Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - GUILTY: Dentist 'Sleepovers' With Beauty Queen Ends in Murder

Episode Date: December 2, 2023

Sara Jane Harris and Dr. James Michael Ryan meet at his dental practice in the Fall of 2020. By the Summer of 2021, Harris is not only working for the oral surgeon but also living with him. Sarah Harris’ family members began to notice a change in her physical appearance. The family says Harris did not look healthy, and in the following months, Harris' growing drug addiction became evident. What's more, the family believes Ryan was giving his girlfriend drugs from his practice. First responders rush to Ryan's home after an overdose call. Inside, paramedics find Sarah Harris, unresponsive. Various vials of controlled substances, like Ketamine, Diazepam, and Propofol are nearby. Davis weighs just 83 pounds. Ryan is charged in Harris' death, accused of providing the drugs that killed her. According to court documents, text messages between Ryan and Harris show Harris asking for different drugs. Ryan has now been convicted of murdering his girlfriend after she overdosed. The jury's verdict was rendered in less than three hours. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Ken Belkin - Criminal Defense Attorney; Twitter: @Kenneth_Belkin Dr. Angela Arnold – Psychiatrist, Atlanta, GA; Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women; Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University; Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital; Voted “My Buckhead’s Best Psychiatric Practice of 2022” Dr. William Morrone  – Chief Medical Examiner, Bay County Michigan; Author: “American Narcan: Naloxone & Heroin-Fentanyl Associated Mortality” Robert Crispin – Private Investigator, Former Federal Task Force Officer for United States Department of Justice, DEA and Miami Field Division; Former Homicide and Crimes Against Children Investigator, “Crispin Special Investigations;” Facebook: Crispin Special Investigations, Inc. Lindsay Watts - Emmy-Winning Reporter, FOX 5 DC; Twitter: @LindsayAWatts, Instagram: @LindsayWatts; Podcast: "Siege on Democracy" Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You know, a lot of people are really afraid of going to the dentist. They don't like the dentist. Many people dislike the dentist even They don't like the dentist. Many people dislike the dentist even more than they do the doctor. They'd rather have a physical exam than a dental exam. I'm not sure the psychological reasons for that, but after you hear this, you may agree. An upstanding dentist named James Ryan just convicted of killing his girlfriend by plying her with anesthetics. What?

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thanks for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111. That's right. A Maryland dentist guilty of murdering his girlfriend after he OD'd her on anesthetics delivered by an IV station he rigged up in their own home. It took a jury less than three hours to deliberate and then convict Dr. James Ryan of one count of second-degree depraved heart murder and one count involuntary manslaughter and the death of a gorgeous young

girl, 25-year-old Sarah Harris. What is this 50-year-old dentist doing with a 25-year-old girl? Okay, question one. But what happened in this case? It's so bizarre. Take a listen to this. First responders rushed to the 13,000 block of Godwit Street in Clarksburg after reports of an overdose. It's the home of oral surgeon Dr. James Michael Ryan. Inside, paramedics find Sarah Harris, Ryan's girlfriend, unresponsive. Ryan says Harris was okay when he went to bed at 10.30 p.m., but when he came down the next morning, Harris was unresponsive on the couch. Harris

was pronounced dead. Okay, I've got so many questions right there based on everything I'm hearing about the oral surgeon, Dr. James Michael Ryan. Now, before I introduce everybody to Dr. William Maroney, chief medical exam, joining us out of Bay County, Michigan, author of American Narcan. You can find me at recoverypathwaysllc.com. And Maroney puts his money, his time, his effort where his mouth is. He actually created and travels with a rolling medical lab to help stop overdoses. That's why he is so important. Not that the rest of our guests are not important. But let me just ask you this very basic question, Dr. Maroney,

before I get into the whole overdose issue. An oral surgeon, does that mean a dentist with another degree? What's an oral surgeon? Is that a medical doctor? An oral surgeon begins as a dentist and then gets training to put people under anesthesia to remove really difficult teeth. Ordinarily, in a dentist's office, you just get a number. You get lidocaine, you get procaine, and then they yank the tooth out.

