- 8 hours ago
48 Hours - Season 38 Episode 8 -
The Setup Murder of Kristil Krug
The Setup Murder of Kristil Krug
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00:00My name is John O'Hare. I am a police officer with the Broomfield Police Department.
00:07Officer, how did this case begin for you?
00:10On December 14th of 2023, I was dispatched to a welfare check at the Krug household.
00:18Broomfield dispatchers meeting.
00:20Hi there. My name is Dan Krug.
00:22Dan Krug was calling and asked that we check on his wife, Christelle.
00:26My wife isn't responding to text messages or phone calls.
00:35Said that he had not been able to reach her for about three hours.
00:38We've had threats against us. We have both been targeted by a stalker.
00:44Dan said that this alleged stalker had made threats to both him and his wife, Christelle.
00:51Which is why I'm nervous that she's not answering me.
00:56The first thing I did was walk right to the front door.
01:00Kind of peek inside. Everything looked orderly, quiet.
01:04I gave it a wild knock.
01:07My thinking at the time was it's very possible she's not even home.
01:11So I wanted to see if I could peek into the garage.
01:16I quickly realized that I'm not tall enough to see in those windows.
01:19I went back to my patrol car and I pulled it into the driveway so that I could get my push bumper close to the garage and use it as a step up.
01:31I stepped up on it and looked in the window.
01:35I immediately see Christelle, apparently lifeless.
01:38She had some type of wound to the head.
01:411-51, send medical. I got a female down in the garage.
01:48Roanfield, police! Roanfield, police!
01:51Oh, f***!
01:54Immediately I just checked for any signs of life at that point.
01:57Does she have a pulse?
01:58She does not.
01:591-51.
02:00I immediately started CPR.
02:01There was a stab wound on her chest.
02:05Send the next unit emergent, please.
02:06As the paramedics arrived, I opened the garage door and a woman came up and I believe this woman was Christelle's mother.
02:14I arrived.
02:15I need you to stay out, please.
02:17I said, that's my daughter.
02:20She came running up to me and said, Christelle is dead.
02:24It's just shocking.
02:25Oh, my God.
02:26Oh, my God.
02:27Oh, my God.
02:27You don't want that to be your reality.
02:32Oh, my God.
02:33This can't be true.
02:35This can't be true, can it?
02:37It was chaos.
02:40I heard screaming coming from the top of the hill.
02:44My house.
02:45Hey, stay back.
02:45Stay back.
02:46Stay back.
02:46Stay back.
02:46This is my house.
02:47I understand.
02:48They see a man come running down the hill.
02:52This is Dan.
02:54This is her husband.
02:57This man just lost his wife.
03:03And he is beside himself.
03:07I'm with Dan and he's on the floor and he's crying.
03:12They all just kind of said, I can't believe this happened.
03:14He did it.
03:16The stalker did it.
03:17We were on heightened alert.
03:19We were very, very concerned for Dan's safety.
03:21This is after Christelle was murdered.
03:24You're worried that Dan may be next in this stalker's sights.
03:27Correct.
03:28We thought Dan Krug was next.
03:30The community was very alarmed.
03:32Is this a murder scene?
03:34There's a killer out there and we're going to go after him.
03:36I'll see you next time.
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05:50We immediately started doing interviews, talking to neighbors, canvassing.
05:56Several hours had passed since Dan Krug's emotional ride to the police station.
06:02He had settled down, and he told detectives there was nothing out of the ordinary that morning.
06:08Mornings are very routine in the house.
06:14He said they got the kids to school, and Chris Steele seemed fine when he left for his job at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
06:23While I was driving, my phone dinged.
06:30Dan said Chris Steele texted him, asking if he could pick up one of the kids after school.
06:36But when he texted back and asked what time, he said Chris Steele never responded.
06:42And that, that was weird.
06:44So weird, so out of character for Chris Steele, Dan called police and asked them to check on her.
06:52I got a female down in the garage.
