Hidden True Crime - James Craig's Daughter Gives HEARTBREAKING Statement + A Secret Church Letter Revealed

Episode Date: August 1, 2025

She called him out in front of the world. One of James Craig’s daughters delivers a searing victim impact statement—while we reveal a secret letter James wrote before the murder and quietly passed to a fellow church member. About Hidden True Crime: What started as a simple conversation at their dinner table became a captivating podcast. Join the dynamic duo of Dr. John Matthias, a criminal psychologist, and Lauren Matthias, an investigative journalist, as they delve into the psychological facets of unthinkable crimes every week. Their unique perspectives and in-depth analysis offer a fresh take on true crime storytelling. Thank you for your support through sponsorships, subscribing, listening, and becoming a Patreon member at Patreon/com/HiddenTrueCrime Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I was supposed to be able to dress my dad. He was supposed to be my hero. and instead it'll forever be the villain in my book. James Craig. Count one. Murder in the first degree. Guilty. Count two.

Solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence. That's the Annabel Craig, his daughter. Guilty. Count three. Count three is in now. Count three, solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence. This is the Casey Bowhannon inmate. Guilty. Solicitation to commit perjury in first degree. This is the William Walburn

inmate situation. Guilty. Count five. Solicitations to commit murder in the first degree has to do with Nathaniel Harris. His ex-wife, again, is Kazi. Guilty. Count six, solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree. Guilty. Count seven, manslaughter, cause or aid, suicide. So that was the lesser charge of the first degree murder, which first degree murder, he's guilty, not guilty in count seven. That's good because it means that he got charged with first degree murder, plotting, planning, doing it with intent,

not causing or aiding her self-harm. Not guilty, count seven. I'd highlight that many members of the jury, turn back into the courtroom to watch the sentencing proceeding for James Gregg. And that was, that's, that's an unusual step. We don't often see that, but these jurors came back to watch James Gregg get sentenced. Um, my name is Miriam. I was the sick child. Her old is not hers. She was my best. My mom is here with me, but I hope more than anything that she's not. I hope she's were so much better, yelling at people for not lately their family history pictures.

You hook on the videos and pictures and stuff that we've seen throughout the duration of the trial, you've seen some of the ugliest songs in the world. Two little fuzz balls that followed my mom everywhere. They loved her so much. We were, one of them, he should be dead by now, we don't know I've made it this long. I was supposed to be able to hug my mom when he died. And instead, I was left to take him home and figure out what to do with him since my mom was gone. I was supposed to be able to plan my sister's weddings with my mom, even though I wasn't, there was nothing in the world I wanted to do less than Lana.

I was supposed to be able to share with her the stories, the things happening in my life, and the projects that I started and never finished. And I was supposed to be able to dress my dad. He was supposed to be my hero. And instead it'll forever be the villain in my book. And it occurs, I miss her so much. And I know there are so many more people that would love to be able to stand up and say a lot about my mom and how wonderful she was. And some people who had just loved to stand up and remind us some of the stupid things she did and said and some of her crazy moments.

But I think I speak for everyone when I say that life and the world will truly never be the same. I will never be as bright as it was when my mom was here with us. I regret every single day that I didn't, that I don't get to spend my days growing up and introducing her to my babies and their babies and worrying about, you know, like, well, retirement home, she should be an nurse. I didn't hire an in-home nurse or something. I don't know, I'm not a judge. I miss her.

I want my mom. I want more than anything to go home at the end of the day and just give her a hug and call her and tell her about all the crazy stuff that's happened. I had to get her advice whether asked for or not fun in my life. This just, it's a terrible situation. We, like my brother said, we trust your decision and we trust that we trust that you Justice has and will be served. And thank you to you and to the jury and everybody who's here supporting my mom.

