Criminology - Sarah Harris

Episode Date: October 20, 2024

On January 26th, 2022, a 51-year-old doctor named James Ryan called 911. His girlfriend, 25-year-old Sarah Harris, had overdosed and his efforts at CPR weren't helping. Sarah was dead by the time officers and paramedics made it to the home. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss the death of Sarah Harris. The opioid epidemic has ruined many lives and for a long time many supplying the drugs have not been held accountable. But that is changing. In Sarah's case, the question was whether or not the jury would hold James Ryan accountable for his actions after hearing the salacious details of what he had done. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology   An Emash Digital production 

Forensic genealogy. The process of identifying unknown offenders through their DNA by finding genetic relatives and building out family trees. It's taken the crime-solving world by storm. How does it work and what are these cases all about? Find out on Season 4 of DNAID, the only podcast that exclusively covers the revolutionary technique that is forensic genealogy. This season, you'll hear more than 20 solved cases like Pamela Cajanis, Rachel Johnson,

and Kristen Martin. And of course, we'll continue with our coverage of Doe identifications that we began in season three. Don't miss DNA ID wherever you get your podcasts. Criminology is a true crime podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised. Everyone and welcome to episode 330 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford.

Morph, how you doing, buddy? I'm doing good. We're halfway through October. and this has been a pretty rough month. Just got through the hurricane and we lost power for a few days and it was tough, but fortunately the damage was minimal. But unfortunately, our neighbors had some bad damage along the beaches here. And my thoughts and prayers go out to everybody that had to deal with this.

And, you know, I was telling our listeners, and a few of them reached out to me to say, you know, they were thinking of me when I said that we lost our dog earlier, right before this. So it's been a rough stretch for me and I'm ready for November to be honest with you. Yeah, I mean, you know, those hurricanes are no joke. You just never know how they're going to go. And thankfully, you didn't suffer, you know, much in the way of damage. But, you know, losing your power for two or three days. Just that alone is very tough on people. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Kaylee Marie and Chris D. So,

some great new support. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you to everybody that helps support the show. It really means a lot to us. And for anyone else that's thinking about doing so, head over to patreon.com slash criminology to get started. All right, it's time to jump into this week's case. And we're talking about a case that has recently been making headlines. A lot of the attention is due to a new 48 hours episode about the case. But it also relates to other cases in the news. Actor Matthew Perry's death in October of 2023 left many shocked and heartbroken. But when news came out that multiple people, including two doctors, were being charged in

his death, there was a lot of discussion about how authorities wouldn't be investigating if the victim wasn't rich and famous. It's true that most overdose deaths in the past have not ended up in court. But it seems like things are changing. as more and more people die from the opioid crisis. It seems that there is a move to try and hold people accountable. Laws for this have existed in many states since at least in 1980s, but most had a specific list of drugs that could be charged for,

and the list was often outdated. Newer drugs like fentanyl weren't listed, so many dealers couldn't be charged. This is also changing. Just weeks ago, Placer County, California, completed its first trial against the defendant charged with murder

for selling the drugs that contributed to someone's overdose death due to fentanyl. With fentanyl finding its way into pretty much everything and other drugs becoming more popular, we're sure to see these cases prosecuted more and more. Since 2015, the number of homicide by overdose cases has been steadily rising in many states.

Many of these cases have been dealers who had no other real connection to the victims. It was purely a transaction that had unintended consequences. I think most of us would agree that we would never sell or even give the people we care about any kind of dangerous drug that wasn't medically necessary because we care about them. The people will be talking about in this case. Weren't rich or famous. but one of them knew better than to do the things that they did, and that was enough for prosecutors to hold them accountable. We're talking about the overdose death of Sarah Harris.

On January 26, 2022, 51-year-old Dr. James Ryan called 911. His girlfriend, 25-year-old Sarah Harris, had overdosed, and his efforts at CPR weren't helping. He phacetimeed her sister Rachel, who began to scream at the news her sister had overdosed. He pointed his phone's camera at Sarah, lying motionless on the floor. According to the 48 hours episode, he told Rachel and their mother, Tina, she's gone. When officers and paramedics arrived at his home in Clarksburg, Maryland, it was clear that Sarah was dead. They attempted to resuscitate her, but sadly it didn't work. The scene was unusual.

