The Setup Murder of Kristil Krug

Summary

48 Hours – "The Setup Murder of Kristil Krug"

Host: CBS News
Date: December 1, 2025
Reporter: Peter Van Sant

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode of 48 Hours investigates the shocking murder of Kristeel Krug, a Colorado mother and engineer, who was killed at her home after months of menacing stalking. What began as a terrifying case of alleged harassment and threats escalated into a homicide, shaking not only her family but her entire community. The investigation uncovers betrayal, a chilling setup, and a twist—Kristeel's stalker wasn't who everyone assumed. Through in-depth interviews, evidence reviews, and emotional firsthand accounts, the episode explores the pursuit of justice for Kristeel and the devastating impact of domestic betrayal.

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Key Discussion Points & Investigative Insights

1. Discovery of the Crime & Initial Panic

• [00:45] Detective Andrew Martinez describes the welfare check: Dan Krug, Kristeel's husband, reports his wife missing amid ongoing threats from a supposed stalker.
• [01:13] Dan Krug’s initial claim: "We've had threats against us. We have both been targeted by a stalker."
• [02:14] Detective Martinez discovers Kristeel’s body in the garage with a stab wound to the chest. Immediate assumption is that the stalker was escalating.
• [03:00–03:32] Family reacts in shock and horror as the news spreads.

2. The Stalking: Creating a Suspect

• [04:36] Victims advocate Heather Aitz and Kristeel’s parents recount months of terror: Kristeel had reported being stalked, with escalating graphic messages and threats targeting her and Dan.
• [08:01] Kristeel’s account: "I keep trying to remind myself, this is intending to be terrorizing. This is intending to scare me."
• [09:10] Investigation focuses on Anthony Holland, Kristeel’s ex-boyfriend, after he appears to be the author of the threatening texts and emails.
• [10:08] The threats include surveillance-like photos and chilling statements: "Saw you at dentist. See you soon."

3. Investigation Frustrations and Delay

• [11:09] Kristeel shares her own findings with police after hiring a private investigator, locating Anthony Holland in Utah.
• [11:26] Detective King Sullivan explains the need for more evidence before confronting Holland.
  “We wanted to gather as much evidence as possible…so we can take him into custody and not have to walk away.”
• [11:46] Kristeel felt abandoned by law enforcement, leading her to arm herself for protection.
• [13:29] Kristeel confides to family: "She was terrified… It's either gonna be me or him that's dead, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure it's not me."

4. Shock Twist: The Prime Suspect’s Alibi

• [15:04] Police raid Anthony Holland’s Utah home. He provides solid alibi: work receipts and a Kohl’s purchase eight hours away at the time of the murder ([16:41]).
• [16:56] Holland: "It was my alibi. Because there’s no way I could’ve made it from Colorado back to Utah…It was an eight-hour drive."

5. Evidence Turns Toward Dan Krug

• [19:33] Police digital forensic expert discovers both stalker email accounts trace to an IP address at Dan Krug’s place of work ([19:57]).
• [20:31] Detective Jennifer King Sullivan: "We realized we need to focus on Dan and where he's been and what he's been doing."
• [21:34] Sullivan assesses Dan’s demeanor: "He took a defensive posture...I have nothing to explain."

6. Case Building: Motive, Digital Evidence, and Deception

• [25:03] Kristeel’s family testifies to marital strife and Dan’s temperament: "She said, well, I'm sleeping on the couch, mom."
• [25:57] Evidence of premeditation: Dan pre-programmed delayed text messages on Kristeel’s phone as an alibi ([26:33]).
• [27:01] Forensic discovery: "All while Dan casually arrived at work, Pylak discovered more damning evidence from Dan’s phone—Internet searches like 'what happens when you’re knocked unconscious'…all searches were the day before the murder."

7. The Arrest

• [28:03] Police tail and arrest Dan Krug as he pulls into a grocery store parking lot.
  “We follow him all the way…Go, go, go, go, go.”
• [28:36] Detective King Sullivan’s stinging question: "Do you want me to tell your kids that you killed their mother, or do you want somebody else to?" ([28:44])
• [29:05] Dan immediately asks for a lawyer, then is sent to county jail.

