DANIEL B. KRUG
Jury Selection begins February 27, 2025
first degree murder after deliberation, stalking and emotional distress, stalking and threats with repeated communication, and criminal impersonation
KRISTIL KRUG: Stalked and Murdered in Colorado
by Jennifer Knight
for Crime Curious
updated September 29, 2024
Kristil Grimsrud (Krug), 43, was beaten and stabbed to death inside her Broomfield County home on Thursday, December 14, 2023.
Kristil's husband, Dan Krug, was arrested two days later. He is currently being housed at the Broomfield Detention Center on a $5,000,000.00 cash only bond. He entered a plea of Not Guilty through defense attorney Phil Geigle, and a jury trial is set to begin with jury selection on February 27, 2025. The defendant has waived his right to a proof evident presumption great or preliminary hearing.
A status conference was held on September 27, 2024. The main purpose of this hearing was to schedule a two-week trial within the next six months in order to remain in compliance with the defendant's constitutional right to a speedy trial. Two final motions hearings will be held before trial: January 24, 2025 and January 31, 2025. Both hearings and the entire trial will be live streamed on the Crime Curious YouTube channel.
The couple married in 2007 and had three children, two daughters and a son - ages 14, 11, and 8.
A GoFundMe campaign was created for people who wish to honor Kristil's memory by donating to her children. For all intents and purposes, they lost both parents that day. The Krug children are currently living with maternal family members, where they are surrounded by love and light and strength. A secondary GoFundMe was created by former neighbors of the Krug family who have started a project to remodel and redecorate new bedrooms for the kids.
An emergency order of protection was granted for the Krug children by Judge Priscilla Loew after Dan allegedly tried to discuss the police investigation and other matters that were "off limits" during phone calls to his children from the jail.
Crime Curious has requested a copy of the arrest affidavit. We will make any open records from this case available to the public, as soon as we receive them, at the bottom of this page.
EDIT: The affidavit was received on July 1, 2024. The document is available for download below.
Here's what we know so far:
There were no signs of burglary. There was no evidence of sexual assault. And there were no obvious signs of a struggle. Kristil had possession of her concealed carry firearm. The gun was loaded, and it was found on her person at the crime scene.
Dan was the last person to see Kristil alive.
Kristil, a native of Colorado, was born in 1980. She excelled in school. Kristil attended the Colorado School of Mines on an academic scholarship. She then earned a Bachelor's degree in Biochemical Engineering from CU Boulder before going to work as a project manager for Agilent Technologies.
She was adored by friends and family.
Daniel Bartholomew Krug, also 43, worked as a financial analyst for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in Denver.
Dan has been charged with first degree murder after deliberation, stalking and emotional distress, stalking and threats with repeated communication, and criminal impersonation.
According to prosecutors, Dan spent ten and a half weeks pretending to be an old college boyfriend of Kristil's - a man named Jake "Anthony" Holland whom she dated for approximately one year, more than twenty years ago. Dan sent disturbing messages via TextNow and Gmail under Anthony's name as early as October 2, 2023.
On Halloween, Kristil received another email from her stalker. Attached to this particular email was a photo of her husband exiting his vehicle at his place of work, a government office. Kristil was frightened. She told Dan about the hostile communication almost immediately. She then filed an official police report.
The threats continued.
The next several messages from Kristil's stalker mentioned that her license plates were expired. The implication was that he had been watching her while she was at a recent dental appointment. A photo of her vehicle, taken outside the dentist's office, was attached to one of the emails.
Because of a threatening message that was received on November 13, 2023, Kristil contacted her local police department to a file another report. Officers were dispatched to conduct a welfare check on Dan at work and another set of officers went to speak with Kristil at her residence.
On Thursday, December 14, 2023 around noon, Dan called the non-emergency police number from work and said that he had been trying to reach his wife at home for three hours. He wanted them to perform another welfare check at the Krug residence, 3132 Promontory Loop in Broomfield.
Kristil Grimsrud (Krug) 1980-2023
Officer O'Hayre of the Broomfield Police Department was unable to make contact with Kristil, but he was able to move his police cruiser into such a position that he was able to stand on the cruiser and look through a window located at the top of the garage door. He was able to see a woman on the ground inside the garage with what appeared to be blood on the drywall near her motionless body.
Officer O'Hayre immediately requested medical assistance. His next move was to contact his sergeant and let him know that he was going to force entry into the home. He kicked the front door one time and it flew open. He went straight to the garage. Kristil's body was still warm to the touch, but she had no pulse.
Kristil Krug was pronounced dead at 12:43pm after she was transported by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital in nearby Lafayette, Colorado.
An autopsy was conducted the following day which found, "...two or more blunt-force trauma wounds on the back of her head and one stab wound on the left side of her chest."
Police noted that the Ring Doorbell camera was taped over with blue painter's tape and they said that three security cameras (Google Nest - back door, side yard, driveway) were offline for a significant part of the morning. When police interviewed Dan on the day of his wife's death, he was unable to provide any sort of explanation for the camera issues.
Dan told authorities that he had left home for work about twenty minutes later than usual that day, because he was having stomach problems. When Kristil came home from dropping the kids off at school, she was surprised that Dan was still there, according to Dan. He said that he's usually gone by the time she gets back.
Family members confirmed that the marriage was in trouble. Kristil and Dan hadn't been sleeping together for more than a year. They didn't share a bedroom. Kristil was going to file for divorce and seek full custody of the children.
Detectives traced the IP address in search of a location where those disgusting and threatening email messages to Kristil had originated. They learned that the messages had been sent from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in Denver - Dan's workplace. Dan's phones (one business, one personal) were seized immediately.
Anthony had a solid alibi. He was in Utah, where he lives, when Kristil was killed. He was cooperative and had no idea that any of this was happening until he was contacted by police. Detectives found no evidence of any recent contact with Kristil after a thorough search of all his devices. They verified his alibi. He was eight hours away from Broomfield when it happened.
At one point, Mr. Krug's supporters were raising money on GiveSendGo ("Legal Fund to Save the Krug Family" @BringDanHome) for expenses related to his legal defense. The campaign was eventually removed from the site, but not before it raised more than $6,000.00. The goal was to help with mounting "a vigorous defense, countering these terrible accusations" and setting detectives on the "right path towards the real perpetrator who remains at large." The fundraiser further stated that Dan is "terrified" and he feels "deeply betrayed" by the entire situation.
Let's discuss what we know so far.
Send questions and/or comments and/or information regarding this case to coloradocasefiles@gmail.com.
If you or someone you love is experiencing domestic violence in the state of Colorado, call the 24/7 Crisis Line at (970) 259-5443 to speak with an advocate. The Southwest Safehouse is operated by Volunteers of America. You can also call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at (800) 799-7233.
Krug Family Residence (google maps, Sept. 2023)