An oral surgeon gets impacted teeth, broken teeth, and they do the implants where they put the little metal screw in. And that takes anesthesia. You cannot work on somebody's mouth like that. And that's what he was doing. Did you say people get propofol at the dentist's office? I've never mouth like that. And that's what he was doing. Did you say people get propofol at the dentist office? I've never heard of that. Well, they can put you in a surgical suite. Once you get that level. You mean an oral surgeon or just a dentist? Never, never. A regular dentist would never give you propofol because the law requires you monitor oxygen and EKG. The regular dentist

doesn't do that. He just numbs up your gums and pulls. I don't know. I've got a bad feeling. Ken Belkin, can you just take off your criminal defense hat just one moment? I know I would just not go into a dentist office and go under anesthesia. I mean, I'd have to think long and hard before I walk into anything but a hospital and get totally put under. Well, I think these are private discussions between a medical practitioner and their patient. And, you know, we have to give some latitude to the judgment of medical professionals. You know, they did swear the Hippocratic. You know what? Now I know why you're such a great defense attorney, because you just, you know, slipped right out of that one. OK, guys, we are

talking about a young woman, 25 year old Sarah Harris is dead. She's dead. So let me go to Lindsay Watts, Emmy Award winning reporter with Fox 5 in DC. Her podcast, Siege on Democracy. Lindsay, thanks for being with us. Let me understand this. Just let's start with the cops and the EMTs arriving at the scene at the home of James Ryan, Dr. James Ryan, who says he goes to bed at 1030 at night with the girlfriend downstairs and wakes up the next morning, comes downstairs, and she is unresponsive on the couch. Right, right. And they found all kinds of paraphernalia and drugs at the scene, hypodermic needles. They found propofol. They found ketamine. They found all kinds of paraphernalia and drugs at the scene, hypodermic needles. They found propofol. They found ketamine.

They found other drugs. And what I'm told is these were not little vials. These were large containers. Oh, I want to circle back to what you just said, Lindsay Watts, about the large containers. Okay, hold that thought a moment. Dr. William Maroney, ketamine, what is ketamine? Ketamine is in a classification called a sedative hypnotic. And there is almost, there's absolutely no indication to have IV ketamine in your house. That is a hospital drug. That is, it is unethical. There's no medical diagnosis that requires that.

Ketamine. That's dangerous, dangerous stuff. It is anesthesia. At the doses given for IV doses, it has no purpose in anybody's home. Like propofol? Propofol, we could say about the same thing, but that's how Michael Jackson died. He was getting IV propofol at home. Yes, that's why I'm relating to it.

Yeah. Why would you have something like ketamine or propofol in your home? Well, Mr. Ryan appears to have had a chemically hijacked sex slave. He called her a girlfriend. Well, you just put it out there, didn't you? A chemically hijacked sex slave. Let me just put that up in my head because now you've said it. It's up here.

It's never going away. It's never going away. Chemically hijacked sex slave. Thanks, Dr. Maroney, for just putting that in my head. That's something I can think about tonight. You know what? I haven't even introduced the panel. Ken Belkin, high-profile lawyer, criminal defense attorney, joining us.

You can find him at BelkinLaw.com. Dr. Angela Arnold, a renowned psychiatrist, joining us out of the Atlanta jurisdiction at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Dr. William Maroney, who i've already introduced robert crispin private investigator at crispin special investigations you can find them at crispin investigations.com well you know what while i've got you also with me lindsey watts emmy award-winning reporter with fox 5 dc her hit podcast siege on democracy you can find her there as well. Crispin, what about it? They show up at a doctor. He's a doctor of oral. He's an oral surgeon. But they come in. It looks like a crack house

for Pete's sake. First of all, Crispin, have you ever been in a crack house? I've been in many, many, many many many many yeah and i i'm not proud to say that but crack houses are unlike anything you've ever seen the first one i went into i thought i was going to get shot but they would not answer the front door when they saw me and my investigator we had to sneak around about 1 a.m by this point i was trying to find a witness. Went around to the back door. That's before I had children.

