An Aurora dentist accused of plotting to kill his wife was formally charged with first degree murder Thursday morning.

James Craig, 45, told office workers that his wife first began showing concerning symptoms of dizziness after he made her a protein shake, which Aurora police investigators suspect was laced with deadly poison, according to the arrest affidavit. 

Craig said six words in court in response to the judge’s questions about whether or not he understood the advisement of charges – five yeses and one no.

Trail of texts, emails and poison implicate Aurora dentist in wife's death, police say

He shuffled into court shackled and handcuffed and dressed in an over-sized orange jumpsuit and sat quietly as he listened to the around 10-minute proceeding. At times, he whispered to his attorney, public defender Katie Telfer. Telfer waived Craig’s right to have a preliminary hearing within 35 days.

Angela Craig, 43, was the mother of the couple’s six children. James Craig was starting a relationship with a Texas orthodontist and his business was failing, the arrest documents said.

According to an arrest affidavit, Angela Craig was treated at two hospitals three separate times over a week and a half as symptoms to a mysterious illness got progressively worse.  She complained about everything from dizziness to having problems focusing, nausea and shakiness.

Her final trip was an urgent life and death situation.

Court records show that Mrs. Craig’s brother rushed her to University Hospital on March 15 where she collapsed. She was declared brain dead March 18 at 4:29 p.m., the arrest record said.

She was taken off of life support March 21, investigative sources confirmed to The Denver Gazette. Her autopsy was performed Wednesday, March 22, the Arapahoe Coroner’s office confirmed. 

A TRAIL OF EMAILS TO PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES

Investigators found that starting March 4, the suspect ordered multiple types of poisons to his home and office. One of those, Potassium Cyanide, was delivered to his office during the time Angela Craig was already making her first trips to the hospital showing symptoms of dizziness and nausea. The affidavit said that James Craig set up a new email from which he made those orders on Feb. 27. He also wrote his presumed lover on that email.

That package was inadvertently opened by an office worker who discovered the powder inside and packed it back up. When James Craig was confronted by his dental office partner about the package, he lied that it contained a diamond ring, unaware that the partner knew differently, investigators said.

The defendant then changed his story, explaining that his wife had requested the deadly poison and that he didn’t think she’d really take it, the affidavit said. Further, the report said Craig told his colleague that his wife was “playing a game of chicken.”

Telfer, filed six motions Wednesday night ahead of the advisement including a redacted protective order and a complaint that an Aurora Police Department press release regarding the case was written in a way that it presumed her client is guilty. In court, Telfer states that these kinds of statements “serve to erode Mr. Craig’s presumption of innocence” and requested that Arapahoe District Judge Shay Whitaker “issue an order directing the Aurora Police Department not to make any additional comments.”

James Craig’s next hearing is April 7 at 3 p.m. in Arapahoe District Court.