8. Trial and Aftermath

• [31:07] The prosecution’s case is laid out: digital forensics show Dan fabricated Anthony Holland’s involvement, staged evidence, and ultimately killed Kristeel because she planned to leave him.
• [33:00–33:59] Key digital proof: Dan took a photo with a timer in selfie mode to fake a stalker’s surveillance.
  “The phone was propped…The defendant took this photograph, and then he sent it to his wife.”
• [35:19] Jury convicts Dan Krug of first-degree murder and multiple stalking charges.
• [35:41] Victims Advocate Heather Aitz: “Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. And at that point, I think I started breathing again.”
• [36:09] Dan continues to deny involvement: "I need them safe. I don't know where or who did this…"

9. Reflections and Lessons

• [39:03] Detective Sullivan reflects on regret of not acting sooner upon Kristeel’s investigative findings: "This case has haunted me since it occurred, and the outcome...for the past two years."
• [40:11] Family hopes Kristeel’s story is a warning for others.
• [40:30] Linda Grimsrud: "Her light, you know, her light."
• [41:20] Linda finds solace in her grandchildren: "I look at my grandkids and I find a moment of peace because I see her."

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the initial horror:
  Linda Grimsrud, Christeel's mother ([03:05]): "You don't want that to be your reality."
• On the stalking:
  Kristeel, via family ([13:43]): "It's either gonna be me or him that's dead, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure it's not me."
• On shifting suspicions:
  Detective Martinez ([19:57]): "Both came back to the same IP address. That IP address was... where Dan worked."
• On police realization:
  Detective King Sullivan ([20:31]): "The entire air was just kind of evacuated out of our investigations room... we need to focus on Dan."
• On digital evidence:
  Detective Andrew Martinez ([26:37]): "Dan Krug... programmed those messages to hide his actions."
• On motive:
  Narrator ([31:35]): "Dan had been losing that control for a long time, say prosecutors... It then turned to, I'm still losing her, kind of, if I can't have you, nobody can."
• On trial’s emotional impact:
  Heather Aitz ([35:41]): "Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. And at that point, I think I started breathing again."
• On regret in the investigation:
  Detective King Sullivan ([39:03]): “This case has haunted me since it occurred... and the outcome... has haunted me for the past two years.”
• On the pain of loss:
  Linda Grimsrud ([40:30]): "Her light, you know, her light."
• On Kristeel’s legacy:
  Jenna Erickson (sister) ([40:11]): "If it can help just one other person... because it can escalate and it can escalate really, really fast."

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Timestamps: Critical Segments

• [00:45] Welfare check and discovery of body
• [03:00–03:32] Family’s immediate reaction
• [08:01] Kristeel's testimony about stalking
• [15:04] Police confront Anthony Holland
• [19:57] Discovery of incriminating digital trail
• [25:03] Revelation of marital issues/motive
• [26:33] Evidence of staged alibi via text
• [27:32] Damning internet search history
• [28:36] Dramatic arrest and confrontation
• [31:07] Prosecutors unravel Dan's manipulations
• [33:59] Forensic details of staged photograph
• [35:19] Guilty verdict
• [39:03] Detective’s remorse
• [40:11] Family’s hopes and legacy

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Summary & Takeaways

This 48 Hours investigation into the murder of Kristeel Krug reveals a heart-wrenching story of deception, manipulation, and loss. What appeared to be a case of persistent, external stalking unraveled into an elaborate domestic setup, orchestrated by the victim’s own husband in a desperate attempt to keep control. The episode documents every turn of the legal and emotional journey—from chilling intimidation to the shattering betrayal at the trial—while underscoring the real-life consequences of intimate partner violence and the critical importance of listening to, and thoroughly investigating, victims’ fears.

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If you or someone you know is struggling with similar threats or domestic violence, reach out to support organizations and law enforcement. Kristeel’s story is a call to vigilance and action.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Detective Andrew Martinez]

My name is John o'.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Hare.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

I am a police officer with the Broomfield Police Department.

[Interviewer/Host]

Officer, how did this case begin for you?

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

On December 14th of 2023, I was dispatched to a welfare check at the Krug household.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Hi there.

[Dan Krug]

My name is Dan Krug.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Dan Krug was calling and asked that we check on his wife, Kristeel.

[Dan Krug]

My wife isn't responding to text messages or phone calls.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Said that he had not been able to reach her for about three hours.

[Dan Krug]

We've had threats against us. We have both been targeted by a stalker.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Dan said that this alleged stalker had made threats to both him and his.

[Dan Krug]

Wife, Christeel, which is why I'm nervous that she's not answering me.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Yeah.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

The first thing I did was walk right to the front door, kind of peek inside. Everything looked orderly, quiet. I gave it a loud knock. My thinking at the time was it's very possible she's not even home. So I wanted to see if I could peek into the garage. Quickly realized that I'm not tall enough to see in those windows. I 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. I stepped up on it and looked in the window. I immediately see Christeel apparently lifeless.

[Dan Krug]

She.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

She had some type of wound to the head. 151.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Send medical.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

I got a female down in the garage. Broomfield police.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Broomfield police.

