Latest news with #cyanide
Fox News
14 hours ago
- Fox News
Victim or manipulator? Colorado dentist's murder trial paints dueling portraits of wife in troubled marriage
As prosecutors attempted to paint a Colorado dentist as a calculated killer who poisoned his wife to pursue a new romantic life, the defense took a dramatically different route by portraying his wife of 23 years as emotionally manipulative and mentally unstable. Dr. James Toliver Craig, 47, is charged with first-degree murder in the March 2023 death of his wife, Angela Craig, a 43-year-old mother of six. Her cause of death was determined to be lethal doses of cyanide and tetrahydrozoline. In opening statements Tuesday in Colorado, defense attorney Ashley Whitham acknowledged the couple's rocky 23-year marriage but described Angela not as a victim of betrayal, but as someone who was emotionally broken, deeply private and at times manipulative. "You're going to hear her own daughter describe her that she was also manipulating words," Whitham revealed to jurors Tuesday. "Again, that if she wanted to try to get something, she would be manipulative." The Colorado couple's marital strife was laid bare in Tuesday's opening remarks. Prosecutors pointed to his relationship with a Texas orthodontist, Dr. Karin Cain, as the motivation for the murder. Cain has not returned Fox News Digital's requests for comment. The defense said the 47-year-old husband had extramarital affairs throughout the couple's marriage. "Karin Cain was just like the others. This wasn't some new obsession," Whitham said. Along with a series of affairs, Craig also allegedly used the website advertising himself as "Jim and Waffles" and claiming a net worth of $10 million in search of "sugar babies." Whitham described Angela as an "extremely private" stay-at-home mom of six who, due to her deeply held Mormon faith, was reluctant to share the couple's marital issues. She claimed Angela was isolated and someone who was "not about to tell people about her marital struggles" and who was "broken." Defense attorney Kelly Hyman delved into the dueling strategies as the high-stakes murder trial kicks off. She noted that the defense's strategy to cast Angela as manipulative and unstable plays into their aims to create reasonable doubt and reframe the context. "By doing so, the defendant implies that [he] wasn't responsible," she explained to Fox News Digital. "That could go to the heaty of the defense that Angela killed herself and that it was suicide." While prosecutors argued Tuesday that Craig's alleged Google searches, chemical orders and romantic messages to his alleged mistress amount to premeditation, Hyman warned that speculative interpretation of digital evidence isn't always a slam dunk. "A way to do this is to challenge admissibility and the reliability of the digital evidence. This can be done on cross-examination or through a defense witness to counter the digital forensic and timeline reconstruction," she said. The defense argued Tuesday that investigators operated with "tunnel vision" and failed to investigate other leads. The defense said Angela's personal laptop was never seized or searched despite prosecutors showing images of her using it from her hospital bed to research symptoms. "The defense could argue that the unexamined laptop may contain information supporting an alternative theory of events or potentially pointing to another person and/or a different timeline," Hyman said. "This omission may suggest an incomplete and/or biased investigation." Hyman also noted that the absence of direct physical evidence, such as cyanide residue on containers or packaging, could work to the defense's advantage. "The absence of direct physical evidence like poison residue on the protein shake containers or the victim's body presents a key argument for the defense to use," she said. READ THE INCIDENT REPORT – APP USERS, CLICK HERE GET REAL-TIME UPDATES AT THE FOX NEWS TRUE CRIME HUB Investigators alleged in court documents obtained by Fox News Digital that, in the weeks before his wife's hospitalization and death, Craig used a dental office computer to search for "undetectable poisons" and how to obtain them, later purchasing arsenic and cyanide by mail, "how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human" and "is arsenic detectable in an autopsy?" Alongside these online searches, investigators alleged Craig made YouTube queries such as "how to make poison" and "Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play." Fox News Digital has reached out to James Craig's lead attorney, Lisa Fine Moses, for comment.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Gold prospector 'scared' by crumbling five-metre discovery in Aussie bush
Deep in the bush are the ruins of pits that once contained one of the 19th Century's most dangerous and commonly used chemicals, cyanide. The pits were used to extract gold from ore, and their locations can prove valuable for modern-day prospectors searching for long-lost nuggets. Others search for ruined huts, abandoned mines and even old maps. Dusty, who quit her job to search for gold full-time, recently photographed several five-metre-wide pits outside the central Victorian town of Moliagul. 