Thank you guys for everything. And I'm sorry this is happening. Thank you. Justice was served. Justice was served for Angela Craig, whose husband, James Craig, has been convicted of first three murder and will serve a lifetime in prison without the possibility. of parole. He is serving that sentence for poisoning his wife Angela. Angela, who is his wife of 23 years, the mother of his children, and the person that he vowed to love, protect, and honor. Instead, he deceived her, he cheated on her, he lied her, and he killed her. James Craig's selfish and deceitful actions shattered a family, stole a mother from her.

from six children and attempted to manipulate those closest to him with chilling calculation. I hope this conviction and life sentence in prison brings a measure of justice to Angela, to her children, family, and everyone who loved her. While no verdict can undo the profound loss they have suffered, today's outcome holds the defendant accountable and ensures that he will spend his life behind

ours. We hope this verdict also brings a sense of closure and peace to Angela's family, especially her children who will live with the unimaginable pain of what James Craig did to their mother for the rest of their lives. Our hearts remain with them, and we are grateful for their strength, their patience, and their trust throughout this difficult process. Next to me, we have our top-notch trial team, who you will hear from shortly, and we have members of Angela's family. As with any case of this magnitude, this prosecution truly was a team effort. I'd like to personally thank the Aurora Police Department, including the detective Bobby Doe Olson and Molly Harris, Arapa County Sheriff Tyler Brown and his team, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and our other law enforcement partners.

I also want to recognize my predecessor, John Kellner, who ensured a smooth handoff of this case so that we could be sure to get justice for Angela. Importantly, we also want to recognize the many health care providers who cared for Angela Craig, who worked to save her life as she fought to live and that is as her husband continued to poison her. I will now turn it over to my senior chief deputy DA, Michael Marl, who will talk about the overwhelming evidence in this case and his fight to secure justice for Angela's family. Thank you. Thank you, DA Padden. The evidence in this case included 10,000 pages of documents, two terabytes of data, and more than 300 witnesses.

It overwhelmingly pointed to James Craig's guilt. Clearly, Craig wanted out of his marriage, but was unwilling to face the consequences of divorce, especially a divorce initiated by him. He gave in to greed and cowardice, ultimately treating Angela as an object, an obstacle, an obstacle to the life he wanted. The verdict vindicates Angela's memory from Craig's attempted post-mortem character assassination.

The jury said it loudly. Angela was not suicidal. She had no knowledge of or participation in what happened to her, which was the James Craig murdered her. It has been an honor to participate in this quest for justice for Angela, her family and her friends, all of whom loved her dearly. Finally, I'm going to turn it over to Mark Prey to say some words on behalf of Angela and her family. Thanks, Osama. We are undoubtedly elated that James Craig will never be able to do this to another person.

I have a short statement approved by my family that I'd like to read. On behalf of Angela's family, we want to express our deepest gratitude to the 18th Judicial District Attorney's Office and the Aurora Police Department for their unwavering dedication to this case. We give special things to assistant district attorney Ryan Brackley, deputy district attorneys Mike Morrow and Osama Maghribi and Detective Bobby Joe Olson and Detective Molly Harris, but their professionalism, compassion, and tenacity and seeking justice for Angela. We are also profoundly and grateful to the doctors and nurses who cared for Angela, Her colleagues and friends and others whose testimony and support have been invaluable throughout this process.

Their contributions helped to ensure the truth was fully heard, and Angela's memory was honored with integrity. Angela was vibrant and compassionate and devoted to those she loved. Although she was allergic to most animals, she had a fierce affection for them, just one example of her big-heartedness. She loved her children and with unmatched fierceness was endlessly generous, always on call for her friends and family offering help and support without hesitation. Contrary to how she was sometimes portrayed during this trial, Angela was anything but isolated. Her friends were tucked away in nearly every corner of the globe. She was intensely dedicated to staying active and healthy both for herself and her family. and live life with an adventurous spirit, whether traveling, getting out to explore or simply

enjoying a good movie or a great book. Her faith, love of God, and devotion to her family guided everything she did with a strong personality, a quick wit, and a famously sharp sense of humor. She made every moment with her unforgettable. Well, this has been an incredibly difficult time for our family. We take comfort in the integrity and commitment shown by everyone who stood with us in pursuit of justice for Angela and our children. We thank you all so much for your support in Angela. We miss you and we love you forever. Well, I'll say I think about Angela Craig every single day. I never got to meet her.

And I think people are fascinated because, of the absolute senselessness, the absolute heinousness of what occurred. And that there was no way really for her or anyone to see this coming. It's not as though she was engaged in any kind of risky behavior or a lifestyle, and not that that justifies anything that befalls anybody who is,

but sometimes you can understand that a little bit better. This was a woman who just went to church and took care of her family, And it should have been safe. Should have been safe in her home with her husband of more than 20 years, the father of her six children. She should have been in no danger. I mean, she was physically and mentally well.

