A (0:03)

When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans. Send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets. Mom 60th and never miss a meme or milestone. All protected with end to end encryption. It's time for WhatsApp message privately with everyone. Learn more@WhatsApp.com I don't think this is an emergency, but this feels really weird. My wife isn't responding to phone calls. We've had threats against us. Can I get a maybe a wellness check at the house? We do offer checks all the time. Most of the time it's uneventful. What's your wife's name? Chris Field. K R I S T I L We have both been targeted by a stalker. The report from Dan was we have been involved in the stalking case. Threats have been made against my life and threatening to like, kidnap her, which is why I'm nervous that she's not answering me. I have not been able to reach my wife for, I think he said two or three hours. And I just want somebody to go check on her and make sure she's okay. We'll also send officers over to the house just to check the house and see what's going on. The goal was to make contact with Christeel and to make sure she was safe. Officer o' Hara went over to the house. Very kind of textbook response. He parks down the street, walks up. He came across one of the neighbors who was at the front door of Christeel's house to check on her. Hello? Oh, I was just. I'm their neighbor and they called and they're like, can you go see if she'll answer this? Oh, yeah, he sent us as well. So just next door. Okay. All right, well, you got this. All righty, man. Appreciate it. He basically told her he would take over from there. He had knocked on the door, couldn't see anything obvious through the windows. Goes around to the garage. The windows are at the very tippity top of the garage. You can't see into them. Officer o' Hara decided to pull his vehicle up into the driveway. He used his patrol car to climb up on so he could see in the garage and saw Christeel laying there in what he appeared to be blood. 151. Send medical. And 110. I need a force entry. I got a female down in the garage. So when he finds her, he immediately runs around to the front door. He Kicks open the front door. Romeo. Police. Romefield police. Oh, holy. You can see there's a good amount of blood that's kind of on the wall behind her. Some blood coming from her head that you can see. And he immediately starts trying to conduct life saving measures. Is he thinking that maybe there was an accident? Initially he thought, well, I'm not sure if this is a fall or what. Cause it's near the stairs and there's like a little concrete ledge. Female, has some sort of head wound. She is warm. I'm on cpr. He went above and beyond to try to save her. Yes. Nat is priorities, you know, 1, 2 and 3. Officer O' Hare refuses to give up with chest compression after chest compression. Nearly 500 of them. 151. Let me know when next year unit is close and I'll open the garage door. Particularly medical. Good medical. What do you remember about the morning of December 14th? Dan said, I can't find Christeel. I thought, oh, she's probably just not answering her phone. Let me go over and I'll find out what's going on. Linda gets to her daughter's home just as Officer o' Hare is letting the medics into the garage. Garage is open now. Hello? Ma', am. I need you to stay out, please. Officer o' Hare does kind of direct her away at that point in time. I need you to come over here for a minute, okay? So we can work. I can. She's okay. What are you thinking has happened? You know, you go to a place, it's like, what is happening? This can't be happening. Okay. Okay. Cold. I need to tag out, man. Just got a head wound. I don't know if it's from falling or something else, but probably falling, but I don't know, man. I'll be right back, guys. I'm just going to the car here. Hey, man, just run interference for me. I don't know if that's a relative or neighbor or what. Any incoming units can slow down. We're gonna clear the house. Medics are in the garage. Anybody inside? Make yourself. No police. Anybody inside? Brookfield police. Third and final warning. Anybody inside? I got a couple rooms to the left over here. Let me know when you're coming around. The RFP said there was a stalker threatening kidnapping, so just heads up on that. Clear. Hair coming out. Brook Police, they do a quick clearance of the house to ensure that nobody else was in the home. You go one way, I got the other. I'm going straight. Another one on the left. Clear here no real sign of anything. CPR being done in the garage. It's got a good head wound. I think it's from falling down, but I'm going to reevaluate that right now. They started to realize that something was off, that there was foul play. Guys, you see anything other than a fall type of wound? That's a stab wound, damn it. Paramedics unfortunately locate the stab wound to Christeel's, and it was catastrophic head trauma to the back of her head. So we have a visible stab wound, you guys? Yes, right above her. Right above her heart. They do declare her time of death shortly afterwards, having seen no signs of life. Once you start to look at this and you think this is a homicide, there's an assailant out there. Yes. Let Henry know that when we do have a homicide, everybody who was here kind of spring into action right away. I am a victim advocate with the Broomfield police department. We're on scene with victims that are dealing with the worst day of their life. Oh, my God. So we were directed to towards Christeel's family. This can't be true. Can it? Can it be true? How did you even wrap your mind around it? Just a lot of denying, like, this can't be happening. This can't be happening. You just go completely numb. There aren't words to describe it. Who's in charge? You'll be a doctor. We'd like to know what happened. We hear a very, very large, very loud scream coming from up the street. Hey, family's here. Tell them to park on the side. And we see a man running down the street. He ducks into the first level of crime scene tape and runs towards the house and is yelling, that's my house. That's my house. Hey, stay back. Stay back. Stay back. Stay back. This is my house. And just runs into the arms of one of Kristeel's family. And we realize that that was Dan, that that was her husband. That's probably her husband. That's the husband. They kind of embraced him in a hug. Did you guys drive together? And then detective Waite started speaking with Dan. I didn't ask a lot of questions right now. Fortunately, we don't have a whole lot of answers for you. I was tasked with making sure Dan was okay. He had gone weak in the knees. He couldn't stand anymore. Dan is almost hurdled over with his hands on his stomach, bent over. So I placed my hand on his back and his shoulder just so he knew I was there, that somebody was there. This man Right now has just left, lost his everything. He's lost his wife, he's lost the mother to his children and now he has to do everything. And that was, that was heavy. This doesn't happen in Broomfield. My first priority was let's get this person. Police are jumping into action trying to figure out who'd want to kill this wife and mom of three. Let's huddle up here for a second and figure out what we got. This show is supported by Mind of a Monster, the killer nurse from ID from 1989 to 1995, nurse Karen Gilbert killed four of her patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical center in Massachusetts, and she suspected of killing dozens more. On Mind of a Monster, a podcast from ID, criminal psychologist Dr. Michelle Ward national dives into the mindset of Kristen Gilbert to try to find out why she would kill her patients and how she was able to do it in front of her colleagues. Ward speaks with detectives, journalists, nurses and victims families to unpack Gilbert's life and crimes on Ward C. Listen to Mind of a Monster, the killer Nurse. Wherever you get your podcasts, this episode is brought to you by cars.com on cars.com you can shop over 2 million cars. That means over 2 million of new car possibilities, like making space for your growing family, becoming the type of person who takes spontaneous weekend camping trips or upgrading your commute wherever life takes you next or whoever you're looking