"Puppet Master" Killer Set Up The Most Elaborate Murder Plan To Kill A Woman

Bada bing, bada boom. Say hi. Repel police. >> The RB said there was a stalker. Oh. Oh. >> 82 days before the murder, there is a break-in. And in the event of a break-in, usually something is going to be stolen from the house. Most times it's going to be whatever that is within Reach and is the most valuable. Nobody is breaking and entering, risking jail time to steal a can opener and the remainder of your laundry detergent. They want electronics. They want cash. They want things that they can resell and make money from. This is

a literal cash grab with a side of trespassing. That's what most breakins are. It's devastating, but at least you know that the motive is very clear. Whoever did this wants money. They're committing Atrocious crimes to make money. But what if someone breaks into your house and they take something that is not of monetary value? They don't steal the $1,000 iPad that's in clear view or the phone or the car. They steal your journal that you write in every single day. It's not a password book. You don't have some sort of ledger for Bitcoin in there.

It's just like your deepest inner thoughts leatherbound journal that financially would fetch no more than $10 On the market resold. Or what if someone breaks in and you check the entire house up and down, nothing's been taken, nothing. And it's not like they didn't have time. And then you you walk by the console under your TV and there's the picture frame, the picture of your entire family that you framed last year during Christmas. The frame is still there, but the photo is gone. >> H >> they had time to take the photo out of The

frame, but they didn't take anything else. No valuables. What are they planning on doing with the picture? Or you go upstairs to try and collect yourself. you're about to shower and in the drawer your hairbrush is gone. It's missing. Or maybe they take that one magnet that you have on the refrigerator that you bought during your first time going to Yeuseite. What the hell are they going to do with that? Or any of these things. These are the things that Will keep people up at night. It's not just like the random violation of someone breaking

into your home, which is typically the only private place that people can truly feel safe, but it's the fact that you don't know who did it. You don't know why they did it. It's clearly not for money. Then what is it for? Are they going to come back? For the Krug family house in Colorado, it's even more alarming than all of those. Daniel Krug, the father of three kids and husband of Christ Krug, calls 911. Daniel's standing at the end of his driveway talking to the officer and he's explaining, I mean, as I pulled in,

I saw someone run out, jump over my gate, and take off that way. Like, he walked in on this trespassing on someone breaking and entering. I didn't think to call you until my my wife got home recently and we realized the spare key that we keep in the garage isn't there. >> If someone breaks into your house and They only take the spare key, the only reason they would do that is to come back later. But to do what? Over the course of the next 82 days, it will be like the person who broke into

that house never even left the house. Strange things are going to start to happen to the Krug family, almost driving them to the point of being completely paranoid. And then finally, one of them is going to be killed in that very house. We would like to thank today's sponsors Who have made it possible for Rotten Mango to support the National Network to End Domestic Violence. They are a nonprofit dedicated to ending relationship, workplace, and stalking violence. This episode's partnerships have also made it possible to support Rotten Mango's growing team, and we'd also like to thank

you guys for your continued support. As always, full show notes are available at rottenmopodcast.com. Today's episode includes mentions of stalking DV, so viewer discretion is advised. And please take care, take breaks. And with that, let's get into it. When you read a lot of fiction books, there's going to be patterns that you're noticing. And it's not just like the tropes. It could be the seven-point structure. The hero's journey, Save the Cat is like a popular one. It's the outline of the story. And often times, I mean, I highly doubt authors are even Using outlines like

this. >> Save the cat. >> It's like a story line. A lot of movies and books follow this exact point progress. It's like the progression of a story >> like third chapter breakup. >> Yes. Like a third chapter breakup that I always complain about. It's like that. But like third chapter breakup is maybe more so a trope, but this would like fit into the whole from start to finish There's almost like an outline of ups and downs. >> And it's very interesting. I think it's because humans are comfort creatures. We enjoy stories with similar journeys,

similar endings. The point is if you read a lot of bad fiction, you notice these frameworks. If you read a lot of good fiction, which most fiction is good, you won't even notice these frameworks because they either don't follow it to a tea or they do it so well That it just feels like a brand new story in a brand new world. But ultimately, most books can be boiled down to the threeact structure, which is how I'm going to boil down this case for you. Not because I think that this is reminiscent of a fictional

story line, but because somebody involved in today's case thought that their plan would play out like the movies. They even mentioned movies and fiction multiple times. Act one is The Promise. You get thrown into The world and you don't really know what's going on. And the Krug family house sits in the middle of a residential neighborhood where all the neighbors are closely stationed nearby. Their houses are very close in proximity. The streets are smaller. The sidewalks are wellmaintained. People like to walk their pets outside. It's the neighborhood that a lot of the houses decorate for

Christmas. And at night, you have to close your blinds. Otherwise, the red and green not so jolly anymore. They're going to drive you crazy when you're trying to sleep. But not December of 2023. Something happens in the neighborhood. As the Christmas lights are going off, police are stationed behind do not cross yellow tape. It's been like that for a while. Eventually, a neighbor stops the car in front of an officer and asks, "Are we safe? We live in the neighborhood. Are we safe? Neighbors are asking, "Are we Safe?" I mean, it's a good question considering

in one of the houses that looks just like the others on the outside. It's like a regular nice family suburban home, there is one family that is preparing for something. That's what it feels like. They have a whole gun safe filled with weapons and there's schedules to go learn and how to use these guns. They have family codes. These are not just shared between parents, but with the children. Orange Means caution, near normal operations. red high alert limit visitations >> like they're talking to each other today is co orange or right now it's co red

>> yeah or like certain activities are orange red nuclear and they wrote it down >> okay >> nuclear means lock down separate locations active threat I think it is a pretty good idea to teach kids about active threats and what to do in case of Emergencies but the level at which this particular family is preparing it seems like there is an imminent threat that they know about not just like a potential what if the whole family has to know and they have all these thorough wellthoughtout plans on how to keep everyone safe. On a separate

piece of paper, it reads, "Needs gun training. Add walking lights. Add fence lights. Add outdoor cameras. Add front door security protection orders in place. Trim landscaping for visibility. Add extra security system. Replace sliding glass door with regular doors. What are they preparing for? >> And do the neighbors know? Like, are they all preparing for the same thing? Why are all the neighbors scared, too?" December 14th, there is a wellness check being done at the Krug house. The officer goes to the front door to knock and there's someone there just standing in front of the front

door. A woman in a Big puffer jacket. >> Oh, sorry. Inside >> outside and she looks a little startled. Oh, I was just I'm I'm their neighbor and they called me. They're like, "Can you go see if she'll answer the door?" So, a neighbor was asked to check up on the residence of this house, too. And she's like, "You got it. You got it from here." She walks off. The officer starts knocking on the door. Nobody responds. He peers inside the window. I mean, the Rest of the house and the property, it seems completely normal.

>> Is there police cam footage of these? >> Yes. >> According to his official report later, he's looking through the front door window. Nothing is a miss. There's no coffee table that's been overturned, no broken glass, there's nothing. According to his official report later, quote, "Everything looked orderly, quiet. I gave the door a loud knock." He says That he thought whoever he's checking in on probably isn't even home right now. and he's about to drive off in the patrol car when he decides, I'm just going to see if there's a car inside the garage to

be extra thorough. The Krug family garage has those windows at the very top of the garage that let sunlight in, but they're so high up that you can't even really tippy toe and see into them. So the officer walks back down to his car, and just when it seems like He's about to drive off, he drives his car right up to the garage, climbs on top of his car so that he can get up to an height to peer through the garage windows. And as he's balancing and peering through the window, he's shining a flashlight

through. And according to the officer's police report, he says he very quickly sees a woman lying on the garage floor and she is very clearly not moving. >> I got a female down. He says he quickly gathers. The woman is very close to the steps that lead into the house. So, she's not close to the garage door that slides up and down. She's close to the door that goes into the house. She has a winter coat on. The hood is pulled over her head, but her face is showing. So, she's lying on her back and

she's really, really still. He immediately radios in. 151, send medical. And 110, I need to force entry. I got a female down in the garage. He Runs to the front, kicks open the front door, books it to the garage. He's not even clearing the house. He doesn't know if somebody else is in the house. The first words to come out of his mouth when he opens that garage door is, "Holy [ __ ] [ __ ] Holy shit." And it sounds like he's trying to calm himself down from the panic. Oh, holy. According to the

report, I noted a Significant amount of blood which appeared to be fresh. noted by the bright red color. The blood is running down the wall and the woman's head is about 2 feet away from the wall. So, there seems to be some sort of blood splatter or a traumatic event enough that blood would end up on the wall. There's more blood underneath her head. According to the report, he says he very quickly sees that she's clearly not moving and he gathers. Okay, so she's Close to the steps and there's blood on the wall. There's blood

on her. It seems like she probably might not be alive. This is a life-threatening fatal amount of blood. He's calling for backup. He's calling for paramedics. He's administering CPR. And he's trying to gather as much information as possible. Initially, he realizes that there's trauma near her right temple. But because of all of the victim's hair, he can't make out what is causing the Bleeding. He just knows that she's bleeding. It could have been a fall. Her neck is kind of slanted to the left. It could indicate a broken neck. It also could have been from

