The 43-year-old wife of an Aurora dentist was poisoned to death, the Arapahoe County coroner confirmed Wednesday.
Angela Craig had lethal levels of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, a decongestant commonly found in Visine eyedrops, in her body, Coroner Kelly Lear testified in court Wednesday. She took the stand during the preliminary hearing for Angela Craig’s husband James Craig, who is charged with first-degree murder in his wife’s death.
Prosecutors on Wednesday also added a second charge against James Craig, but it was not immediately clear what that charge was, and attorneys in court referred to it only as “Count Two.”
Investigators say James Craig bought arsenic and cyanide days before his wife was poisoned to death, searched online about how to poison someone and was having an affair. Aurora police believe James Craig put poison in protein shakes he made for his wife.
Angela Craig had toxic but not lethal levels of arsenic in her body in the days before she died, Lear testified. Additionally, blood draws during Angela Craig’s hospital visit on March 15 show that the amount of cyanide in her body increased between about noon and 8 p.m. that day, Lear testified.
“That increase is consistent with her receiving additional cyanide exposure in that time period,” Lear testified.
Weeks before Angela died, James Craig used a communal computer at his workplace at Summerbrook Dental in Aurora to conduct numerous searches about poison, investigators alleged.
The searches on YouTube and Google included: “how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human,” “Is Arsenic Detectable in Autopsy,” “Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play,” “how to make poison,” and “The Top 10 Deadliest Plants (They Can Kill You),” according to his arrest affidavit.
James Craig ordered arsenic from Amazon.com on Feb. 27, police allege. He received the package on March 4, and two days later, his wife was admitted to a hospital with symptoms that aligned with poisoning, according to the affidavit. She was released that day, but returned to the hospital on March 9.
A blood sample taken March 9 showed she had toxic but not lethal levels of arsenic in her blood, Lear testified. While she was hospitalized, James Craig ordered two additional poisons — cyanide and oleandrin — from medical suppliers, according to the affidavit. (He never received the oleandrin because the package was intercepted by police.)
The cyanide was delivered on March 13 and, two days later, Angela Craig returned to the hospital with additional symptoms, authorities said. She then suffered a heart attack, was placed on a ventilator and her condition rapidly deteriorated until her death on March 18.
Both cyanide and tetrahydrozoline have similar effects on the body, Lear testified. The latter is found in eyedrops like Visine, which can help reduce red-eye. Angela Craig had more than 400 times the amount of Visine that is considered therapeutic, Lear said.
Sign up to get crime news sent straight to your inbox each day.