'I never knew it was there. I was just climbing up the hill and realised I was standing on top of the tank, it's wild to have this hidden history,' she told Yahoo News Australia, after reporting the find on her social media page. Back in the day, the pits were drained directly into the bush, and this could contaminate fresh water, killing off fish, wildlife and even people. Death in humans can occur within minutes of cyanide poisoning, and within seconds, exposure can cause headache, loss of consciousness, nausea, and difficulty breathing. Related: ⛏️ Gold prospector's incredible find in 'remote' Aussie bush Historical pictures show men standing on top of the pits at great risk to their own safety. 'When I come across them in the bush, I stand roughly where they would have been working, and I think one slip and they would have been in the tank, and they would have been dead,' Dusty said. 'I just don't know how people could have walked along with their big wooden paddles and stirred the cyanide slurry and thought nothing of it. It scares me even now, and it always blows me away when I find them.' Today, undisturbed pits pose little danger to walkers, according to Heritage Victoria, which manages several of the historic sites around the goldfields region. Although there are alternatives, cyanide continues to be used for gold extraction around the world. Even though the methods have been modernised, and the risks of contamination are low, University of Western Sydney water expert, Associate Professor Ian Wright, is concerned about the practice. 'There are different forms of cyanide, and there are lots that have long-term impacts,' he told Yahoo News. 🥺 Emotional decision looms as ancient graveyard faces one in 100 year storm prediction 🌵 Remarkable 26-year change revealed on Aussie desert property ☔️ Weather event sees Aussie town overrun by 'rarely observed' phenomenon Twenty-five years ago in Romania, a joint venture between the country's government and Australian company Esmeralda Exploration resulted in 100,000 cubic metres of water contaminated with cyanide leaking into the Somes River and then into the Danube. Foxes, otters and birds all died after eating contaminated fish, and the problem spread to neighbouring Serbia and Hungary. Last year, elevated levels of cyanide were detected around Victoria Gold's Eagle gold mine in Canada's Yukon Territory following the discharge of millions of litres of water laced with the chemical. The leak resulted in the company being placed in receivership and its stock being delisted. 'In most mine operations, they do things well. But the tragedy for something like cyanide, even if leaks are super rare, is that the consequences can be absolutely terrible,' Wright said. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Judge approves process to put Yukon Eagle Gold Mine in Yukon up for sale
An Ontario judge has approved a request from the court-appointed receiver to begin the process to sell the gold mine at the centre of a disaster north of Mayo, Yukon. A statement from Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai says selling the Eagle Gold Mine where millions of tonnes of cyanide-soaked ore spilled last year is a chance for the government to get back the "significant" cash it paid to respond to the emergency. Pillai says the judge's ruling is an important first step and any final decision on a buyer will still require approval by the court, based on the receiver's recommendation. The sale process begins with months of advertising and vetting of potential buyers. Court documents show the deadline to pick a successful bid for the mine is Nov. 5. The plan says the sale is expected to close at the end of the year, after it is approved by the court. 'As both the lender to the receiver and the territory's main mining regulator, the Government of Yukon provided input on the terms of this process and will work closely with the receiver and its financial adviser as the process unfolds over the coming months," Pillai said in the statement. He said the government's focus is on protecting the interest of Yukoners. "That includes communicating criteria that reflect important priorities to the Government of Yukon, that can be considered by the receiver in identifying a reputable, experienced and well-resourced operator who is committed to upholding strong economic, social and governance principles," he said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 26, 2025. Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CBC
24-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
A year after the Eagle mine failure, questions remain about Yukon's mining future
Social Sharing To Frank Patterson, a First Nations elder in Mayo, Yukon, last year's catastrophic failure at the nearby Eagle gold mine was not a total surprise. "It was devastating," he said. "And you know, anybody that went in there could see something would happen someday." It was one year ago, on the morning of June 24, 2024, that the Eagle mine went in a matter of moments from being a celebrated centrepiece of the territory's resource industry to an expensive environmental disaster that is still not fully understood. The failure at the Eagle mine also gave another black eye to the territory's mining industry, which has seen its share of large and costly mine failures and bankruptcies over the years. Some people are wondering what kind of future the industry has in the territory. The slide at the mine's heap leach facility released hundreds of millions of litres of toxic cyanide solution into the environment and immediately halted operations at what was then the Yukon's largest operating hard-rock mine. Within weeks, and at the Yukon government's request, a court-appointed receiver took over the company, Victoria Gold, and its assets. Emergency remediation work to contain the damage at the site and in the surrounding area is