[Dan Krug]

Oh.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Immediately. I just checked for any signs of life at that point.

[Interviewer/Host]

Does she have a Pulse?

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

She does not. 151. I immediately started CPR. There was a stab wound on her chest. Send the next unit emergent, please. As the paramedics arrived, I opened the garage door and a woman came up. And I believe this woman was Christeel's mother.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

I arrived.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

I need you to stay out, please.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

I said, that's my daughter.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

She came running up to me and said, christeel is dead.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

It's just shocking.

[Dan Krug]

Oh, my God.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

You don't Want that to be your reality.

[Dan Krug]

Oh, my God.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

This is. This can't be true.

[Narrator]

This can't be true. Kenneth. It was chaos. I heard screaming coming from the top of the hill.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

My house.

[Anthony Holland]

Hey, stay back.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Stay back.

[Interviewer/Host]

Stay back.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Stay back. This is my house.

[Anthony Holland]

I understand.

[Narrator]

They see a man come running down the hill. This is Dan. This is her husband. This is. This man just lost his wife, and he is beside himself. I'm with Dan, and he's on the floor and he's crying. They all just kind of said, I can't believe this happened. He did it. The stalker did it. We were on heightened alert. We were very, very concerned for Dan's safety.

[Interviewer/Host]

This is after Christeel was murdered. You're worried that Dan may be next in this stalker's sights?

[Narrator]

Cracked. We thought Dan Krug was next. The community was very alarmed. Is this a murder scene? There's a killer out there, and we're going to go after him.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Peter Van Sant reports the setup murder of Christeel Krug.

[Narrator]

It's a weird feeling, standing there when somebody's being told, I'm sorry, but your loved one has died.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Victims advocate Heather Aitz is trained to comfort those in emotional agony, like Dan Krug, who dashed home from work and learned his wife Christeel had been found murdered in their garage in suburban Broomfield, Colorado, on December 14, 2023.

[Narrator]

This man has been going through a stalking case with his wife. He's being stalked as well, and now she's gone.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

As investigators searched the crime scene for clues, Heather drove Dan to the police station. An officer's body camera recorded the ride.

[Narrator]

He was crouched over to the side of the passenger door, and it was very much, I'm comforting Dan by rubbing his back.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Dan and Christeel had been married for 16 years. The couple, both 43, had three young children.

[Interviewer/Host]

What did he say in the car?

[Narrator]

In the car, he was pretty focused on the kids. He was very adamant about wanting to be the one to tell his children.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Under the command of Broomfield Police chief Ania Hempelman, investigators were doing everything in their power to find the killer.

[Narrator]

We immediately started doing interviews, talking to neighbors, canvassing.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Several hours had passed since Dan Krug's emotional ride to the police station. He had settled down, and he told detectives there was nothing out of the ordinary that morning.

[Dan Krug]

Mornings are very routine in the house, he said.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

They got the kids to school, and Kristeel seemed fine when he left for his job at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.

[Dan Krug]

While I was driving, my phone Dinged.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Dan said Christeel texted him asking if he could pick up one of the kids after school. But when he texted back and asked what time, he said Christeel never responded.

[Dan Krug]

And that that was weird.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

So weird. So out of character for Christeel. Dan called police and asked them to check on her.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

I got a female down in the garage.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

There are not words that can describe what you feel as a parent at that point.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

It's probably some parents worst nightmare.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

These are some memories, aren't they?

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christeel's parents, Lars and Linda Grimsrud.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

She was an engineer. She had incredible skills in math, sciences, chemistry, physics. But she also had the talents in the arts.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

She loved to just get out and live life.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Throughout her life, Kristeel spent countless hours working with her dad on classic muscle cars in his colorful garage.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

We'd work on the cars, we'd race the cars. Great. Christeel always felt very comfortable coming over here. If we needed to talk or whatever, this is where we would sit and just enjoy each other's company.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

But those fun, casual conversations suddenly turned disturbing in the fall of 2023, when Christeel first told her father that she was living with intense fear.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

She sat here and told me that she was being stalked. And that just shocked me when I asked her and, well, have you talked to the police?

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christiel had called the police and met with Broomfield detective Andrew Martinez.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

She came into the interview room and just kind of took over and just told me everything. Without hesitation.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Their conversation was recorded.

[Narrator]

I keep trying to remind myself, this is intending to be terrorizing. This is intending to scare me.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Cristeel told Martinez that on October 2, 2023, she received an unsettling text from someone named Anthony who said he would be coming to the area and asked if Kristeel wanted to hook up.

[Interviewer/Host]

And how does she respond to that?