06:54There are not words that can describe what you feel as a parent at that point.
06:59It's probably some parents' worst nightmare.
07:03These are some memories, aren't they?
07:07Chris Steele's parents, Lars and Linda Grimsrud.
07:11She was an engineer.
07:12She had incredible skills in math, sciences, chemistry, physics.
07:17But she also had the talents in the arts.
07:20She loved to just get out and live life.
07:22Throughout her life, Chris Steele spent countless hours working with her dad on classic muscle cars in his colorful garage.
07:33We'd work on the cars, we'd race the cars.
07:36Chris Steele always felt very comfortable coming over here.
07:39If we needed to talk or whatever, this is where we would sit and just enjoy each other's company.
07:45But those fun, casual conversations suddenly turned disturbing in the fall of 2023,
07:52when Chris Steele first told her father that she was living with intense fear.
07:58She sat here and told me that she was being stalked.
08:01And that just shocked me when I asked her, well, have you talked to the police?
08:06Chris Steele had called the police and met with Broomfield detective Andrew Martinez.
08:11She came into the interview room and just kind of took over and just told me everything without hesitation.
08:19Their conversation was recorded.
08:21I keep trying to remind myself this is intending to be terrorizing.
08:24This is intending to scare me.
08:25Chris Steele told Martinez that on October 2nd, 2023, she received an unsettling text from someone named Anthony,
08:34who said he would be coming to the area and asked if Chris Steele wanted to hook up.
08:40And how does she respond to that?
08:42She did not respond.
08:43The following day, Chris Steele told Martinez she got more texts from Anthony that included obscenities and said,
08:53you should kill yourself.
08:54Don't waste my time.
08:56Somebody wants to hook up now is saying, go kill yourself.
08:59How do you interpret that second text?
09:03It's a pretty extreme reaction to not getting a response.
09:06Chris Steele told Martinez she knew an Anthony from her past.
09:12Anthony Holland, a boyfriend she dated for about a year after high school and into college.
09:18The two broke up in the fall of 2000.
09:21Lars and Linda say, back then, Anthony made a good impression.
09:26Very friendly, very courteous.
09:28He always had good manners.
09:30In 2002, out of the blue, Anthony contacted Chris Steele.
09:35According to Chris Steele, Anthony never seemed to take no for an answer,
09:40contacting her again in 2005, 2010, and 2016 via Facebook.
09:47He's like, we're meant to be together.
09:49I said, this is really creepy for me.
09:51You need to stop.
09:53Chris Steele deleted Facebook and thought she'd heard the last of Anthony Holland.
09:57But then came the text in 2023.
10:01Like, this was alarming.
10:02He's never said this kind of stuff to me before, so.
10:06Over the next two months, Chris Steele said she received alarming message after message
10:11through text and email.
10:13They included threats to her and Dan, including this disturbing photo of Dan
10:18getting out of his car at work, which prompted Chris Steele to first come forward and call police.
10:25A few days later, this text to her.
10:29Saw you at dentist.
10:30See you soon.
10:32That suggests he might be surveilling them both, right?
10:35Correct.
10:36This now is escalating.
10:38The harassment is just constant,
10:41and she's just believing that every corner presents some sort of danger for her.
10:46To gather evidence and locate Anthony Holland,
10:50Detective Martinez was required to file search warrants with the phone and email companies.
10:56A slow process.
10:58Getting that information takes time.
11:00Sometimes those companies are reluctant,
11:02or they slow walk getting that information to you, correct?
11:05Yes.
11:06Chris Steele had been searching for Holland on her own.
11:08She hired a private investigator and eventually located him living in Utah, about 500 miles away.
11:17Chris Steele shared her discovery with Detective Martinez, who chose not to contact Holland.
11:23I explained to Chris Steele that we wanted to gather as much evidence as possible
11:27and ideally obtain an arrest warrant so when law enforcement does go to Anthony's door,
11:34we can take him into custody and not have to walk away.
11:38But Laura says Chris Steele had been losing patience with the investigation.
