Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - "FAMILY MAN" DENTIST'S WIFE DEAD OF CYANIDE, RECRUITS "HOTTIES" TO LIE IN COURT

Episode Date: February 18, 2025

James Craig and his wife Angela were married for over 20 years. They created a beautiful family of six, loving, happy family, happy children. Between work and taking care of their children, the Craigs still manage to fit a workout into their daily routine. The husband and wife go for a run or hit the gym together almost every day, and when they return home, James Craig makes protein shakes or fruit smoothies for breakfast while Angela delves into getting the kids ready for the day.    Angela complains of having a really nasty headache, along with problems focusing her eyesight.  She goes to the hospital saying she felt tingly and cold.   Doctors cannot figure out what's wrong with her.   Angela goes to the hospital multiple times, only to be sent home.  When she goes back for a third time, that's when she's checked in and her condition deteriorates, coding quickly.  Angela passes away.  One of Summer Brooks’ dental assistants recalls opening a package for Dr. Craig—that had potassium cyanide in it. She googles the symptoms of cyanide poisoning, and is horrified at how closely they match Angela’s symptoms. She immediately calls Craig’s partner, Ryan Redfearn, hoping he has some other explanation for the contents of the package...but he doesn’t. While visiting Angela, Redfearn tells a nurse about the cyanide, explaining there’s no medical use for the element in their practice. As a mandatory reporter, the nurse calls police.   With suspicions raised, Angela Craig is sent for an autopsy with additional toxicology screening. Tests reveal the otherwise healthy mom of six died of poisoning from both cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a common ingredient in eyedrops. While investigators have no definitive evidence Angela’s food and drinks were poisoned with cyanide, the tests reveal her cyanide levels increased while she was in the hospital.    Police then check Craig's computer finding strange searches.  One of them was how to poison someone, how to make poison and top five or top 10 undetectable poisons that people won't be able to find after someone has died and will not signal foul play. Less than 24 hours after his wife’s death, dentist James Toliver Craig is arrested for Angela’s murder and additionally charged with tampering with evidence. A 52-page arrest affidavit details Craig’s concerning computer searches, three poison orders, an ongoing affair, and proof Craig took several measures to cover his tracks.    Police then learn the dentist  allegedly tried to hire his cellmate to kill Aurora PD’s lead detective Bobbi Jo Olson for $20,000. Calling Olson the “worst, dirtiest detective,” James Craig tried to recruit Nathaniel Harris to take her out for cash or free dental work. Olson wasn’t the only person on his list. Craig also asked Harris to kill another Aurora PD officer and two inmates ‘Roger’ and ‘Tommy.’    Joining Nancy Grace today: Eric Faddis - Trial Lawyer and TV Legal Analyst, Founding Partner of Varner Faddis Elite Legal, former felony prosecutor and current criminal defense and civil litigation attorney Dr. Shavaun Scott -  Psychotherapist, Author of “The Minds of Mass Killers: Understanding and Interrupting the Pathway to Violence” Fil Waters  - Former homicide detective for the Houston police department, President & CEO of Kindred spirits Investigations & Security, Inc., kindredspiritsinvestigations.com Dr Ernest Chiodo  - Attorney, Physician, Biomedical Engineer, Toxicologist, Author: “Toxic Tort: Medical and Legal Elements”, www.ernestpchiodo.com Steffan Tubbs -  Host:  'Arsenic, DDS - The Bizarre Case of Dr. James Craig'; Former patient of James Craig See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Family man, the dentist, his wife is dead of cyanide. Did he recruit hotties to lie for him in court? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for him in court. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. Angela Craig is a loving Colorado mom of six married to esteemed dentist James Craig.

But things go awry when Angela is suddenly hospitalized with intense dizziness and pain. How did the whole thing start? Take a listen to this. After multiple recent hospital visits, Angela again checked into a hospital Wednesday morning complaining of a severe headache and dizziness. Around 2 p.m. she had a seizure, her condition rapidly declining. Doctors moving her to the ICU where she was put on life support before passing away Saturday. Joining me in all-star panel to make sense of what we are learning, this mom of six, six, and she's still really young as well.