I had no life at all. It was all about getting the bad guys. Went to the back door and just walked in. The place, there was a burned-out sofa upside down. Somebody thrown it on the floor. There was no other furniture. There were all kind of people milling around. They were all high on something. And there were drugs, drugs, drugs, hypodermic needles,

just anything, everything was in that room. People burning up, crack. It was horrible. So tell me what you make of the scene that Lindsay Watts has described. So you would think as you describe a doctor would have a nice house, beautiful inside. Oh, yeah, yeah. I think of like security, a gate that's, you know, an automated gate. And I imagine this beautiful home that an interior decorator has done where you look out the back patio, glass doors to like maybe an infinity pool.

Is that what you would think, Jackie? Something just beautiful. But instead. It's a drug den. It's a class a drug den and what i mean by a drug den is clearly people go to these houses to get high and they get high and they stay for a little while and then they leave this here was their residence and it was also a drug den that they had set up, that he had set up. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Wow, the facts get more and more twisted.

But right now, the families are reeling. The families are either reeling or rejoicing after Dr. James Ryan, a well-respected Maryland dentist, is convicted of murdering his 25-year-old girlfriend, ODing her on anesthetics. He's also found guilty of possession with intent to distribute midazolam and ketamine and diazepam. They're all very, very powerful sedatives. Now, the prosecutor, Jennifer Harrison, told the jury that especially as a trained professional, a doctor, Ryan knew the risks associated with dangerous, deadly drugs. Yet he kept feeding them to his girlfriend as he watched her deteriorate, deteriorate before his very eyes. Every time he gave her those drugs, whether he administered them himself or instructed her on how to administer them to herself,

a little bit of Sarah died. In fact, Sarah weighed just 83 pounds when she was found dead in Ryan's home in Clarksburg. The facts are so twisted. So, Lindsay Watts, joining me, Fox 5 DC. Tell me again, the cops come. I guess the EMTs get there first, the ambulance. I'm not sure. Tell me what happened exactly. Yeah, they arrived to this house. They're called for the overdose. They're finding all of these drugs, an IV pole in the home as well. And what I've heard from sources is these weren't, again, just little vials of drugs. These were like you would find at a pharmacy. He was using his position as an

oral surgeon to get massive amounts of these drugs that have no business in a home. And according to the court documents, this was something that was playing out over months that they were together. She came into his office to get her wisdom teeth removed. He offers her a job. A few months later, they're dating. She eventually moves into his home. And through the text messages, you see that she developed a serious addiction that prosecutors say he fed by giving her these drugs over time. Wow. Yeah. I wonder where she got all that. I wonder where this woman, she's just 25 years old. How did she turn from this beautiful, young, vibrant girl to a pale, bruised-up, dope addict after she starts dating Dr. James Ryan, or as, thanks again, Maroney, for putting this in my head,

what did he say? A chemically, what did you say? Chemically kidnapped sex slave. A chemically induced sex slave. He was a predator. Yeah, he was a predator. Listen to this. On January 26,

2022, Montgomery County Police and Montgomery County Fire Rescue Service responded to an address in the 13900 block of Godwitch Street, Clarksburg, Montgomery County, Maryland,

for the report of an overdose. Sarah Harris, a 25 female was discovered deceased in the residence an autopsy later done at the office of the chief medical examiner's office in Maryland would later determine the cause of Harris death was ketamine and diazepam intoxication. And the manner of death at that time was undetermined. Harris's boyfriend, Dr. James Michael Ryan, was also at the residence that he shared with Harris. Dr. Ryan is an oral surgeon with a practice in Germantown. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Sarah Harris, 25-year-old female, was discovered deceased in the residence. An autopsy later done at the office of the Chief Medical Examiner's Office in Maryland would later determine the cause of Harris' death was

ketamine and diazepam intoxication. And the manner of death at that time was undetermined. Harris's boyfriend, Dr. James Michael Ryan, was also at the residence that he shared with Harris. Dr. Ryan is an oral surgeon with a practice in Germantown. You are hearing the montgomery county police chief marcus jones speaking you know i didn't quite believe maroney first time i didn't believe him