a small caliber weapon, but he can't be sure. So if it was like a not a small caliber weapon, it probably would have left a certain type of fragmentation to the head that he would have been able to quickly identify. So he's so unclear about what even caused this. All he knows is he's Not picking up a pulse. He opens the big garage door that leads out into the driveway because he just got radioed in that paramedics are about to pull up. So he wants them to have direct access into the garage because every second

is life or death. He opens the big garage doors and instead of uniformed officers or medics, there's an older woman softly walking towards the opening of the door and she catches him performing CPR. She catches a glimpse of someone laying on The garage floor covered in blood and his report reads, "It appeared to me the woman was either a neighbor or a relative. She was visibly upset, clearly seeing me perform CPR. I quickly asked the woman to stay away from the garage. Knowing other officers were coming into the area, I requested via radio that they

contact this woman and escort her from the garage. >> Hello, ma'am. I need you to stay out, please. >> Next unit, interrupt this uh apparent relative that's on scene, please. >> It seems like she's freaking out. There's multiple angles of this of the older woman walking up to the garage, but it seems like she takes a step back and then she wants to go forward, but then probably her logic is like, "No, let the police officer do the medical help. you're not going to be helpful. So then she eventually walks down away from the garage

door down the driveway. >> How old is this woman? >> I would say maybe 60s7s. >> Oh wow. >> I mean this is a family member who just walked in at the precise time that her loved one is on the floor on the garage floor covered in blood and an officer is performing CPR. >> Does she see exactly who's down there? >> Yeah. >> And it's not an accident and it's not a coincidence. All of this was planned. Even her showing up at that exact moment was planned by somebody else. She's escorted away from the

garage and all the backup officers arrive at the scene. Paramedics rush in and they realize it's not a head wound that they're working with. I mean, she does have a head wound, but that's not the only thing. Under her thick winter coat, there's one mark and she has been stabbed near the heart. Who would want someone in the Krug Family dead? And does this have anything to do with the break-in that happened 82 days ago? Act two of a fictional story usually is the confrontation. It's the structured escalation. It's kind of the why. Why are

we even talking about any of this? 35 days before the murder, there is a text message sent to Christ. Saw you. >> Crystal is >> Christile is the mother of three and the wife of Daniel Krug. So 82 days before The murder, Daniel Krue calls the police and is like, "Hey, I just saw some guy break into our house and I talked to my wife and we realized the only thing stolen was our spare key. >> I saw someone I I think it was a guy, but it was it was so fast." >> Uh, blue

jeans, gray shirt, >> run out, jump over my gate >> and take off that way. Everything seems to be there. >> Okay. >> Except a spare key. >> The house key. Okay. >> 35 days before the murder. This is after the break-in. Christile crew gets a text message. Saw you at dentist. I like clean teeth for my [ __ ] You got me so horny and in my car, so I nutted on yours. See you soon. Christile is like the dentist. How would anybody know that she's at the dentist? Christile checks her car for a

tracker or anything else. And there's nothing. I Mean, she hasn't posted on social media. She's barely online these days. She values privacy over everything else since the stalking started. She took down all her personal photos, family photos. How would they even know that she's at the dentist? >> This is a stalker. >> Yeah. >> And this is not the first message. >> No, she's been getting messages all month long. >> He say he nutted on hers. >> Yes. On her car. This is the first time the stalker is like, "I saw you at the dentist

at this time." And she knows there's no way. It's not even just a message of like, you know, the stalker was saying all things like, "I'm gonna kidnap you. You should leave your husband for me." But now it's very specific. I saw you at the dentist. >> Was she? >> Yeah. And the dentist plaza has like a Ton of other businesses in the same plaza. So, if someone even just tracked her phone, it would be unclear which business or establishment she's visiting. How would they know specifically she went to the dentist that day? Unless they're

tracking her car or they're watching her in person. >> Mhm. Then another message. He doesn't deserve you. You know it. He doesn't satisfy you. That's why you keep all your [ __ ] boys on the side. You're a Dirty [ __ ] and I know how to satisfy you. Admit that no one satisfied you since me. I see you flirting with waiters, almost begging for sex, licking your lips, and you got your boobs out. Don't know how many [ __ ] boys you kept, but I'll save you. I know he's keeping us apart. You don't

belong in that big house. You belong with me. I'll get rid of him and then we can be together. So easy. The stalker sends another message. They have random Security. They let me park and walk right into his building. Been there for weeks. Give me the signal and he won't come home. Every married [ __ ] I ever banged wanted to get rid of their husbands. I'll do it for us. Help me get rid of him and then we can be together just like you want. I'm planning a big birthday party for you. Just you,

me, and 20 friends. I know you're a dirty [ __ ] and I'll treat you right. You can be [ __ ] with me and I'll take you. You Don't want the fake married life. You want to be dirty and I will save you. So, these are all sent like separate times. >> Yeah. Halloween is probably the scariest message to date. It's a picture of Crystal's husband, Daniel, while he's leaving work. This your husband? Drives like slow, old lady. Can't believe you want to suck his dick, but not mine. He needs to drive safe. Don't

want to clear a rubber hose in his tailpipe, does he? >> What exactly is a photo like? >> It's of Daniel getting out of his car, going into the work. >> How far is it very close by? >> It's really close. It's like if someone were to park um nose in and then I were to drive right by and take a picture out my window. It's not from five parking spaces away. It's like if you're at a Trader Joe's and you're driving by one of the parked cars and you just stick your hand towards the

passenger seat and Take a photo. >> What was like the first message though that she received? Are you going to go over that? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Now, whoever the stalker is, they're now following the entire family. But how it's like they have eyes and ears everywhere. How do you follow an entire fivep person family? 4 days later, a picture of a man's private parts come in with the question, "What do you think?" It's only escalating. And this all started October 2nd, 2023. So, the break-in happens earlier than this, but the first message, the very

first message comes in October 2nd, 2023. Christile gets this. It's, "Hi, Christile. It's Anthony. Hope it's okay. I look you up. I go to Boulder, Colorado every few weeks and I thought we could hook up. Christile doesn't respond mainly because it's like a really odd message from an old old friend of hers. It's her old high school boyfriend. Christile is now married. She has three kids. One of them I think is in high school now >> who's thinking Yeah. who's thinking about their high school boyfriend from decades ago. It's not like they have the same

circle of friends either. He knows she married a guy named Krug and they have three kids together. Why would she even meet up with him? They haven't even spoken in so long. But the next day, Another message. Are you there? You should say yes when I offer a pity [ __ ] Whatever. Saw your pictures. You got fat. But your loser husband won't [ __ ] your fat. Just you should kill yourself. >> That just second day. >> Yeah. But it's not just text messages. Emails are coming in. Your license plate expired. Got to fix

that. She checks. Her license plate is expired. you and your husband down to Eiffel Tower. Then The dentist messages and Christile starts feeling rightfully paranoid, but there's also nothing that indicates that somebody is following her. I mean, she's been tracking what cars have been on the street outside her house. All normal cars that always pass by. Nothing abnormal. I would imagine that there's more than one exit out of the neighborhood. So, if Crystal switches it up each time, then how would he even follow her out? Christ calls an officer To the house to check out

her car. There's nothing. There's no tracker. There's nothing. But they can't even do anything. Even though every day there's a new message. If it's not from the stalker, it's from somebody else. Like a text message from someone else seemingly unrelated. Hi, saw your post on Ion Kanto. Are you still looking for some men to join you? So, I guess it's like a >> group. Yeah. Crystal responds, can you tell me which ad this was for about you Wanting a train? I believe someone may have taken out an ad with my number. Could you share the

link or the title of the ad, please? No response. Wow. >> The entire Krug family has this heightened sense of anxiety about all of this. I mean, the pictures, the stalking, the threats, it's just starting to become overwhelming. They try to track down the numbers sending the messages. It only leads them to Other dead ends. And the stalker keeps switching numbers. Sometimes the messages would have thinly laced threats of kidnapping Cile, killing Daniel. This seemingly very normal suburban family, the Krugs, they start changing their entire lifestyles. They have lockdown protocols in the house. They're installing

cameras outside around the house. Christile is getting a concealed carry license. She's learning how to shoot guns. Daniel, the husband, he's Freaking out. Daniel's kind of a geeky guy. He's the type at work where if he has his work credentials on a tag that he clips onto a backpack. He will do these elaborate swirls in front of like the key readers, the key card readers to hit his backpack on it rather than get like a retractable lanyard of some sort. And this is not like me trying to give you an analogy of his personality. I

literally saw him do this. So, it's like that's what he does. That's the type of Kind of geeky energy that he has. >> What does he do? >> He works for the Department of Public Health for accounting, you know? >> He's accountant. >> Yeah. Yeah. For the government. During an interview with the police because Christyl and Daniel have talked to the police frequently about this stalker. >> And what does she do? >> She is a biogineer, but I believe that she is a full-time mom at this point. She was focused on engineering. Everyone that has