Apparently, you know, college sweethearts fall in love, they get married and immediately start having children. That's how a mom this young can have six children already. And I don't get it. I want to go straight out to Stefan Tubbs, host of the podcast, Arsenic DDS, The Bizarre Case of Dr. James Craig, which is an incredible podcast, by the way. Okay. I've done all this investigation and research, and I learned even more by listening to that. Arsenic DDS, The Bizarre Case of Dr. James Craig. Stefan, I want us to start

with her symptoms because, you know, when I first read and learned about this case, it reminds me so much of another case. I don't know if you're familiar with cult mom, Lori Vallow and her prophet husband. Well, his wife, Tammy, healthy as a horse in her early forties, maybe 41, 42, just kills over in the middle of the night. And I found that very, very disturbing. She just ran a marathon for Pete's sake. And now this mom, this young mom, Angela, suddenly develops all these symptoms. Nobody can figure out what's wrong with her. And she just, bam, dies. Now tell me about her original sentence, Stephan Tubbs. Nancy, she got incredibly sick and it wasn't just one time in the hospital. It was multiple times that she was feeling nauseous, that she just didn't feel something was right. Severe headaches. And she went to a local hospital the first time to the ER.

He was discharged and then went to the same hospital like a week later. It was the third hospital. Hey, Stephan, Stephan, hold on. Hold on, Stephan. I want to go straight out to our shrink joining us in addition to an incredible panel of guests. Joining me, Dr. Siobhan Scott, psychotherapist, author of The Minds of Mass Killers. So much more. Dr. Siobhan, thank you for being with us. Have you ever noticed how women's symptoms

just get discounted? They come in. I'm, I'm nauseous. I feel dizzy. I've got this severe headache where they're like, Oh, you're fine. Bye. Yeah. And over and over to Angela. What is it? Are all women, quote, hysterical? Yeah. There's there's even something called the W.W. syndrome, and that stands for whiny woman. And medical doctors have been known to talk about the women. Wait, wait, head blowing off right now. What the W.W. syndrome? Is that what you just said? Yeah.

Yeah. Whiny woman. Yeah. I've read some with some women doctors have written books about this problem in the medical profession where women are just dismissed and not taken seriously. OK, I've got so much to say about that, but it will get me totally sidetracked off this woman, Angela, mother of six. Okay. Back to you. Stephan Tubbs joining me, who has researched and investigated this case just to the detail.

Stephan, so she had headaches, a severe headache. I think from what I recall, that's what really made her decide to go to the hospital. She was having nausea and felt dizzy, but it was the headaches. I think she was worried that she was having a stroke because the headache was so severe. Yeah, she was very, very ill. She was very, very concerned about her own health and safety. This is a mother of six. Not all of the children were inside the home,

but she's incredibly sick and wondering how the hell she got sick. Take a listen to this. My stomach feels fine. Although at one point she said she had nausea, but my head feels funny and dizzy. Very strange. I'm dizzy. My eyes don't want to focus. I don't feel right in my head. No, this is just weird. I'm dizzy in my head. My eyes are working slowly. My body's responding slowly. I feel drugged response from husband, the family man, Dennis, given our history, I know that must be triggering just for the record. I didn't drug you. Whoa. Okay. Um, as Shakespeare said, me thinks that death protests too much. You know, like when a cop walks by and you go, I don't have drugs on me.

Anyway, let's get back to it. Listen. She was complaining of having a really nasty headache. She was also complaining about her eyesight. She was having trouble focusing. She said that she felt tingly. She said that she felt cold. She's concerned that it could be a sinus infection.

And then there's some conversation about maybe she's diabetic. No one is able to find an answer for what is causing this otherwise healthy mother of six to be feeling these horrendous symptoms. She goes back a few days later, March 9th, same symptoms, nausea, dizziness, headaches, even some vomiting. Again, the doctors can't figure out what's wrong with her. They send her home. And then when she goes back for a third time, that's when she's checked in and her condition deteriorates quickly. And there you see Dr. Siobhan Scott with us who just dropped a bombshell on me about the WW syndrome, whiny woman syndrome. Now we're on round three. Okay.