She worked on those things every day, you know, above average physical fitness. And she should have lived another 50 years at least. And I think people just are. shocked that something like this could happen to someone like her. I think that's why. If I could add to that, I think part of it is just really what we refer to earlier as this stunning nature of this offense. This is Angela's husband is poisoning her, causing her to die a slow death. It wasn't something done in the heat of passion. It was deliberate. It was over the course of days and then the cover-up afterwards enlisting his own daughter to attempt to make a deep

fake video. To me, that was what was so stunning about this case. And I think that's why it's garnered national attention. So certainly the office manager in recognizing that something was wrong. And the office manager also in her testimony expressed a lot of a lot of care and concern for Angela. Dr. Craig, who I think I'm going to call James Craig from at this point, he got a lot of texts from people in his life every day. How is Angela? How is she doing? Is she getting better? Have you figured out what's wrong with her? It was the office manager who put it all together and made the right phone call. It was Dr. Ryan Redfern and his wife, Dr. Michelle Redfern, who reported this to the hospital staff.

And the hospital staff immediately went into action. And they did what they did what they can do to try to save her life. And it was too late. But, you know, they went then and confronted James Craig. And they held him to the truth, which they eventually got from him. And then the other heroes are those who continue to come forward, those who continue to cooperate with the police. you know, many of them from within the Arapaho County Jail and members of their family and

people that they were able to contact. People came forward because it just wasn't right. One of our alleged jailhouse witnesses said it was just the right thing to do. What he did to his wife was wrong, it was the right thing to do. So everyone who cooperated, who participated were the heroes of this case. And I think of those detectives from the Aurora Police Department who got involved in this case in the evening of March 15th and didn't sleep for days and didn't stop working until about an hour ago when the jury came back and found James Craig guilty. Hey, everyone. All right. So there's more. There's more. I have a look. Let's let's just go over What we have today, we're covering the sentencing of James Craig, and it's as heartbreaking as it is cold-blooded.

This was a respected Colorado dentist. He was a father of six. He is now, we can say it now, a convicted murderer. We can say it. And we have a handwritten letter that James Craig wrote just months before he murdered his wife. Stick with me, because I want to catch everybody up. James Craig was just sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the premedited poisoning of his wife, Angela Craig, a woman he was married to for 23 years. and why? What was her crime? She didn't have one. She trusted him. That's her crime. She trusted

her husband and father of her six kids. And so in March of 2023, Angela started feeling seriously ill. Dizzy spells, nausea, collapsing at work. And every time she went to the hospital, nobody could understand why she was sick. Her symptoms would appear, fade, like clockwork. This wasn't a coincidence. James, her husband, had been poisoning her. and not just poisoning her, but poisoning her slowly over the course of 10 days. He laced her protein shakes with potassium cyanide and tetrahydroslating. That's the chemical found in over-the-counter eyedrops like vizene. This was methodical and calculated with intent.

What makes this case even more disturbing, though, is the motive. The prosecutors during trial revealed that Craig was carrying on affairs, multiple affairs, and that he wanted out of his marriage but didn't want the message. of a divorce or a financial fallout. Instead, he chose murder of his wife, the woman who kept giving him chance after chance after chance, and he actually thought he could get away with it. Investigators uncovered chilling evidence. His Google searches included things like, is there such a thing as undetectable poison, and how to make murder look like natural causes? He ordered cyanide online, and he had it delivered to his dental practice. He even went as far

as bringing a syringe into Angela's hospital room, allegedly, administering the fatal dose directly into her IV. But that is not where it ends. After Angela's death, Craig tried to cover his tracks. He asked one of his daughters to help fabricate a video suggesting that Angela had been suicidal. She testified in trial. He tried to get a jailhouse informant to kill a lead detective on his case. He's getting 24 additional years for that.