11:43She made the comment that she felt they had abandoned her,
11:47that they weren't doing things aggressively enough.
11:51Chris Steele had taken steps to protect herself and her family,
11:55including installing security cameras.
11:58She was scared.
12:00I said, well, this sounds serious enough that you need to start carrying.
12:04You'll use one of my guns for right now.
12:06Is this the very gun that she took with her?
12:08That is the actual gun that she initially then carried.
12:13Dan was also interviewed.
12:15The threats were taking a toll on him as well.
12:19I went to the grocery store briefly on Tuesday,
12:26and someone behind me dropped a can.
12:30And I panicked.
12:32So what am I doing?
12:33I'm panicking.
12:36And I'm doing a f***ing job.
12:39I'm protecting my wife.
12:42So I'm not doing good.
12:44Dan told Martinez the stalker had a nickname.
12:48We call him Kickman.
12:49Where'd that name come from?
12:51Kickman, Dan, had told me it was because the suspect email that was initially contacting Chris Steele
12:59was ahollandkicks at gmail.com.
13:03As the weeks went by and Martinez's investigation continued,
13:09Lars and Linda say the constant threats were ruining their daughter's life.
13:14It was just heartbreaking.
13:15She was just in tears.
13:17She was just like, what am I going to do?
13:19How am I going to live?
13:20Did she feel she was being hunted down by Anthony?
13:24Yes.
13:25Chris Steele also shared her fears with siblings Jenna Erickson and Josh Adamson.
13:32She was terrified.
13:33Did she ever express to either of you the fear that this man, I think, is going to kill me?
13:40Yes.
13:40She said it's either going to be me or him that's dead,
13:44and I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it's not me.
13:55When Chris Steele Krug was found dead in her garage,
14:06Detective Martinez had only one suspect in mind.
14:10My initial assumption was that Anthony Holland had gone to her home and murdered her.
14:18Within hours, local police descended on Holland's home in Eagle Mountain near Salt Lake City.
14:25So you were alone in a house.
14:28What do you hear?
14:30Pounding at the door.
14:31Like, big time.
14:33So I go to the door.
14:36I see like eight cops.
14:39I had no idea what was going on.
14:41Where's your ID at?
14:42In my room.
14:45Have you ever heard of the name Crystal Krug?
14:49They asked me if I knew Crystal Krug, and I told them I did know her.
14:53She was my very first girlfriend ever.
14:56When was the last time you talked to Crystal?
14:57Has it been a minute?
14:59It's been a minute, yeah.
15:01When was the last time you had reached out to Chris Steele?
15:05It was around 2014, 2016.
15:08Anthony says he'd reached out to Chris Steele on Facebook years before.
15:13What are you thinking?
15:14Why would they come all the way here to ask me about Chris Steele?
15:17I thought it was for that message where I said I missed her.
15:21That's the only thing I could think of, because I was like, I haven't contacted her since then.
15:25They didn't tell you that Chris Steele Krug had been murdered?
15:28No, they did not tell me.
15:29Police were there to gather information from their suspect, not give it.
15:34They asked me where I was that day.
15:36Can I prove where I was?
15:38Anthony had made a purchase just hours earlier at a coal store near his home.
15:43What'd you buy?
15:45A sweatshirt, this one right here.
15:46And he still had the receipt.
15:49The purchase was made at 12.16 p.m.
15:53Investigators say Chris Steele was attacked around 8 a.m.
15:57Turns out that was one of the most important purchases you have ever made.
16:02Because it was my alibi.
16:04Because there's no way I could have made it from Colorado back to Utah to buy the sweatshirt.
16:13It was an eight-hour drive.
16:14Anthony also showed police some of his employment records.
16:19They proved he'd been in Utah all along, never traveling to Colorado, as the messages from Chris Steele's stalker led cops to believe.
16:28I had a bunch of receipts for my work, showing the days that I worked.