She's at the hospital a third time. They keep sending her home and sending her home. Now she codes. I guess that means code red or whatever they call it in the hospital when you're dying. Yeah. Yeah. Just a horrifying, horrifying situation for a young woman to be in with no explanation. It's hard to imagine how frightened she must have been. Eric Faddis joining me, high profile trial lawyer, TV legal analyst, founding partner, Varner, fattest, elite, legal, former felony prosecutor. Eric, don't you just hate it when your own client who's not charged with anything out of the blue

said, I didn't drug you because that's what he said. Nobody said he did drug anybody. And all of a sudden he goes, just FYI, I didn't drug you. If my husband said, FYI, I didn't drug you, I'm going to need a defense attorney because who would jump up and say that unless they drug the wife. I hear you. I mean, it's a curious statement, certainly suspicious in the eyes of many. You know, on the other hand, I think his defense is going to argue that the marriage was on the rocks. Things were tense. Things were dicey. And so, you know, on the other hand, I think his defense is going to argue that the marriage was on the rocks. Things were tense. Things were dicey. And so, you know, people say things in the heat of an event like this that that certainly could be triggering for both parties. But but, yeah, the gravity of the statement and sort of it coming out of nowhere is not lost on triggering.

First of all, I don't know how that got popular triggering for both parties. Are you telling me he the the dentist, is triggered? What are you talking about? She's dead. Okay. Why are you talking about him getting triggered? This conversation preceded the death. What I was saying is that, you know, when the relationship is super rocky, sometimes when there are serious medical events that come up or just serious life events, those things can be can add to the to the tenseness of the situation, the stress of the situation.

And he could have been experiencing distress as well. And sometimes things come out. Rocky, Rocky, that's what you call a string of mistresses. Rocky, that's more like an earthquake. It is a serious event, which just could have further been destabilizing for the relationship. When something serious happens, when your spouse is sick, I think defense is going to argue that, hey, things were really distressing. There was heightened emotionality. And sometimes people just say things. That's at least how the defense will likely frame it. Who is this guy? Let's take a look. My name is Dr. Jim Craig and I practice at Summerbrook Dental Group.

My approach to dentistry begins with sincerely listening to the patient and wanting to find out more about where they're coming from and what they're looking for and what they want. That's from the official Summerbrook Dentistry Facebook page. Well, there's more. Look, and he's going to go visit a patient. Well, there's more. And last weekend was a little bit of a shock, but here I am again just like this. Sorry, you had a little bit of an exam. I didn't mean to interrupt. Okay. Good luck, Nicole.

Hope you don't have any cavities. If you do, though, I'll take care of them. That's right. Right here. I'm not quite sure what I saw. That was from the official Summer Brook Dentistry Facebook page, but has the husband been working out in the gym or are his arms just beefy? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me right now, a special guest, Phil Waters, former homicide detective from the Houston PD,

present CEO, kindred spirits, investigations and security. Phil, I know that Eric Faddis is going to turn purple and tell me this means nothing. But when your husband, the dentist who sits on one of those little rolly chairs all day long, suddenly starts working out and developing interests and getting spray tans, you better pay attention to what's going on. You better find out what's behind that. Did you see that video? Has he been working out, pumping iron at the gym? Because it looks like he has. Well, I think so. In homicide, of course, we'd call that a clue. You know,

watch his behavior and the things that he's doing there. I mean, I guess in isolation for that setting, he appears to be a very attentive dentist and he's really into what he's doing, and he are trying to get his physique in a better shape, that might be an indicator, of course, to his wife in a general sense that, are you doing this for me or are you doing this for some other purpose? Okay, take a look at this, Faddis. And that's from the Summerbrook Dentistry Facebook page. That's where we're getting that. Do you see somebody's pumping iron in the gym all of a sudden? He does look a little jacked there. Defense is going to say, so what? Everyone is allowed to