to be. There's a car for that on cars.com visit cars.com to discover your next possibility. I smarter the full the neighborhood, usually quiet, is suddenly startled as police swarm the area. And I immediately saw her at the base of the stairs. It's just minutes after Kristeel Krug's body has been found in her garage. Home security video and police body cameras capture the action. Did you check your ring footage? She had a stab wound in her chest. Christyl Krug is dead. We were on high alert. We had just kind of wrapped up our holiday party. Everybody had ran back to their desks and were grabbing their radios and were heading out. Let's huddle up here for a second and figure out what we got. You got photos? Yeah, I got hang out for just a minute. So the response is pretty much everybody, all, all hands on deck. Okay, so you want it all the way across the street? Is that far enough? All right, let's go take a look. The next thing as we walked into the house was there's just not a lot of disarray. There's nothing that would jump out to you as, oh, a crime happening in here. No struggle. Typically if there's an intruder, there's signs of that. Some drawers being left open, things overturned, kind of a mess. There wasn't anything like overtly unusual in here. Nothing looked ransacked, nothing like that. Yes, there wasn't anything ordinary until you got into the garage where Christeel's body was. Do you see that blood? Yeah. When someone is killed in our city, we're going to drop everything and do whatever we need to do to figure out what happened. That green light means probably. Broomfield is a beautiful city just outside of Denver. Here in Colorado you can have the downtown area as well as escape to the mountains. I like to call it like a little big town. Once people find their place in this town, they stay. Lots of development in the last few years. We have just under 80,000 people who live in Broomfield. When you look at our crime stats, very low crime. So the Krugs lived in Anthem neighborhood, which is a highly sought after neighborhood. Pretty quiet, I would say. We don't probably respond to a lot of calls there. Christiel's dad, Lars immigrated from Norway back in the 70s, moving to Colorado for a job in the aerospace industry. He meets and marries Linda, who worked in IT at the time. What was life like for you those early days of raising a family here? We started out very modestly in a mobile home not far from here. You know, Crystal hated that idea. She was born in a mobile home. She hated that narrative. No middle name, just Kristyl. Yeah, it's a Norwegian name and such a unique name. Anyway, so everyone's going to know who Christeel is. She doesn't need a middle name. Christeel's parents split up when she and her brother were young, but they're on good terms so she continues to spend time with her dad, even helping him restore his classic cars. I'd go drag racing. Her and her brother would be my pit crew. We had a lot of fun with that. So it was clear that she had maybe an engineer's type mind early on. She also had a very artistic mind as well. She loved to paint and dance, of course. What were her hopes and dreams? She had a big interest in chemistry and biology. And then of course the dance side and the artistic side would kick in and then he'd have a talk with her about, well, that's not really going to make you very much money. So, you know, think about the practical side. Look at the practical side. So she did. Kristeel got her degree in chemical Engineering. And along the way, she met Dan Krug. What was it that connected them? Well, she was excited about the relationship. She thought she found someone that was compatible intellectually. It was that kind of relationship where they did everything together. After seven years of dating, they tied the knot. So was this boxed away for the longest time? Yeah, it's been boxed away since their wedding, which was in 2007. So we went looking for her wedding dress, and we tried on so many. This one is just so gorgeous. It's in satin. You fell in love with this? Oh, yeah, she did. She was just so happy. She tried to stay within a budget, but she saw this one and I saw this one and got to tears about it. So I said, you know what? I'll just pay for it. Christeel and Dan appeared to to be a very successful couple. She was a global project manager. She was born to be a mother and an engineer. She could do everything. And she was an extraordinary parent. Dan Krug worked for the state of colorado. He was a budget finance type of guy for them. Pretty high up. Dan and Christeel settled in this tidy suburban neighborhood outside Denver with their three children, the picture of happiness. Then there was the first hint of trouble when Dan says he spotted an intruder running from their garage. Hi there. My name is Dan Cruz. I'm reporting a trespasser on my property. Okay. I'm sort of ahead over there. Okay. Okay, thank you. It was just three months before Christeel's murder. September 2023. Hey, how's it going? Yeah, definitely. I'm officer chauncey. I'm Dale. Nice to meet you. His garage door was open, and he saw an individual, which he could not provide a lot of detail about, running from the garage. I think it was a guy, but it was. It was so fast. Yeah. Blue jeans, gray shirt, Run out, jump over my gate, and take off that way. Got it. Break ins are somewhat common around that area. And when people leave their garages open, but usually tools and valuables that are kind of visible or what's taken. Everything seems to be there. Okay. Except a spare to the house. Keith. Okay, got it. Dan says he was especially concerned about the intruder because his kids were just a few feet away in the house on the other side of the door to the garage. I cared less about following him than getting inside and checking on my kids. Yeah, absolutely. My daughter is adamant no one came in the house. She never heard the garage door open. She was in the living room right next to it. Okay. We kind of went over this area okay. So, yeah, if anything else comes up missing, anything weird, somebody coming up and trying the door, anything like that, just give us a call, okay? Okay. The patrol officers that took that report kind of did an area canvas, but couldn't find find anybody. Then a few days later, Christeel gets an unnerving blast from her past. Chris Steele begins receiving text messages in 2023. The person identifies themself as Anthony Holland. The initial text message starts off innocent enough, and it said, hey, this is Anthony. I come to Boulder every few weeks. Do you want to hook up? And the only Anthony she knew of was Jack. Anthony Holland. Crysteel met Anthony when she was in high school. Anthony and Cristeel met while working at the JCPenney's. Tell me about Anthony. He was a very nice guy. He was fun. We liked Anthony. Everybody liked Anthony. They went to parties and hung out together for Halloween. The two dressed as Raggedy Ann and Andy. But the relationship didn't last for more than a year, probably. Well, he had dropped out of high school. She was headed to college. It sounds like they were on different paths. Well, exactly. Their life goals and ambitions were two completely different tracks. Anthony had tried to contact Christeel a number of times, but over the years to kind of rekindle their romance every time. She was very kind, but also rejected him. Christeel told Anthony that she was happily married, that she had children, and she wasn't really interested. And so they stopped communicating. But now, seven years later, it seems Anthony may have returned. And soon a second message. You should say yes when I offer pity. Saw your pics. You got fat. You should kill yourself. Anthony had never been violent. He'd never been lewd or threatening. And so this really was different than all of those times. It went from a minor kind of annoyance to pretty serious fear and alarm as things continued. That's when she receives the photo. He was right around the corner. And she's worried about her safety and her husband's safety, her kids safety. This is a little obsessive, excessively strange. Halloween, 2023. Kids everywhere are trick or treating. Christiel Krug's text messages have been run of the mill for three weeks. Then she gets another disturbing