spoken about Crystal says she was just like whips smart. So smart. Yeah. And like even the way that cuz we foyed requested this case. The way that she was able to log each of the stalker's messages. I mean she was methodical about it. She did not play games. She would have these ways of calming herself down. Even when she talks to Detective Martinez, which is the guy, the officer that's helping her With catching the stalker. She even tells him like she has folders. She's presenting all the evidence to him and she's telling him, "I know

the whole point is to freak me out." So, I'm trying to keep that in mind. >> So, she's like logging all of these. So, the police saying there's nothing they could do about this. >> The police have put out warrants for these cell phone companies to get extra data, but these cell phone companies, They're very sensitive about giving out any sort of information until it's too late. >> Is it like a a known caller or is it a fake number? Yeah, it's like text now numbers >> where you can generate like a Google number, >>

right? >> And then if you give a warrant to Google, they're going to stall until maybe somebody's dead, then you can get An expedited warrant to catch a killer. But at that point, it's kind of too late. >> During an interview with the police, you know, Daniel is just saying like, >> I went to the grocery store briefly on Tuesday and someone behind me dropped a can and I panicked. So, what am I doing? I'm panicking and I'm doing a job of protecting my wife. >> It just seems like this whole family is falling apart

because of this stalker. Christina, on the other hand, she's not putting up with this. She's ready to go to war for her safety as she should. She gets the meeting with Martinez. Martinez even says she came into the interview room and just kind of took over and just told me everything like this is what's happening. She's bringing out papers, files, documents. She got a full-blown report from the PI. >> The first message saying this is from Anthony, right? That's the first person Of interest. And >> yes, and she's track, she got a PI to track

all of his addresses, all of his associated phone numbers, but they keep moving from different parts of the state. She's handing this all to the police, all of this. And she's like, "This is my ex-boyfriend from high school. This is his name. I think this is his current address." Officer Martinez opted not to go talk to Anthony because his problem was there's not Enough to arrest him. So if they go and talk to him without arresting him, that could set him off. >> Okay. What else? >> So they need to gather more information. They need

to wait for these phone companies to come in with the data to have enough evidence to arrest him. So officer Martinez is like, I mean, I could go talk to him, but if I don't have that evidence, I can't arrest him. So we don't know what he's going to do After we stop talking to him >> because that they only have a message saying that's his name, but there's not evidence linking it to his number. Yeah. So, they have a message saying, "Hi, it's Anthony." And then all these crazy messages and then a PI who

separately finds Anony's home address. There's no evidence to say that that is Anthony. Anyone could send a message and say, "Hey, it's Stephanie Sue, but like you have no evidence that it's Stephanie Sue, right?" So, he's like, "I could go talk to him, but if it is Anthony, that could set him off." >> Like, he could go crazy after that. And I don't know if that's a good risk. Do I agree with that kind of sentiment? I don't know. But that's how the laws are. So, I would say blame the laws more than Officer Martinez.

I don't know, maybe I'm too personally invested. There's a lot of um body cam footage and there's a lot of footage of People, family members rightfully initially being upset with Officer Martinez, but later um all of Crystal's family have come out and it seems like Officer Martinez took it very hard. So, we'll get into it, but >> because the way the laws are set up, it's not like Martinez doesn't want to go and talk to him. It's not like he's being lazy. It's more so I can't even arrest the guy. >> And I keep trying

to remind myself this Is intending to be terrorizing. This is intending to scare me. So like I'm like, "Okay, take a deep breath. Take a breath." >> Christile tells her family members, "It's either going to be me or him that's dead. And I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure it's not me. >> If this were a fictional story, which it's not. And again, the only reason we're comparing it to one is because There's somebody in this case that thinks that this is going to play out just like the movies is going

to be this theatrical, beautiful, cinematic ending, and it's not. But act three is the resolution. It's typically where everything collides together. The clues start clicking into place. The story's central question is answered, usually who did it and why. At the Krug house, backup officers, paramedics have all arrived, but it is too late for Christ. She's dead. She's been killed. Someone stabbed her in the heart in her own garage. One by one, all the family members are arriving to the house. Christile's mother was the one that saw when the garage first opened. >> That was her

own mom outside. >> Yeah, that was Christile's mother, and she is now being comforted on the street by the neighbor in the puffer coat. Nobody knows if Crystal is dead yet. The officers don't want to tell the family Members until everybody's gathered. Christile's dad, Lars, arrives. Christile's brother, Lars Jr., arrives. Her sister-in-law, Kate, arrives. The last person that they need to wait for is Christile's husband, Daniel. Thankfully, all the kids are in school. The police don't want to tell anyone until they're all gathered. Daniel's the last to arrive, and he parks further away because there's

cop cars all surrounding the house. He runs up to the Cops. They're telling him, "Back up. Under no circumstances are you going into that garage right now? >> My house. >> Hey, stay back. Stay back. Stay back. Stay back. >> This is my house. >> I understand. >> He freaks out. They tell him family's on the side. He books it to the family. Nobody's giving him information. Finally, an officer walks over and lets Them know that she's gone. Daniel's on the ground. He's on his knees. He's sobbing. Even Cile's mom is comforting him because there's

just a lot of guilt coming in. Daniel is hyperventilating, saying things like, "I didn't protect her. I was supposed to protect her. I was the person I attacked her. >> Let them know. >> Crystal's autopsy states that she was attacked from behind with a blunt object, bludgeoned in the head, rolled Over before being stabbed in the heart. All everyone knows is unless the police catch this guy. Daniel Krug is probably next. And if this were a fictional story, if this played out like the movies, this is where the resolution would come in. They would all

find the guy, Anthony, the guy that's texting and stalking Crystal. They would arrest him and all the questions would get answered. Anony's a bad guy. He'll get what's coming to him. The story isn't Happy at the end because how is he going to be happy? But you get to see Anthony rot in jail. But this is not like the movies or the books. I mean, this is real life. It never happens that way. Through the body cam footage of the officers at the Krug's house, there's this one part where all the officers are pulled to

the side away from the family members, away from the neighbors, and one of the officers tells the others, >> "Yeah, I don't know the backstory. Husband said there was a a dude who's been stalking her and threatened to kidnap her. >> And Martinez was involved and Martinez just said, "Hey, this is something." >> I don't know, dude. I don't know the history on that part. >> Martinez does, though. And he said he's coming in. So, >> okay. >> Like I told him, >> you can see if Butler needs photos with This big old house. Other

than that, we're just kind of securing the scene and waiting for detectives. You know, >> they all point to the blue piece of tape. So over the Google Nest camera on the front door, there's blue piece of tape covering the camera. >> It's like a Ring camera, right? >> Yeah. And they just covered the someone came and covered it with blue tape. And the cop is like, "Did you do that?" The guy's like, "No." So they're like, "That's interesting. It's really interesting." The officer that first arrived at the scene, obviously adrenaline was rushing once he

saw a woman down in the garage, but he said that when he kicked the front door, he didn't feel a lot of resistance. He doesn't think that it was deadbolted. Like maybe there was a lock, like the bottom lock, but it wasn't dead bolted. Maybe just the handle was locked. But the most interesting conversation the Police have away from the ears of family members and neighbors is that this is still an active investigation. We are going to treat every single person here as a potential suspect. That night at the police station, Daniel, Christile's husband, is

about to leave after answering questions along with the rest of Christ's family. So, they're all coming in for interviews and he turns and before he leaves the police station, he stops in the police lobby And he's talking to one of the officers and he says, "He took my children's mother for Christmas. They're never going to be get over them. I don't care if you capture them. I don't care if you kill them. Find out. Don't just assume it's me. Keep looking. What do you >> don't just assume it's me? >> Yeah. What? What do you

mean assume it's Me? Daniel is Crystal's husband. Daniel says so himself. I've seen the movies. It's always the husband, isn't it? But you need to find him. Hm. >> Inside the Krug house near one of the action plans in case the stalking escalates, there's a tiny little post-it sticking to a bookshelf and it reads, "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. If you stare long enough into the abyss, the abyss will Gaze back into you." Nze. >> Handwritten. >> Handwritten. What does any of this mean?

Informing the adults of the Krug family of Crystal's murder is one thing. To inform her three kids is a totally different situation. And this happens to be one of the Okay, like I could sometimes words are very bland. I feel like the words heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, horrendous, heinous, they're all pretty empty at this point. I think it's just so shitty. I believe it's the eldest daughter. She's in high school and she already knows that something is wrong before police and family members come to pull her out of school. She's in the guidance counselor's office when the

first officer shows up and she's explaining like she saw a lot happen through her phone because this family has been stalked. They likely all have access to the phone cameras and she's like in high School so definitely she does and they're probably all alert watching for any suspicious activity and she's crying and she says my phone notified me of my house cameras going off. There was police at my house. >> There was police at the house and an ambulance and there was a stretcher. I couldn't bring myself to see who was on the stretcher. So,

I called mom and dad. My dad picked up and he's crying and he he like wouldn't tell me what's going On. He told me to shut off my phone and my aunt is coming here to pick me up. So, the officer is trying to gather intel cuz the officer knows everything that's happened, too. >> What has been going on at home? >> So, this dude has been threatening my mom, stalking her, taking photos of my dad, saying that he's going to kill him. Do we know who this person is? One of her exes. I don't

know his name. Like an ex-boyfriend. Yeah. And they broke up a While ago. They ended it as friends. So, this has all come as like a really big shock to my mom, but she mentions to the police officer. He's been contacting her from different numbers, sending pictures of my dad, saying that he's going to kill him. He hasn't mentioned anything about me and my siblings yet, which is good. He posted something to a website trying to recruit guys to help him with whatever plan he's going. And he's been contacting my mom through all of this.