i never agree with him usually but um i looked up ketamine and it is he's right a medication used for induction and maintenance of anesthesia inducing dissociative anesthesia in a trance-like state, providing pain relief, sedation, and amnesia. So that is typically used then, Dr. Maroney, in surgery? Well, if you have a really difficult tooth coming out, you don't want to remember what was going on, so it knocks you out. No, I don't. No. But was going on so it knocks you out i don't know but nobody has ketamine in their home we have 350 million americans nobody has ketamine iv in their home

for this purpose he's a predator he doped her up and kept her for months and months and months you know dr maroney That's a crime. And I want to interject. Police are saying that he gave it to her while she was sleeping at one point, that he was injecting it into her allegedly while she was asleep. OK, let me clear something up, Dr. Maroney. You are, if I'm not wrong, a medical doctor. When did you go to law school and start pronouncing the correct charges? And when did that happen?

Well, I do write death certificates. Never? Never? Okay, so never? I do write death certificates. Yeah, I take a listen to more from Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones. Also located in the residence at the time were various bottles of propofol, meetazolam, ketamine, and diazepam. Numerous hypodermic needles, syringes, and tourniquets were discovered nearby as well.

These bottles are not the type of medication that would normally be dispensed from a pharmacy and are usually reserved for clinical medical settings. Detectives begin an investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding the death. We know that Sarah is found dead in the home of this oral surgeon that she began dating after having her wisdom teeth removed. But how did it get to this point? Take a listen to our friends at Crime Online. Sarah Jane Harris and Dr. James Michael Ryan meet at his dental practice in the fall of 2020. Ryan is an oral surgeon and Harris is there for a procedure. During the appointment, Harris mentions she has experience working in a dental office. Not long after, Ryan contacts Harris about a job, which Harris accepts.

The couple's relationship grows outside the office. Harris and Dr. Ryan begin dating, and Harris begins spending significant time at Ryan's home. During the summer of 2021, Harris moves in permanently. And apparently it progressed in more ways than romantically. Take a listen to the Montgomery County Police Chief. Investigators learned that family members noticed that Harris, Harris's physical appearance was changing over time and that she did not look healthy.

On two different occasions, Harris was discovered in their residence surrounded by empty medicine bottles, similar to what was discovered at the death scene. Okay, Lindsay Watts, joining us, Fox 5 DC. Explain to me what her family began noticing. She certainly lost her bloom of youth. And you know what else also, everybody, especially you, Dr. Angie Arnold, I want you to go online. I'm looking at the address, Godwitch Street in Clarksburg, Maryland. It's a beautiful home. Anybody driving by this home would have no

idea that it's a drug two-door home. Beautiful lawn, beautifully kept. The interior is gorgeous. old girlfriend sedatives to have control over her mind, her soul, her body until she wastes away to just 83 pounds and dies? Well, Dr. Ryan, I hope he's been stripped of that doctor title, told police that she seemed, quote, okay when he went to bed the night before. He didn't notice. She just weighed 83 pounds and was out of it. But the next morning, he discovered his girlfriend, quote, unresponsive on the couch with used hypodermic needles and vials of controlled substances next to her.

Wow, where did she get those, Doc? An autopsy found she died as a result of ketamine and diazepam intoxication. It just gets worse. Lindsay Watts, back to you. Lindsay, what did the family begin noticing about Sarah, their sister, their daughter, Sarah? Nancy, it's been heartbreaking talking to her mother. She sent me photos of her daughter from just around the time or just before she met the doctor she was a beauty queen she was 2020 Miss Marilyn petite so I have a picture of her with her sash and her crown whoa wait wait

what tell me that again she was 2020 Miss Marilyn petite and so I had this photo of her with her dress and with her sash and with her crown, other photos where she looks just gorgeous, a vibrant, healthy girl. And her mother talked about just how beautiful her daughter was. And she wasted away as she became more and more addicted. The family recognized there was a problem and you have to imagine how helpless they felt because they saw that she was surrounded by these drugs at her new home. They saw the marks on her arm. I know her sister actually worked at the practice along with her, so you have to imagine that she really had a good sense of possibly what was happening and what was really something that stood out to me is it was the sister after Sarah overdosed who went into her social media accounts,

got into her phone and supplied police with all of these text messages between Sarah and the doctor that really set up this case for them. I mean, that is a sister who was determined to get justice, and that really gave me a lot of emotion reading that, about what she did to make sure that this case moved forward, and all of that got into the hands of police. To your understanding, Lindsay Watts, what did the text messages say? There are a host of messages that spell out that this doctor is supplying these drugs. They're having conversations while he is at work and she is at home. She's asking for certain drugs. He is telling her what he's going to bring to her. She tells him, hey, honey, we're out of syringes. He says, I'll bring them home.