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

She did not respond.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

The following day, Christeel told Martinez she got more texts from Anthony that included obscenities and said, you should kill yourself. Don't waste my time.

[Interviewer/Host]

Somebody who wants to hook up now is saying, go kill yourself. How do you interpret that second text?

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

It's a pretty extreme reaction to not getting a response.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christiel told Martinez she knew an Anthony from her past, Anthony Holland, a boyfriend she dated for about a year after high school and into college. The two broke up in the fall of 2000. Lars and Linda say back then, Anthony made a good impression.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

Very friendly, very courteous. He always had good manners.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

In 2002, out of the blue, Anthony contacted Kristeel According to Kristeel, Anthony never seemed to take no for an answer. Contacting her again in 2005, 2010, and 2016 via Facebook, he's like, we're meant to be together.

[Narrator]

I said, this is really creepy for me. You need to stop.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Kristeel deleted Facebook and thought she'd heard the last of Anthony Holland. But then came the texts in 2023.

[Narrator]

Like, this was alarming. He's never said this kind of stuff to me before.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

So.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Over the next two months, Christeel said she received alarming message after message through text and email. They included threats to her and Dan, including this disturbing photo of Dan getting out of his car at work, which prompted Christeel to first come forward and call police. A few days later, this text to her. Saw you at dentist. See you soon.

[Interviewer/Host]

That suggests he might be surveilling them both, right?

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Correct.

[Narrator]

This now is escalating.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

The harassment is just constant, and she's just believing that every corner presents some sort of danger.

[Anthony Holland]

For her.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

To gather evidence and locate Anthony Holland, Detective Martinez was required to file search warrants with the phone and email companies. A slow process.

[Interviewer/Host]

Getting that information takes time. Sometimes those companies are reluctant or they slow walk getting that information to you, Correct?

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Yes.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christeel had been searching for Holland on her own. She hired a private investigator and eventually located him. Living In Utah, about 500 miles away. Christeel shared her discovery with Detective Martinez, who chose not to contact Holland.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

I explained to Christeel that we wanted to gather as much evidence as possible and ideally obtain an arrest warrant so when law enforcement does go to Anthony's door, we can take him into custody and not have to walk away.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

But Laura says Kristeel had been losing patience with the investigation.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

She made the comment that she felt they had abandoned her, that they weren't doing things aggressively enough.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christeel had taken steps to protect herself and her family, including installing security cameras.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

She was scared. I said, well, this sounds serious enough that you need to start carrying. You'll use one of my guns for right now.

[Interviewer/Host]

Is this the very gun that she carried?

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

That is the actual gun that she initially then carried.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Dan was also interviewed. The threats were taking a toll on him as well.

[Dan Krug]

I went to the grocery store briefly on Tuesday, and someone behind me dropped a can, and I panicked.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

So what am I doing?

[Dan Krug]

I'm panicking, and I'm doing a of protecting my wife, so I'm not doing good.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Dan told Martinez the stalker had a nickname.

[Dan Krug]

We call him Kick Man.

[Interviewer/Host]

Where'd that name come from kick man.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Dan had told me, is because the suspect email that was initially Contacting Christeel was ahollandkicksmail.com.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

As the weeks went by and Martinez's investigation continued, Lars and Linda say the constant threats were ruining their daughter's life.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

It was just heartbreaking. She was just in tears. She was just like, what am I going to do? How am I going to live?

[Interviewer/Host]

Did she feel she was being hunted down by Anthony?

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

Yes.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christeel also shared her fears with siblings Jenna Erickson and Josh Adamson.

[Narrator]

She was terrified.

[Interviewer/Host]

Did she ever express to either of you the fear that this man I think is gonna kill me?

[Narrator]

Yes, she said, it's either gonna be me or him that's dead, and I'm gonna do everything in my power to make sure it's not me. Coca Cola for the big, for the small, the short and the tall. Peacemakers, risk takers for the optimists, pessimists for long distance love for introverts and extroverts. The thinkers and the doers for old friends and new Coca Cola for everyone. Pick up some Coca Cola at a store near you. Meet the computer you can talk to with copilot on Windows. Working, creating and collaborating is as easy as talking.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

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[Narrator]

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[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

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[Narrator]

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[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

When Kristeel Krug was found dead in her garage, Detective Martinez had only one suspect in mind.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

My initial assumption was that Anthony Holland had gone to her home and murdered her.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Within hours, local police descended on Holland's home in eagle mountain near Salt Lake City. So you're alone in a house.

[Anthony Holland]

What do you hear pounding at the door?

[Interviewer/Host]

Like, yeah, big time.

[Anthony Holland]

So I go to the door, I see like 8 cops. I had no idea what was going on.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Where's your ID at?

