las Vegas and who had flown from Texas to meet with him.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Lisa Moses asked Pray if he knew about James Craig's years of infidelity. Pray said he did not know about that.
Moses also asked repeatedly about James Craig telling Pray to give Angela Craig her dose of Clindamycin.
"He didn't say 'Hey, I made it really easy for you, and I left the two pills out for you to give her?'" Moses asked, and Pray agreed that was true.
Moses pointed out that Angela Craig was in her room alone after Pray gave her the pills.
Pray confirmed via questions from Moses that James Craig is a "hyper guy" with a lot of energy, but during Angela Craig's crash, James Craig was "sitting still in a chair." Pray continued to say it "depends on the circumstances" if that behavior is consistent with an anxious or "hyper" person.
There was no redirect from the prosecution, but the jury had some questions for Pray, including whether James or Angela Craig ever told him they were getting divorced or were separated, to which he said they never did.
Pray said that when James Craig came back to the hospital after his kids asked for him, he appeared "more agitated, more anxious."
The jury also wanted to know if the Clindamycin was a tablet or capsule. Pray said it was a capsule.
Court then took its morning break.
Victim's sister-in-law recalls James Craig questioning their choice to take Angela Craig to the hospital
Prosecutor Ryan Brackley then called Renee Pray to the witness stand. She's the wife of Mark Pray and Angela Craig's sister-in-law.
She testified she and Mark came to Colorado in March of 2023 to help with the Craig kids due to Angela Craig's worsening health issues.
She said she didn't spend much time with Angela Craig, but rather, her kids, as she was in charge of taking care of them. She also said she was the one to tell James Craig that Angela Craig had taken her medication for the alleged "sinus infection" she was experiencing.
She also testified she and her husband took Angela Craig's vitals after her condition got worse from the medication she took.
Renne Pray recalled James Craig calling her, wanting to know more details about his wife's condition. She said James Craig then questioned her as to why Angela Craig was taken to a hospital when he felt she should be at home resting and not moving around.
She also recalled a time when a nurse came in asking about taking a urine sample from Angela Craig. She said James Craig was present in the room and questioned the nurse as to whether that was really necessary, since Angela Craig "was not on drugs."
Renee Pray also recalled hearing from James Craig that Angela Craig's last words were, "Why do I hurt?"
In cross-examination, prosecutor Moses questioned if Renee Pray ever found James Craig's behavior odd while in the hospital, to which she replied that she did not, and didn't question his emotions during that process at the time.
Court then went on lunch break.
Angela Craig's older sister testifies about prior drugging incident
The prosecution's 46th witness, Toni Kofoed, of Utah, was called to the stand around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday. Kofoed is Angela Craig's older sister and "best friend," she said. They have always been close despite their 13 year age gap and shared personal information about their lives.
When prosecutor Osama Magrebi asked Kofoed to describe younger sister, she started to choke up.
"Angela was smart, and funny, she was confident and in control," she told the courtroom. "She was the baby but if you walked into our house, or any given room, we could all be standing there and she would take charge. She was not timid, but kind... She was inclusive. Ang never wanted anyone to be left out. Hence the reason she had so many friends, because if anybody thought they didn't have someone in their corner, she was always there."
Magrebi asked if Angela Craig was a risk-taker and Kofoed replied no, she was "never ever one that would risk her life for fun." She loved life and her kids, and Kofoed never knew her to be suicidal. When prompted by the prosecution, she added that her sister was "absolutely not" manipulative, but rather was "honest to a fault," "straightforward," and "very clear about what she wanted in her life and what she wanted from you."
In 2018, Angela Craig shared with her sister that James Craig was having an affair. Kofoed recalled her sister calling her on a Sunday sobbing because James Craig had come home and said he had been having an affair for six months.
About a month after this phone call, Angela Craig told Kofoed that James Craig had given her a substance without her consent. Few other details about this were allowed to be shared in court, except that Angela Craig told her sister that her husband "drugged her." The incident coincided with the time frame of their marital issues related to infidelity.
Despite this, the Craigs ended up talking through their issues and came to the decision to work on their marriage and stay together, Kofoed said. They had both individual therapy and couples therapy.
On Dec. 9, 2022, Angela Craig told Kofoed she found something on her husband's computer and that "made it impossible for her to stay" and she was feeling "broken and really alone" and "numb," the sister said. A couple days later, Angela Craig explained that she had thought James Craig was cheating, but "it wasn't what I thought it was" and so she decided to stay and fight for her marriage, Kofoed said, adding that James Craig told her he had not been having an affair.
According to Kofoed, Angela Craig believed they were working to help and heal what she considered an addiction for James Craig.
Skip ahead to late February and early March 2023, and Kofoed thought the Craigs' marriage was on the mend. She reiterated that her sister showed no indication of wanting to hurt herself or end her life.
In early March, Angela Craig visited Kofoed in Utah. Kofoed recalled picking up her sister and noticed how tired she looked. Angela Craig said she had been up all night fighting with her husband, but had promised him she would not tell Kofoed what the fight was about.
The rest of the trip was enjoyable, Kofoed said.
"We laughed, we talked, we ate things we shouldn't," she said with a smile.
They made plans to visit Newport, Rhode Island for their next trip.
Angela Craig returned to Colorado on March 5, 2023 and Kofoed texted her to ensure she made it home. The next day, Angela Craig responded saying she was not alright, and that her head felt "weird" and her body was "sluggish." Kofoed testified that her sister was not ill when she left Utah.
On March 7, Angela Craig texted Kofoed to say that she was stuffy and "seeing spots," and still did not know what was causing her symptoms. She added that her blood sugar was high after exercising and not eating anything, which she found odd. Kofoed also texted James Craig about the illness, and he did not give any indication he knew what was happening either, she said.