16:33And they took those, took my receipt from Kohl's, and went to the squad car and made a phone call.
16:42Came back in and told me I was free to go.
16:45You have a better day, okay?
16:47Back in Colorado, Dan was still face-to-face with investigators.
16:55He told them his theory of the crime.
16:58So in my brain, the story that I have is someone came to the door, maybe she went outside to get a package, and they must have come in.
17:14And she's, she's a fighter.
17:16She's, she is strong.
17:20She would have fought.
17:25Earlier in the interview, Dan requested he tell the children what had happened to their mother.
17:31Your kids do not know yet, okay?
17:34Are they here?
17:35They're here.
17:36Arrive in the hall.
17:38I, I, I should tell them.
17:41You want to tell them?
17:43I just don't know.
17:44Watching their response is just heartbreaking.
17:55Investigators were working every angle.
17:58They checked those security cameras Christiel had installed on the house.
18:02The doorbell camera, the side camera, and the side house camera were all manually turned off.
18:09Except for that one nest camera near the garage.
18:12Police canvassed Dan and Christiel's neighbors in search of anything their home security cameras might have recorded.
18:20I saw you had a ring doorbell camera.
18:22Do you mind looking, reviewing that camera?
18:23Oh goodness, absolutely.
18:24If possible, you guys can review the last three to five hours.
18:28They also enlisted Randy Pilak, a digital forensic examiner with the Broomfield Police Department,
18:35to take a closer look at those disturbing messages to Christiel.
18:39I think it was probably four hours, five hours after the murder was reported to us.
18:45Now that the stalking case had become a murder investigation,
18:50Pilak was able to file new expedited requests for information.
18:55He quickly discovered that messages from two accounts used to harass Christiel had been sent from the same location.
19:02Both came back to the same IP address.
19:05That IP address was the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which is where Dan worked.
19:15The messages to Christiel threatening her, threatening her husband,
19:20had been sent using the Wi-Fi system at Dan's office.
19:24For the first time, detectives believed Christiel's stalker could be sitting right in front of them.
19:33Could he be her killer as well?
19:37The entire air was just kind of evacuated out of our investigations room,
19:42and we realized that we need to focus on Dan and where he's been and what he's been doing.
19:49Martinez, along with Detective Jennifer King Sullivan, confronted Dan.
19:54Who do you think killed her?
19:57I think it's Kate Smith. I think it's Anthony.
20:00What if I told you that we had already spoken with Anthony,
20:04and there's no way that he was in town today?
20:13Then I have nothing.
20:16Then I'm terrified to bring my children home.
20:20You're already terrified of.
20:27If it wasn't him, I wasn't.
20:30But even as Dan claimed ignorance, the detective saw that his body language told a different story.
20:37What were you seeing with Dan?
20:40He took a defensive posture.
20:42He sat back in the couch a little bit.
20:45He crossed his arms.
20:47Kind of like, I have nothing to explain.
20:52I think his head is spinning, thinking about what else are they going to find.
20:56The mystery continues, and...
21:18If you were watching these facts unfold in front of you in a movie, what would you say happened?
21:29There has to be some...
21:31Moments after detectives told Dan Krug they had eliminated Anthony Holland as a suspect,
21:39Dan calmly insisted he was not the one who stalked and murdered his wife, Christelle.
21:45I loved her.
21:47There has to be something else.
21:53But I don't know who that is.
21:57Martinez and King Sullivan didn't believe a word of it,
22:01and were struck by how stoic, how unmoved Dan was.
22:06He had no reaction, and really no explanation.
22:11Help me make sense of it.
22:12I don't know, I'm not the one who does this.
22:16I don't have a narrative or a story that I can offer you.
22:24Within minutes, Dan Krug had gone from sympathetic victim to murder suspect.
22:29I get the narrative you're putting together,
22:34but it alleges that I would do this to my children.
22:38I love and adore my children.
22:40It's a pretty frightening idea that the biggest threat to you and your safety
22:46is actually living in the same house as you.