There weren't pill bottles or signs of opiate use, like heroin, which is what would usually come to mind when we think of a fatal drug overdose. there were only vials, like the ones you would usually see in a hospital or during a surgery, of ketamine, madazolam, and propopal in her purse, which was in the kitchen. There were empty syringe wrappers and tourniquets near her body. There were also bags of saline next to the sink in the kitchen. Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones told the Washington Post, these bottles are not the type of medication that would normally be dispensed from a pharmacy and are usually reserved for clinical medical settings.

Sarah's mother, Tina, was captured on an officer's body cam arriving at the scene. She knocked on the door and ran past a crying Dr. Ryan. Off camera, you can hear her wail, my baby, as she sees paramedics working on Sarah. She then runs back to Dr. Ryan and begins hitting him until the officer drags her away. And more if I think for anyone listening, what you described is a nightmare scene. You think about getting a call, a FaceTime, just getting notification that something has happened to your daughter and then showing up where she is and seeing the paramedics, trying to work on her. It's the stuff of nightmares. Yeah, and it's clear that it was a very chaotic

and, you know, shocking scene for Sarah's mom and her sister. And you have the police there that seeing all these signs of different drugs there. So a lot was going on at that time. And you can hear from all of that that it was obviously heartbreaking. It was a confusing scene. But this is something that's become all too familiar for too many families. But to figure out how things got to this point for Sarah, we have to go back to the beginning. Sarah Jane Harris, the youngest of four children, had many hobbies.

She enjoyed photography, drawing, and traveling. Her dream, though, was to one day become a doctor so that she could help people. You could almost say that people were like another hobby for her. She loved to meet new people and seemed to be in her element when she was being social. In 2020, just a few months after she turned 23, she won the title of Miss Marilyn Petit in the Miss USA Petite beauty page. Later that summer, she needed to have her wisdom teeth removed. The procedure would be performed by Dr. James Ryan, who ran his own practice called Evolution Oral Surgery in Germantown, Maryland.

During her consultations and appointments, the two really hit it off. She learned that he had an opening for a surgical technician at his office, and apparently he wasn't very subtle about letting her know. According to People magazine, Dr. Ryan texted Sarah, a former patient asking if she knew anyone he could hire. And Sarah, upon reading the text, asked her mom, why not me? And by October of 2020, she had taken over the position. Dr. Ryan hired Sarah without even seeing her resume. Tina thought that Dr. Ryan was perfectly professional when Sarah went in to get her wisdom teeth removed,

but did find it a bit odd that he continued to text her. after her appointment. She was proud of her daughter and thought that the job was a great opportunity. After Sarah started working there, it did take long for her and Dr. Ryan to become romantically involved. Even before they were officially dating, the two were constantly texting, and Dr. Ryan would give her lavish gifts. Sarah seemed happy. While working at evolution oral surgery and seeing Dr. Ryan, Sarah kept up her modeling career. In March 2021, she competed in the Miss USA Petite pageant. as the returning Miss Marilyn Petit. So morph to me, it's obvious after hearing that, you know, he hired Sarah without even seeing her resume.

And then the two began dating pretty quickly. He was obviously very taken with Sarah. Things continued to move quickly. Just months after starting to work for Dr. Ryan, Sarah moved into his home in Clarksburg, Maryland. It was a real whirlwind, but it seemed Sarah was swept off. her feet by a doctor with his own practice. He had a great reputation with patients and the medical community and treated Sarah and her family like royalty. He even leased a car for Sarah to drive and bought her a diamond necklace. He let Sarah bring her mother and sister on multiple vacations

to fancy destinations with all expenses paid by him. The whole family became pretty close quickly. Sarah's mom Tina told the Washington Post, we welcomed him into the family. And she told CBS, I was excited because he had a wonderful reputation. Dr. Ryan did his best to win Sarah's family over. He would say things to flat or Tina, and things seemed to be going well. But during one of these trips that Dr. Ryan took Sarah and her family on in September 2021, while they were all in Key West, Dr. Ryan had a few drinks too many

and got very friendly with Sarah's mom, Tina. according to CBS, he opened up to her about how he had seen Sarah playing with her friends in the park when she was just 14 years old and how he'd had his eye on her ever since because of how pretty she was. He didn't leave it up to chance to be able to see her either. Dr. Ryan, who was a divorced father of four, three children with his ex-wife and a fourth with an employee, admitted to Tina that once he found out that Sarah worked at a toy store, he made sure to take his children there. Dr. Ryan told Tina, I would take my kids there so I could see her. And I remember when she dressed up like Elsa from Frozen and she looked just like Elsa.