[Anthony Holland]

It's in my room.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Have you ever heard of the name Crystal Krug?

[Anthony Holland]

They asked me if I knew Crystal Krug, and I told them I did know her. She was my very first girlfriend ever.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

When's the last time you talked to Crystal?

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Has it been a minute?

[Anthony Holland]

It's been a minute, yeah.

[Interviewer/Host]

When was the last time you had reached out to Kristeel?

[Anthony Holland]

It was around 2014. 2016.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Anthony says he'd reached out to Kristeel on Facebook years before.

[Interviewer/Host]

What are you thinking?

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Why would they come all the way.

[Interviewer/Host]

Here to ask me about Christeel?

[Anthony Holland]

I thought it was for that message where I said I missed her. That's the only thing I could think of because I was like, I haven't contacted her since then.

[Interviewer/Host]

They didn't tell you that Kristeel Krug had been murdered?

[Anthony Holland]

No, they did not tell me.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Police were there to gather information from their suspect, not give it.

[Anthony Holland]

They asked me where I was that day. Can I prove where I was?

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Anthony had made a purchase just hours earlier at a Kohl's store near his home.

[Interviewer/Host]

What'd you buy?

[Anthony Holland]

A sweatshirt. This one right here.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

And he still had the receipt. The purchase was made at 12:16pm Investigators say Christeel was attacked. And around 8am Turns out that was.

[Interviewer/Host]

One of the most important purchases you have ever made.

[Anthony Holland]

Because it was my alibi. Because there's no way I could have made it from Colorado back to Utah to buy the sweatshirt. It was an eight hour drive.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Anthony also showed police some of his employment records. They proved he'd been in Utah all along, never traveling to Colorado, as the messages from Kristeel's stalker led cops to believe.

[Anthony Holland]

I had a bunch of receipts for my work showing the days that I worked. And they took those, took my receipt from Kohl's and went to the squad car and made a phone call. Came back in and told me I was free to go.

[Dan Krug]

You have a better day. Okay.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Back in Colorado, Dan was still face to face with investigators. He told them his theory of the crime.

[Dan Krug]

So 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. And she's. She's a fighter.

[Interviewer/Host]

She's.

[Dan Krug]

She is strong. She would have fought.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Earlier in the interview, Dan requested he tell the children what had happened to their mother.

[Narrator]

Your kids do not know yet.

[Dan Krug]

Okay.

[Narrator]

They're here arriving the hall.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

I should.

[Narrator]

You want to tell them?

[Dan Krug]

I just don't know.

[Narrator]

Okay.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Watching their response is just heartbreaking.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Investigators were working every angle. They checked those security cameras Christeel had installed on the house.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

The doorbell camera, the side camera, and the side house camera were all manually.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Turned off except for that one nest camera near the garage. Police canvassed Dan and Christiel's neighbors in search of anything their home security cameras might have recorded.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

I saw you had a ring doorbell camera.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

Do you mind reviewing that camera?

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

Oh, goodness, absolutely.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

If possible, you guys can review the.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Last three to five hours.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

They also enlisted Randy Pylak, a digital forensic examiner with the Broomfield police department, to take a closer look at those disturbing messages to Kristeel.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

I think it was probably four hours, five hours after the murder was reported to us.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Now that the stalking case had become a murder investigation, Pylak was able to file new expedited requests for information. He quickly discovered that messages from two accounts used to harass Kristeel had been sent from. From this same location.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Both came back to the same IP address. That IP address was the Colorado Department of public Health and Environment, which is where Dan worked.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

The messages to Christeel threatening her, threatening her husband, had been sent using the wi fi system At Dan's office. For the first time, detectives believe Christeel's stalker could be sitting right in front of them. Could he be her killer as well?

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

The entire air was just kind of evacuated out of our investigations room, and we realized that we need to focus on Dan and where he's been and what he's been doing.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Martinez, along with detective Jennifer King Sullivan, confronted.

[Narrator]

Who do you think killed her?

[Dan Krug]

I think it's kick man. I think it's Anthony.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

What if I told you better? We had already spoken with Anthony, and there's no way that he was in.

[Narrator]

Town today.

[Dan Krug]

That I have nothing, and I'm terrified to bring my children home.

[Narrator]

What are you terrified of?

[Dan Krug]

If it wasn't him, who was it?

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

But even as Dan claimed ignorance, the detective saw that his body language told a different story.

[Interviewer/Host]

What were you seeing with Dan?

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

He took a defensive posture. He sat back in the couch a little bit. He crossed his arms, kind of like, I have nothing to explain.