And so, my mom has contacted the police and she has like a whole bunch of people on this case. But the thing is, he's making it sound like she's helping him and she's not. So, we're really afraid that the police are going to turn on us. So, she's been trying to protect herself. So, she has a gun and she's in the process of getting her concealed carry license so that she can protect herself and us. And then, yeah, when I saw the camera, I assumed that she would Have to use that gun. She tells the

officers that my parents don't have the best relationship. It's not violent whatsoever. They just haven't been getting along. They won't get a divorce. They say it's for the children. It's best for us, but at least I know it's their marriage isn't doing the best. like it's never bad enough for her to pair up with this guy. So, she's explaining the stalker is making it seem like Christile and the stalker are going To kill Daniel >> so that they can run off together. And this this little girl like the daughter is like that's not like I

I'm telling you like my mom would never do that. Please. >> So, she is kind of thinking that the mom was self-defensing her like >> Yeah. and maybe killed the stalker. >> Whoa. throughout this she's breaking down and cuz in the foyer request they it's all blurred thankfully but you Actually see the moment when the kids are told I'm not going to include it it's but I think it's important to know it's like a very heavy moment because all of this will the importance of that comes full circle later there's almost this speculation from the

daughter at least that the stalker was trying to kill the dad and make it seem like the mom was part of it trying to frame the mom. Whoever is out there stalking Crystal, it is not their first time. It's not their first time creating multiple identities and creating multiple phone numbers and changing their locations just so they could stalk a woman. And there is a lot of potentials to debate here. The messages show that the stalker would have an idea of what their end result was going to be and then completely change their mind and

then think about something else. At first, they want to kidnap Christile and likely hold her captive. There are Messages of kidnapping her and then the stalker believing that Christile would finally be happy with him. Or if that's too hard, they could just kill Christile. Maybe that's the better plan. Or how about they kill Daniel, Christile's husband, and frame Christile for it? That way, Christile won't have anyone. She'll have to come to him, her stalker. Right. A nationwide arrest warrant is put out for Anthony, the ex-boyfriend, the stalker. And while They're looking for him, a woman

named Carrie is brought into the police station. She explains the same exact thing happened to her during her breakup. I mean, this was a long time ago. So, this was when she was in college, so like 15 years ago. And she says, you know, I broke up with him a couple months into my freshman year. And he was pretty emotional. I would say sort of desperation would maybe be the word I would use to describe him after The breakup of just kind of like please don't do this, kind of crying, that sort of thing that

I can recall. And then I started to get messages from his roommate. That person's name is Tom. and she starts getting these messages and quote, "And I know Tom is real because they're roommates. If I called him, sometimes Tom would pick up the phone and they had like a joint phone in a joint room." She says that Tom would message her talking about how her ex Wasn't doing well because of the breakup and maybe was going to be injured. But then turns out Tom isn't Tom. I mean, Tom is real, but Carrie says Tom's messages

were being sent by her ex-boyfriend to try and push her closer to her ex again. They're not from the real Tom. They're not from the real roommate. The stalker also created other identities to try and separate her and isolate her from her friends. It kind of ruined her entire college life. Ultimately, all the leads led back to a public library. Even though she and one of the officers that she was working with, I mean, they knew who it was. was the ex-boyfriend. They just didn't have enough evidence to get him. And so the police were

like, "Okay, and your ex-boyfriend is Daniel Krug." >> Yeah. >> Like what an idiot I feel like I was after all of this. Because like you Said, you can read through all this and go, "Well, duh. Is Dan, you know, but when you're in it, you just become so like almost crazed by it. We don't know who who is or >> so this lady Carrie right she showed up by herself or was she >> police brought her in in Daniel's sealed records there was an incident between her and him in college and the police are

like what are the odds that Christile was being stalked and Daniel Has an ex-girlfriend from college that was stalked by Daniel >> oh she was stalked she wasn't just >> No she got these threatening messages, weird messages from all sorts of people that were not the people they claimed to be >> for from decades ago. That's >> Yeah. >> Wow. Now, the police, did they suspect him from the get- go or was it Well, how did they even go down that path? >> They suspected him the minute that he came into the police station because

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that you have never heard of yet because that's the whole point. It goes undetected. But a lot of people have been calling this case the smartest, most calculated murder in recent history. the months of Planning, creating fake identities, using fake phone numbers, IP addresses, buying multiple gift cards, and it all falls apart with the acting. It's like a B-grade movie. It's like the type of dialogue that you really only read in a book. Daniel Krug thinks that the police are on to him. He thinks that they're just trying to look at him as the suspect.

I mean, yeah, they're still trying to find Anthony, the ex-boyfriend, but they've also just Spent hours interviewing Daniel after Christile's body was found. Hours. All the other family members were let out early. Why is Daniel the only one staying behind? They're asking him in-depth questions that can only point to them being suspicious of him. And when they finally let him go at the end of the night, Daniel's about to leave the police station and he turns to the officers and he says, "I won't be who did this Because I don't." >> You don't believe that?

Fine. Just don't stop looking elsewhere. the focus on me. Okay, I'm aer you married with kids. Divorce right behind you. I don't care if you capture him. I just want the obey. He took my children's mother for Christmas. They're never going to get over that. And with that, he walks out of the police station. It's like straight out of a James Patterson novel. Nobody talks like that in person. Nobody whispers like that in person. It's very odd. I also think that we as people recently have given too much grace to the phrase everyone responds to

grief differently. It's true. I think it's very true. But some things if they are sending your radars off, if your gut is saying, "Okay, this is so bizarre." It's not Even just like, "Oh, I probably wouldn't behave like that if I were grieving," but like, "Wow, I'm so shocked and thrown off by this." I don't think that we should all just chalk it up to, "Well, everyone responds to grief differently." The police have a theory now. The way that Daniel has been talking, the things that family members have told them, they believe that Christ wanted

to divorce Daniel, and Daniel decides he's going to pretend to be a Stalker to drive his wife straight back into his arms. This will be the catalyst that brings them closer together. This is what they need to reconnect. >> These are theories from the families. >> The police gathering from all the interviews that they had with family members. >> December 5th, 2023. Crystal gets an email. >> Hey, gorgeous. I can't visit you anymore. No more Colorado time. My Girlfriend doesn't want us talking without her. She says you're going to let cops get after me after

you off him. But she doesn't know you like I do. We got a new place with lots of room on the east coast. She said you can move in with us. We like three ways. Trash your husband and come. You know how to get me when he's dead. I mean, it's kind of a nonsensical email, but ultimately it kind of seems like the stalker is going to lay off. He's saying like, "I'm Moving to the East Coast. I don't have time to go to Colorado. I mean, this is what Crystal thought, but 9 days later,

Crystal is dead." And that's what the police can't wrap their heads around. If Daniel is the stalker, let's say hypothetically he is. Why would he send this message saying, "Hey, I'm not going to come to Colorado anymore and then why would he kill her at the end?" Cuz they thought maybe Daniel's sending these messages to get his wife closer to him. >> Mhm. >> So, if Daniel's the stalker, why would he say like, "Hey, I'm the stalker. I'm going to lay off." Cuz that would indicate the relationship is going well. Then maybe Daniel's like, "Oh,

she's already so close to me now. I don't need to keep stalking her. We've like fixed our problems." M >> in the foyer request, we got a ton of videos where Daniel is sitting in front of a white cinder block wall and he's Got a phone up to his ear and he's staring at the screen with his parents on there. >> Have you ever gotten like jail house calls with the families? >> Calls like sometimes audios. You'll get random audios, but really they don't like to give these out. >> How many hours of that did

you get? >> Oh my god. I think overall we had hundreds of videos because there were a lot of officers at the scene of the Crime and every single thing was bodycammed. I mean there's a lot of body cam video that ultimately we would sit through and then it would be like a one minute conversation at the end between an officer and a neighbor and the officer is just like drive around. This is taped off. Drive around. I think it was like a hundred jail call videos. >> Dang. Okay. >> It was a lot and

a lot of them is like just yapping. a lot of them is weird. And Daniel is sitting in jail. He's about to go on trial for murdering his wife. And he's telling his family, "I didn't do this." The stalker is still out there and they put the wrong guy in jail because they think it's like the movies and it's always the husband and it's not me and my kids are not safe. He's ranting. He's worried about his kids. He's adamant that someone else killed Cile. And just like how her stalker wanted to set her up

for his Potential murder, he believes that the stalker set him up for her murder and nobody's listening to him. So now Christile is gone. He's sitting in jail for something he says he didn't do, but nobody's listening and his three kids are out there and he's pleading with his elderly parents, 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. H >> he's also concerned about Stockholm syndrome. The kids are staying with family members on Cristile's side of the