He's telling her about how she's feeling, that she's feeling dehydrated, that she's feeling losing. Very extensive conversations about the drug use that also indicate that he was using himself. Well, Lindsay Watts is right. Take a listen to the police chief. And at least one instance, she was discovered in an altered state and had arms that were covered in needle marks and bruises. Investigators were able to obtain copies of text messages and other communications between Dr. Ryan and Harris. In these communications both Harris and Dr. Ryan

have frank and explicit conversations which depict Harris asking Dr. Ryan to obtain and or procure different drugs from the practice. Dr. Ryan repeatedly tells Harris that he is bringing her drugs, instructs her how to use the drugs and where she can find drugs in their residence. To Dr. Angie Arnold, joining us, psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, her dependency on him for drugs then knew no bounds. She could not break out of it. Her family tried to help her.

They saw all the bruising. They saw all the track marks. Well, Nancy, the help that she would need at that point would be to be detoxed from all of these things. He was probably keeping her in some sort of altered state mentally. And all she could think about at this point was where she was a drug addict. It sounded like he created a drug addict. So what do drug addicts do? They're waiting for their next fix all the time. They're not thinking about going home. And this was way too far gone. She needed a good detox place. She needed to be in the hospital. But he was going to,

it sounds like he was going to make sure that none of that happened for her. Yeah, because her family needed intervention. She needed somebody to go in family, intervene, bring the sheriff, do the intervention. She needed the detox that she needed to be forcefully taken away. She could not make those decisions. She was chemically kidnapped. She was hijacked. And at that point, she didn't know what she was doing, but he did. And that that is kidnapping. I'm sorry. I didn't go to law school. Ken Belkin, criminal defense attorney joining us at Belkin Law dot com. Is there any reason this oral surgeon should not be charged with murder?

Yeah, because, you know, he didn't murder her. She took the drugs that killed herself. So I think really. He injected her. He was the one injecting her. But she was asking for it. All right. I understand he might have made a decision that was wrong in a medical context. But, you know, all the time you hear on these pharmaceutical commercials, ask your doctor about this. Ask your doctor about that. Well, maybe she was asking her doctor about propofol and ketamine.

He's not a doctor. He's an oral surgeon. Well, he's still a doctor, right? And very likely, very likely, having sex with her, as Maroney has described. Here's the other thing. It is impossible.

It's a lot of speculation, Dr. Maroney, isn't it? It's a lot of speculation. We're going from depraved heart murder, you know, basically to a chemically induced kidnapped sex slave. I mean, that's a bit of a stretch. It makes sense. Lindsay Watts joining us on Fox 5. What do we know? Well, he...

Did the family try to help her? It does look like the family wanted to help. Obviously, they knew what was going on. They had at least some knowledge. Those text messages indicate that she had overdosed in the past, not too long before she ultimately died. And so there was a lot going on. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Finally, justice.

A beautiful young girl weighs down to 83 pounds as her much older boyfriend, Dr. Ryan, feeds her day and night a cocktail of powerful drugs, even using an IV drip. A search of his home turned up propofol, ketamine, diazepam, midazolam, hypodermic needles, syringes, a tourniquet. Ugh, this woman was living in a drug hell at just age 25. Oh, I'm looking at a picture of him kissing her. It's totally creepy. In fact, the pair first met when she came to Dr. Ryan as a patient. Do you have her wisdom teeth removed i'm looking at a picture of her she was a contestant in miss maryland petite she's absolutely gorgeous and her family says she was gorgeous on the inside and the outside too she's a tiny petite woman and beautiful and young

i mean have you looked her up as Miss Maryland Petite? Gorgeous. You know, while you guys were talking about it, I was trying to do some quick research, but you know, and her being such a petite girl, you know, forget about getting these drugs illegally. She needs to be even monitored, even in a medical controlled setting, because she's so petite on the, on how much drugs going on board in her body. So, you know, this doctor who gave her all this medicine is just giving her free reigns to do this on her own at home. It's beyond me. Jackie, have you seen her as Miss Marilyn Petite?

