Who killed Kristil Krug? Slain Colorado mom received menacing threats weeks before her murder.

Case background

Kristil Krug was a 43‑year‑old mother of three living in Broomfield, Colorado, who was found dead in the garage of her suburban home on December 14, 2023. Police initially focused on a former boyfriend she had reported as a stalker, because she had described a stream of disturbing messages that appeared to come from him.

Menacing threats before her death

In the months leading up to the killing, Kristil received vulgar and threatening texts and emails from someone claiming to be an ex‑boyfriend, including messages that talked about “getting rid” of her husband so they could be together. The same person sent her photos that proved she was being watched, such as images of her car at appointments and of her husband arriving at work, which made her fear for her own safety and that of her children.

Kristil took the threats seriously and changed her daily life because of them. She installed security cameras at home, began carrying a concealed firearm, took gun‑safety training, and even kept a “stalker log” where she documented each incident of harassment with dates and times.

The day of the murder

On the morning of December 14, 2023, the home’s security system and doorbell camera were disabled, and blue masking tape was placed over the camera at the front door. Digital records later showed that Kristil’s phone stopped normal activity around 8:22 a.m., after which it was used to send misleading messages and to turn off security features.

Later that day, after Daniel Krug told police he could not reach his wife, an officer conducted a welfare check and found her body in the garage with a severe head wound and apparent stab injuries to the chest. The way the scene was staged and the timing of the electronic activity quickly raised investigators’ suspicions.

Revelation of the true stalker

As detectives pulled phone, email, and IP data, they uncovered an elaborate scheme showing that the supposed stalker was not the ex‑boyfriend at all. Instead, evidence linked the fake accounts, burner phones, and threatening messages back to Kristil’s husband, Daniel Krug, who had allegedly been impersonating a fictitious stalker for roughly two months.

Authorities concluded that Daniel had posed as a menacing admirer and framed the ex‑boyfriend while their marriage was deteriorating and they were discussing divorce. According to prosecutors, his resentment over the breakup escalated into a calculated plan to terrorize Kristil and ultimately to kill her.

Conviction and sentence

In 2025, after a closely watched trial, a Colorado jury found Daniel Krug guilty of murdering his wife. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, with prosecutors calling the crime a “brutal, calculated murder” built on months of deception and psychological abuse.

Relationship context

Evidence presented in court showed that Kristil and Daniel had been married since 2007 and were planning to end the marriage before the killing. Relatives told investigators that the relationship had become strained and that Kristil no longer wanted to remain with him.

How the scheme worked

Investigators determined that Daniel used fake email accounts, prepaid phones, and online ads to make it appear that a third party was stalking both him and Kristil. He sent explicit and threatening messages, claimed they were under surveillance, and even sent a photo of himself at work from the “stalker” to reinforce the illusion that someone else was tracking their family.

On the morning of the murder, he manipulated her phone to send delayed messages to her brother and to a detective, suggesting she was alive and being unfaithful, in an apparent attempt to create an alibi and smear her reputation. Digital forensics later showed that these messages had been scheduled and did not reflect real‑time activity from Kristil.

Calls for systemic change

After the case, Kristil’s relatives publicly argued that slow responses from communications companies to law‑enforcement warrants delayed the unmasking of the real sender of the threats. Her cousin urged lawmakers to require that companies answer search warrants in stalking and harassment cases within 48 hours, believing that a faster turnaround might have identified Daniel as the source and potentially saved Kristil’s life.

Key parties table

Person	Role in events
Kristil Krug	Victim; Colorado mother of three who reported escalating threats and was killed in December 2023.
Daniel Krug	Husband; created the fake stalker persona, murdered Kristil, and was sentenced to life without parole.
Ex‑boyfriend	Man initially suspected as the stalker but later cleared when evidence showed he had not contacted her in decades.

“This was a brutal, calculated murder, preceded by months of manipulation, emotional abuse, and deception,” a Colorado district attorney said, emphasizing how Daniel Krug terrorized his family and an innocent man to carry out the killing.

Author’s summary

A husband’s elaborate fake‑stalker plot, meant to control and frame others, escalated into a calculated murder that only digital forensics and delayed data finally unraveled.

CBS News — 2025-11-30