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Colorado dentist’s ‘mistress’ breaks silence as he appears in court for poisoning wife with protein shakes

Karin Cain found herself at the centre of a twisted murder plot when the man she had just started dating was arrested on suspicion of killing his wife

Rachel Sharp
Wednesday 12 July 2023 16:45 BST
Woman dating Colorado dentist accused of poisoning wife breaks silence

The alleged mistress of a Colorado dentist accused of poisoning his wife with arsenic-laced protein shakes has broken her silence as a judge is set to decide whether the man will go on trial for her murder.

Karin Cain told ABC’s Good Morning America on Wednesday that James Craig lied to her about the state of his marriage and that she would never have gotten involved with him if she had known the truth.

Rather than being his “mistress”, she said they had only met three weeks prior to his wife’s death at a dentistry conference.

“I don’t like the label,” she said. “If I had known what was true, I would not have been with this person.”

Ms Cain is speaking out after she found herself at the centre of a chilling murder plot when the man she had just started dating was arrested on suspicion of killing his wife.

Angela Craig, a mother of six, became ill in early March with medical staff unable to determine what was wrong with her. On her third trip to hospital that month, she died.

Two days later, her husband Mr Craig was arrested for murder.

Mr Craig, a Colorado-based dentist, slowly poisoned his wife of 23 years over time by lacing her pre-workout protein shakes with arsenic and cyanide, according to investigators.

Before his wife’s death, the affidavit states that he researched how to poison her and get away with it, carrying out online searches for questions such as “Is Arsenic Detectable in Autopsy?”

Karin Cain breaks her silence over alleged killer dentist (GMA)

Prosecutors allege that Mr Craig wanted his wife dead so that he could pursue his burgeoning relationship with new girlfriend Ms Cain, who is named in the charging documents.

But Ms Cain doubts that she played a part in his alleged murderous motive, as she said they had never planned a future together.

“There’s no way I’m a motive. There’s been no planning a future together,” she said.

Ms Cain, an orthodontist who lives in Texas, said that she met Mr Craig at the dental conference in February.

He lied to her that his marriage was over and that he did not live in the same home as his wife, she said.

At the time, she was also in the middle of divorcing her husband of three decades.

While she was “not looking for love,” she said that they bonded over their apparent shared experiences and shared devotion to their children.

In total, they spent just three days together at the conference, meeting on a Thursday before parting ways – her to Texas, him to Colorado – on Saturday.

After that they messaged constantly and she felt “so connected” to her new companion, she said.

She planned to visit him in Colorado but the first trip fell through.

The second planned trip came in March when she said Mr Craig told her his wife was ill.

The day before she was due to arrive in Denver, she said that Angela had a seizure and was placed on life support, with a low chance of survival.

James Craig in mugshot (Booking photo )

While she said she reconsidered going to Colorado at that time, Mr Craig allegedly encouraged her by saying that he could do with her support.

They went for dinner twice, she said, where she noted his behaviour seemed odd.

“He at no point seemed stressed or anxious,” she said. “I mean really I had to drag it out of him like, ‘Are you sure you’re ok?’”

Days later, Angela was dead.

Now, Ms Cain says she feels lied to by the person she felt she was falling in love with.

“I don’t have any sort of headspace in my reality where it fits” what she has now learned in the criminal affidavit, she said.

“I didn’t willingly have a relationship with somebody who was in a marriage.”

Ms Cain spoke out hours before Mr Craig was scheduled to appear in court for his preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

In the hearing, prosecutors will seek to convince the judge that there is enough evidence to try Mr Craig for the first-degree murder of his wife and mother of his six children.

As well as the romantic motive, the affidavit also alleges that the dentist was on the brink of bankruptcy.

He is yet to enter a plea on the charges.

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