Dr. Ryan also admitted that he didn't stop trying to see her when she got a new job working as a waitress. He took this opportunity to make sure he went to the restaurant where she worked on days he knew she would be there. And he would go out of his way to make sure he was seated in her section. So my thought is a lot of people listening might have thought that, you know, things were a little creepy before. Okay. He's older. He's a doctor. He treats Sarah.

He must have thought, you know, this was a very pretty young woman. He hires her without even seeing her resume. Well, was that based on her qualifications? Or was it based on what he. thought of her and her appearance, but now this is to a completely different level. And we find out more that he's been essentially keeping an eye on her, or you could say stalking her, since she was 14 years old. Yeah, this had to be a real shock to her mom because she had mentioned how they were accepting

of him despite the age difference, despite him being her doctor. they accepted him into the family and they got along with him they went on these trips and then all of a sudden he pulls the mask off and here's these creepy details coming out about his long infatuation with her and what comes across to me is the level of calculation right i mean he was being very calculating and taking his kids to the toy store where she worked later making sure to show up at the restaurant where she worked, knowing the days that she worked. I mean, he went out of his way. Suddenly, in light of these shocking confessions to Sarah's mom, Tina, Dr. James Ryan's actions

didn't seem so sweet. In hindsight, Sarah had been struggling for a while. Well, it seemed like he was just a helpful boyfriend. Sarah's mother couldn't help but wonder if he was part of the reason she was having such a hard time. Sarah was 23 when she had her wisdom teeth removed. Dr. Ryan had apparently been interested in her not only as a child, but for almost a decade. Instead of it seeming like the good Dr. Ryan was taking a chance on a bright young hire, who he ended up falling for, it looked like a grown man had used his status to basically bribe his way

into a young woman's life with a good job, gifts, vacations. and then eventually drugs that only he could get for her. Detective Ian Icavilo told CBS, I can't imagine as a parent hearing another grown man say that they were watching my child. Tina believes that Ryan groomed her daughter Sarah using gifts, attention, and constant contact. She told CBS, I think he was grooming me. I think he was grooming Rachel. In late October, 2021,

Tina and Rachel went over to Dr. Ryan's house to check on Sarah because they were worried about her. After getting off the phone with Sarah, they headed straight over according to Tina and Rachel, and when they got there, Sarah could barely talk. In the 48 hours episode, they said that her words were extremely slurred. Sarah appeared to be in an altered state. Tina had started to notice that Sarah would only wear outfits with long sleeves, even when it was uncomfortably hot outside. even during a vacation in Orlando, which you think would involve a lot of fun in the sun,

she was wearing a long-sleeved sweater. During that trip, Sarah had gotten upset with Dr. Ryan, and according to CBS, said to her mom, I hate him. I don't want to be here. I want to go home. Things felt tense, and it seemed like there was trouble in the relationship. When her mother and sister confronted Sarah, they forced her to pull up her sleeves and reveal her forearms, which were both covered in bruises and needle marks from repeated injections. Tina would later tell the Washington Post that they were just covered. Sarah claimed that they were marks from vitamins and IV bags because she was dehydrated and Dr. Ryan was just helping her.