family. And he says, >> "But now we're back to my original fear of Stockholm syndrome. I do not know what she has been told. I do not know what she believes." >> Okay. I do not know if my children even want me anymore. >> Did he say Stockholm syndrome or >> Yeah. >> Like what what what in what context? >> Like they're going to get Stockholm syndrome with Crystal's side of the family and just believe whatever they're saying. And Cristle's side of the family thinks that he's the stalker and he's like, "No one believes me

that I'm being set up." >> He's like, "I'm probably sleeping like 16 hours a day because of the depression. I sleep. I read. I cry. and That's about it. And there's obviously frustration, too. He says, >> "I don't understand how you can put in a claim for wrongful arrest, wrongful imprisonment if you have to wait for everything to be settled." >> So, he's like, "I can't even file a claim for wrongful arrest until after the trial. >> We are in a digital and monitored age. They never produced a single photograph of me with phones. They

never produced a Single photograph of me buying anything. They never produced a single piece hard evidence. Just identity theft. That's it. That's it. And we're in a world today where that's enough. DNA exoneration doesn't mean it because someone can do things with a cell phone. Not a Single photograph, not a single drop of blood, not a single scrap of DNA, not a single recording. Identity theft is all it takes to destroy somebody. So, he's claiming someone stole his identity to do this. >> Daniel's parents are completely supporting him and they agree with him, but they're

also concerned about him sitting in jail. He says about the food That he eats, he eats a lot of ramen because, quote, "If you ever find yourself watching TV and you see a cat food commercial, we look at those commercials here with a sense of longing." The collective decision here is that food commercials should be banned in jails and prisons because even horrible food, you know, I would never eat Taco Bell ever. It's disgusting. And yet I see ads for it and I'm like that looks really good. It's clear the Pressure is getting to Daniel

though. On the phone with his parents, Daniel gets emotionally charged because he's in jail and he doesn't know where his collection of valuable coins and metals are. Apparently Daniel's mom spoke with Christ's family about it and they didn't know it either where it went and Daniel explodes. >> So that that tells me that they are going through the house and they're not supposed to. They were supposed to give A list. No, no, no. You call, you text, whatever. They are not to have unrestricted access to whatever the [ __ ] they want and no. No.

But what that tells me is they're sifting through everything and they are looking for whatever whatever is of value because [ __ ] you, Dan. Because they don't want me in that life and that's not fair. >> Okay, honey. Okay. >> They don't get to treat me like this. >> That's all I do. That's all I do. I'm The one who has to accommodate everything. They want to sell the house, fine. I have to sell the house. They don't want to let me speak to my kids. Fine. I'm not allowed to speak to my kids.

I can't do nothing. >> I'm so sorry. I didn't want to go. >> It's not your fault. All your fault. It's all your fault. Sorry. Just want me to make you cry. >> I just wanted you to hear my >> And mom is like, I wish I could make it All go away, Danny. >> Wait, this is this is so weird. >> Yeah. >> Is this giving like a like a movie? Does he talk like a toddler or what? What's >> He talks so weird. There's only like one person I can think of that talks

like that. >> Um >> in a time, you know, kind of like, huh? It doesn't even make sense why you're being so theatrical. Like grief is one Thing. Theatrical is kind of weird right now. Like it's just >> so he's like angry but in a very theatrical way like that. >> Yeah. It's like no no no >> no no no >> interesting. >> And he takes a lot of pauses at really weird moments. I mean I talk pretty dramatic and I think that I might be even more dramatic when my emotions are high. But it

the way he does it is not Like a sense of dramatic franticness of like I'm freaking out so I'm going to freak out. It's like very like pauses and almost like there's an audience. >> Maybe maybe like he's trying to hold it back, >> but it doesn't feel like >> he can't scream in there. Maybe he can't throw a tantrum in there, so he he's like holding it down to to >> But that's alarming, too. >> Yeah. Okay. >> How are the kids? Daniel's asking. They were fine. They were fine. They look good. They're keeping

busy. But he just keeps getting angry at the thought because he comes back to it again where he thinks Crystal's family members are taking things of value from the house. And he says, >> "And I want a complete list of absolutely everything because if I find out they're parsing out things among different family members, I'm going to Be pissed. I want people arrested for stealing things from my wife's estate." >> His mom assures him that she took the jewelry box in his closet with his cufflings. And Daniel asks his mom, "Did you find grandma's ring?"

>> No. And they stole it. >> Danny, please. >> It was with my cough links. And then I have to find out what pawn shop they're getting rid of all my >> That's so weird. What's going on? You have a lot more things to worry about right now. >> Listen. Okay. So, >> like does he believe he's coming getting out tomorrow? >> Yeah. And Okay. All of these like when you foyer request it, they just put like jail call. Oh, no. It wasn't even like jail call. It was like public release and there's like a

bunch of numbers because that's how they, you know, log It in their format. And so every time I'd click one, I have no idea what I'm getting into. Sometimes it'd be like his mom being like, "Oh yeah, so the weather today and we drove and like we made a snowman." And then the next one he's like, "They [ __ ] stole it." And I'm like, "I don't Every single one was so vastly different from the next one. Like you could have no idea what was going to happen in the next jail call." And then sometimes

he's so composed and he's Like, "Don't worry guys, we have to be strong." And he's making jokes about Taco Bell. His mom keeps reassuring him. They're not taking your stuff. They're not taking your stuff. I wouldn't be too surprised if the police are listening to this call. If they stole my [ __ ] ring, just like they stole my credit card information. >> The police, >> that's what he claims. >> Okay. >> As the murder trial is nearing, it's Daniel's brother who decides to tell him the truth. Daniel's brother is in a lot of these

calls and he tells him, "Support is dwindling." Okay. >> From the families. >> Yeah. >> Mom and dad want to believe you very much. I want to believe you very much. We wish. We hope. Um and also now there's not evidence that's been Hidden, right? There's a lot that's come out. Um, 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 the reality. Um, some of it is beyond even my creativity. >> Daniel doesn't really respond. And again, later on a

private call just between Daniel and his brother and now us and everyone else with a pension for a foyer requesting cases, Daniel's Brother tells him, >> "I want to believe in you. I uh and and at the same time I I I will be totally honest. I from the beginning have not really ever cared one way or the other. I do not want to see you where you are. I don't not I do not want to see you where you're going. Um regardless of the situation and how it arrived, um I don't want you there

and don't really care about guilt or culability or anything like that. So He's basically saying like you're my brother through and through and that's how I've been since day one. However, >> situation got to where it where it got to. My concern now is your support is is dwindling dwindling fast. The forensic stuff, the digital um data is is really tough for everybody to wrap their head around. Like I said, even I have to go through some some fancy gymnastics to to counter everything. It needs some story around Where phones came from, where gift cards

came from, whatever. Um, you know, whatever that that may be. You don't have to tell me anything here. I realize that you can't say things on the on on this line. So, that's that's going to be how that is, but I figured I would tell you that. Uh, I'm not sure if you're going to get to talk to mom and dad again before they move you down into the purgatory spot. Um, and then you're going to be there for a month. Um, my Main concern right now is mom and dad are on the brink of

financial ruin and bankruptcy. Um, they took out probably about 120 to 150k um to pay legal fees and none of that has been repaid to them. Daniel's brother keeps telling him and the brother is like, "You keep complaining and being emotional about things with the parents and the parents don't have Resources and they become emotional because you're emotional. So, they take out loans and they're about to get bankrupt and they're about to lose their car and lose everything." And he's like, "Things like taking the kids out of Colorado because they're not safe. That's going to

be $100,000 in legal fees that we don't have the money for and it's not going to work. So, just drop it." >> Oh, I see. He's like, "Don't even talk To mom and dad about it because they're going to want to pull out a loan. They're going to want to try and help you. But I'm telling you, it's never going to happen no matter how much money you throw at it." There's also another moment in this very jail call, which I didn't want to interpret, but the brother, he says like, see, and I don't know

if I'm dense and I'm dumb or something, but he says something along the lines of like, "At some point, we're Going to have to have a conversation. will you just tell me yes or no? And it was like so out of nowhere. And I'm like, are you going to ask him like a series of yes or no questions? Right? Like I don't know what that means. And then Daniel cuts in and he goes, "Yes." And then they hang up cuz the 17 minutes are over. Every call is like 17 minutes and 15 seconds. >> In

the future, we may need to communicate, you and I. Um, I want you To look at me for a second real close and say yes, >> yes, >> no, yes, and no. At some point in the future, we may need to interpret that thing as as that. >> What What do you think? >> I think >> he's asking if you did it. >> Yeah. >> So that yes sounds like he's telling him Yes or he sounds like okay yes I I agree to that yes we can do that phone call later or >> Yeah. >>