take care of their own health, as the homicide detective just said. Maybe he was taking care of himself to sort of rekindle the flame with his wife at the time. We just don't know. But yeah, I mean, even if the relationship was on the rocks and he was preparing for something new, that's not a crime. When Angela is admitted to the hospital for the third time in two weeks, James Craig only stops at the hospital for half an hour before going out to get food for his wife. Craig returns an hour and a half later and goes into Angela's room alone. Just a few minutes later, Angela has a severe seizure and her vitals crash. While hospital staff attempt to revive Angela, Craig takes photos

of his unconscious wife. Angela is stabilized with the ventilator but declared brain dead. Takes photos of his wife. Before we go to a renowned physician and biomedical engineer, Dr. Ernest Scioto, let me go back to Stephan Tubbs, host of Arsenic DDS. Stephan, why is he taking pictures of his wife as she's dying and they're desperately trying to resuscitate her? She's got all kind of tubes in her. What happened? He's at the foot of the bed and it's almost as if he's almost halfway out of that room, Nancy. It was bizarre to see for the first time, but this is really the goodbye.

I think he was taking it for some of her family that were not in town. She has a huge family. They mostly primarily live in Utah, but he was there. He then calls the business partner and his wife. They had all, you know, done things as couples before. And this was the goodbye when she was coding out at CU Health. And it was there that to me, the entire domino started to fall. Speaking of dominoes falling to Dr. Ernest Scioto, not only physician, but attorney, biomedical engineer, toxicologist, and author of Toxic Tort, Medical and Legal Elements. Dr. Scioto, thank you for joining us. I'm sure in your residency and in practicing medicine, you've been in a lot of sick rooms and even death rooms.

Do you not find that bizarre that he is taking pictures of his wife as she's coding out? In other words, as hospital personnel are furiously trying to save her life and he's taking pictures? It's highly unusual, yes. Dr. Scioto, have you ever seen someone take photos of their wife while they're trying to resuscitate her and bring her back to life? You know, pounding on her chest,

using those electrical stimulators on her chest. Everybody's screaming, everybody's rushing into the room and he's in the corner taking pictures. Have you ever seen that happen, Dr. Scioto? No, I haven't either. And I have investigated, prosecuted and covered. I can't even count the number of deaths and homicides to Dr. Siobhan Scott. Right there, as Stephan Tubbs said, that was when the weirdness was marked and noted when he was taking pictures. I don't care what he says. This is to send to her extended family.

That's BS, technical legal term. What does that mean? I mean, I know something's wrong with it, but I don't know what it is. Yeah, it's a puzzle to me as well, because it seems so out of the normal range of human behavior. None of us can put ourselves in that situation and imagine that we'd be picking up a camera as our loved one was dying. So what in the world was he doing? I don't know that I have a good answer for that, but it's definitely a red flag. While his wife, Angela, is fighting for her life in the hospital, her devoted husband is emailing his mistress. James told her something had happened to Angela,

and she responded with how sorry she was for him and that she wished she was helping him, not pulling him away. She stated she knew it had to be so hard what he was going through and that she wanted to be there for him, but did not want to mix with his family and friends and pretend to be only a friend when there was something more. Oh, yeah, that's so hard on a mistress when she has to pretend to just be friends in front of his wife. I hate when that happens. Fattest. What do you have to say to that? What about when a jury hears about him while his wife is lying there dying? He's emailing his mistress, his hottie. And she says, I can't take it. I can't stand to act like we're just friends when we're so much more.

Has everybody lost their minds? On the surface, certainly problematic. It's going to be difficult to neutralize for the defense. You know, I think that they might consider something like, you know, there have been instances where even a person's wife has like given them an organ. You know, there's instances like that. And then there's still infidelity. There are still cheating. Human beings do underhanded stuff. They do stuff that is surprising, that is hard to understand. And I think that that could be what was going on here. And that could be how the defense postures it to the jury. But, you know, there's another whole thing there. Hold on just a moment to Dr. Siobhan Scott. Many women would tell you, not me, but many women would tell you, I'd rather my husband