Tina told 48 hours that she said to James Ryan, what are you doing? Are you trying to kill my daughter? He explained that he had been trying to give her a medication to help. her sleep, but she had been so dehydrated he couldn't find a vein. Tina told 48 hours that it looked like Sarah hadn't taken a shower in at least a week, and Tina said that she smelled. By this time, Sarah had stopped going to work. Instead, she waited at home for Dr. Ryan to get home with drug supplies. Sarah couldn't function, and Tina told the Washington Post, all she wanted to do was

sleep. Sarah's family briefly convinced her to leave Dr. Ryan, but it didn't last long. Tina thought things were improving even after Sarah went back to James Ryan. She wasn't as withdrawn as she had been recently. In fact, she started attending church and got back into her hobbies, like drawing and cooking. Then tragedy struck. Sarah's brother, Christopher Ladson, suffered a heart attack on January 1st, 2022. Like his sister, he had many passions, including traveling, snowboarding, and hiking. He seemed to live a pretty active lifestyle and was just 38 years old,

But doctors said the damage was too severe from to survive. Sarah, Tina, and other family members flew to Montana, where he lived to say their final goodbyes. He passed away on January 8th. His death seems to have sent Sarah into a downward spiral. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency? We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved.

Till new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio in 2020, blood and water. Listen now wherever you get your podcasts. And that brings us back to just before 7 o'clock in the morning on January 26, 2022, when James Ryan called 911. He claims that he headed to bed around 10.30 p.m. the night before. Sarah stayed downstairs on the couch, which was not unusual for her. They often slept apart because he had to work in the morning and she would stay up because

she couldn't sleep. According to Ryan, when he woke up in the morning, he found her, already unconscious, in both the 911 call and footage from officers' body cameras. Dr. Ryan looked and sounded, completely distraught. He was quick to point to the situation as a mental health and he was. issue or a suicide. He explained to officer saying she was bipolar also so she could be really angry or could be really happy. The medical examiner Ling Lee determined that Sarah's death was caused by an overdose of both propofal and ketamine. She also had diazepam in her system at the time of her

death. The manner of her death was undetermined. The medical examiner found three possible manners of death, a possibility of a suicide, possibility of accidental death, or even a homicide. Sarah's sister, Rachel, was instrumental in helping authorities investigate her sister's death. After a few days of trying, she was able to get the password to Sarah's laptop, which gave her family access to everything that was stored in the cloud, including her text messages. She looked through and documented everything. Her file was apparently 200 pages. She told turned it over to police in February 22. Along with the text messages, Rachel also turned over the photos she had taken when she and

their mother went over to confront Sarah. The photos show how bad Sarah's addiction got. And you have to, you know, give it up to the family and especially Rachel for kind of going rogue detective on this thing. You know, eventually getting into Sarah's laptop, compiling a file of 200,000. pages worth of documentation, I'm sure more that this went a long way into providing police with information about Dr. Ryan. It seems that her sister really took the initiative to spend time just guessing at passwords, just thinking that if she could get into Sarah's laptop, it would

provide some clues. And luckily, she was able to guess it and help the police out because there was enough stuff in there as we're going to find out to help make a case against him. Police felt that there was enough to charge Dr. James Ryan and Sarah's death. And charges were brought against him in March 22, a little under two months after Sarah passed away. He was arrested outside of his practice on March 22nd and charged with reckless endangerment, distribution of ketamine and diazepam, possession of control. dangerous substances with intent to distribute medazalam, involuntary manslaughter, and second-degree depraved heart murder.

And we had to look up that charge, and the legal definition is where an individual, under circumstances, evidencing a depraved indifference to human life, recklessly engages in conduct that creates a grave risk of death to another person, and thereby, causes the death of another person. And I thought that was interesting. I've never heard of that charge. Second degree depraved heart murder. Yeah, we've covered a lot of cases and heard of a lot of legal terms, but that one was new to me too. Because James Ryan was a medical professional, who was aware of the dangers of administering or distributing these drugs without proper monitoring, his actions cross from just negligent or careless,

which is covered by the involuntary manslaughter charge to being so recklessly indifferent that he may as well have wanted her dead. Every single time he administered or gave her access to these medications could have been the time that killed her. But he continued to do so without a care despite knowing that she had overdosed in the past. Just weeks after his arrest, Dr. Ryan

voluntarily surrendered his medical license due to the allegations. And that kind of makes it sound like he was doing it out of the, you know, the goodness of his heart. Hey, I'm going to give up my license. Hey, they're going to take his license away anyway. And I'm sure he knew that. I don't think he had much say in the matter. All prosecutors had to prove is that Dr. Ryan did something he knew was dangerous and did it not caring that Sarah could die. It wasn't about him, her dad or planning her death, it turns out Sarah had overdosed a month earlier. In December of 2021, Dr. Ryan performed CPR on her. And it must have worked because that time, he didn't call anyone for

help. He was honest about this when talking to the first responders the morning of Sarah's death, telling them that she had overdosed before and he had performed CPR the same as he had done this time, but this time it didn't work. But he completely downplayed his own involvement in her death, according to the Washington Post. He claimed that she would sometimes steal drugs like ketamine and propofal from his practice. She tried to be secret about it. That's what he told them.