[Narrator]

I think his head is spinning, thinking about what else are they going to find? The mystery continues. And if you were watching these facts unfold in front of you in a movie, what would you say happened?

[Dan Krug]

There has to be someone.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Moments after detectives told Dan Krug they had eliminated Anthony Holland as a suspect, Dan calmly insisted he was not the one who stalked and murdered his wife. Christeel loved her.

[Dan Krug]

There has to be something knows, But I don't know who that is.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Martinez and King Sullivan didn't believe a word of it and were struck by how stoic, how unmoved Dan was.

[Narrator]

He had no reaction and really no explanation. Help me make sense of it.

[Dan Krug]

I don't know enough while he does this, I don't have a narrative or a story that I can offer you.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Within minutes, Dan Krug had gone from sympathetic victim to murder suspect.

[Dan Krug]

I get the narrative you're putting together, but it alleges that I would do this to my children. I love, adore my children.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

It's a pretty frightening idea that the biggest threat to you and your safety is actually living in the same house as you. We need to process you for physical evidence. Okay. He knows that we're onto him. We just didn't have enough evidence at that point to take him into custody.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

On his way out, Dan kept insisting the real killer was still on the loose, and he made a desperate plea.

[Dan Krug]

I just want to say he took my children's mother for Christmas. They're never going to get over that. I don't care if you capture them. I don't care if you kill them. Find them. Don't just assume it's me. She okay?

[Interviewer/Host]

When did you find out that Dan was now a person of interest in this case?

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

I think at his interview. So that same day when they held him. They held him pretty late.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

An autopsy revealed what happened to Kristeel. She had been attacked from behind with.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

A blunt object, bludgeoned to death in the head, and rolled over and then stabbed in the heart.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

With Dan now the prime suspect, the detectives wanted to know more about his relationship with Christiel. According to Christeel's parents, it wasn't good.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

She said, well, I'm sleeping on the couch, mom.

[Interviewer/Host]

But you knew there was trouble in paradise, right?

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

Yeah. And especially in that those last few months.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christeel's family says those troubles were caused by Dan's fiery temper.

[Interviewer/Host]

What set him off?

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

It could be anything, but it was usually if he was losing control.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christeel's sister, Jenna Erickson, says she could always tell when Dan was angry.

[Narrator]

His face would get really red when he was getting frustrated. I vividly remember seeing his face get red.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

They had a thing where they'd go, okay, walk away. You need to walk away. And so, you know, they were trying to manage it.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

But in the weeks before her death, according to her parents, Kristeel was getting ready to leave Dan.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

She didn't want to have this marriage anymore.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

She had decided that she needed to get a divorce.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

As the detectives methodically built their case, more evidence was uncovered on Dan and Christiel's cell phones by digital forensic expert Randy Pylak, including texts from the morning of the murder.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

So on Christiel's phone, we see text messages to Lars, Detective Martinez, and then a text message to Dan, the one.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Dan said he received while driving to work, about picking up one of the kids at School. But Pylak discovered those texts had been set on a timer. It was a new feature on the phone Christeel had.

[Interviewer/Host]

Who do you believe pre programmed those messages?

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Dan Krug.

[Interviewer/Host]

And he did it to do what?

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

To hide his actions.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Pylak says the messages were pre programmed before Dan left the house.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

And we believe Christeel is deceased.

[Interviewer/Host]

That for him then would establish an alibi that, well, I had already left. And my wife is alive.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

Right.

[Interviewer/Host]

She's texting me.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Correct.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

All while Dan casually arrived at work, Pylak discovered more damning evidence from Dan's phone Internet searches. Like what happens when you're knocked unconscious. Do people really go unconscious when hit in the head? And how hard for head trauma to go unconscious.

[Interviewer/Host]

All searches were the day before the murder. It was rather damning.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Just two days after Christeel had been murdered, detectives Martinez and King Sullivan felt they had enough evidence to charge Dan Krug with stalking and murdering his wife.

[Narrator]

We began following him, Coming up to the stop sign.

[Interviewer/Host]

Now, how many cars we talking about?

[Narrator]

Probably eight cars. We're like, that's him. He's alone in the car.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Hey, be ready to pop that.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Once he gets it in the park.

[Narrator]

We follow him all the way to the grocery store.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Pulling into King super's parking lot, we.

[Narrator]

Wait for him to park. We quickly converge on his car.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Go, go, go, go, go, go.

[Dan Krug]

Show us your hands.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Show your hands.

[Dan Krug]

Hands on your face.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Hands on your face.

[Dan Krug]

Hands on your face.

[Narrator]

So we surround him, pull him out of his car, and tell him he's being arrested for the murder of his wife.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

I asked him just one question. Do you want me to tell your kids that you killed their mother, or do you want somebody else to?