So it's like can be interpreted in both ways. >> Mhm. But he's still sort of supporting him or he's just kind of >> um from the energy that I get from the brother is he's supporting his brother but I think it's more so out of support for his parents. I don't think that Makes it any better. >> Mhm. And what's the parents? You think the parents is in denial? >> Yeah. The mom is totally in denial. >> Like my son could never >> Yeah. >> Wow. >> Yeah. But I also think that um There are

times in the phone calls where I'm like, "Ooh, like these are just >> like I can see why he has these anger issues >> cuz the way she's like, oh, I didn't mean to upset you." It's like, who cares about upsetting him? His whole life is about to go down like the We can talk as adults. >> Mhm. >> Yeah, >> that makes sense. >> I mean, you're too old. You got to get your emotions in check. Like we can't all tiptoe and be worried about upsetting a grown man who's in jail About to go

on trial for murdering his wife. >> Yeah. >> There's just a lot of red flags in Daniel's story. But even just the way he talks about Christy the stalker, it's like straight out of a movie before his arrest when he's being interviewed by officers. And these are all the things that are setting off the officers. They reference the stalker as the stalker. They're like, "Okay, so when did the Stalking start? When did the stalker come into play?" But Daniel, in the midst of his wife's murder investigation, he keeps correcting the officers. Oh. Um, we call

him Kickman. And he's always whispering. You call him what? The stalker. We call him Kickman. Okay. Why do you guys call him Kickman? Um, because Crist is going to kick his ass. Yeah. >> Kick the Kickman. That That's That's What we call sucker. What? >> It's a lot. The police just want to know what happened. They're gathering intel and some of it is just not adding up and his behavior is really weird. I would imagine any spouse in their right mind in the interrogation room or the interview room would be like, "Okay, let me break

it down. This is the day that it started. This is what we have gathered. If you let me go into the house where I can tell you we have logs Of the stalking, like we just need to find this killer." Instead of like we call him Kickman. But the most interesting thing is Daniel says that he first found out about the stalking in November. And this is when the police were like, "Wait, what? Hold on." Because Detective Martinez knows that the stalking started October 2nd. >> Yeah. >> Why would you not know for an entire

month? The officer asks, "Why do you Think the month gap before she told you?" >> I'm sure she has mentioned to you that she and I are going through a rough patch kind of on the rocks. Uh, so probably didn't seem that pressing until until it was. >> So he's explaining that Crystal didn't tell him about the stalking until a picture of him was sent to her. So now she's like, "Okay, well your life is kind of on the line and like maybe your Safety is at risk. So let me explain what's been going on

for the past month." There were mentions obviously that Daniel and Christile were not in the best part of their relationship, which a lot of parents raising three kids would say they've probably seen better days. But to not know that your wife is being stalked for an entire month, you have to be probably on not even speaking terms in order for this to happen. Even if she didn't think it was That serious for a month, she would have brought it up as like a, "Oh my god, something so weird happened today." How bad exactly was their

relationship? >> Right. >> Crystal's parents are brought in hours after her murder to give formal interviews. They were all really close. Crystal and her dad would fix classic cars together. So, they had this hobby that even as they grew up, she was always just in his garage. They have This like retro diner set up in one corner of his garage. And it just looks like a dream auto shop. She would sit down while they would take a break. And he explains that she did mention that she was being stalked by the ex-boyfriend from high school.

And both Crystal's parents, they remember Anthony back from when they were dating. And they say he was always very friendly, very courteous, always had good manners. I mean, yeah, like it was in high School. Okay. People who knew them say their breakup was very high school. It wasn't even petty. They both worked at J. C. Penney. The whole breakup was because Christina was very much into academia. Like, she had a strong vision for her outlook in life. Like, she wanted to pursue engineering in college. She wanted to go that route. Meanwhile, Anthony didn't really know

if he even wanted to go to college. she was still figuring things out. So, the way that Anthony even spoke about Crystal after they broke up, people said that Anthony spoke about her like she was his great first love. Naturally, he did reach out a few times over Facebook asking how she is. Nothing weird, but maybe he's upset that she never made any sort of advancement towards him, never wanted to see him, or maybe something big happened in his life and now he's turning on Christile. But how can somebody go from being this kind-hearted, genuine

person To a stalker? Or like maybe Crystal's parents didn't really know him. Crystal's mom is a bit more open with the detectives. She's distraught. She's holding it together and she's telling the investigators everything they need. Her life was hell once in last year. Her husband and her were not in good terms. He was in complete denial. She tell me how he was. Did she ever give you insight on what kind of led her To feel like her marriage was over or it was explosive? But I've never seen him, you know, hurt her. He would hurt

the kids, but you know, some people think the corporal punishment is okay with kids. >> Like what? Physical >> probably. Yeah. She was worried about that. But she told me he was in denial that she told him that this marriage was over, but she Would stay until redacted graduated. I just this just in my gut I can't shake this feeling. And what is that feeling telling you? >> I can't shake this question. Is he the one that's been doing this with Anthony? >> This is like the first interview. >> Yeah. the mom who witnessed her

daughter's death. >> She was comforting him at the scene >> and now she's saying that maybe they're working together. >> Yeah. And it's just like a bunch of small things. It's not like a big aha, we caught you. Just like weird. Even at a recent family birthday party, Daniel is out by the window the whole time in case the stalker is surveilling them in the neighborhood. But every something about it just feels performative. >> Wow. >> It doesn't feel really anxious. It doesn't feel like, okay, I'm so stressed. It just feels like, look at me

Being a protector. Christile's brother, he knows that the two of them, Christile and Daniel, had been separated, but still living together, mainly for the kids. He has a different take. He tells the authorities. >> She was fully convinced that it was Anthony. My mom has always been like suspicious, and I just like don't know where that comes from. >> Can you elaborate on that? Like suspicious how or >> my mom? >> Yeah. >> Like the difficulty finding Anthony? Like why is it so hard to find Anthony? why can't there you know cell phone records or

IP stuff or so my mom is very frustrated with the the inability to locate one person who is so frequently contacting my sister like why is that such a difficult thing to do um so my mom had that frustration and so I think her mind starts to wander towards like Conspiracy type things right of like oh maybe it's the husband or maybe it's Dan and I don't know I don't see it there just because I don't know Dan just seems so incapable of doing something like that to me. Why do you see that? Just >>

I don't know. I talked to him and he was like very concerned about like getting his family together and talking about um being vigilant but not paranoid. >> Other members of Chris's family were interviewed and one of them says Something very interesting. He says that he never liked Dan from the first moment that he met Dan. >> Who is this? It's like a I believe it's an uncle. >> And the officers are like why? And he's like there are two words I would describe. Slick politician. I don't trust a single thing he says. >> Yeah.

>> Christile's sister-in-law, Kate, is asked by the officers if there was Something about the stalker, anything that she thought was notable. what she says. >> I know that Christile was like very concerned and worried about this guy and I just always felt like it was like there was something weird about it like but I can't put my finger on it. I feel like she had said that it was like this Anthony guy that it seemed very different than past behavior in him like that he was never sex in the past and That these were like

very like hyper things. And so I think even at one point she was like questioning whether it was actually him. >> Daniel himself has told officers during his interview, >> I had her as a partner to protect the family, but it didn't feel like a partner who valued me. I told her I didn't want to die for someone who didn't care about me anymore. He said that he just wanted Christ to say, "I do Care about you." But she didn't, and he was really hurt. Officers are finally able to locate the high school ex-boyfriend, Anthony,

and he's 8 hours away in a different state at home on his couch drunk. The officers tell him, "I'm going to ask you a couple of names and see if you recognize them." Okay. >> Have you ever heard of the name Crystal Krug? She may have been Grimsrod when you knew her. >> Yeah. And do you know a Daniel Krug? >> No. >> No. How do you know Crystal? >> She was an ex-girlfriend. >> She's an ex-girlfriend. >> How long's your ex? Like how long ago? >> Um 1999. >> Oh, so like a like a

long while ago. >> She was my very first girlfriend ever. >> Oh, okay. >> Um when was the last time you talked to Crystal? Has it been a a minute? >> Um it's been a minute. Yeah. >> Like since you moved from from Durango. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So that would have been what back in 2014? >> Yeah. >> Have you had any contact with anybody in that area since anybody or have they contacted you at any time? >> No. >> It's pretty clear that Anthony is at least appearing drunk and confused. He probably is

drunk and confused. But what Cannot be faked or confused is the fact that Anthony has an airtight alibi. That morning he had gone to Kohl's and bought a sweatshirt and he's seen buying the sweatshirt and he has a receipt for it and he's wearing that sweatshirt right now. And there's no way that he could have driven to kill Christile then driven back in time to buy the sweatshirt. There's also no way that he was on any sort of flight or Amtrak train, nothing. Which means unless he Knows how to teleport, Anthony could not have killed