just go have sex with somebody than to actually fall in love. I mean, if my husband did either one, basically it's open marriage, open casket, bam, that says it all. But some women would prefer the husband, if they're going to do anything to just go have sex with somebody, wham, bam, that says it all. But some women would prefer the husband, if they're going to do anything, to just go have sex with somebody, wham, bam, done, as opposed to falling in love with someone. Can you explain that odd sentiment? The difference between having that kind of deep attachment with somebody, I guess, would be the love. And so and so yeah there are even people who have very open marriages where sexual exploits outside of the relationship are

absolutely fine but the idea is that you always have your primary emotional bond with your partner Colorado mom of six Angela Craig spends the month of March in and out of hospitals, complaining of strange symptoms for which doctors seem to have no answers. Meanwhile, her dentist husband is receiving mysterious packages to his office. You earlier heard podcaster, the star of Arsenic DDS, Stefan Tubbs, refer to dominoes began to fall. Well, here they go. Listen.

Still in the parking lot after visiting Angela in the hospital, Ryan Redfern gets a call from James Craig, his partner in Summerbrook. As Craig starts to ask Redfern if he had said anything to Angela's nurses, Redfern cuts him off, saying he told the nurses about the package Craig received at the office. Craig says the package contained a ring for Angela, but Redfern replies, it's not a ring. We know what's in there. After their phone call, James Craig sends Ryan Redfern a flurry of angry texts, accusing him of creating huge problems by getting police involved without talking to him first.

Craig tells Redfern if he really is a friend, he and the remaining office employees will not speak with cops anymore. Huge red flag when somebody says don't talk to the cops. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Stephan Tubbs, tell me about the dominoes. You said the dominoes begin to fall. What about the dental practice partner? Yeah, Ryan Redfern, some would consider him to be the hero in this because he's the one that after the phone call and as you just outlined on the program, he tells Jim via the cell phone.

He says, Jim, stop talking, get a lawyer. To backtrack, we're talking about arsenic that was allegedly purchased online. dentist's office, opened by some employee, she starts to go, what is this potassium cyanide? She literally sees the skull and crossbones on the packaging. She looks it up. It clicks in her mind. Wait a minute. This is exactly, these are the kinds of symptoms that Angela Craig is experiencing. She then calls Redfern the partner and that's how the dominoes start to fall. Joining me, Dr. Ernest Scioto, attorney, physician, biomedical engineer, toxicologist, and author of Toxic Tort, Medical and Legal Elements. Dr. Scioto, explain what the symptoms of that particular poison would be. Well, there's a number of different poisons involved, but cyanide, you just really have very rapid loss of blood pressure, loss of consciousness, and very rapid death. Arsenic, you tend to get peripheral neuropathy.

You get burning in your hands and feet. It's more of a slow poison. But what's really interesting is the tetrahydrozoline, which is interestingly found in eye drops to get the redness out of your eyes. It's what they call an alpha agonist. It causes constriction of blood vessels. And that causes confusion. It can cause loss of consciousness, coma. And that sounds a lot more like the symptoms that she was having in the hospital, the wife. Guys, we look carefully at the movements and the actions leading up to her last hospitalization

and what led up to the previous two hospitalizations. Listen. The husband and wife go for a run or hit the gym together almost every day. And when they return home, James Craig makes protein shakes or fruit smoothies for breakfast while Angela delves into getting the kids ready for the day. We think he was using to poison Angela over the course of several weeks, actually, putting it in her protein shake, even helping her along or trying to reassure her when she was complaining of sickness, dizziness, nausea, he was sort of still encouraging her to drink lots of fluids. Okay, let me understand something.

Stefan Tubbs joining me. Isn't it true that on a prior occasion, she had gotten stabilized and then he goes out and comes back and brings her food like a doting husband in the hospital. And suddenly she goes into seizures. That's true. Yeah, she was in the hospital, remember, three different times. She was in the hospital three different times. Reading the affidavit, which reads like a bad Hollywood script, it looks like investigators feel she is consistently being offered the food. In primary fashion, the protein shakes while she's in. And keep in mind, all of these text messages that are going back and forth.