22:50We need to process you for physical evidence, okay?
22:55He knows that we're on to him.
22:58We just didn't have enough evidence at that point to take him into custody.
23:01On his way out, Dan kept insisting the real killer was still on the loose,
23:08and he made a desperate plea.
23:10Might as well...
23:11He took my children's mother for Christmas.
23:20When did you find out that Dan was now a person of interest in this case?
23:41I think at his interview, so that same day when they held him,
23:46they held him pretty late.
23:49An autopsy revealed what happened to Christelle.
23:53She had been attacked from behind with a blunt object.
23:57Bludgeoned to death in the head and rolled over and then stabbed in the heart.
24:01With Dan now the prime suspect,
24:06the detectives wanted to know more about his relationship with Christelle.
24:11According to Christelle's parents, it wasn't good.
24:15She said, well, I'm sleeping on the couch, Mom.
24:17But you knew there was trouble in paradise, right?
24:19Yeah, and especially in those last few months.
24:23Christelle's family says those troubles were caused by Dan's fiery temper.
24:27What set him off?
24:28It could be anything, but it was usually if he was losing control.
24:34Christelle's sister, Jenna Erickson,
24:36says she could always tell when Dan was angry.
24:39His face would get really red when he was getting frustrated.
24:44I vividly remember seeing his face get red.
24:46They had a thing where they'd go, okay, walk away.
24:49You need to walk away.
24:51And so, you know, they were trying to manage it.
24:55But in the weeks before her death,
24:57according to her parents, Christelle was getting ready to leave Dan.
25:02She didn't want to have this marriage anymore.
25:04She had decided that she needed to get a divorce.
25:08As the detectives methodically built their case,
25:11more evidence was uncovered on Dan and Christelle's cell phones
25:15by digital forensic expert Randy Pilak,
25:19including texts from the morning of the murder.
25:22So on Christelle's phone,
25:24we see text messages to Lars, Detective Martinez,
25:27and then a text message to Dan.
25:30The one Dan said he received while driving to work
25:33about picking up one of the kids at school.
25:37But Pilak discovered those texts had been set on a timer.
25:41It was a new feature on the phone Christelle had.
25:44Who do you believe pre-programmed those messages?
25:49Dan Crude.
25:50And he did it to do what?
25:52To hide his actions.
25:55Pilak says the messages were pre-programmed
25:59before Dan left the house.
26:01And we believe Christelle was deceased.
26:03That, for him, then, would establish an alibi that,
26:07well, I had already left and my wife is alive, right?
26:10She's texting me.
26:11Correct.
26:11All while Dan casually arrived at work.
26:17Pilak discovered more damning evidence from Dan's phone.
26:22Internet searches like,
26:24what happens when you're knocked unconscious?
26:27Do people really go unconscious when hit in the head?
26:30And how hard for head trauma to go unconscious?
26:35All searches were the day before the murder.
26:37It was rather damning.
26:39Just two days after Christelle had been murdered,
26:47Detectives Martinez and King Sullivan
26:49felt they had enough evidence
26:51to charge Dan Krug with stalking and murdering his wife.
26:56We begin following him.
27:00Cutting up to the stop sign now.
27:02How many cars are we talking about?
27:04Probably eight cars.
27:06We're like, that's him.
27:07He's alone in the car.
27:08Hey, be ready to pop that once he gets it in the park.
27:10We follow him all the way to the grocery store.
27:12Pulling into King Super's parking lot.
27:15We wait for him to park.
27:16We quickly converge on his car.
27:19Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
27:24Show us your hands.
27:25Hands on your hands.
27:26Hands on your feet.
27:27Hands on your hands.
27:29Hands on your feet.
27:31So we surround him.
27:34Pull him out of his car
27:35and tell him he's being arrested for the murder of his wife.
27:38On the right.
27:39I asked him just one question.
27:50Do you want me to tell your kids that you killed their mother
27:53or do you want somebody else to?
27:55That's quite a line.
