Background: News footage of the Broomfield, Colo. home where Kristil Krug was found dead on Dec. 14, 2023 (KUSA). Inset (top): Daniel Krug (Broomfield Police Department). Inset (bottom): Kristil Krug (Horan & McConaty Funeral Service and Cremation).
A Colorado man accused of allegedly murdering his wife after posing as a stalking ex-boyfriend could soon learn his fate.
Daniel Krug, 44, was in the courtroom in front of a judge and jury as prosecutors laid out evidence that they believed pointed in his direction as the alleged killer of his late wife, Kristil Krug, 43. Prosecutors presented a digital data trail that they say led to Krug after he allegedly posed as his wife’s ex-boyfriend in text messages that left her in fear that she was being stalked. Following months of texts, Kristil Krug was found in the garage of her home on Dec. 14, 2023, beaten and stabbed to death.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Kate Armstrong painted a picture of a marriage in trouble, according to KUSA, a local NBC affiliate in the courtroom for proceedings. Armstrong reportedly told jurors that the Krugs’ marriage was “all but over,” and as the chilling texts kept Kristil Krug in fear, she reportedly suspected that her husband was the one behind them.
“She was putting the pieces together, and he was running out of time,” Armstrong told the jury.
Investigators said that Kristil Krug and the ex-boyfriend who supposedly sent her the texts had not dated since 2000. Aside from occasional messages from him over the years that would be considered crude, Kristil Krug had reportedly not expressed much concern over them.
Kristil Krug’s mother also reportedly told authorities that her daughter was planning to divorce her husband, accusing him of being “sometimes rough with the kids.”
The texts Kristil Krug was receiving in 2023, supposedly from her ex-boyfriend, were enough for her to file a police report on Oct. 31, 2023. According to court documents, the texts indicated to Kristil Krug that the sender knew where she and her husband worked, and that both were being watched.
Eventually, police suspected that it was Daniel Krug who was sending the texts after investigators connected the IP address from the messages to his workplace. He also allegedly used a burner phone that he bought with a gift card registered to his name.
Detectives also said that security cameras at the home had tape over the lenses and a Ring camera had been turned off. When questioned about the cameras not working, Daniel Krug allegedly could not provide an explanation.
Daniel Krug’s defense attorney, Joe Morales, attempted to paint the whole investigation as flawed. Detectives assigned to Kristil Krug’s October 2023 filing were incompetent, he argued. Prosecutors said that Daniel Krug allegedly used his wife’s phone to send texts after her death — Morales said no one tested her phone for fingerprints. DNA found on the tape that covered the camera in the garage was from an unknown source.
But Armstrong told the court that Daniel Krug still tried to blame the ex-boyfriend for his wife’s slaying — even though he was in Utah at the time. Armstrong said that when Daniel Krug was questioned by detectives and confronted with the ex-boyfriend’s alibi, he accused his late wife of having more affairs. She quoted Daniel Krug himself, who reportedly then rolled his eyes and said, “It’s always the husband.”
Daniel Krug’s trial is expected to continue through April 18.
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