[Interviewer/Host]

That's quite a line. That goes back to when he said he wanted to tell his kids that their mother was dead.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

After I asked that question, he just said that he wanted to speak with his attorney and then looked away from me.

[Dan Krug]

All right, good luck.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

And I shut the door. And he went to the county jail.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Get one leg out and then kind of swing around.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

I felt a huge relief they got him. It felt like a burden had been lifted that he had been arrested.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

And soon Christiel's family would come face to face with the man detectives say murdered her.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

He looked right at me and smiled at me.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

And here, for the first time, Dan's side of the story. When deputy district attorneys Kate Armstrong and Stephanie Fritz were assigned to prosecute Daniel Krug, they say they were struck by his downright stupidity in believing he could get away with murdering his wife by impersonating her ex boyfriend.

[Narrator]

The audacity was which he thought he could manipulate not only his family, his loved ones, but also the police department.

[Interviewer/Host]

And some of this is sophisticated, is it not?

[Narrator]

It's sophisticated, but not too sophisticated because we were able to figure it out.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

The trial began in April 2025.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

When he first came in, he smiled at me like he was saying, hey, thanks for being here for me. I believe my facial expression made it very clear that I was not on his side.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

The prosecution laid out Kristeel's final hours of life for the jury.

[Narrator]

On December 14th of 2023, Kristeel Krug started her day like any other day. She took her younger two children to.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

School, and when she returned, Kristeel pulled.

[Narrator]

Back into her garage. She gets out of the car when she is attacked from behind.

[Interviewer/Host]

And did she ever see him approaching, do you think, or was this an ambush?

[Narrator]

It was an ambush. She had two or three skull fractures. As she's laying on the floor bleeding, he pushes her over, gets over her and stabs her just above her heart.

[Interviewer/Host]

And why do you suppose he had to do that vicious last stab?

[Narrator]

I think it was rage. I think it was control and power that he wanted to exert over Kristeel.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Dan had been losing that control for a long time, say prosecutors. Their theory of the crime is that Dan sent Christiel those disturbing messages in an attempt to drive her closer to him and not leave, hoping she'd see him as her heroic protector.

[Narrator]

It was not working. The stalking was not leaving her back to him. I think it then turned to, I'm still losing her, kind of, if I can't have you, nobody can.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

The prosecution says that in the last days of her life, Christeel had begun to suspect that her stalker was possibly her husband.

[Narrator]

We know from Dan's own interview that she confronted him and said, I can't rule you out as the stalker.

[Dan Krug]

She said that right to my face, that she wanted to know if it was.

[Interviewer/Host]

He felt the walls closing in, closing in.

[Narrator]

He was going to lose Chris Steele anyway. He was going to be exposed as the stalker. So he did that last fatal act and murdered her.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Prosecutors say Dan tried to outsmart investigators pre programming those text messages on Christeel's phone before he left the house, assuming he wouldn't be caught.

[Narrator]

Were we not able to discover that that was a delayed send text? It would have appeared as though Christeel was still alive when he left the house at trial.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

The long list of digital evidence Against Dan was laid out. The threatening texts, the emails. The Internet searches also included that photograph of Dan arriving at his office, attached to a menacing email seemingly sent by Anthony Holland to Kristeel. But there was one problem. According to the state's digital expert.

[Interviewer/Host]

Who took this picture. Do you believe Dan? Dan took this picture?

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Pylak discovered that the phone which snapped that photo was in selfie mode using a timer, a fact that Kate Armstrong reminded the jury about in her closing argument. That's when the judge allowed cameras into the courtroom.

[Narrator]

The phone was propped on the back of this vehicle next to him. The defendant took this photograph, and then he sent it to his wife.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

We respectfully disagree with the prosecution in this case. Defense attorney Philip Geigel argued the murder investigation was poor. The blunt object used on Christeel's head and the knife used to stab her were never recovered by police. The defense also zeroed in on the fact that Christeel's phone was not tested for fingerprints or DNA.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Why not the phone the prosecution wants to believe?

[Narrator]

Well, you know, there may not be.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

A lot to be found there. Well, you won't know if you won't try.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

But Geigel said other forensic tests supported his claim that Dan is innocent. They submitted the chest swabs, and you.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Know whose DNA wasn't there?

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

The person who lived in the house.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

The person who ate in the kitchen with them. The person who shared the living room. That idiot right there. There is absolutely no physical evidence on Mr. Krug's clothing. There's no blood found on that car, inside or out. It's searched three times.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

In week three of the trial, the jurors began deliberations. After a day and a half, verdicts were reached.