27:57That goes back to when he said he wanted to tell his kids
28:01that their mother was dead.
28:06I, I, I should have a joke.
28:09After I asked that question,
28:12he just said that he wanted to speak with his attorney
28:14and then looked away from me.
28:16All right.
28:18Good luck.
28:19And I shut the door and he went to the county jail.
28:21Get one leg up and then kind of swing around.
28:26I felt a huge relief.
28:28They got him.
28:29It felt like a burden had been lifted
28:31that he had been arrested.
28:34And soon,
28:35Christiel's family would come face to face
28:38with the man detectives say murdered her.
28:41He looked right at me
28:44and smiled at me.
28:46And here, for the first time,
28:49Dan's side of the story.
28:50When deputy district attorneys Kate Armstrong
29:13and Stephanie Fritz were assigned to prosecute Daniel Krug,
29:17they say they were struck by his downright stupidity
29:21in believing he could get away with murdering his wife
29:24by impersonating her ex-boyfriend.
29:27The audacity with which he thought he could manipulate
29:31not only his family, his loved ones,
29:33but also the police department.
29:35And some of this is sophisticated, is it not?
29:39It's sophisticated, but not too sophisticated
29:42because we were able to figure it out.
29:44The trial began in April 2025.
29:51When he first came in,
29:53he smiled at me like he was saying,
29:57hey, thanks for being here for me.
29:59I believe my facial expression made it very clear
30:02that I was not on his side.
30:05The prosecution laid out Christiel's final hours of life
30:09for the jury.
30:10On December 14th of 2023, Christiel Krug started her day
30:15like any other day.
30:17She took her younger two children to school.
30:20And when she returned?
30:22Christiel pulled back into her garage.
30:25She gets out of the car when she is attacked from behind.
30:28And did she ever see him approaching, do you think,
30:31or was this an ambush?
30:33It was an ambush.
30:33She had two or three skull fractures.
30:37As she's laying on the floor bleeding,
30:40he pushes her over, gets over her,
30:42and stabs her just above her heart.
30:45And why do you suppose he had to do that vicious last stab?
30:50I think it was rage.
30:51I think it was control and power
30:53that he wanted to exert over Christiel.
30:55Dan had been losing that control for a long time,
31:00say prosecutors.
31:01Their theory of the crime is that Dan sent Christiel
31:05those disturbing messages in an attempt
31:07to drive her closer to him and not leave,
31:12hoping she'd see him as her heroic protector.
31:15It was not working.
31:18The stalking was not leaving her back to him.
31:21I think it then turned to,
31:23I'm still losing her,
31:25kind of a, if I can't have you, nobody can.
31:30The prosecution says that in the last days of her life,
31:34Christiel had begun to suspect
31:36that her stalker was possibly her husband.
31:42We know from Dan's own interview
31:44that she confronted him and said,
31:46I can't rule you out as the stalker.
31:48She said that right to my face,
31:50that she wanted to know if it was me.
31:54And I told her no.
31:55You felt the walls closing in.
31:57Closing in.
31:58He was going to lose Christiel anyway.
32:00He was going to be exposed as the stalker.
32:03So he did that last fatal act and murdered her.
32:08Prosecutors say Dan tried to outsmart investigators,
32:11pre-programming those text messages
32:13on Christiel's phone before he left the house,
32:18assuming he wouldn't be caught.
32:21Were we not able to discover
32:23that that was a delayed send text,
32:25it would have appeared as though Christiel
32:27was still alive when he left the house.
32:29At trial, the long list of digital evidence
32:33against Dan was laid out.
32:35The threatening texts,
32:37the emails,
32:39the internet searches.
32:41Also included,
32:42that photograph of Dan arriving at his office,
32:45attached to a menacing email
32:47seemingly sent by Anthony Holland to Christiel.
32:52But there was one problem,
32:54according to the state's digital expert.
32:57Who took this picture, do you believe?
32:59Dan.
33:00Dan took this picture.
