CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) — A dentist charged with killing his wife by poisoning her protein shakes offered a fellow jail inmate $20,000 to kill the case's lead investigator, calling her “the worst, dirtiest detective,” a prosecutor said Friday.
During an evidentiary hearing, Senior Chief Deputy Michael Mauro said the dentist, James Craig, was motivated by animus against Aurora police detective Bobbi Olson.
"This defendant hates Detective Olson for all the work she has done on his case,” he said.
Mauro said Craig also offered his cell mate, Nathaniel Harris, $20,000 each for killing three other people — a police officer investigators haven’t been able to find and two other jail inmates. Craig also allegedly sent letters from jail to Harris' ex-wife offering her $20,000 each for four people she could find to falsely testify at his trial that they knew his wife, Angela Craig, and that she planned to die by suicide, Mauro said.
One of Craig's lawyers, Robert Werking, said investigators did not look into whether Craig wrote the letters, including checking his handwriting. He also said that Harris and his ex-wife were prosecuted for forgery for their roles in an alleged fraud ring in 2005, suggesting they could not be trusted.
Judge Shay Whitaker said the letters included very detailed information and background about Angela Craig that could be used to fabricate a relationship with her, consistent with prosecutors' allegations. She ruled there was enough evidence for Craig to be tried for two new charges filed against him based on the latest allegations — solicitation to commit murder and solicitation to commit perjury. Prosecutors will have to present more evidence at a trial, though.
Craig, wearing an orange jail uniform, pleaded not guilty to both of the new charges after her ruling. Olson sat with prosecutors just a few feet away. She was swiftly escorted out of court by officers at the end of the hearing.
An Aurora police spokesperson declined to comment on Craig's alleged comments about Olson.
Outside of court, Werking said he could not comment on the case because of a gag order.
Craig has previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, two counts of solicitation to tamper with evidence and a previous charge of solicitation to commit perjury.
Angela Craig, 43, died in March 2023 of poisoning from cyanide and tetrahydrozoline, the latter a substance found in over-the-counter eye drops, according to the coroner. The couple had been married for 23 years and had six children together.
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This story has been updated to correct that one of the charges that Craig pleaded not guilty to was solicitation to tamper with evidence, not tampering with evidence.
