'Pity and disgust': Woman deceived by Colorado dentist who poisoned his wife discusses trial, aftermath
Dr. Karin Cain met Dr. James Craig at a dental conference in Las Vegas in early 2023. 21 days after they parted, Craig’s wife and the mother of his six children mysteriously died.
In that timespan, prosecutors say Craig researched poisons and then bought arsenic, cyanide and other deadly substances and used them to kill his wife, Angela Craig.
A new "20/20" episode, "21 Days to Murder," airing Friday, Sept 19, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and streaming the next day on Hulu.
You can also get more behind-the-scenes of each week's episode by listening to "20/20: The After Show" weekly series right on your 20/20 podcast feed on Mondays, hosted by "20/20" co-anchor Deborah Roberts.
Cain, an orthodontist from Texas, was unwittingly ensnared in the murder investigation. Speaking exclusively to ABC News, she said only now is she coming to terms with the full scope of James Craig’s deception.
"It's still just like there's this person that you think you know so well," Cain told ABC News' Matt Gutman in an exclusive new interview for "20/20." "I still can hardly reconcile the two completely different realities."
Craig was found guilty of first-degree murder on July 30, 2025. That same day, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally poisoning Angela.
For Cain, testifying at Craig's trial had unexpected emotional weight. Cain told "20/20" about how she felt as she identified Craig in the courtroom.
"I had to take a long time to find him," she said. "There's a lot of pity and disgust and just disbelief."
Their whirlwind romance lasted only three weeks in early 2023, during which Craig had told her that he was divorcing and living in a separate apartment from his wife -- all lies, as investigators later revealed.
The trial revealed how prosecutors say Craig had poisoned his wife, first by spiking her protein shakes with arsenic and later using a syringe to pump a fatal dose of cyanide into Angela’s IV line while she was in the hospital intensive care unit. Prosecutors say hospital security footage captured Craig with the syringe in his hand moments before this final act. Angela was declared dead on March 18, 2023.
Meeting Angela's family at the trial proved especially difficult, according to Cain.
"The weight of her loss was something that just hit me almost fresh," she said. "I ended up leaving heavier because now I have these people and these faces and these beautiful people and kind people and wonderful people that, I mean, their lives were affected in way more severe ways than mine was."
Two years later, Cain described a "special kind of feeling alone" that came with weathering public scrutiny and personal betrayal. She said her dental practice suffered, and she received hate mail from strangers.
"When you're being run through the gauntlet and getting steamrolled by the world, that doesn't feel just like being alone, that feels lonely and just unsupported," she said.
Despite everything, Cain told "20/20" she maintains hope for finding love again.
"That's something I want in my story," she said.
She also acknowledged that she approaches relationships much more cautiously now.
"I've tried really hard not to become cynical," she said. "One of the things I've always liked about myself was that kind of tendency to believe you are who you say you are until I have proof otherwise."
However, she said the experience has forever changed her.
"It's a hard thing to decide what you take away as a lesson, without letting it change your heart and your personality and who you are as a person," she told "20/20."