33:03Pylak discovered that the phone
33:05which snapped that photo
33:06was in selfie mode,
33:08using a timer.
33:10A fact that Kate Armstrong
33:12reminded the jury about
33:13in her closing argument.
33:16That's when the judge allowed cameras
33:18into the courtroom.
33:20The phone was propped
33:21on the back of this vehicle
33:22next to him.
33:24The defendant took this photograph
33:25and then he sent it to his wife.
33:27We respectfully disagree
33:28with the prosecution in this case.
33:31Defense attorney Philip Geigel
33:32argued the murder investigation
33:34was poor.
33:36The blunt object used
33:37on Christiel's head
33:39and the knife used to stab her
33:41were never recovered by police.
33:43The defense also zeroed in
33:45on the fact that Christiel's phone
33:47was not tested for fingerprints
33:50or DNA.
33:51Why not the phone?
33:53The prosecution wants to believe,
33:54well, you know,
33:55there may not be a lot
33:56to be found there.
33:57Well, you won't know
33:58if you won't try.
33:59But Geigel said
34:00other forensic tests
34:01supported his claim
34:03that Dan is innocent.
34:05They submitted the chest swabs
34:07and you know whose DNA
34:09wasn't there.
34:10The person who lived in the house,
34:12the person who ate
34:13in the kitchen with them,
34:14the person who shared
34:15the living room,
34:17that idiot right there.
34:18There is absolutely
34:19no physical evidence
34:20on Mr. Krug's clothing.
34:22There's no blood found
34:23on that car inside or out.
34:25It's searched three times.
34:29In week three of the trial,
34:31the jurors began deliberations.
34:34After a day and a half,
34:36verdicts were reached.
34:38Please rise for the jury.
34:40Judge Priscilla Lowe
34:41read the verdicts.
34:43We, the jury,
34:44find the defendant
34:44guilty of murder
34:45in the first degree.
34:48We, the jury,
34:49find the defendant
34:50guilty of count number two,
34:52stalking extreme
34:53emotional distress.
34:56Krug was also found
34:57guilty of stalking
34:58with credible threat
35:00and criminal impersonation.
35:02Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.
35:05And at that point,
35:06I think I started
35:06breathing again.
35:08Krug was later
35:09sentenced to life in prison
35:11without the possibility
35:12of parole on the murder charge
35:14and an additional
35:16nine and a half years
35:17for the stalking
35:18and impersonation counts.
35:22But right after his conviction,
35:25in a video call from jail...
35:27How are you?
35:28Uh, been better.
35:31Daniel Krug told his family
35:33that the jury got it wrong,
35:35saying the real killer
35:36remained at large
35:38and that his children
35:39could be the next targets.
35:41I need them safe.
35:46I don't know where
35:48or who did this,
35:52where he is
35:53or who he is.
35:55I need my children
35:57out of Colorado.
35:59As Daniel Krug
36:17began serving
36:18his life sentence,
36:20he continued
36:20making video calls
36:22to his parents
36:22and brother
36:23in the days
36:24immediately
36:25after his conviction.
36:27The man who
36:28viciously murdered
36:29his wife,
36:30terrorized his own children
36:31and lied to everyone,
36:33was seeking sympathy
36:35from his side
36:36of the family.
36:37I'm probably sleeping
36:38like 16 hours a day
36:40because of the depression.
36:42Mm-hmm.
36:42I sleep, I read,
36:44and I cry.
36:44That's about it.
36:46Okay.
36:47Despite overwhelming
36:48digital evidence
36:49against him,
36:50Krug fell back
36:51to his old ways,
36:53lying to his loved ones,
36:55now claiming
36:56he was wrongly convicted.
36:58They never produced
36:59a single piece
37:01of hard evidence.
37:06His brother,
37:07Jeremy,
37:08gave Krug
37:09a much-needed
37:10reality check
37:11that the foundation
37:12of the family's loyalty
37:14had started to crack.
37:16Support is dwindling.