Do you feel like a smoothie? Is there anything I can bring you? And this goes on for the better part of the month of March. Stefan Tubbs, are you telling me he would email her or text her in the hospital, say, can I bring you a smoothie? One thousand percent. That is in the affidavit. I've seen the screenshots of the of the text messages. She's in the hospital three different times. There's text messaging. I mean, dozens and dozens of them, if not hundreds of them going back and forth. Do you feel like something? What do you feel like? Can I bring you anything? And it was usually in the form of a smoothie.

And then the other shoe drops. Listen. With suspicions raised, Angela Craig is sent for an autopsy with additional toxicology screening. Tests reveal the otherwise healthy mom of six died of poisoning from both cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a common ingredient in eye drops. While investigators have no definitive evidence Angela's food and drinks were poisoned with cyanide, the tests reveal her cyanide levels increased while she was in the hospital. Stephan Tubbs, her levels increased while she's in the hospital? Yeah, I think that was probably the biggest shocker in a shocking story in the Denver

metro area that we got word and read the autopsy. Her levels of cyanide increased while she's in the hospital. I mean, to me, it was and remains unprecedented. I've never heard a story like that. And doctors didn't know, again, what they were looking for. And it was just when the dominoes started to fall and people started to talk, the business partner that they started to look into. Wait a minute. These are the signs of poisoning. And certainly we know what the autopsy revealed. But I mean, to me, Stefan, it would all blow up when the dental assistant opens up a package and it's cyanide.

Oh, remember, though, Nancy, it was supposed to be a ring for Angela. I mean, the cockamamie stories just were over and over. Where do you get cyanide, Stefan? You can just order it up on Amazon. I mean, where do you get cyanide? So one of the two, there were purchase orders for Amazon.com, which was amazing. I can't believe it was either cyanide or the potassium that was a joke are you serious you can get cyanide on amazon there you go right there on your screen

yeah i'm gonna buy this on amazon first of all somebody arsenic yeah arsenic but holy moly yeah and then look at this package left inside residence's mailbox. So I guess he thought he was being a super smart by having it delivered to the dentist office. So his wife wouldn't find the arsenic. Right. Don't open this. OK, so what happens, Stefan, when the dental assistant opens up a box and it's arsenic? I think her eyes about bugged out of her head is what happened. She sees this package. She opens it up. Another office assistant came in and said, you weren't supposed to open that. Well, that's out of the bag. She sees the skull and crossbones. And then she again puts the pieces together. Wait a minute. Potassium cyanide. She calls Dr. Redfern, the partner of Jim Craig, and says, you got a package here.

And then that's where you fast forward. You know, Redfern confronts Jim Craig and says, why are you buying potassium cyanide for the dental practice? And, of course, the lie was, oh, that's really it's a gift. It was it was a ring for Angela. Well, there was no ring inside. Dr. Ernest Scioto joining us, a renowned physician and lawyer and author. Dr. Scioto, she couldn't taste something odd in her protein shakes? I mean, what does arsenic or cyanide taste like?

Arsenic is going to taste, sort of have a garlic sort of taste, whereas cyanide really wouldn't. Sometimes it has an odor of bitter almonds. So whether or not she could taste the arsenic or cyanide would really be a matter of how much was in the shake. The small amount, she may not taste it. He clearly thought he was more intelligent than he was. He was using a different computer in his dentist practice, the one that he owned. And then he had this alternate email address.

I think it was something along the lines of Jim and Waffles at gmail.com, at gmail or at AOL or at hotmail.com at gmail or at aol or at hotmail.com i don't recall which exactly but hardly a criminal mastermind he was actually in two million dollars of personal debt and it was because he made some really terrible investments in some dodgy cryptocurrency turned out to be worth absolutely nothing he gambled the family pot with these really risky investment choices. And then by the time we came to find out about him, he was really up to his neck. He filed for personal bankruptcy. He filed for professional bankruptcy. Oh, my stars, Eric Faddis, renowned attorney. Don't you just hate it when your mastermind client just uses a fake email to find out all about cyanide and order arsenic from Amazon?

