AURORA, Colo. — More than two years of investigation was boiled down to a roughly two-week trial when former Aurora dentist James Craig was convicted by a jury of his peers for the murder of his wife in March of 2023.
The two Aurora police detectives who led the investigation into the suspicious circumstances surrounding 43-year-old Angela Craig's death collected extensive evidence for the case against her husband, James.
"This whole thing just kept turning and turning and turning," Detective Bobbi Olson said. "I'm truly happy it's over."
There were thousands of text messages, numerous computer searches, hours of video surveillance from the Craig home, and hundreds of witnesses connected to the case.
"We knew that it was an unusual case. We knew it was going to require way more investigation, and we just continued to push through," Detective Molly Harris said. "The heavy part of the investigation ends, you know, [typically] six to eight months into it, and this is, I mean — it was full fledged for two years."
Olson and Harris are the only two women within the homicide unit at the Aurora Police Department. Olson, the lead detective on the Craig case, said everyone in the unit was involved in the investigation.
When the department was first alerted to Angela Craig's death in mid-March of 2023, Olson and Harris said the initial details were unusual.
"We really didn't know much of anything other than there was a lady, seemingly healthy, now all of a sudden potentially brain-dead at the hospital," Olson recalled. "Someone had reported, someone found potassium cyanide was delivered."
"She's telling me [the details], and I was like, 'holy cow, this is completely new to anything that we had dealt with prior,'" Harris said.
The detectives learned Angela Craig had been desperately trying to determine why she was ill in the days leading up to her death. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant found in over-the-counter eyedrops. Her manner of death was ruled a homicide by the Arapahoe County Coroner.
During the same time period that Angela Craig was sick, James Craig was having an extramarital affair. Computer history from his dental office revealed searches for different poisons, and credit card records showed several bottles of Visine were purchased on his card.
Tetrahydrozoline was discovered when a substance from a protein shaker bottle found on Angela Craig's nightstand was tested.
On March 15, 2023, Angela Craig was hospitalized. Two blood draws from that day were taken around 8 hours apart, and show the cyanide levels in Angela Craig more than doubled while she was hospitalized.
Investigators believe James Craig administered a lethal dose of cyanide to Angela Craig while she was hospitalized that day.
The details of the investigation were unique, but the two detectives could see how power and control played a role in the Craigs' relationship.
"You read through her journals and text messages and what he did to her, and that's all she continued to do was fight for her marriage, fight to get him better, and fight for kids, and he just continued to manipulate her," Olson said. "I think so many people think of domestic violence as physical, right? I mean, this was years and years and years of manipulation that Angela endured."
"Her searches, her communications, I don't see a woman who couldn't read those and be like, 'Wow.' I mean, she was trying, she was trying to survive whatever was happening to her. She's trying to survive a relationship that clearly had been toxic at times," Harris said. "She shouldn't be the one suggesting every single time, like, 'Let's get therapy. Let's fix this. Let's do that.' It should be on his end. But she was so committed to keeping the core of their family together that she was willing to constantly reassess herself, you know, for him."
Denver7 asked the detectives why they believed James Craig tried to keep Angela Craig in their marriage.
"I think it was his persona, his perception," Olson said. "He couldn't be a divorced dentist, so he had to be the widow of six kids and make himself look better."
Nathanial Harris, an inmate who shared a cell with James Craig at the Arapahoe County Jail around November 2024, testified during the trial that James Craig spoke in detail about Olson. James Craig allegedly told Nathanial Harris that Olson was "out to get him" and "lying on him."
His cellmate testified that James Craig wanted him to find someone who could kill Olson. James Craig "figured I knew where to find those people," Nathanial Harris said.
A search of their shared cell on Nov. 10, 2024 revealed an 11-page letter that Nathanial Harris testified, James Craig wanted mailed to Nathanial Harris' ex-wife. Harris said he told James Craig how his ex-wife "had fabricated documents and photos in a past case" of his. James Craig was trying to find someone to fabricate stories that supported his conduct and pointed investigators in the other direction, Harris testified.
Part of the letter read: "The worst, dirtiest, detective in the world is on my case. Her name is Bobbi Olson. We have to discredit her."
"Honestly, I think again, it was just him trying to have control and power when he had lost it. It honestly, just made me forge forward harder and better and like, you're not going to stop me," Olson said. "I'm on this case, and I don't want it to be about me, and it was always about Angela."
Detective Molly Harris believes it was that lack of control while James Craig was in custody that contributed to the five solicitation charges in this case. She said it also carried over into the trial.
The defense team for James Craig argued Angela Craig was suicidal at the time of her death — but not one out of almost 50 witnesses testified that was true.
"There was never any indication that she was suicidal. Out of 127 pages of her journal, the word depression appeared one time, and it was, 'I feel depressed. I am unmotivated. I am feeling alone,' from 2009," Olson said. "Who wouldn't have those feelings if their husband just cheated on them, right?"
"We knew that we had a strong case and that our job was to get through that, and not let that kind of emotional trigger be a distraction, when the ultimate goal was to get their family some sort of peace," Harris said.
On Wednesday, a jury convicted James Craig of first-degree murder, along with 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 sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
"I'm just so ecstatic that the jury got it right. They [the family] got justice, and can hopefully move forward. And I don't know what that looks like, and I don't know if they know what that looks like without Angela, but just that it's over, and they can just have peace and just know that he won't get out ever," Olson said.
"This is not the first domestic violent incident that has resulted in a homicide since we've been in the homicide unit. But, you know, I just hope people know that there are resources out there," Harris said. "I just hope that if somebody was in a similar situation, that they would seek help, and, if not, call us for that help."
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available through Violence Free Colorado or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
