James Craig, an Aurora dentist accused of poisoning his wife, tried to get a cellmate to kill “the worst, dirtiest detective in the world,” according to testimony in an evidentiary hearing Friday.

That officer, Aurora police detective Bobbi Jo Olson, has led the investigation of the alleged murder of Craig’s wife. 

Last November, two weeks before his murder trial was to begin, Craig allegedly cooked up a murder-for-hire plot to kill four witnesses, including Olson, an unknown detective and two inmates, one of whom had been supplying the authorities with information, according to prosecutors.

The new allegations were explained during Craig’s hearing Friday.

Eighteenth Judicial District Judge Shay Whitaker ruled that there was enough probable cause to add a fifth and sixth charge of solicitation to commit murder in the first degree and solicitation to commit perjury in the first degree.

Craig, 47, handcuffed with a chain wrapped around his torso, pleaded not guilty to both counts Friday afternoon. He listened intently to the proceedings and shifted uncomfortably in his seat when he was referred to as the “murder dentist.”

Craig was already facing one count of first-degree murder after deliberation, two counts of tampering with evidence, and a perjury charge, which is a class 5 felony.

For the charge of solicitation to commit murder, prosecutors say Craig tried to convince one of his cellmates, Nathaniel Harris, to kill Olson. In the second charge, they say Craig attempted to recruit Harris’ ex-wife to Photoshop pictures of Craig’s late wife Angela Craig in a scheme to show that she wanted to kill him or was on the brink of suicide.

The first of two letters prosecutors say were hand-written by Craig explained that “Bobbi Olson, the worst, dirtiest detective in the world, is on this case. We have to discredit her.”

In one of the letters, he admitted to a sexual addiction and confessed to having an affair with a patient. 

One letter was found among Harris’ belongings and never mailed. A second letter reached the inmate’s ex-wife, Kasaini Konstaninidis but she did not act on what 18th Judicial Deputy District Attorney Michael Mauro called a “desperation to escape responsibility.”

Defense attorneys fought back, attacking the credibility of the characters involved in a drama that unfolded like a Netflix thriller.

Lisa Moses brought up the fact that Harris had a criminal history dating back to 1995, adding that he was incarcerated for charges out of Boulder, Arapahoe, and Denver counties when he was approached by Craig. At one time he was one of  Colorado’s 50 Most Wanted criminals. 

“So he’s pretty savvy in this system,” said Moses. “That’s correct,” said the witness, Arapahoe County Sheriff’s investigator Kal Gatchis.

Aurora detective Olson, who wrote the 52-page arrest affidavit and is still working on the investigation, appeared unfazed over the alleged plan to kill her. However, she was sitting 20 feet from Craig during Friday’s hearing.

At times, she looked in Craig’s direction but ignored him for most of the hearing.

Craig listened intently as his lawyers questioned Arapahoe County Sheriff’s detention supervisor Nicholas Hudson.

Hudson was the Arapahoe County detention supervisor who uncovered the alleged plan when he found a multi-paged letter signed by “Jimmy Craig” in Harris’ belongings in his cell.

Angela Craig’s death

The tale of Angela Craig’s agonizing last days has had so many bizarre developments that it attracted the attention of three major murder mystery programs — 2020, Dateline and 48 Hours.

She had high levels of two chemicals, tetrahydrozoline and cyanide, in her body after her March 2023 death. Arapahoe County Coroner Kelly Lear, who performed the autopsy, testified at an earlier hearing that Craig had more than 400 times the amount of tetrahydrozoline in her body than a therapeutic dose.

Angela Craig died at University Hospital after multiple visits to emergency rooms complaining of everything from dizziness and vertigo to lightheadedness.

On March 15, 2023, she entered the ER, collapsed, was put on a ventilator, and was pronounced brain dead that night. She was taken off life support on March 18.

The affidavit reported that James Craig’s dental business was spiraling downward and he was starting up a relationship with a Texas orthodontist.

In other developments within the last year, records show that Craig tried to convince a fellow inmate to find two “attractive” women to pretend they had affairs with the dentist and lie about it in court. In exchange, Craig offered thousands of dollars in cash and free dental work to the inmate’s mother.

Craig’s next court date is April 14 for a motions hearing.

Whitaker set the trial to begin July 10 with jury selection in a proceeding that is expected to last three weeks. It is the third trial date set in a murder case that has gone through three teams of defense attorneys.