That really worked. Well, Nancy, you know, there is a potential alternative explanation as to why he was doing that. As we've talked about, his marriage of 23 years was on the rocks. He had filed for bankruptcy twice. He had a history of depression. A cyanide can be used to hurt others, but it can also be used to hurt oneself. And that's something that one might not want to broadcast to other people and might use surreptitious means to try to procure it, which it sounds like he did. You know, Eric, you know something?

You've got to tell, and I better inform you about it before you go to Vegas. The crazier your arguments get, the faster you talk. And I love that about you. And I'm telling you because I really don't think you can stop yourself. But that said, so you're suggesting now you're just spinning it out, right? Like you're throwing a Frisbee. You're just throwing it at me that he really ordered the cyanide and the arsenic for himself. Right. It's just equally consistent with that. And some people's appraisal. What about this? Have you ever had a client try to suborn perjury?

Kind of a deal. Dentures for perjury. Listen, according to prosecutors, this isn't the first time James Craig has tried to recruit fake witnesses. Kind of a deal. Dentures for perjury. Listen. According to prosecutors, this isn't the first time James Craig has tried to recruit fake witnesses. James Craig gets friendly with several inmates at the Arapahoe Detention Center and learns William Billy Walden's mother hates her dentures but can't afford implants. Craig asks Walden to let him talk to his mom the next time he gives her a call. Over the phone, Craig tells Rebecca Walden he'll give her a brand new set of teeth when he gets out, saying he's certain to get off because he didn't kill his wife. Craig gets Walden's address and tells her he'll give her more details in a letter. So, Faddis, dentures for perjury. Thoughts? Not the best deal, certainly a bad look. But on the other hand, defense is going to say, hey, look, he's been in jail for a long time. He's been adamant about his innocence.

He's getting desperate. He needs to do something to try to change things. And this is the sort of harebrained scheme he came up with. It's problematic, but doesn't mean he committed murder. Okay. I had a funny feeling you would say that about the dentures for perjury scheme. Well, what about hotties for dentures? Hotties, H-O-T-T-I-E-S. Listen, fattest. In early 2024, a letter from Craig to Rebecca Walden,

inmate William Walden's mother, was returned to the Arapahoe Detention Center as undeliverable. The letter contains an offer to provide Rebecca Walden with free dental implants if she recruits several young attractive women to pose as Craig's affair partners. Craig instructs Walden to have the women tell authorities that Angela confronted them about Craig's affairs, then recruited them to help her frame Craig for her murder. Okay, what happened, Stephan Tubbs? Where do the hotties enter the scene? In a desperate plea to get out of the Arapahoe County jail. I mean, at this point, there's no death penalty in Colorado. He has nothing to lose. He's been accused of trying solicitation for murder of the lead detective in this. I mean, it's not just the hotties or the free teeth or whatever.

Jim Craig is trying any way that he can, at least according to those of us following the case closely, watching him do whatever he can to possibly grasp at straws to convince one juror once this thing finally starts to create that doubt. But it's been crazy. The hits just keep on coming. I literally, less than two weeks ago, had a guy reach out to me, don't know him from anybody. He says, hey, I was serving in the Arapahoe County detention facility with Craig until last October. You won't believe what he told me. He even gave me a letter. I haven't seen the letter yet, but it's just, it's crazy and it continues. In the letters to Constantinides, Craig offers a blank check in exchange for spoofed texts, phone records, and doctored photographs

that can help convince authorities Constantinides knew Angela in life and that the mom of six was suicidal after learning of his latest affair. Craig details some of his previous affairs in the letter, admitting he first cheated on Angela with a patient in 2009 and provides personal information about his children in an attempt to make their lives seem credible. Okay, you know, I don't really know which way to turn here, but I'm going to go back to Eric Faddis, veteran trial lawyer, defense attorney. In all seriousness, I've been pulling your leg a little bit with the fantastical nature of some of the facts we're learning. But we have a mother of six dead, not just dead, but suffering for months from cyanide and arsenic poisoning before she died.

OK, you say it's not the husband. I say it is. He's still innocent. He has not been proven guilty in a court of law. But let's just take a look at what we're hearing right now. Not only did he try to arrange, quote, hotties, attractive women to claim they were his sex partners, to tell authorities his dead wife confronted him about his affairs and that she was going to commit suicide. So your suicide fantasy is actually hatching in the defendant's mind. All right.