Crystal Krug, just as police suspected. which leads to Daniel being in the back of a police car, handcuffed, and an officer asking him, quote, >> "Hey, Dan, do you want me to tell your kids that you killed their mother, or do you want somebody else to?" >> Okay. All right. Good luck. That's really crazy to say. I mean, I Guess they're arresting him for murder, right? >> Yeah. Um, I think, okay, I don't particularly think that the cops were doing like a spectacular job. I think that they were doing their job, what the taxpayers pay

money for, but I will say they seem very fed up with Daniel. I think it's all of his acting and all of his like I was supposed to protect her. >> I see. I see. >> Yeah. The hours leading up to Daniel's arrest are also very interesting. There's a few key moments that investigators are very suspicious about, aside from the physical and forensic evidence that they get later on. But the first one is when Daniel is first called into the police station, he's in the interrogation room and Detective Martinez comes in cuz Detective Martinez is

the one that has been helping Crystal with the stalker, aka Daniel. And Daniel Is like hunched over on this blue couch and he's like, "It's not your fault. secret. >> And Detective Martinez said that he was looking at Daniel and he realized he's sobbing, he's whispering, he's doing all these things and not a single tear. So he starts questioning Daniel, not even going after him, but just asking him normal questions one would expect. And Daniel constantly keeps his pitch at A whisper. It's always like everything hurts. I don't feel anything. >> I have two different

voices going through my head right now. I have uh my brother Matthew. Yeah, I've mentioned him. He's uh the sheriff's lieutenant and I have his voice saying uh talk to the police. And in typical fashion, he married a prosecutor. And so I have Lynn's voice in my head going, "Get a [ __ ] lawyer." >> That is crazy. That his brother is a cop. >> Not the one that he's on the phone with. I believe that's a different brother. >> So his brother's a cop. His sister-in-law is a prosecutor. And I mean, the fact that

he mentions this very early on in the interrogation is definitely a very soft way of saying, "I might lawyer up whenever I want, so I would tread carefully." is the vibe that he gives. Or maybe he's trying to say, "Hey, I'm also, you know, my brother is a cop, too. Hello." >> Yeah. And so he just has all these like weird moments. He also tries to hint that Crystal would be out of the house for a really long time. So he's like trying to make it seem like Crystal was suspicious. And I just want to

say, and I say this every single time, if an investigator ever asks you, "What do you think happened in this car? Who do you think did it?" I just want you to know That investigator thinks you did it. And Daniel is asked and he responds, >> "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. She's she's a fighter. She's she is strong. She would have fought." >> And again, it's like the movies. It's like that's not

the question right now. Like you're trying to figure out who Killed your wife. Why are you saying things like she's a fighter? She would have fought. At one point when the police are leading him out, he's like, I just need to know what to tell my kids. Did she fight? Cuz she's a fighter. Again, it's just bizarre. Who do you think killed her? I think it's Kickman. I I think it's Anthony. >> What if I told you that? We had already spoken with Anthony. There's no way that he was in town today. I have nothing.

I'm terrified to bring my children home. >> What are you terrified of? >> If it wasn't him, was it? >> If you were watching these facts unfold in front of you in a movie, what would you say happened? >> There has to be someone else. How was his performance? I guess when he first came to the scene or found out that the wife is killed >> when he is in front of the house, that's The moment where I would say we can't really judge grief. I actually had like a whole thing about this while I

was watching the footage cuz I was comparing and I was like, "Okay, I don't know who would have a harder time because he is much more distraught than Crystal's mother." M >> and I was thinking, okay, does that make sense for the spouse to be I guess it would. And I was having all these different thoughts in my head. I would Say when he gets to the house, he's on his knees. He does keep saying things like, "I should have protected her. I was supposed to protect her. >> I was supposed to protect her. >>

Let them know." >> I think at that point it's kind of believable. I don't know if that's how you would behave, but I think that's like when the applicable term of well, everyone responds to grief and shock differently Would apply. >> Ah, I see. So, you're saying that it looked like in hindsight it was very theatrical, right? Very >> hind because then I was also trying to think, right? I think I am probably the most theatrical person that I know in terms of like I am dramatic with my words and I like ah and I

laugh loudly and things but I think when [ __ ] comes down I would be very alert of like okay let me process this. I would jump into Action. So I thought it was weird that he was so on his knees and saying I should have protect when it seems like the rest of the family are like okay what are we going to do? We got to figure things out. The kids we got to worry about the kids. It's not just us. Like obviously there's grief, but there's also three kids that we have to take

care of, figure out their safety. Like there's a lot. >> In contrast, you're saying that he he is More in that like, oh my god, oh my god. Versus other people kind of have their together. >> Yeah. I think like in that moment, I would probably have my together and then fall apart later >> because it's like, okay, especially when you factor in the three kids. >> Yeah. But in hindsight though, now we know this is his choice of performance. Yes. >> But it looked very off when he arrived At the station just instantly became

really off. >> Yeah. I think Okay, now in hindsight obviously everything is clear in hindsight. I also think like the constant I was supposed to protect her, I didn't protect her is really weird at the scene when he gets to the house because it's not it's not about his kids. It's not about safety and it's also not about like we gotta find the who did this. Like there is no action. It's like very him ccentric. It's like I'm the protector and I failed. I'm the biggest victim. Ooh, the guilt. >> I It's almost like he

wants people to be like you did everything you could. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> So, there is a blonde woman next to him who's comforting him more than Crystal's mother. And she is the victim advocate that was called to the scene. Her name is Heather. She's interviewed later. And she says at that moment it was fine. It's actually when she gets in the car with him driving him to the police station for the interview. She thought it was weird. >> Really? What happened? >> Yeah. She said that he was like slumped over in the passenger

seat like in a fetal position. Again, kind of weird. Again, maybe it's just me being like, couldn't be me, but it's just weird. She said most people ask questions. >> Yeah. >> They're like what what do you know? How what happened? Like they're like a mess, but they're still trying to gather information. And maybe it's all over the place because they're a mess, but it's not just like, "I'm so sad I couldn't protect her." It's like, "What happened? Tell me what happened." Right? >> There's none of that. He's not asking questions. And then she just

feels so weird about it. She said she has this gut feeling where at one point she was Like, "Did you do something >> really?" >> And then she is like, "Oh my god, I'm such a person." She's like, "What's wrong with me?" Like this is a man who just lost his wife and I'm over here like, "What am I doing? Like I'm watching too much dine. Like what's wrong with me?" And she's like, "Okay, I got to get it together." like this is not okay. >> I see. >> But she just had this like weird

gut feeling where just like some things are off. >> And he she probably been doing this, right? Meeting a lot of victims and >> Yeah. And he keeps trying to seem like really confused all the time. Like even when the cop is like, "Oh, can we see your phone to see the house cameras?" It's like lots of like, "Where did I put my Oh, yeah. Here's my phone. Um, okay. Let me try to unlock it." like it's just Like this really performative trying to seem harmless. Also, I thought it was weird that at the crime

scene he never asks about the kids. I'm not a parent, but I think my first reaction, like, god forbid anything happened, if there are children involved in anything, I'd be like, "Where are they? Are they fine? Like, who's going to get them? Like, we got to figure out something." >> But he's the dad and he's not even like, "Are the kids okay? Like, where are the Kids? Are they safe? How do we know they're safe? >> Yeah. >> He doesn't appear emotional during the interview. He just looks slumped over as time progresses. And the officers

are like, "Help me make sense of this." >> I don't know. I'm not the one who does this. I get the narrative you're putting together, but it alleges that I would do this to my children. >> There's um like I said, footage of him Telling his children what happened. So, all three of them are brought into the police station. They're pulled out of school and he is asked, "Do you want to tell your kids or do you want us to tell your kids?" and he's like, "I I got to tell my kids." So, he sits

down with them. He tells them, and they are like incredibly There's not exactly a word that I would use to describe it. I think distraught would be a very simple word, but I just don't really know. I mean, One of them seems like she's in high school. The other two seem pretty young. And I >> What did he say? He just say that you're >> again very theatrical. Like, she's gone. She's not coming back. And there are like some speculations I saw in some comments of some of these videos circulating where some people think that

maybe the eldest cuz the whole thing is blurred, but you can still kind of see bodies. Maybe the eldest had an inkling Because they seem the most standoffish from the dad, but he's just like comforting them. And it's just >> And they're just like what? Screen crying. >> Yeah. >> And how is he comforting them? Just patting them. >> Yeah. Wow. >> I love all of you. >> Like, I wouldn't even want to bring this Up or even talk about it, but I think the whole point is the fact that he would do that to

his own kids. >> It's like less about, oh, look at the kids' reaction. It's more so like look, hear the things that he's saying to his kids after he did it. >> That's so sick. Now, you think about that he chose to give that information to the kids. Yeah, >> if he really cared, obviously he wouldn't commit a crime, but then also He probably would not have the guts to even see that. >> Yeah, but he doesn't. And the police are saying like, I think ultimately you thought this would bring you closer to your kids

in your mind because now you're all the kids have. The officer tells Daniel exactly what they think happened. They think that Anthony has reached out in the past to Christile and maybe Daniel has gotten jealous even though she has told him multiple times That she's married and he backs off. And this was, you know, back in 2016 was probably the last time that he reached out. He did ask if she wanted to have intimate relations. So maybe you had a question about infidelity, whether it's with Anthony or anybody else, because why would Anthony randomly ask

about having intimate relations if they hadn't had intimate relations? Like they're trying to be on Daniel's side. And so, you know, you might create an account to See if Crystal's actually interested in Anthony. So, you ask, you push, she doesn't respond. And then you're just trying to confirm your suspicions of infidelity. You don't get the response and the openness that you once did. And you think that, well, maybe if I keep doing this, she's going to come closer to me because she's so scared and she has nobody else. So, you amp it up a little