ongoing. Groundwater is being pumped and treated to remove any cyanide, and the territory's mines minister admits it's going to take "a long time before you get rid of all the cyanide." The cost of remediation so far has been more than $200 million. "It's taxpayers cleaning up, just like Faro, Whitehorse, BYG in Carmacks, you name it ... You know, it's just taxpayers are paying for the cleanup, and those guys friggin' get up and run away," said Patterson, who's from the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun. The Eagle mine is within the First Nation's traditional territory, and the area affected by the slide is where Patterson says he once learned about his traditional culture, from his elders. Patterson feels mistakes were made right from the get-go with Victoria Gold. He believes that his First Nation made a bad agreement with the company and should have involved elders more in the decision-making. Once the company got what it needed, he argues, "they shut the doors" on the First Nation. "We were not allowed up there. They gated it off. They put security there, they put their camp in there, and they just did whatever they wanted to do," Patterson said. Patterson says he's not against mining. He knows it's still the territory's main industry, as it has been for more than a century. But he believes things need to change, especially when it comes to approving mines and monitoring their operations. "The way Victoria Gold did it, it was greed. Pure greed," he said. 'It's critically important that we get mining right,' minister says The exact cause of the slide is still not clear. In August, the territorial government appointed an independent review board to investigate what happened by looking at the design, construction, operation, maintenance and monitoring of the heap leach facility. Heap leaching is a method of extracting gold from stacked layers of ore using a cyanide solution. The results of that review are expected in the coming days. Speaking to CBC News last week, Yukon's Mines Minister John Streicker said understanding the cause of the slide will help prevent anything similar happening again. It will also determine what the ongoing remediation will look like at Eagle mine site, and whether or not the mine could eventually be reopened. "One of the ways to think about it is, you need mining. That is, it's critically important that we get mining right. That means that it can't be damaging the environment, or why are we doing it?" Streicker said. Streicker argues that what happened at the Eagle mine is not just hugely significant for the Yukon, but also the country. Mining is essential for Canada's move toward a greener economy, he said, and failures like the Eagle mine slide make it hard for people to believe that mining can be done safely. "If we are able to make sure that the environment is not long-term heavily impacted, then maybe there's a chance to have trust that governments will do the right thing and make sure that mining is done appropriately. But there's also a chance that it doesn't work out well, and people will believe that it's not safe," Streicker said. "So there's a lot in the balance, and I think it goes beyond the Yukon in terms of how we judge whether it's right to mine or not." Receiver looks to sell mine site Earlier this month, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the court-appointed receiver of Victoria Gold, filed a report to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice indicating its intention to put the Eagle mine site up for sale. The report says things have improved at the site, with emergency work expected to be completed by Sept. 30. On June 30, there will be a court hearing where the receiver will present its case for making a sale. PricewaterhouseCoopers wants to close on the sale by the end of December. In Mayo, there are mixed feelings about whether the mine could, or should, ultimately reopen. A lot of local residents suddenly lost their jobs when the mine ceased operations a year ago. Victoria Gold made $400 million dollars in its last year of operation, and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun received its first annual payment from the mine — almost $1.4 million — before the slide. Bobbie-Lee Melancon doesn't want to see it reopen. She grew up in the area, fishing with her family on the McQuesten River, and she's angry about the environmental devastation from the Eagle mine failure. "I don't think we need to be greedy, you know, let's live on our beautiful land the way it is," she said. "If you think about all the money that was produced there and what was made, you know, those are really big numbers. And I don't think the First Nation got very much of that pie. And we were left with the mess." Doug van Bibber, who grew up in Mayo and works in forestry, said he was never a big supporter of the Eagle project, or heap leach mining. He says the environment is ultimately more important than the economy, "because money comes and goes; the land doesn't." "But I do know that, you know, you got to have resource sectors. And I just think we have to be a little bit more creative now, to how economic development occurs. You know, start looking at the forest and not just the minerals," he said. Frank Patterson, the Na-Cho Nyäk Dun elder, says he would like to see the Eagle mine reopen, because "mining is needed." "My thoughts on reopening is OK, because I want the people that they owe money to to be paid. And I also want the jobs that are gonna secure our people. But opening up to the same agreement — no," he said.