one. Upping the stakes. It refers to her husband and also has an attached photo of. Of Dan Krug. This your husband drives like slow old lady. He needs to drive safe. That picture signified to Kristeel. This person is actively following not only me, but my family. And that's where you really see her level of concern and alert Raising now it appears that her ex boyfriend Anthony is actually stalking her in person. And this latest message is even darker. Don't want a clear rubber hose in his tailpipe. That sounds like a threat. And it's also something that she had already noticed had been in her car a month earlier. Christeel found clear plastic tubing sticking out of her car from a hole in the trunk. She says, like, initially I didn't think anything that much of this, but now I'm concerned that this was like an attempt to that cause harm to me or my family. While one end stuck inside the car, the other apparently had been inserted into her tailpipe. When she found it had like kind of been charred a little bit, probably by the exhaust, she went to the Mazda dealer. My name is Jordan. I'm a service advisor here at Silterhar Mazda. I was always excited to see her name on the schedule. She was always really nice and kind and patient. Good morning and thank you for bringing your Mazda in for its 5K service and tire replacement. This is the mechanic's routine video inspection of Qusteel's car from that day. Nothing concerning today in terms of wear. Just looks about normal. So everything's looking good there. When my technician was doing his inspection of the car, we noticed that the plug underneath was missing. So there's just a big hole. You don't want gunk getting up there, so we're going to want to replace that. That's when Christeel asks about that tubing. The plug hole would have been in this general area where the spare tire swoops down. And she described hosing like this in the hole sticking out of the bottom of the car. Well, she wanted to know if it was normal for a car to have any tubing like this going in or out of it, which, no, it should not have any tubing going in or out of the car. She seemed just a little frazzled and scared. Did you think that this was potentially a dangerous situation? Yes, we were really concerned, like somebody was trying to pump carbon monoxide into her car. When I read the story of what happened, it just kind of brought it all back. Just didn't feel good. It is very disturbing. Very disturbing. And then three days later, she gets yet another strange email. The stalker mentioned that her registration was expired and so that really threw her into a tailspin. I mean, to her he was right around the corner, endangering her family. Christeel also gets this photo of a shirtless man with another message. Are you interested? The impression is that the person Knows a lot about her whereabouts. She said, I need to let you know I'm being stalked. I'm getting emails from Anthony. He's threatening me with things. He's saying just bizarre things. Did this sound like the Anthony that you knew? Holy cow. What the heck happened to Anthony here? The guy went off the rails. It's around this time that Christeel contacts police. That call is captured on the officer's body camera. Hi, this is officer Kane. How can I help you tonight? I have an ex from a very long time ago. I have received numerous text messages and then today I got an email threatening against both me and my family. My question for you is, is there a course of action to possibly take that could potentially safeguard me from this individual? You can always go and apply for a civil protection order. Have never even seen him. You know, it's just this is. This is a little obsessively strange. She told me she'd hired a private investigator to find out where Anthony was. There was no record of him being in Colorado. Not knowing where Anthony is only adds to Christiel's paranoia. So Dan installs security cameras in the house and both buy dash cams for their cars in case he's following them while they're driving. And now something more bizarre. She soon starts getting messages from a flood of men with really sort of intense responses to what they thought was a police online offering to have sex with her. I mean, really sort of depraved stuff. That had to be very disturbing. Very disturbing. She was just beside herself. Ultimately, she was able to locate this ad that had been placed that did include her phone number. It was asking for men to send photographs of their genitalia and it was soliciting multiple sex partners to be with Christeel at the same time. It's time now for a full out police investigation. She wanted the stalking to stop. This is exhausting. It's a lot. And it has definitely made me like paranoid everywhere I go. She was terrified, absolutely terrified. I need to report threatening emails and phone calls from a stalking ex. I reached out to Christille and arranged an interview with her. She agreed to come in and meet with the police because these messages are still continuing. When Christeel met with me for the first time, she was vibrant, full of character, but also very direct and to the point. It has definitely made me like paranoid everywhere I go, unfortunately. Yeah. No, I can completely understand that. Yeah. And I keep trying to remind myself this is intending to be terrifying. This is intending to scare me. So, like, take it back Take it back. The intention to make your life miserable and cause disruption and some sort of emotional turmoil is exactly what he's going for. Yes. The problem is there's not enough evidence connecting Anthony to those messages. So police have got to tread lightly. If I get involved too early and start trying to be like, hey, knock it off. This isn't okay. It usually throws fuel on the fire and kind of emboldens because look at me, this cop. I'm getting no consequence, right? This cop came to me and I have no consequence. He just told me to knock it off. Like, whoop de do, you know? Like, yeah, you'll see how this escalates without me responding or saying anything. You'll see in. Even in the timeline and the order of things. Like, this is not someone who's thinking at all. That is one of those things where you're just like, I'm not dealing with somebody who can ever be reasoned with. She first and foremost wanted the stalking and the behavior and the contact to stop. So if that's civil protection order, if that is criminal charges, I don't care. Like, stop this and don't ever keep thinking that you're going to contact me again in another another six years from now. Then the ever organized engineer surprises Detective Martinez with her own fully detailed spreadsheet. So I had to wait. This makes it so much simpler. I'll tell you. Okay. I did a timeline for you. Okay. Okay. In this timeline, we dated summer of 99, very briefly. She really had details of what had gone on. Kind of came to be referred to as the stalker log, which was a comprehensive document of every contact she received from the stalker. That spreadsheet is just so organized and meticulous. It really gives you a sense of who Christeel was as a person. Chris Steele also explained to him all of the background of her relationship with Anthony, who he was, and kind of who he had been previously in her life. I was going to college. I was like, on an engineering track. There was just total different lifestyle choices. We argued, but never like in a violent way. It was just. He was super, super emotional. So anyway, I broke it off with him and we ended fairly amicably. Anthony had reached out to her several times in the 20 years since they broke up over both email and Facebook. Usually it's just like light, easy. Like, what's going on? Yeah, like trying to, like. Yeah. Just kind of start a conversation. She made it clear she wasn't interested. I'm married, happily married with children. You need to stop. And he got like, real emotional, real hurt. It wasn't angry, but it was hurt. And then. And then blocked me with these new texts and emails flooding in. Christille can't figure out how she was found after all this time. I shut down facebook entirely before the pandemic. So, like, there was no way to get a hold of me on any kind of old email address or old way. She wanted an order of protection filed to keep Anthony