bit. And then you even send a photo of yourself in the encount. Daniel has asked again like if you were watching these unfold, what would you say happened if this were a movie? There has to be some unknown. >> I'm analytical at work and I read and write fiction at home. I don't do I don't do crime drama. I don't know what any of this >> He writes fiction. He's a writer. >> Mhm. >> But for a month, Christile doesn't tell Daniel what's happening. So, he amps it Up by sending that photo of himself. And

that's when Christile tells Daniel about the stalking that's been happening. And he keeps amping it up. Christile is still over it. She's like, "I don't want to be in this marriage anymore. I want to get a divorce." And the police wrote in their report, there's a 700page report that we come through, but Christile told somebody in the family that she has a photo of bruising on one of the kids that she is going to use Against Daniel in a custody case. And then she also told a friend that she confronted Daniel because she was starting

to feel as if Daniel was the stalker. So the police believe that not only does she have some sort of evidence against him in the custody case. She's about to out him to everyone publicly to their family members, maybe even to the police that he is the stalker. >> He's going to lose everything. And so he kills her. The forensic evidence from The top. The Krug house has four cameras on the outside of the house. Doorbell camera, one on the side of the house, one that shows the driveway and the garage. And it's crazy like

this foyer request, we got all of the footage from that. And we also got footage from like neighbors cameras. There's a lot of footage, but multiple of the cameras were turned off for 2 hours that morning. And the only people that could turn it off manually are Daniel and Crystal. It's only turned back on when Daniel goes to work and he is later than normal, his work time. And he also seems really casual walking through his office, which is unsettling after he just murdered his wife. He then comes back to the house in extreme distress.

But when he calls that welfare check, he calls the police. He calls Crystal's mom. He calls >> the one that called >> Yeah. And he's also the one that called Crystal's mom to go check up on Crystal. >> For what reason? Maybe it's the ultimate revenge because it seems like he has this venomous hatred towards Crystal's family. >> Right. Right. Right. But what warning what made him decide to for call a wellness call like just out of nowhere in the morning. >> Yeah. So he said that he hasn't been able to get in contact with

his wife. And it's weird because they had a Stalker. So if they could just go check. He's at work right now. He left work earlier this morning. She was dropping off the kids. >> He called the the neighbor, the mom, and the police. >> Mhm. and he's like, "It's probably nothing, but like just in case, >> can I get a uh either someone in in the house to to check in with Martinez or maybe both? Maybe a wellness check at the house." >> Yeah, we can go check the house. >> She texted me like I

don't know 3ish hours ago. >> All right. And then you said this was a is this like a case for somebody threatening you guys? >> Yes. Okay. Uh Martinez knows knows all of this. Uh we have both been targeted uh by a stalker. Uh threats have been made against my life. >> Okay. >> Uh and and threatening to like kidnap Her, which is why I'm >> Yeah. >> I'm nervous that she's not answering me. >> If you hear from her before then or something changes, just give us a call back. Okay. >> I can't focus

here at the office. I'm going to be wrapping up as fast as possible and and and heading home. Okay. Okay. It It takes me 45 minutes. So, >> all right. Sounds good. >> On the way out. >> Okay. We'll let them know and we'll have an officer call you. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I don't know. For someone who's planning doing this for so long, there's also very dumb. Like everything he does is like >> There were also messages from Crystal's phone that morning that she was killed. One of them was to Daniel that

was sent after she was killed, right? Which how is that possible? He's out of the house. He gets a text message when he's at work from Crystal. Those are all scheduled. There was one scheduled to be sent out to Detective Martinez, one to her dad. All of them pres-scheduled. You can schedule text messages on Crystal's phone, and someone had scheduled those messages. Who would it be if not Daniel? Because that needs to point to these messages were sent once he was out of the house. >> Mhm. >> If the police didn't realize that these text

messages were scheduled, they could have believed that Daniel was out of the house and Crystal was still alive inside the house. Then you factor in some really dumb stuff. The day before Crystal's murder, he's googling how long, at least he spelled how correctly, but how long can you be unconscious without brain damage? How hard a hit for head trauma to go unconscious? How hard would you have to hit someone in the Head to make them unconscious? Do people really go unconscious when hit in the head? What happens when you're hit in the head? The picture

of Daniel getting out of his car at work that the stalker took of him, data forensics were able to uncover that it was on selfie timer mode. I guess the metadata can show if it was like taken with the front camera, the back camera, it was like selfie mode, front camera on a timer. >> Yeah, that was my question. So, he put put a little >> Yeah, he bought a burner phone, but he buys it not with a credit card, but with a gift card, that gift card is registered to himself. When he first starts

messaging Christ, because she doesn't respond to that first message of like, "Hey, it's Anthony." Right? He didn't know if the message was going through, so he decides to text himself from the burner phone and just the word Test. He responds back, "Yeah." All the messages being sent, the emails being created, the emails being sent, they're all being sent from the IP address at Daniel's workplace, the Department of Public Health in Colorado. When authorities confront Daniel about it, he just says it doesn't make any sense. The Wi-Fi, we have public access, and everybody knows the password.

>> The Gmail account that you guys initially received with the photo of you In it. >> Uhhuh. and the the phone number. Those originated through their IP addresses. >> Uhhuh. >> At your office doesn't make any sense. >> Well, he took the photo of me at my office, >> right? >> But nobody believes him. >> Yeah. the trial takes place and if you had any questions about how evil this Guy is even during the trial the impact statements this is when Christile's family is they're going to come up and tell the judge about how this

has impacted their lives so that the judge can be more thorough with sentencing Daniel is telling his parents on the phone that during sentencing they should be able to give impact statements so Daniel's family are allowed to give like character statements they're not allowed to like give impact statements in that Sense Right? >> Because the people impacted by the crime are supposed to give impact statements. >> Under the terms of the law, you are family members of the victim. You lost a daughter-in-law. My brothers lost a sister-in-law. You should all be allowed to speak if

you choose. >> Why does he want them to talk? >> Probably to say nice things about him, Too. And also, it's just like such a slap in the face to Christile's family. They lost a daughter and a sister. What do you mean you lost a daughter-in-law? You lost a sister-in-law. You should be able to talk. >> Yeah. And what's the parents reaction to that? >> Oh, he continues, though. >> Joe said, "You might be allowed to speak on my behalf." Whether it's my behalf or Crist's, I Don't care. The point is, you deserve to be

recognized as the victim's family has been denied to me since the day she died. >> The mom looks hesitant and she says, "Do you want her family to even hear us?" >> "Yes, you lost Christ just like I did. The loss isn't theirs alone. So yes, I would like you to speak if you're willing and able. >> This is after he's found guilty. >> Yeah. I just think everyone involved justing hates Daniel. Uh even the police officers. And again, this is not like me commending police officers. I think that they're doing their job. I think

that's their job, right? There's nothing to praise there. But there are moments in the body cam, the arresting officers are Searching through his car and one of them is reading through his journal briefly just to quote make sure was he going to off himself or some I got to look and he's like reading through the journal and the other cop is like is there a confession in there? No. And they're both disappointed. >> Off himself. >> Is there a confession in there? Also, before their arrest, the it's like kind of comical in the only sense

Because we hate Daniel but nothing else. And like I guess the only thing that's like okay some relief is one of the cops is like once he does the stop cuz they're going to arrest Daniel in his car. They're like once he does the stop we're going to flip the [ __ ] >> So yeah, once he does a stop we're going to flip a [ __ ] >> Yeah. >> So they're like getting pumped to arrest Daniel. I don't know if they're just Like >> he they pulled him over like a at a >>

Yeah. >> stop sign. >> No. So, he was going to his daughter's recital and they bombarded him in the parking lot when he was by himself. Thankfully, not with the kids. So, they got him. It's like every tone of all the police officers working this case, they just hate the guy. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. They're just so ready to >> The jurors deliberated for a day and a half. They concluded that Daniel would be found guilty of murder in the first degree, stalking and extreme emotional distress, stalking with credible threat, and criminal impersonation. He will

be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The whole time during the conviction and the sentencing, Anthony was there, >> the guy that he tried to frame. >> Wow. Detective Martinez states that this case has haunted me since it occurred and the outcome of the case has haunted me for the past 2 years. Christile's parents have given some grace, stating that it's not really Detective Martinez's fault, they think 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. Anthony also, He was interviewed and he said that the morning that he went to go buy that sweatshirt from Kohl's. He now thinks that it was Crystal sending him a message because it was just so random. Like he didn't really need a sweatshirt. It was just kind of like a he just felt the urge to go buy a sweatshirt. >> Yeah. >> The receipt for that would be his ultimate alibi. And so with that, that Is the case of Crystal Krug. I saw a lot

of people saying this was like the smartest, most calculated murder in history. I think there was just a lot of effort put in, but it wasn't. I think Daniel would get off on being called smart and calculated. I think he's a bozo. I think he sucks at acting. And I think ultimately he deserves everything that's going to come to him in prison. >> And during all of those calls, he just com the whole time he's saying he's he Didn't do it. Mhm. >> And he's mad that he thinks someone is taking his valuable coins. He

thinks the police stole a ring, the credit card information. What are your thoughts on this case? Let me know in the comments and I will see you in the next one.