Yes. And now I see. Well, I mean, to you, Maroney, Dr. William Maroney, you see her in her pageant dress and her sash and her crown. She's a classic beauty. I mean, the angles in her face. I mean, I don't think you could draw them that beautifully. She's stunning.

And then her family says she had wasted away. Her arms were covered in bruises and track marks. I remember the first time I saw track marks on a junkie. And it was like the same. You have that gut reaction. I almost recoiled, but I didn't want to hurt the guy's feelings. He was a witness in a case. You know when you suddenly see a snake,

you're shocked, you want to recoil just instinctively? When I saw those track marks for the first time, it's horrible looking, Dr. Maroney. It's a small bruise. It's a bleeding because you entered a vein or an artery and it's a bruise on the arm and it's a dark spot and then they smooth up. But on the inside of the artery, there's scar tissue. And the more track marks you get, the harder it is to get an injection to work there because they swell up. It's as big as a mosquito bite, but it's a clear

sign. It's what we call pathognomonic or IV drug use. I see track marks in people's jugular veins in their necks because they've blown all the veins in their arms. When somebody's that bad, they need to be removed from their environment. And he's ethically not supposed to be treating spouses, girlfriends or family. As a medical practitioner, we're never supposed to treat spouses, girlfriends or family. You're supposed to send them away. None of this is treatment. And you're not supposed to date patients.

And you're not supposed to date employees. you're not supposed to that doesn't mean he committed murder okay is that belkin jumping in i'm just saying we're throwing a lot of allegations just saying i don't think the appellate courts will take your just saying uh because he has been charged with murder not malice murder which is oh i'm going to kill jackie and i'm going to poison her every day for the next six months until she kills over. No. Depraved heart is more akin to abandoned or malignant heart. It's sometimes called, for instance, if I take the minivan and I drive through the Cherry Blossom Festival at 90 MPH and just mow down a lot of people. I don't know who they are and I don't care who they are. I have a depraved and malignant heart and I have no concern for human life. So you dope

a now underweight drug addict over and over and over and then, wow, surprise, she dies? That is a complete disregard for human life, Belkin. That's the charge. But what about her partners? What about the fact that she could have been on other things that the doctor wasn't aware of? Oh, okay, so you're telling me the life of a junkie is somehow less important than the life of who? A politician or a TV star? Well, Lady Justice doesn't agree.

I'm not saying that. Every life is important. But, you know, at some point, does not the quote-unquote junkie bear some responsibility here? Or does it all get heaped onto the doctor? Have fun arguing that to a jury there is no responsibility because she's so far gone she can't make those decisions she's got track marks she's got iv drugs of an industrial nature you cannot expect that brain to make a rational decision there is nothing left in her because she's a shell. He created a shell.

Oh, I've got an answer. Hold on, Maroney. I've got an answer for you. Take a listen to our cut 12, our friend Cheyenne Cornett, WDVM. Harris's sister provided authorities with messages between Ryan and Harris, showing Harris asking for different drugs from his practice and Ryan also instructing her on how to take them. The messages also revealed Ryan gave Harris ketamine while she was asleep and Harris overdosed once before she died in late January. So there you have it. In his own text messages, am I correct, Lindsay Watts? If I'm not, tell me. We learned that he gave her

ketamine hospital anesthesia in her sleep. She had no way to say yay or nay. That is what police are saying. And yes, that is what the text messages in charging documents indicate it says if you wake up i just went out to change after i gave you ketamine just now and so this might not have been as clear if police didn't state this in the press conference that this is something that happened i don't know what you're saying it looks like something that happened or didn't happen. The text messages reveal he gave her ketamine in her sleep. Yes, exactly. But just reading this, myself reading this text message, it says, I went out to change after I gave you ketamine just now.