But text messages between the two show that Ryan was willingly supplying Sarah with these drugs. But there was a big difference between Sarah's first overdose, and the day she died. Tina told the Washington Post that she saw hundreds of medical bottles that had contained medication as well as IV bags lying all over the ground. She said there were needles all over the ground and paper towels saturated in blood as well as bloody footprints on the floor. We talked about it earlier. Dr. Ryan had told Tina that Sarah was dehydrated. and he was giving her injections, but this was clearly not a simple case of dehydration. Yeah, it definitely seems as if something went horribly wrong,

because with the first overdose, he revived her. This time he couldn't, she died, and then you have this horrific scene of blood and drug paraphernalia that Sarah's mom and sister witnessed. Like many people, Sarah began to struggle with anxiety and depression as a teenager. When she began to date Dr. Ryan, she was experiencing anxiety and insomnia. She obviously confided in her boyfriend and wanted the anxiety to go away and the ability to sleep. But it seemed like injections of these heavy drugs was actually his idea.

According to the Washington Post, one of Ryan's text to Sarah read, I can give you an injection. The anxiety will be completely gone in six seconds. And in another text, he insisted, it will work. Let's try it. This was on February 11, 2021. He continued to enable her drug use and his text prove it. By April, she was asking him for more medazolam and an IV catheter. On September 27th, Sarah was concerned that she wouldn't be able to receive the drugs because she wasn't hydrated enough. She wrote to Ryan, I don't think you'll find a vein.

I'm so dehydrated. And Dr. Ryan advised her to drink water and take a Xanax to relax. On the 28th, Sarah told Dr. Dr. Ryan that she slept well enough, but was feeling groggy and weird. He was sure that his cocktail was right for her. According to the Washington Post, he responded by writing, I think the ketamine works well for you. He also told her to drink more water, which would help the drug clear out of her system more

rapidly and help make that odd feeling wear off. This kind of thing went on for months. In October, Sarah was texting Ryan asking if they had, any ketamine in the house. In November, she was telling him they needed more syringes. In December, he was still administering these drugs to her. And it was pretty obvious that they weren't good for her. She apparently took or was given. A dose of ketamine after a hockey game that month. The next morning, Dr. Ryan texted her, you slept all night. And every time you woke up, you were sobbing. I couldn't understand what you were saying because of the ketamine. He reassured

her that he was there for her writing, I just hugged you. By December 2021, it was clear that Sarah was exhausted. She texted, Ryan, I just really need sleep. And she asked him to bring home propofal for her. It was also this month that Sarah opened up to a close friend of hers. She admitted that things were not going very well in her life. According to the Washington Post, she wrote, I've been in a bad place. She also confessed to overdosing on ketamine. It was also in December that Rachel went over to the house again to check on Sarah and was appalled at what she found. Things hadn't improved at all. Rachel took more photos before leaving. There were IV bags on the floor, bloody paper towels and footprints left in blood, vials of ketamine,

and multiple empty syringe bags, casually lying on top of the TV remotes. And I just can't imagine morph, you know, what Tina and Rachel must have been thinking. You know, when you're seeing scenes like this. You know that your daughter, your sister is in trouble. But what do you do? I'm thinking it was probably a pretty helpless feeling for them. Yeah, I think a lot of families in situations where they have someone that's going through issues with drugs, they feel that helplessness and not, and they're not sure what to do or how to proceed. I think the difference here for me is that, you know, a lot of times people are getting the drugs on their own. They're administering the drugs themselves. There is a difference here in that, you know,

