Colorado man gets life in prison for killing his wife after posing as ex-boyfriend and stalking her

Relatives of murder victim Kristil Krug hug outside of court following the conviction of her husband Daniel Krug in Broomfield, Colo., on Thursday, April 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)

DENVER — A Colorado man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Friday for the murder of his wife after stalking her while posing as an ex-boyfriend.

The mandatory sentence came a day after jurors found Daniel Krug, 44, guilty of first-degree murder, criminal impersonation and stalking.

With his marriage to Kristil Krug falling apart, prosecutors said Krug decided to play “puppet master” by scaring his wife and then trying to win her back by protecting her from the fake stalking, uniting them against a common threat.

Kristil Krug, a biochemical engineer, kept a log tracking the increasingly threatening texts and emails that suggested she was being watched. As police investigated the messages, prosecutors said Daniel Krug began to realize that he could face criminal charges and started plotting how to kill his wife to silence her and because she didn’t want to be with him anymore.

Prosecutors said he waited for her to return to their suburban Denver home on Dec. 14, 2023, after taking two of their children to school and then knocked her unconscious and stabbed her in the heart.

At the time of the killing, the ex-boyfriend was an eight-hour drive away in Utah, where he was living, according to investigators.

The defense stressed there was no physical evidence linking Daniel Krug to the violent killing, noting that there was no blood found in his car or his clothes, which his daughter said were the same he was wearing when he drove her to the bus stop that morning. None of Daniel Krug’s DNA was found at the scene, though partial DNA from an unknown person was found on her neck, the defence said.

Colleen Slevin, The Associated Press