So it's not spelling it out as specifically. However, police told us that this is something that happened, that he gave her ketamine while she was sleeping. So Ken Belkin, criminal defense attorney, joining us, if he gave her ketamine in her sleep, it's just like Conrad Murray in Michael Jackson, who doped Michael Jackson until he died and left. I mean, here he gave her ketamine,

which is, I believe, intravenous, and left her with ketamine dripping through her system, just like in Michael Jackson with propofol. Ketamine leaves you sedated. Belkin. Impaired memory and forgetfulness. Why would you give that to somebody in their sleep? There goes my best law student, Dr. William Maroney, medical doctor William Maroney. Belkin, he's giving her ketamine

in her sleep. Well, look, first of all, I don't know if there is a procedure for giving ketamine to someone when they're in their sleep. I know that people are on ketamine therapy, and sometimes they may be sleeping. This girl is not on ketamine therapy! What are you talking

about? Well, she is if her doctor's giving it to her. Okay, now, Maroney, I need some help. Clearly, I'm not getting through to Ken Belkin. Giving industrial IV anesthesia to a woman at home that you live with is not therapy. That's abuse. She has no insight to stop. And if he's using these drugs, he has no insight to stop because he is also hijacked, but there's nothing that's ever going to come good from a 50 year old anesthesia,

a oral surgeon dating a 20 year old woman and then doing drugs together. Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey,

I'm asking you for a medical opinion, not your moral judgment. You and I may agree that what is this 50-year-old man doing with a 25-year-old woman? That's none of our business. I'm a little more focused on the murder. So, Robert Crispin, private investigator at Crispin Special Investigations, how do we go about proving a case like this? I find it really difficult to believe that all on her own, she could set up an IV drip of ketamine to the point she OD'd. You know, Nancy, you know how many families out there wish they had this type of evidence when they walk in and find one of their loved ones dead from an overdose? They just wish they could figure out who gave it to them. This case right here rises and falls on the doctor himself.

His own text messages are the epic evidence that are going to sink him. And even more so is the initial responding officers in that crime scene is going to finish putting the prosecution's touch on how she died, who supplied her with the evidence, I mean, with the drugs. And it's an open and shut case. If you ask me, as an investigator, I will tell you, I've had so many families come to me and ask, how can we charge this person? I know they gave them the Oxycontin or they gave them this or that. I'm like, listen, I wish there was more we could do back when I was in law enforcement. I really wish we could. This was handed to law enforcement on a silver platter.

The doctor handed them his own evidence through his text messaging. You know, Dr. Angie Arnold, this case goes so much beyond being a supplier. This is a depraved heart murder. Tell me what the family goes through when they see their loved one literally wasting away. Well, I imagine they feel completely hopeless. Nancy, you can feel completely hopeless about a family member if they're not even wasting away, if there's nothing that you can do that you can seemingly do to help them because families aren't equipped to to really help people out of this at least they were trying to get to her and

get her out of this situation but nancy there is so much wrong in this from the very beginning the mere fact that this doctor was bringing this stuff to his home, who was counting it? Who was counting it? It is awesome. Oh, wait, good question. Dr. Barone, it's alleged that he illegally obtained the drugs from his practice, including medical apparatus like IV stands, needles, and IV bags. Don't medical practices or dentist practice keep count of the medicine and the paraphernalia and notice when it goes missing? For him to bring this stuff home and say that it was legal, he had to show prescriptions, he had to show medical needs, he had to show progress notes. And he had to have a billing relationship to supply the drugs and the equipment.

And you can guarantee that none of those four things are done. This guy's throwing this stuff in the back of his Audi or his BMW, and he's sneaking it out, bringing it home in a relationship that's inappropriate to somebody who's chemically kidnapped. Investigators obtained text messages where Ryan talked about bringing home IV poles, saline solution, fluids, and needles to be used at an at-home drug delivery system. What? He knew better than that. Respected Maryland dentist, Dr. James Ryan, headed to jail. You know what? Good reddits. Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.