CTV News
22-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Receiver planning sale of Yukon gold mine involved in contaminant release disaster
Victoria Gold's Eagle gold mine site north of Mayo, Y.T., is shown in this handout aerial photo taken Wednesday, July 3, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO — Yukon Government The court-appointed receiver of a Yukon gold mine that suffered a catastrophic heap-leach facility failure last year said it plans to sell the mine and will be seeking approval within the week to start the process. In its fifth receiver's report issued earlier this month, PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc. said it will seek court approval for a sale process for the Eagle Gold Mine near Mayo, Yukon, in a motion scheduled to be heard Wednesday in an Ontario court. Eagle Gold Mine was the site last June where a containment failure at the heap-leach facility released about two-million tonnes of cyanide-laced ore and water into the environment. 'The Yukon Government in its capacity as receivership lender …, the lending syndicate and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun were consulted in the development of the Eagle Mine sale process, and each provided feedback to the Receiver,' PricewaterhouseCoopers said in its latest report summary, adding each submission was 'carefully considered' in finalizing the proposed sale process. 'The Receivership Lender (the Yukon government) has confirmed that it is satisfied with the form and substance of the proposed Eagle Mine sale process and supports the approval of the sale process at this time.' In an email, the territory's government confirmed the receiver is planning to begin a sale process by July for the Eagle Gold Mine, if it were to be approved by the court. But the territory also said it is 'premature to say what the process will look like,' stating that it will likely be 'robust, transparent and fair' since it is subject to court supervision. 'The Government of Yukon is a key stakeholder as the main mining regulator and lender to the Receiver, and it will ensure that the interests of Yukoners are protected and communicated to the Receiver,' the government's statement said. 'Right now, the focus of the government and the Receiver is to address environmental remediation and site safety.' The Yukon government said earlier this month that the work is continuing at the mine site to manage additional water from the spring snowmelt, while water contaminated from the failure is being treated and discharged. PricewaterhouseCoopers was made receiver of the mine last year by an Ontario court through an application by the Yukon government. The proposed sale process timeline listed in the latest receiver's report said the plan is for an initial bid deadline of Aug. 6, with the deadline for selecting qualified bids on Aug. 20. The process would then move to its second phase, where due diligence on qualified bidders would be completed by Oct. 15, with a selection of the successful bid for the mine on Nov. 5 and closing on Dec. 31, pending court approval. The Na-Cho Nyak Dun First Nation did not respond to requests for comment on the proposed sale process of the Eagle Mine, which is located on the nation's traditional territory. The development with the Eagle Mine comes days after another nearby Yukon mine site was sold to the Selkirk First Nation. In a statement, the nation — located about 120 kilometres south of Mayo and 280 kilometres north of Whitehorse — said it completed the acquisition of the former Minto Mine site located on its traditional territory on June 18. Chief Sharon Nelson said of the purchase that the act is 'self-determination in action' and allows the nation to 'move forward deliberately and on our own terms' with the mine's future. 'Going forward, we will be guided by our responsibilities to protect the land, promote economic self-reliance, and ensure that any opportunities will benefit our people and our community,' Nelson said in her statement. The Selkirk First Nation said it plans to conduct feasibility studies on the site to determine long-term options, and it is possible that the mine could 'develop into an economic stimulant' for both the community and Yukon. The nation also said mine ownership paves the way for the Indigenous community to operate it 'in ways that reflect First Nation values and priorities.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 22, 2025. Chuck Chiang, The Canadian Press