away from her. Why wasn't that done? Temporary protection order was what she was going to seek, which would require him to be served with paperwork in person. Because I don't have an address, I can't submit that civil protection order. Unfortunately for him, yes, there are tons of addresses. He moves everywhere and between, like, three different states. Christeel took great ownership in her personal protection and then, like locking doors everywhere, being super hyper vigilant of everything that's around. I do have weapons in my home. I am intending to register for a course here to relearn. It's been a long time since I've shot my gun to relearn and get familiarized with my handgun. How much did the kids know what was going? Were they aware that she was getting these stalking messages? So she was telling them all about what they needed to do if an intruder came in. I mean, it was. It was awful. I want them to also know that they can stand up for themselves in situations that might be threatening and that I have a handle on it and that they don't need to worry. So I think there's something there that they're like, my oldest son. She's like, I'm glad that you told me something. She's like, because this is making me. She's like, it was making me feel worse when we've just heard you guys talking in hushed tones. With Christeel struggling with anxiety, a victims advocate connects her to a support group and counseling. I think a lot of this is the trying intentionally to scare me as opposed to actually trying to approach me. But my fear is when does that switch happen where he suddenly gets emboldened because I'm not responding. Her fears seem to be realized as the messages now turn into direct threats. I'll get rid of him and then we can be together. Give me the signal and he won't come home. Christeel was carrying a firearm. Tell me about that. I think it made her feel safer and, you know, that she had some measure of control in that whole out of control situation. She throws herself into firearm training and then turns to a relative who sells Concealed carried purses for help. So when she came to you, what was she looking for? She was looking for a purse to conceal her firearm that Lars, her dad, had given her. She told you she was very nervous. She was really rattled when she got there. Usually Christiel is bubbly and you know, just lively and you know, loves life. But she knew she was in trouble. She chose this bag. Yes, this is the purse that she chose. And it's very unassuming. I would never guess that there's a chance that's what concealed carry purses are supposed to be. Discreet. Nobody. Yeah, you don't want people to know that you are a carry, you know, a firearm. When you're, you know, you're walking and you look at something suspicious, you're supposed to unzip the zipper and put your hand in this pocket and just look around, you know, your surrounding. And if you see something dangerous, then you're, you're, you're ready for it. And then you can just, just draw, you know, really fast. She was absolutely terrified. She was terrified probably primarily for her children and then for her husband, Dan Krug. Still, for Christeel, the anxiety has been unrelenting. He will never stop. He will never stop. The pressure is rising and it's now Dan's turn for a police interview. I'm panicking and I'm doing a job protecting my wife. Imagine fast hydration combined with balanced energy. Perfectly flavored with zero artificial sweeteners. Introducing Liquid Ivy's new energy multiplier. Sugar free. Unlike other energy drinks, you know the ones that make you feel like you're glitching. It's made with natural caffeine and electrolytes so you get the boost without the burnout. Liquid IVs. New energy multiplier. Sugar free hydrating energy. Tap the banner to learn more. Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless. And if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should. One, it's $15 a month. Two, seriously, it's $15 a month. Three, no big contrast. Four, I use it. Five, my mom uses it. Are you playing me off? That's what's happening, right? Okay, give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for three month plan. $15 per month equivalent required. New customer offer first three months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com Christeel expressed immense frustration with the fact that the police couldn't locate the ex boyfriend. It seemed that he Was very elusive and very good at hiding his tracks. The cat and mouse game goes on. Just days after meeting with police, Christille's phone lights up with another creepy message. Saw you at the dentist. See you soon. When he says he sees her at the dentist, she's really concerned because she believes Anthony is in colorado and is watching her. She calls police because this message brags that bodily fluids were left on her car. A police officer takes a look. Nothing jumps out at me. I know the in person stuff that's scaring the crap out of me. And why I lock us was starting since last Tuesday, and it's been almost every day since. Okay. Christeel has found out from her private investigator that anthony is driving a silver toyota camry. And now she's on constant lookout for it. I don't know if you've seen these toyota camrys. Oh, yeah, they. They blend. They are the most anonymous car I've ever seen. I call them wallpaper cars. And the silver, like, it's like a cloud. Like, literally, you see right through it. It's unreal. Christeel tells the officer that she's doing everything she can to. To keep herself safe. I've got a buddy system, Especially with things that are coming up here. My oldest is dancing in the boulder ballet's nutcracker, and there's gonna be long rehearsals late at night on CU campus. So, yeah, no, I'm gonna be. I'm gonna buddy up. And I already talked with some people that will help escort me to my car. Since she's always loved dance, Christeel has passed that passion on to her oldest daughter. She was so active in all of her daughter's performances and would be backstage and would be like a mom backstage, Helping all the little dancers get out to the stage on time. Christeel is crushed. She can't attend her daughter's performance for fear she might attract unwanted violence from her stalker. How hard was that for her? It was devastating to her. So how does the stalker seem to know Christeel's every move? One theory is that he might be using a tiny gps tracker like this because it's magnetic and can easily be hidden in her car, Transmitting her whereabouts. So investigators bring her vehicle in for a closer look. She drove a Mazda. Little hatchback. But we can use this as an example. What we did is we put it on the lift so we could see under it. If you look under the vehicle, Check in and around the tires, because if it's magnetic, It'll pretty much stick anywhere under the Car. Another concern area is these door panels. Anywhere here you can easily remove these door panels and check under where the computer port is. There's some that you can buy that just plug right in there. Anywhere, pretty much where you can get something the size of an airtag into. Five men spend two hours pouring over every inch of Christeel's car and come up empty. Despite all their efforts, the threats against Kristeel and Dan continue. So Dan also comes in to talk to detective Martinez. What's his name again? We call him Kate. Yeah, Anthony. Anthony, that's right. Kick man. That nickname was coined by one of the Krug children. The email address that it came from had the word kick in it. And they also thought that if he ever came to confront Christeel, the kids even said this, that she would kick his butt. My panic level has gone considerably higher and Dan is afraid. He is on edge. I'm panicking and I'm doing a job of protecting my wife. He expresses concern and kind of helplessness. Get yourself in a place where you're not overly paranoid, but still vigilant. I'm failing. Did you feel your daughter's life was in danger? Yes. I just felt like, how is this gonna end? What's gonna happen here? There's real concerns of safety. Probable cause did exist to believe that Anthony was the stalker. So an arrest warrant was put out for Anthony. It wasn't that anybody was going to his home to go serve him the warrant. Correct. But if he got stopped or. Or pulled over or something, he could be arrested. He could. He would be held during Thanksgiving. That was kind of a different time for you all because usually you're sewed together. But that year was very different. Yeah, it was. They decided to split up the family for Thanksgiving so they weren't all in the same place at the same time. That had to be heartbreaking. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it was. Police dispatched patrol cars to watch over the family during the holiday. What toll was this taking on her emotionally and mentally? I don't think she was sleeping. She was just exhausted. I've never seen my daughter like that before. She went from a very light hearted woman with a really wicked sense of humor to someone who was watching her every move. You can see that last day, the day before she was murdered on her own dash cam. You can just see that she's exhausted, that this has taken a toll on her. And she just looks like a shell of her former self. Then a message for Detective Martinez that could change everything. The message said that Kristeel Krug lies that she has been having an affair and that the whole stalker situation is something that she and this affair partner have concocted. The Krug family is now facing its worst case scenario. She keeps disappearing for hours. What sort of secrets are she keeping? And the investigation hits a roadblock. Blue tape had been placed over the ring doorbell. Blue tape? Yes. Covering the camera. It was very shocking. Sh your hands. Rfield police. Rfield police. Anybody sign, make yourself known. Email has some sort of head wound. And immediately I thought the stalker got her. He did it. He said he was going to. He did it. Christeel had gotten an ominous email with a picture of Dan indicating that the stalker was also stalking her husband. My immediate mission is to sit with a man who just discovered his wife had been murdered. I felt like she was keeping secrets. The message said that christille could read lies that she has been having an affair. You just can't begin it. I felt like I was looking at the wrong person the whole time. You guys need help? Are you good? What started as a months long case of stalking and psychological torment has devolved into a chaotic scene captured on body cameras in broomfield, colorado. Christyle Krug, a 43 year old mom of three, is found murdered in her garage. What's going through your mind, Linda? I'm just thinking she's down, she's down. You know, he caught her, that's dead. And I was running towards the house and I said, that's my daughter. Oh God, she's gone. She's gone. Linda was standing, standing right there and said she's dead. They killed her. Well, we immediately conducted all hands on deck. So the investigations unit got paged. All my detectives came out. My first priority was let's get this person. We do think he's been here before. We knew she had a stalker. We believed it to be her ex boyfriend and he would be still large. We started canvassing the neighborhood. Detectives were assigned to track down Jack Anthony holland, who was our prime suspect. We have a lot going on at once. We quickly learn that there are cameras all over the krug residence. So of course we are taking high priority to try to get access to any footage from those cameras. Some detectives were working on authoring search warrants. Others were responsible for digital forensics, looking into the accounts where christeel had received messages from her stalker. We need this information right now. There's not really anything out of place in this house for a family with three kids. It was very clean, very well organized. There was no immediate signs of any Struggle of the house being burglarized. Everything seemed to be in place. Everything was contained to the garage. Christeel had been hit in the head and was knocked unconscious. So she was bludgeoned with something with exceptional force. And then she was rolled over and stabbed directly between two ribs and into her heart. Stabbing someone in the heart is extremely evil and extremely personal. The attack happened right there. This is not something that happened somewhere else. And then she was placed there. She was in her very initial stages of coming home. She had her coat on. It was not like she had had time to settle back into her house. We knew that she had a concealed carry permit for a gun. And we noticed that the gun was still in the purse. It makes you wonder why she wasn't able to access it. Christeel had been receiving harassing messages for months and believed they were coming from her ex boyfriend from two decades ago. And it appears her stalker had even trailed Dan and took a photo of him arriving at work. Dan was potentially the next victim. So we really wanted to talk to him. That's the husband. I remember having to help him to the because he was very weak. He was very shaky. I could feel him tremble. Police bring Dan here to what they call a soft room where they interview victims. It's the very place he and Christeel had sat just weeks prior, talking to detectives about their stalker. Have a seat on the couch. Am I a bit more comfortable than everywhere us. So we set up our conference room so that we can watch Daniel Krug's interview. He was upset and sad as the detective started. God, I can't think. It's all right. It's all right. Dan. Your. Your home security system. You access that through your personal phone. Google. Google nest. Detective Waite and Dan start to go through the camera app on his phone. Home, Home, Home, Home. Shows all four. Oh, perfect. Home. Good. I was assigned with speaking with Dan because of my handling of the stalking up to this point. Point when I walked in, he became very emotional. I know. I did what you said. I called. You called the police. Courage. You called the police. I did what you said I did that girl. It's not your fault. I have a secret. Once he calms down a bit, detectives begin asking Dan questions about his wife of 16 years. What's your guys's interaction's been like leading up to this? Just it. I felt like she was keeping secrets. Why did she? She didn't tell me about Pikman. She keeps disappearing for hours. Dan felt Cristeel was keeping secrets and they were just a unaccounted for time that Dan was concerned about. She kept leaving early, coming home late. Last where she. Then the investigator trying to access video footage from the Krug household notices something curious. So you said the cameras are on all the time? Yeah, looks like about 8:15. A lot of them go off side yard. The signal gets weak, they don't turn off. Dan was very unsure as to how they were shut off, but he was aware that the only way that they could be shut off is through his device, Christie's device or their oldest daughter's device. Most of the cameras had been turned off around 8:15am except for the one on the garage which captures Dan leaving that morning. As he tries to explain things to the detective. Another strange discovery, this time with the doorbell camera. And if you just. Why is it blue? Why is it blue? It was blue. Very much of the day. Some type of blue tape had been placed over the ring doorbell. Apparently there's some tape over the ring doorbell. It was very shocking. The entire camera feed covered and it was impossible to see who had put the tape there, there or when. Meanwhile, detectives are hunting down Christeel's stalker who they believe to be her ex boyfriend. We had a name and we had some identifying information and we found it. This discovery just kind of earth shattering. Perfect. Please turn sign. Make yourself known. When Christeel and her brother were a lot younger, we, we would do the Shirley Temples and things to continue to share a little togetherness with grandkids. I pick him up from school, we have some snacks and we have mocktail fun drink and we have some fun conversations about school. How about the children? How did you break the news? They're at the police station. They say we have people that are trained and breaking this kind of news. We could help you with that. And Dan says no, I'll go in there and I'll tell him. The heart wrenching moment of Dan Krug breaking the news to his children about the loss of their mother was recorded and released by police. What