13 things about Aurora, Colorado dentist James Toliver Craig

Dr. James “Jim” Toliver Craig is a dentist from Aurora, Colorado, United States. The city is around 595 miles away from Kansas City, Missouri, USA, which is home to the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Dentistry.

A dentist in Aurora is now in county jail on murder charges after police say he poisoned his wife.

James Toliver Craig, 45, was arrested Sunday morning. Officers say Craig drove his wife to the hospital and her condition deteriorated quickly.

Story tonight at 9 and 10. pic.twitter.com/uSQZDNTftn

— Kelly Reinke (@KellyReinkeTV) March 19, 2023

BIOGRAPHY

Craig is an American dentist who practiced dentistry at Summerbrook Dental Group in Aurora. His services included orthodontics, emergency dentistry, cosmetic dentistry, family dentistry, sedation dentistry, dental implants, dentures, general dentistry and temporomandibular joint treatment.

Aside from practicing dentistry, Craig is also a former professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Dentistry. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. He and Angela Craig were both originally from Kansas, USA.
2. He and Angela have a son named Toliver Craig and five daughters namely Nora Jane Craig, Mira Craig, Belle Craig, Violet Jo Craig and Cleo Craig.
3. Aside from Aurora, he and Angela lived in other parts of Colorado including Denver.
4. He earned his bachelor’s degree in zoology from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, USA.
5. He taught courses in clinical dentistry, biochemistry and histology at the University of Missouri at Kansas City School of Dentistry.
6. He was 2 years older than Angela.
7. He is 4 years younger than Dr. Karin Forsman Cain, an orthodontist from Marble Falls, Texas, USA.
8. In 2001, he married Angela.
9. In 2003, Angela gave birth to their first child.
10. In 2006, he earned his PhD in dental surgery from the University of Missouri Kansas City School of Dentistry and joined Summerbrook Dental Group.
11. In 2015, Angela gave birth to their sixth child.
12. In 2023, he allegedly poisoned Angela.
13. On February 11, 2025, he turned 47.

TIMELINE

Jim is Mormon. He enjoys mountain biking, trail hiking and rock climbing. 

2020

• On July 1, 2020, he filed for bankruptcy and was represented by Michael C. Barnhill.

2022

• In August 2022, he became business partners with Michelle Redfearn‘s husband Ryan Redfearn, who acquired his practice that was financially struggling.

2023

• In February 2023, he met Cain at a dental conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
• On February 27, 2023, he ordered arsenic online and received it at his house in Aurora on March 4, 2023, the same day he purchased flights for Cain to visit Colorado from March 16-20, 2023. He later allegedly placed the arsenic in Angela’s pre-workout shakes along with potassium cyanide to poison her.
• His wife Angela was hospitalized from March 9-14, 2023. When she was discharged from the hospital, she accused him of poisoning her. On March 13, 2023, one of his employees in his office received a canister marked potassium cyanide.
• On March 15, 2023, he drove Angela to the hospital after she complained of dizziness and severe headaches. She was placed on a ventilator in the intensive care unit and was declared brain dead.
• On March 16, 2023, he and Cain hiked, dined at a sushi spot and spent the night together in Colorado.
• On March 19, 2023, doctors decided to take Angela off life support and Aurora Police Department officers arrested him. He was charged with first -degree murder.
• In April 2023, he started sending Cain handwritten love letters from jail. 
• On October 9, 2023, he pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against him related to Angela’s death.

2024

• On November 21, 2024, his defense attorney Harvey Steinberg withdrew from his murder case.
• On November 22, 2024, he was charged with two counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder for plotting murders while in jail, including that of an Aurora detective who investigated his murder case.

2025

• On July 15, 2025, opening statements were given in his murder trial in Aurora. His new defense attorney Ashley Witham told the jury they do not dispute that he was having an affair and suggested that Angela’s death may have been a suicide. Prosecutors accused him of asking one of his daughters to create a deepfake video that would show her mother asking for the chemicals and showed a message he sent her, “And I love you Belle, I’m sorry to ever have asked for this help”.
• On July 29, 2025, Cain testified during his trial in Aurora where she gave details about their relationship in 2023.
• On July 30, 2025, Lyft driver and single mother Carrie Hageseth testified during his trial in Aurora and revealed that they met through a dating website and he paid for her daughter’s car in exchange for sex prior to his arrest in 2023.