And in court this afternoon, Angela's family gave powerful victim impact statements. powerful ones. And his oldest daughters, this is really important, his oldest daughter said, quote, I was supposed to be able to trust my dad, but instead he'll forever be the villain in my book, end quote. So it was raw, honest, and incredibly painful to hear. This is important. James Craig's head was down while his daughter spoke and did not look at Mirra or Miriam. She goes by Mira. he looked down the entire time. When the judge was speaking during the sentencing, he looked at the judge,

but he would not look at his daughter the entire time she spoke. And today the judge handed down the maximum sentence, life without parole. And Craig showed no emotion, no apology, no explanation, just silence. So many of you in chat called him a coward. And there were tears, of course, in the courtroom,

but there was also so much relief. Six of her nine siblings also gave victim impact statements. Angela's family embraced after the sentencing. And now again, James Craig will spend the rest of his life behind bars. So now, we have a letter sent by a woman who met James Craig at a church function at an LDS event in January of 2023. That's two months before Angela was killed, guys. Just two months.

And so in this letter, which we can pull up now, we can pull this letter up, I have permission to share this handwritten letter that was handed to this woman. Again, she was a single mother at a church event from James himself. And we can all guess James's motive for giving this single woman a handwritten note. I mean, I'll take a guess. Because at the time, the woman thought maybe he was just a really kind guy introducing himself. I'm going to suggest because we know his M.O. That he was probably trying to hit on this woman.

And two months after he handed this kind note to this woman, Angela was dead. So the woman, I want you to know, did call police, told them about the letter. And police did come and pick the letter up. They probably didn't need it. It wasn't evidence. But, you know, they came and got it.

But before she had a photo of it. And here's what it says. Here's what the letter states. It says, we don't know each other. But I'm sitting behind you. And sitting behind you, I can tell that your kids love you so much. You're doing a great job as a mother. Life is hard.

And I'm sure that's no different for you, but you're doing something right. Keep fighting the good fight. I hope that my kids look at me like they look at you. They love you so much. Jim Craig, South Shore Ward. I hope my kids look at me like they look at you. Remember how I mentioned James wouldn't even look at his daughter, Mira, as she gave her victim impact statement.

Perhaps it was because he knew his kids would never look at him like this lovely mother's children looked at her, that they would never look at him like that. Just a guess. And I doubt they ever will. I am jumping off for another interview. another James Craig interview. I am receiving a lot of emails and a lot of people reaching out about James Craig. And if anybody else knew him or knew Angela or has something to say email as a

hidden true crime info at gmail.com. I'm taking off this interview was scheduled two minutes ago, but I wanted to share this bit of information. This man's manipulation knows no bounds. So luckily, justice has been served and he hopefully won't be able to hurt. anyone ever again. At my bank, I was literally getting pennies using Wellfronts. Chiching. Meet Angela, a wealthfront cash account client since 2023. I left my job, not having something else lined up yet. I was pregnant with my second. We had to think about how do we make our money work for us. Every month, there's this much that I'm getting an interest in. I didn't have to do anything. My money is working hard on its own, and I can trust Welfront is taking care of me.

With a Wealthfront cash account, earn up to 4.2% APY on your cash. No account fees, no minimums, and no strings attached. Plus, free instant withdrawals to eligible accounts. Get started at Wealthfront.com. Client was paid $1,000 for their testimonial, creating a conflict of interest. Outcomes vary. 3.3% base API as of January 30th, 2026, is representative variable and earned on funds swept to program banks. 0.65% new client boost for three months on up to $150,000.

Direct deposit $1,000 a month and fund an investing account for a 0.25% increase. Cash account offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC, member Finra, IPC, not a bank. Instant withdrawal subject to conditions, fees and eligibility requirements may apply to certain checking features of the cash account. At my bank, I was literally getting pennies using Wellfront. Cheching. Meet Angela, a wealthfront cash account client since 2023. I lost my job, not having something else lined up yet. I was pregnant with my second. We had to think about how do we make our money work for us. Every month, there's this much that I'm getting an interest and I didn't have to do anything. My money is working hard on its own and I can trust Wellfront is taking care of.

With a Wealthfront cash account earn up to 4.2% APY on your cash. No account fees, no minimums, and no strings attached. Plus, free instant withdrawals to eligible accounts. Get started at Wealthfront.com. Client was paid $1,000 for their testimonial, creating a conflict of interest. Outcomes vary. 3.3% base API as of January 30th, 2026, is representative variable and earned on funds swept to program banks.

0.65% new client boost for three months on up to $150,000. Direct deposit $1,000 a month and fund an investing account for a 0.25% increase. Cash account offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC, member 156,000. General SIPC, not a bank. Instant withdrawal subject to conditions, fees and eligibility requirements may apply to certain checking features of the cash account.