On March 9, 2023, Angela Craig texted to say she was "dizzy and tired and my muscles don't want to work today," but she had consumed a protein shake and other liquids that morning to try to help, Kofoed said.
Angela Craig was hospitalized that same day. She was discharged on March 14 — the last time Kofoed spoke with her sister — and re-admitted the following day.
Kofoed said Angela Craig's frustrations continued on March 14, as she had seen many specialists and nobody seemed to know what was ailing her. On that speaker phone call, Kofoed said she also heard James Craig apparently give her Clindamycin.
Angela Craig did have chronic sinus infections, which was normally fixed with a Z-Pak, Kofoed said.
During a cross-examination led by defense attorney Lisa Moses, Kofoed clarified that Angela Craig did not feel like infidelity had been a consistent part of her marriage, as her husband had an affair 10 years prior and then just once more recently, to her knowledge. Each of those two times, James Craig told Angela Craig to leave him but she did not want to and he eventually would say he also did not want a divorce, Kofoed recalled her sister telling her.
Moses asked about the multiple affairs in 2018, and Kofoed said her sister only knew about one affair in 2022.
Moses said Kofoed had sat in the courtroom for the entire trial and seen "woman after woman come in" and testify about their affairs with James Craig. She asked about Angela Craig saying "it wasn't what she thought it was" when she suspected her husband of cheating in December 2022.
"Absolutely, it was what I thought it was," Kofoed said, adding that James Craig had shared a "partial truth" and told his wife that he saw a woman during a trip to Montana but was not using her for "sexual or intimate purposes."
Angela Craig wanted to believe that, Kofoed said. Kofoed said she did not buy it.
Kofoed said Angela Craig was referencing her heartbreak when she used the word "broken" to describe how she was feeling after learning about the affair in 2022.
When Angela Craig was admitted to the hospital around March 9, 2023, James Craig texted Kofoed to ask if she was planning to come to Colorado anytime soon, as Angela Craig's condition was not improving. He added that he could handle it on his own if she was unable to visit. Kofoed was starting a new job on March 13.
Kofoed confirmed for the defense attorney that she did not come to Colorado until her sister was essentially brain-dead on March 15, 2023.
After Angela Craig's death, Kofoed began exploring the family's genealogy, which her sister was passionate about, and asked for a key to the storage unit that the family rented. There, she found a journal, which she said was photocopied and sent in its entirety to law enforcement.
The court then broke for an afternoon recess.
Cell phone, GPS data expert explains Craigs' movements around time of Angela Craig's death
When court resumed, the prosecutors brought in Garrett Lord, a full-time subject matter expert for a company that provides cellular analysis software. He was previously an investigator with the 18th Judicial District. Lord has testified as an expert witness more than a dozen times and was submitted as such for cell phone and GPS data analysis for this trial.
Lord brought up texts from Angela Craig's, James Craig's and Karin Cain's cell phones, which also included internet searches. One of them included a search on James Craigs' cell phone on Feb. 27, 2023 at 2:34 p.m. that read, "Is there such thing as an undetectable poison," followed by one at 3:20 p.m. that read, "How to make poison from oleander?" and one the next minute for "buy arsenic, Aurora Colorado." During the time of those searches, his cell phone was in the area of Summerbrook Dental, Lord testified.
Around this same time, Angela Craig's cell phone showed her near the Craig home.
On both the following day — Feb. 28, 2023 — and March 1, 2023, data showed James Craig texting both his wife and Cain.
The prosecutor brought up the search history from the Summerbrook Dental exam room on March 1, which showed the following searches:
- "Is barium acetate soluble?"
- "Buy barium carbonite Aurora Colorado"
- "Does barium carbonite have a taste"
- "How long does it take to die from barium poisoning"
- "How long does it take to die from arsenic poisoning"
On March 6, 2023 at 7:31 a.m., Angela Craig texted James Craig, "I feel drugged," Lord explained to the courtroom. James Craig responded a few minutes later, and his cell phone showed him in the area of his office. At 7:38 a.m. that day, the exam room computer showed a search for "Tetrahydrozoline poisoning timeline."
On March 8, 2023, James Craig's device appeared to move from the dental office to an address associated with Midland Scientific, which is where the jury heard prior testimony that he went see if a storefront existed. Previously, a specialist with the company, which is a distributor of laboratory products and chemicals, testified about their exchange with James Craig allegedly requesting to purchase cyanide from them.
The following evening — starting around 7:15 p.m. on March 9, 2023 — James Craig's device moved from the area of Parker Adventist Hospital to the area of his dental office and then back to the Craig home, Lord said. He then appeared to go to a King Soopers and then to the hospital, where Angela Craig was.
During a cross-examination, the defense asked Lord more questions about how cell towers work and questioned him about why a map brought up in court showing the Craigs' cell phones and where they connected included just a timeframe for the data and not specific times. Lord responded that this would be an enormous amount of data to show in court.
Lord explained that cell phones connect to whichever tower has the strongest signal, but terrain and obstructions like tall buildings can change this.
The jury was then dismissed for the day. The trial will resume Friday morning.
Editor's note on July 25 at 1 p.m.: A spokesperson for Seeking.com provided the following statement: "We do not comment on ongoing legal matters. If you'd like to know more about us, Seeking.com [seeking.com] is the premier dating site for successful and ambitious singles searching for a partner with whom they share a genuine and authentic connection. Our dating platform helps members build meaningful relationships based on shared ambitions and what truly makes them happy, be it romance, travel, luxury, freedom, or whatever it is they aspire to in their connections."