So he's taking your cue, but he's soliciting subning, for lack of a better word, perjury by hotties to say his dead wife confronted them. Not only that, he has a dentures for perjury scheme with somebody else. Now we're learning, according to Stephan Tubbs, we're learning he tried to order a hit on a detective, have a detective murdered. What about it? You know, I think what he'll say is that a person who feels that they are innocent, they are being railroaded. They have been in jail for a long period of time, months and months, that they don't feel like they have a way to get out. They're going to resort to desperate acts. And perhaps in his mind, he thought that, hey, if I eliminate the head honcho in this investigation, perhaps the investigation falls apart. Certainly not lawful, certainly not okay, but also not the same thing as proving him guilty of murdering his wife. Dr. Ernest Scioto joining us, renowned physician and author. Dr. Scioto, what does a victim experience as they die from cyanide or arsenic poisoning? Well,

they're going to be different. Arsenic is going to be sort of a slow agonizing death whereas cyanide is going to be very rapid you're going to you're really going to end up with sufficient cyanide you're going to end up dying within moments so they're really two different types of death due to two very different toxins. Dr. Phil Waters joining us, former homicide detective, Houston PD, president of kindredspiritsinvestigations.com. You know, Phil, you and I have handled a lot of murders, a lot of homicides, be they involuntary, voluntary or malice murder. It takes a special kind of mind. Would you agree, Phil? This is not getting angry and pulling a gun and shooting. This is months and months of planning, of scheming,

Google searches, and lovingly feeding your wife protein shakes laced with poison and then watching her suffer, Phil. Well, exactly. You know, this is an evil act on this guy's part. I won't even recognize him by saying his name. And we see this, and this is, he is obsessed with killing his wife, murdering his wife, the mother of his six children. And this is something that for, as you put it, for months has been thinking about this

every minute of every day. And so when he's going into these search engines and trying to figure out what kind of poison is the best one to use and that kind of thing, I tell you what, it's just, I hope he's a better dentist than he was a murderer because what he did is idiotic in terms of trying to accomplish the task, which is murder his wife, and try to have some sort of a story that's going to take the suspicion away from you. Everything he did in the process here pointed to him. So when we get in these investigations, we always look for affirmative links. We let the evidence take us where we need to be, and it's always a journey for the truth. In this particular guy, I listened to the defense with all due respect.

These episodes of isolation that we're talking about where, yeah, he's cheating, that doesn't make him a murderer and so forth and so on. This has to be looked at in a timeline of events if we can determine when this started. And then, of course, we know where it ended. And what were the events that occurred in between that got us to that point? You know, this taking pictures and so forth of his wife in the hospital when she's dying. You know, when I was listening to that discussion, I'm more prone to believe that he was going to use those pictures to gain some sympathy from the woman that he was wanting to disquire around. So, you know, he had a purpose for all the things that he did.

And it was just it was just kind of stupid is as stupid does. It just continued to get more idiotic as he went through this process, thinking that what people are going to believe, this story that he's come up with. And, you know, another thing, Phil, as you and I, you as a homicide detective, me as a felony prosecutor, we would go about our business every day, not thinking that an inmate behind bars is trying to have us killed, have us killed to thwart the investigation. I bet you never thought about that while you were detecting. No, when I worked in narcotics, I did have a contract put out on me, so I'm a little familiar with it. But in terms of my work alongside... Well, didn't we all, for Pete's sake, we've all gotten death threats. The first one I had was faxed over from the Fulton County Jail. Didn't take too much to figure that one out.

But for someone to actually manifest, it would come up. Yes. Yes. The level of arrogance to think he can get away with everything and fix it all by doing a dentures for perjury scheme and having the lead detective murdered. If you know or think you know anything about this case, whether you were an inmate or a patient or a lover, it doesn't matter. This woman is dead. And probably her last thoughts were, who's going to take care of my children? Please dial the tip line 720-913-STOP, 720-913-7867 as the state continues to build its case. Goodbye, friend.