happened to mommy? Mommy got hurt. Is she okay? No, mommy is not okay. Mommy's not going to be Mommy, Mommy. Those kids are devastated. They love their mom. Their world shatters. The kids came out to us. I just remember my one granddaughter just hugging me and sobbing. Shocking for everybody. It was a hard scene. Awful. Although emotions are raw, investigators have more questions for the grieving husband. Detective Jennifer King Sullivan joins Dan in the room. My immediate mission is to sit with a man who just discovered his wife had been murdered. Do you need anything right now? Do you want some water or still with our main goal in mind and I of finding out who did this to Kristeel. Dan tells us about his interactions with Christeel that morning and describes it as pretty typical. Christeel packs lunches. I pack the backpacks while she gets ready. I took to the bus stop and I went home. She left to take them to. I went to the bathroom. I came out after Christy had come home. She was telling me that I had to get going, which is weird. I said goodbye and I left. I drove into the office. Dan tells police that his wife had taken sent him a text asking him to pick up their daughter because Christeel was going to meet with detective Martinez. I texted her asking what time and she didn't answer. Big whoopi. I finished my meeting and I still didn't have an answer and that's when I called the non emergency line. Detectives then asked Dan for more details about Christeel and it turns out their marriage was on the rocks. We have not been in a good place for a while. We live together. We have joint finances. We obviously co parent the kids. We do maintain separate bedrooms. They were sort of disconnected. It didn't sound like there was a lot of love left in their relationship. It hurt me that she didn't tell me about the stalker when it started. But she brought me in right away. Once he sent her a picture of me, I told her I didn't want to die. For someone who didn't care about me anymore, that's really hard. And I told her I wanted your voice. As officers interview Dan, other detectives are tracking down Kristeel's ex boyfriend who she believes has been stalking her. Sending disturbing messages for the past few months. Our immediate priority was to find the stalker and we had a name and we had some identifying information. We started digging into anything that could give us a clue as to his whereabouts. We issued at bolo we believe this person to be involved in homicide, armed and dangerous. They utilized license plate readers to determine that his most recent activity was in Utah and not in Colorado. They coordinated with the local sheriff's office that polices Eagle Mountain, Utah. They go and contact Anthony who they saw from outside just sitting in his house. Perfect. Police. If you're inside, make yourself known. We tracked down Anthony ourselves for an interview. On December 14, 2023, you get a surprise visit from police. What happened? I was just hanging out in my room watching TV like I always do. All of a sudden I hear loud knocking on the door. Like, pounding. They asked me if I was Jack Anthony Holland. I told them I was. What are you thinking is happening? I had no idea. Anthony was very confused. Did not have any idea what they were talking about. And what are they telling you? Nothing. They asked me if I knew Christyl Krug, and I said yes. I knew her. She was my ex girlfriend. He remembers that when they first met, he and Kristeel were both teenagers working at jcp. Thought she was beautiful. Yeah, we kind of hit it off right away. We would talk occasionally in the break room, and we went to this party. The music was going, lights were going, and we kind of. We kissed. And it was every day after that. And then the relationship didn't last. Why? I was lying to her all the time. And she kind of sensed that I was lying to her. Anthony did make an effort to stay in touch with Christeel after the breakup. The communication kind of was too much. And so around 2015, they kind of stopped communicating. Christel had been complaining to police in October that she was getting texts, she thought, from you. Did you text her in the month of October? No. Did you text her as the month went on into the next month? Never. No. Where were you on December 14th? At Kohl's, buying a sweatshirt. And me going to Kohl's was not normal. I just got up and I was like, I'm gonna go shopping today. So you had an alibi? I had two alibis because I was at work the night before as well, until late. Even better for him. Anthony's got an alibi for when the stalker took that picture of Dan at his office. My sister has pictures of me at the exact time and the date on Halloween. So the alleged stalker, who in fact was never a stalker, hadn't stalked Kristeel Krug at all. Anthony had all but been eliminated from being the person who killed her. Around that same time, we had started to collect more and more information about the phone numbers where all these messages originated from. What. What did you find when you began to look at the IP address and where these messages came from? They came from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which I know was also where Dan worked. The IP address is connected to Dan's place of employment. Yeah. That's when we recognized maybe Dan had never been a victim of stalking. Maybe he is the stalker. I felt like I was looking at the wrong person the wrong whole time. What if I told you that we had already spoken with Anthony and there's no way that he was in town today? This episode is brought to you by Greenlight. Get this. Adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes. Us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives. But are we investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight you can teach your kids financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than that. After school treat start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free trial@greenlight.com Spotify greenlight.com Spotify this episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. Make another smart choice with Auto Quote Explorer to compare rates from multiple car insurance companies all at once. Try it@progressive.com, progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Not available in all states or situations. Prices vary based on how you buy. We eventually all ended up at the police station. They don't want you to talk too much together initially, so they very quickly separated us and put us in individual interrogation rooms. I sat down with Linda and that's Christeel's mother. She's very, very emotional. Can't be. Just can't begin it. Oh, God. She had told me that Chrysteel Married Dan in 2007 and as of late their relationship became rocky. Her life was hell these last months and last year, her husband and her were not good terms. He was in complete denial. She told me that our marriage was over here in the last few months. She just loathed him. I kept thinking, why are you staying? Did she go? There was this gut feeling that she couldn't shake. What's that feeling telling you? I just. I can't. I can't shake this question. Is he the one that's been doing this with Anthony? In your interview with the police, you told them you had a gut feeling. I couldn't rule out Dan. I kept saying, I don't know, maybe not. So it was just one of those you didn't want to believe did raise flags. I'm thinking there's a possibility that Dan can be involved. The alleged stalker had an airtight alibi. He did not commit the murder. As soon as we ruled out our prime suspect, we had to start looking at other suspects. And that's when we turned to Danielle Krug. Who do you think killed her? I think it's Kickman. I think it's Anthony. Okay, I'm sorry. This is the first time I got sentenced. He. He's still thinking that he has the upper hand. And knows all of the information. What if I told you that we had already spoken with Anthony and there's no way that he was in town today? That I have nothing and I'm terrified to bring my children home? What are you terrified of? If it wasn't him, then detectives drop another bomb on Dan Krug. It turns out they know that some of those disturbing messages being sent to Kristeel have been sent from a place Dan knows all too well. Those