37:18Mom and dad
37:22want to believe you
37:23very much.
37:24I want to believe
37:25you very much.
37:26There's a lot
37:26that's come out.
37:28And as imaginative
37:32as I can be
37:33with finding explanations
37:35and ways
37:36to theorize
37:37how this or that
37:39could have been
37:39the reality,
37:41some of it
37:42is beyond
37:42even my creativity.
37:44The case
37:48that ended
37:49with a murder
37:49had begun
37:51with stalking
37:51and criminal
37:52impersonation
37:53of Anthony Holland,
37:54which begs
37:56the question,
37:56what if
37:57Detective Martinez
37:58had acted
37:59on the information
38:00Christiel
38:01and the private
38:01investigator
38:02had uncovered?
38:04They should have
38:05found me right away.
38:06They should have
38:07found me.
38:07They should have
38:08came to my house.
38:09They should have
38:09approached me.
38:09They should have
38:10talked to me.
38:11But Detective Martinez
38:13chose not to call,
38:15telling us
38:16he didn't have
38:17enough evidence
38:17to do so
38:18and was concerned
38:19a phone call
38:20could exacerbate
38:22the situation.
38:23Is this something
38:24where you've
38:25kicked yourself
38:25about this?
38:27This case
38:28has haunted me
38:30since it occurred.
38:33And the outcome
38:35of this case
38:35has haunted me
38:37for the past
38:38two years.
38:39And if you could
38:40get in a time
38:41machine,
38:41perhaps you
38:42make that call
38:43today.
38:44Absolutely.
38:46And Christiel's
38:47parents sympathize
38:48with Martinez
38:49and believe
38:50their daughter
38:51was doomed
38:51no matter
38:52what the outcome
38:53of his investigation.
38:57Inevitably,
38:58I think he was
38:59going to kill her.
39:01When someone
39:02sets their mind
39:03to do something
39:03like that
39:04and that's
39:04what the plan
39:05was,
39:06I don't think
39:06that would have
39:07stopped the murder
39:08from happening.
39:11Christiel's death
39:12has left a hole
39:13in the lives
39:14of those
39:14who experienced
39:16her love
39:16and joy for life.
39:19I've had lots
39:20of other girlfriends
39:20and I've never
39:22been in love
39:22with anybody else
39:23like her.
39:24She was the love
39:25of your life.
39:26Yeah.
39:28Jenna hopes
39:29her sister Christiel's
39:30story will serve
39:32as a cautionary tale.
39:33If it can help
39:35just one other
39:36person who's
39:37in a dangerous
39:38situation like
39:39she was in,
39:40that it gives
39:41them the strength
39:41to make a move
39:42because it can
39:43escalate and it
39:45can escalate
39:45really, really
39:46fast.
39:49What was lost
39:50when she was
39:51taken from us?
39:54Her light,
39:55you know?
39:57Her light.
39:57That's a tough
40:02one to talk
40:02about because
40:03there's so much.
40:09I wanted to jump
40:10out of that car
40:10and say,
40:11hey,
40:11Papa.
40:14Laura still
40:15passes his time
40:17restoring parts
40:18for vintage cars.
40:20That father-daughter
40:21hobby is now
40:22being passed
40:23down to
40:24Christiel's
40:25children.
40:25They're in
40:27here,
40:28they run
40:28that same
40:29electric
40:29screwdriver
40:30and they
40:30can tear
40:30a carburetor
40:31apart.
40:32So in that
40:32way,
40:32you're honoring
40:33her memory,
40:34aren't you?
40:34Well,
40:34that's the whole
40:35idea.
40:35Yeah,
40:36that's the
40:36whole idea.
40:37She would
40:38get such a
40:38kick out
40:39of seeing
40:39the kids
40:40doing the
40:41stuff that
40:41she was
40:42involved in.
40:43I look at
40:44my grandkids
40:45and I find
40:45a moment of
40:46peace because
40:47I see her.
40:55I see her.
41:25You
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