[Narrator]

Please rise for the jury.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Judge Priscilla Lowe read the verdicts.

[Narrator]

We, the jury find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty of count number two, stalking, extreme emotional distress.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Krug was also found guilty of stalking with credible threat and criminal imprisonment.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. And at that point, I think I started breathing again.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Krug was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charge and an additional nine and a half years for the stalking and impersonation counts. But right after his conviction, in a video call from jail.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

How are you?

[Dan Krug]

Been better.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Daniel Krug told his family that the jury got it wrong, saying the real killer remained at large and that his children could be the next targets.

[Dan Krug]

I need them safe. I don't know where or who did this, where he is or who he is. I need my children out of Colorado.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

As Daniel Krug began serving his life sentence, he continued making video calls to his parents and brother in the days immediately after his conviction. The man who viciously murdered his wife, terrorized his own children, and lied to everyone was seeking sympathy from his side of the family.

[Dan Krug]

I'm probably sleeping, like 16 hours a day because of the depression. I sleep, I read, and I cry. That's about it.

[Interviewer/Host]

Okay.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Despite overwhelming death evidence against him, Krug fell back to his old ways, lying to his loved ones. Now claiming he was wrongly convicted.

[Dan Krug]

They never produced a single piece of hard evidence.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

His brother Jeremy gave Krug a much needed reality check, that the foundation of the family's loyalty had started to crack.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Support is dwindling. You know, mom and dad want to believe you very much. I want to believe you very much. Right. There's a lot that's come out. And as imaginative as I can be with finding explanations and ways to theorize how that, you know, this or that could have been the real. Some of it is beyond even my creativity.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

The case that ended with a murder had begun with stalking and criminal impersonation of Anthony Holland. Which begs the question, what if Detective Martinez had acted on the information Kristeel and the private investigator had uncovered?

[Anthony Holland]

They should have found me right away. They should have found me. They should have came to my house. They should have approached me. They should have talked to me.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

But Detective Martinez chose not to call, telling us he didn't have enough evidence to do so and was concerned a phone call could exacerbate the situation.

[Interviewer/Host]

Is this something where you've kicked yourself about this?

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

This case has haunted me since it occurred, and the outcome of this case has haunted me for the past two years.

[Interviewer/Host]

And if you could get in a time machine, perhaps you make that call today.

[Detective Jennifer King Sullivan]

Absolutely.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

And Kristeel's parents sympathize with Martinez and believe their daughter was doomed no matter what the outcome of his investigation.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

Inevitably, I think he was going to kill her. When someone sets their mind to do something like that, and that's what the plan was, I don't think that would have stopped the murder from happening.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Christeel's death has left a hole in the lives of those who experienced her love and joy for life.

[Anthony Holland]

I've had lots of other girlfriends, and I've never been in love with anybody else like her.

[Interviewer/Host]

She was the love of your life.

[Anthony Holland]

Yeah.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Jenna hopes her sister Christeel's story will serve as a cautionary tale if it.

[Narrator]

Can help just one other person who's in a dangerous situation like she was in that it gives them the strength to make a move because it can escalate and it can escalate really, really fast.

[Interviewer/Host]

What was lost when she was taken from us?

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

Her light, you know, her light.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

That's a tough one to talk about because there's so much I want her to jump out of that car and say, hey, Papa.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Laura still passes his time with restoring parts for vintage cars. That father daughter hobby is now being passed down to Kristeel's children.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

They're in here. They run that same electric screwdriver and they can tear a carburetor apart.

[Interviewer/Host]

So in that way, you're honoring her memory, aren't you?

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

Well, that's the whole idea.

[Interviewer/Host]

Yeah.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

Yeah, that's the whole idea. She would get such a kick out of seeing the kids doing the stuff that she was involved in.

[Linda Grimsrud (Christeel's mother)]

I look at my grandkids and I find a moment of peace because I see her.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Stream blockbuster hits like 21 Jump Street, Ted, the Expendables and so much more on Pluto TV stream now may never.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

You think you understand how this business works, but you don't.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Landman TV's biggest phenomenon returns to Paramount.

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

Plus from Taylor Sheridan, Co creator of.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Yellowstone, starring Billy Bob Thornton.

[Heather Aitz (Victims advocate)]

You have to know the rules of the game and bend them. And you really have to know them to break them.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Demi Moore.

[Narrator]

I want success.

[Dan Krug]

Get it for me.

[Reporter Peter Van Sant]

Andy Garcia, Ali Larder and Sam Elliott.

[Anthony Holland]

You don't even know the game you're.

[Dan Krug]

Playing, do you, Landman?

[Detective Andrew Martinez]

New season now streaming only on Paramount plus.