originated through their IP Addresses. You. Your office. Doesn't make any sense. Well, he took the photo of me at my office. Right, but both of those accounts originated from IP Addresses that list back to your office. I don't know what to do with that. Do you know anything about the network or anything at your work? There's public WI FI access throughout the entire facility. After I confront him with those two big facts, you could see his physical reaction. Sitting back in the couch, he kind of brings his knees to the side and takes a defensive posture. No physical way that Kidman could have been involved in this based on where he's at right now. So, you know, the mystery continues. And he has to be the husband. He leans back in his chair, he rolls his eyes, just like you guys are a bunch of idiots. I get the narrative you're putting together, but it alleges that I would do this to my children. Provide us a different explanation then. There has to be something about this. The demeanor had changed, and Daniel was hesitant and not as responsive and not as upset as when the interview had first begun. Sure, I saw a lot of dramatics. This is a. This is a nightmare. He rolled his eyes a lot. He seemed bothered by her questioning. Well, tell me. Help me make sense of it. I don't know. I'm not the one who does this. I don't. I don't do crime drama. But Dan. The end of the interview, was reached because he said he didn't want to talk to us anymore, that he wanted to go home. I'm tired. I don't want to do this. I don't want to be here. I want to hug my children. You have your theory. It is wrong. Find the right place. The last task that we have is to collect physical evidence, which includes his clothing. Dan was let go that evening because we didn't have enough physical evidence to prove our case. I walked Dan to the lobby of the police department, and we're in conversation. What we just wanted to do is he was really just trying to plead with me about maintaining an open mind. Just don't stop looking elsewhere. I'm to this. He took my children's mother for Christmas. I know the truth and I know you need to find the right news. You question him and then he walks home that night freely. We had a lot of information pointing his direction. We had a lot of work to do. Emanuel Krug had left digital fingerprints and we started finding the trail. He was searching this the day before she died. When Dan is released, we arrange for a 24 hour surveillance. So you were watching him? We were. We are always aware of where he's at at any time. While the rest of the detectives are building the case. And it's just digital work on the computer? A lot of digital work. A lot of specialized software and programs. Detective Randy Pylak is a digital forensics expert at the Broomfield Police Department. We were able to find inconsistencies with events that happened the morning of December 14th. Christiel comes home. There's a period of inactivity on the phone. And then suddenly her phone then logs into Google home, takes several security cameras offline except for the driveway. And then there's a scheduled send message that goes to Dan later. A scheduled message? How does that work? There was the ability to schedule a text message in the future. So all you have to do is hold the button down and it gives you a prompt for when you want this text message to go out. What is that saying to you? Dan was building his alibi that he's gonna get this text message saying, hey, I got a text from her while she had been alive. I got this text from her. He also programmed her phone to send false confession messages to her brother and to a detective about committing an affair, an affair that she never had. That was important for me to receive. To kind of put the pieces in place for Dan's alibi. Investigators are piecing together what they believe actually happened that morning at the Krug house. First thing in the morning, Dan takes the oldest to the bus stop, comes home. Christeel takes the younger two kids to the middle school just down the road. And then Christeel gets home shortly after that. I believe that Dan sat and wait and he surprised her. She bought a pistol. She was ready to defend herself. He used some sort of weapon to hit her over the head as hard as he could. He knew that he had to incapacitate her. Once she fell to the ground, he stabbed her right in the heart. And then you see Chris Steele's phone being accessed. Whoever is accessing her phone is downloading the app to the cameras. Three of the four cameras go off seconds after each other. Dan does whatever process he needed to do to clean things up, puts the tape on the camera, does the messages on the phone, and is off to work. He stopped for about five minutes. There's an open field there which would have allowed him to dispose of the murder weapon. We have a gap of missing time. We knew that if he took the murder weapons, whatever other items he had to conceal his guilt with him, he'd probably be looking for the first opportunity to get rid of those things. This area being under construction certainly seems like a great opportunity for him to do that. We checked this area extensively. I mean, unfortunately, we didn't find anything that was involved. And then he goes to a nearby drive through coffee shop, gets a coffee like any other ordinary day, and proceeds to drive to work. In looking back at his work camera, he took very specific routes at his work so that he was seen on camera. To build his alibi, he receives the text message he sent himself. He starts trying to communicate back with Chris Steele. He doesn't want to be the one to find the body, so he calls the non emergency line at the Broomfield police department and asks for a welfare check. I don't think this is an emergency, but this feels really weird. My wife isn't responding to text messages or phone calls. Daniel Krug had left digital fingerprints, and we started finding the trail around Halloween. Christeel had gotten an ominous email with a picture attached of Dan, and that was indicating that the stalker was also stalking her husband. What did you learn about that picture? That it was taken in, like, selfie mode, propped up on a car. So your suspicion then was what? That only person I could have taken that picture was Dan with a burner phone. With a burner phone at his work, making death threats to himself. Another pivotal piece of evidence, the location information from Dan's phone and from the account associated with the stalker. There were moments Dan's phone and the stalker's phone were at the exact location. So it all went back to Dan. Everything's gone back to Dan. What about the hookup ads? Did you see any evidence that Christeel had placed those ads? There was no evidence that she had placed them. Everything on her phone was searching how to take them down. There's no communication records from Kristeel or any kind of boyfriend. And then police say they are able to access Dan's Internet searches from the night before Christeel's murder. There was searches for. How much head trauma do you have to cause to knock Someone unconscious. How long can you be unconscious before you have brain damage? There was really concerning searches consistent with the way that Cristeel died. He was searching this the day before she died. Yes. The digital evidence was really the nail in the coffin. Okay. You spam. We came up with a plan of how we were going to arrest him. We had arranged for Dan to be followed to and from his daughter's nutcracker performance. Make sure we're code four on this investigation is behind us. I was two cars behind him. Coming up onto Zunai. I'll head door. Probably having a little bit of adrenaline and, man, I could feel it in my body. Oh, here. Let's go with the traffic stop. Hey, be ready to pop that once he gets it in the park. Gotcha. And he'd stop at a local grocery store. Get ready. All right, we're coming up in the front. Lighten it up. No good for the pinch. He's on the island. Go, go, go, go, go, go. Just get it shut. Your hands. Hands on your face. Hands on your face. Go, go, go, go, go, go. Show us your hands. Show us your hands. Hands on your face. Hands on your face. Hands on your face. We had pulled him over in the parking lot of a grocery store right down the road