A Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife in a “complex and calculated murder” was arrested this weekend, officials announced.
Dr. James Toliver Craig, 45, a dentist in Aurora, was arrested on Sunday, four days after driving his wife, 43, to a hospital complaining of “severe headaches and dizziness”. Aurora police said.
After the woman arrived at the hospital, her condition ‘deteriorated rapidly’. She was put on a ventilator in intensive care and “a short time later she was declared medically brain dead,” authorities said.
An examination revealed that she had been poisoned. What she was poisoned with, the police statement does not say.
A police statement filed in the criminal case states that Craig had recently purchased crystalline metalloid arsenic and potassium cyanidereported Denver-based NBC affiliate KUSA.
Craig’s wife had been hospitalized three times this month — on March 6, Tuesday and Wednesday, Aurora Police Detective Bobbi Olson wrote in the document.
After the hospitalization Wednesday, a business associate and friend of Craig told a nurse that she may have been poisoned, Olson wrote. The business associate said Craig had recently ordered potassium cyanide and there was no reason for the chemical to be in a dental office, the affidavit says.
KUSA
An Internet search history showed YouTube searches of “Top 5 Undetectable Toxins Showing No Signs of Foul Play,” Olson wrote in the affidavit.
Olson also wrote that there was evidence that Craig was romantically involved with another woman and was “starting a new life” with her.
An arrest warrant for first-degree murder was obtained early Sunday, shortly after doctors decided to take the woman’s life.
Craig was jailed at 2 a.m. Sunday on charges of first-degree murder. It is not immediately clear whether he has a lawyer.
“As the suspicious details of this case came to light, our team of homicide officers and detectives worked tirelessly to uncover the truth behind the victim’s sudden illness and death,” said Chief Investigative Director Mark Hildebrand.
“It was soon discovered that this was in fact a gruesome, complex and calculated murder. I am very proud of the hard work of our Major Crime Homicide Unit in solving this case and pursuing justice for the victim,” he added.