from the family's house. There was no resistance or anything like that. Placed him in cuffs. You guys tell them? Nope. Hey, Dan, do you want me to tell your kids that you killed their mother, or do you want somebody else to? I want to. April 4, 2025. Opening statements begin in the trial of 44 year old father Dan Krug, who's charged with murder in the first degree, stalking, and criminal impersonation. He's pleaded not guilty. This was a premeditated murder. So we wanted to lay out for the jury all of this evidence that overwhelmingly pointed to the only suspect in the case, and that was Daniel Krug. In trial, prosecutors lay out what they say was Daniel motive for murdering his wife. In the spring of 2023, Daniel Krug was losing control and his marriage was falling apart. Chris Steele wanted out, but Daniel Krug was in denial. He decided that he was going to play puppet master by impersonating Jack Anthony Holland, stalking and terrorizing his family for months before murdering Christine Deal 11 days before Christmas. This stalking and the planning for it began in early 2023 when he was buying burner phones, creating these email accounts and fictitious phone numbers. Dan was hoping that this would bring them closer together. I think he was surprised that Chris Steele hadn't told him and so then on October 31st, you really see him ramping it up and making himself the object of the stalker's threats. And then police got involved. Things start to spiral, get more serious. All of these things were going to start pointing back at him. Priscill was not coming back to him. You know, if anything was more confident she was going to divorce him. The evidence in this case says something far different with what the prosecution has told you. Mr. Krug did not kill his wife. He did not commit these crimes. Dan's defense attorney argued that sloppy police work leading up to the murder damaged the credibility of the investigation. She relied on you. Detective Martinez did absolutely nothing with Holland to try and find him. Nothing. As a law enforcement officer, I'm very used to criticism and people second guessing my decisions throughout the investigation. I was relying on my investigative instinct and following the facts. The defense argued that the police department did absolutely nothing to try to find Anthony Holland. Did the police department fail her by not exposing sooner that Anthony Holland had nothing to do with this? Certainly in a perfect world, we would have known much sooner the evidence that we needed to prove that Anthony Holland wasn't involved. There wasn't very many steps left for us to do. We did fall short, but there just was. He fooled us, too. Among those testifying were Broomfield detectives, Christeel's former boyfriend, Anthony Holland, and an ex girlfriend of Dan's. I was really nervous, and then as I was leaving, I glared at him. I stared him down. You stared down Dan? Yeah. Why did you want to look at him like that? I wanted him just to look at me in the eye, but he wouldn't look at me. You learn that it wasn't the first time that Dan had been accused of stalking, that he had been accused by an ex girlfriend of stalking. Yeah. She had dated Dan for a couple years, high school, into college, and after she broke up with him, he started to stalk her in a very similar way. She started getting all these different communications from phone calls, email accounts, AM messenger, pretending to be different people. It was messages to encourage me to either talk to Dan, reach out to Daniel. Shortly after that, I started to get these really disturbing phone calls where I was being called like a whore and a slut and things like that. And that's when it got scary for me. Police eventually traced those messages back to Catholic University in Washington, D.C. where Dan was enrolled. When I got the IP address, I was like, oh, my gosh, it's been him this whole time, ultimately trying to get her to come back to him. So she actually filed a protection order against him and all the contacts stopped. During cross examination, the defense established that there was a three month gap between the last communication and the temporary protection order which was later dropped, but didn't challenge those claims against him. Dan was never charged with any crime. Crime regarding those allegations. When we heard her full testimony, it was just so shocking because it was exactly mirror to our daughter. The trial was a very tense experience. The tension in the courtroom was thick. There's no blood found on that car, inside or out. It searched three times. They submitted these things for testing. And you know whose DNA wasn't there? The person who lived in the house, the person who ate in the kitchen with them. The person who shared the living room. That idiot right there. There was no blood on the defendant. There was no blood on his vehicle. Do you think this man who's been planning and stalking his wife for months is going to be so sloppy on the crime scene? He was too prepared to do that. The fate of a Broomfield man is now in the hands of a jury. Jurors take these cases very seriously. And that's what this jury did. Every hour that ticked by increased my anxiety and certainly that, of course. So the jury comes back in. It is a very quiet and tense courtroom. Jury verdict count number one, charge of murder. We the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty on all four counts. It was like a relief. This is good. This went the right way. Dan Krug is found guilty and remains silent while being taken away. But he has much to say during his jailhouse phone calls with Christeel. She always loved the piano. There was a lot of complexity and breadth to her. She was just a very interesting person. It was just fun to have conversations with her even as her dad just talking to her. God, I miss that. A jury returned a guilty verdict in the trial of a Broomfield man accused of killing his wife. Danielle Krug is found guilty of first degree murder, stalking and criminal impersonation. Today the court sentenced Mr. Krug to life in prison without the possibility of parole. It's a just and appropriate sentence for a horrific crime. Dan Krug spoke to his parents in a recorded phone call after his conviction. I sat through an hour and a half of sentencing where people that I considered my family railed against me. I don't understand how you're supposed to show remorse when you deny you did it. You are our child. We love you. No matter what. We are not going to abandon you. Every day is a difficult day. You Wake up and you feel the pain. And then you just try to go on with your day, but you always feel it. You have been very careful and very protective of your grandchildren. We want to protect them. They're very surrounded by their mother's family's love. They're in a loving environment. They're given everything that Christille would have, would have given them. How much is she with you even now? I always feel her all the time. This area was where we would take walks all the time. And we talk about the kids, you know, and her life. I loved her when she'd call and say, mom, let's go for a walk. She loved geraniums. They just represent her spirit, you know, that she's just. She's still alive in some way on some plane, you know, she's still here with us. Her spirit's still here with us. So when we see that, that's kind of what we'll think of Christeel's spirit living on in her three children. Her parents tell me that the children are happy in school and in their activities, just as their mom had hoped for them. Meanwhile, their father, Daniel, Daniel Krug, tells 2020 that he maintains his innocence and will, quote, fight this wrongful conviction on appeal. That is our program for tonight. Thanks for watching. I'm David Muir. And I'm Debra Roberts. From all of us here at 2020 and ABC News, good night. Do you or someone you love have inflammatory bowel disease? You may be interested in learning about a clinical trial evaluating an investigational medication for people who have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. Qualified participants may receive trial related care at no cost along with travel related reimbursement. To learn more, Visit merckclinicaltrials.com IBD that's merckclinicaltrials. Com IBD.