you have this Dr. Ryan. He's the one with access to the drugs. He's supplying them. He's administering them, I think, in most cases. But what was the motive? Was he really trying to help her sleep? Or was he trying to ensure that she was so dependent on him that she would never be able to leave him? I think that's a big question in this case. Following this December 3rd visit, Tina confronted Dr. Ryan. She told CBS, I just smacked the living crap out of him. Tina threatened to call the police and turn him in. If he didn't end things with Sarah, Ryan agreed. So, Tina, Tina backed off. And I just talked about, you know, the helpless feeling. What do you do? Well, here we find out what Tina did. She didn't sit around. She confronted Dr. Ryan. Hell, she smacked the crap out of him. And she threatened him. She was going to turn him in. But nothing changed. James Ryan didn't break up with Sarah. She was still using drugs. Tina had a problem. Sarah was an adult. Tina told CBS, what was I going to? do. Lock her up. When she threatened to call the police, Sarah threatened right back, saying if you do

that mom, when I get out, you'll never hear from me again. The thought of that of never seeing Sarah again scared Tina to death. And I think that would scare any parent. You want to help your child in any way that you can, but you don't want to alienate them. You don't want to take a chance of ruining the relationship forever. So, you know, in my mind, this was a very tough position for Tina to be in. Yeah, I think as family members, her mom, sister, they had to really walk a tight rope between wanting to help her and improve her situation, but at the same time, not wanting to drive her out of their lives. On at least one occasion, Ryan injected Sarah with ketamine while she was asleep. We only know of the one time because he texted her a little reminder so that she didn't get upset if she woke up disoriented and alone.

According to Sportskita.com, Ryan wrote, If you wake up, I just went to change after I gave you ketamine just now. To inject someone with a drug while they aren't even conscious outside of an operating room or emergency room seems completely confounding. It's just something you don't do. Why would you even need to? According to the Washington Post, social worker Janice Miller, who testified on behalf of the prosecution, explained that the drugs were away he controlled her and really ensured that she wouldn't leave the relationship. Detective Icavella said, over the course of their relationship, you could see Sarah die.

Sarah had always been on the small side, obviously, since she participated in petite pageants, but at the time of her death, she weighed just 83 pounds, which is more than 20 pounds, less than her listed weight on online modeling profiles. Montgomery County Assistant State's attorney, Jennifer Harrison, told CBS News. Every time he gave her those drugs, whether he administered them or whether he instructed her on how to administer them to herself,

a little bit of Sarah died. The defense here was that if Sarah's death wasn't just an unfortunate effect of her severe drug addiction, she used the drugs to take her own life. James Ryan certainly wasn't taking responsibility and did not take the stand at his trial. His defense attorney Thomas Dagonia said that Sarah had begged him for ketamine so that she could get some relief from her depression. He said Dr. Ryan was just trying to alleviate the pain of the woman he loved, but made the wrong decisions.

He also brought up the very recent death of Sarah's brother, Christopher, which would have magnified any, emotional issues Sarah was facing. In fact, on January 25, 2022, the last day of Sarah's life, she was helping her mother figure out which cemetery and burial plot she would purchase to lay Christopher to rest. The fact that one of the medications in Sarah's system, the diazepam, wasn't an injection or IV, but pills that she obtained somehow was offered as more proof that Sarah usually the drugs to take her own life. According to CBS, a text message Sarah sent to Ryan a few months before she died included the words, I've lost my will to live. In a post on Facebook from January 24th, just two days before Sarah was found dead, she wrote a tribute to her brother. It was short

because as she said, there are no words. The part of the post that the defense focused on were the words, never goodbye. I'll see you soon, big bro. According to Montgomery County, police chief Marcus Jones, authorities spoke to many of Sarah's loved ones who were in contact with her regularly, and they gave no indication at all that Sarah was in any way interested in taking her own life. Despite attempts by the defense to blame Sarah for her own death, a jury found Dr. James Ryan guilty in August 2003 after deliberating for less than three hours. His attorney asked for leniency based on Dr. Ryan's own mental health issues and addiction. There is some evidence from Sarah's

eye cloud that Dr. Ryan was also addicted to some of the drugs he was supplying to Sarah. According to the Washington Post, on September 7, 2021, he texted Sarah something that indicated he could not control his substance

use. He wrote, I'm trying not to do so much and tapered in nothing, a feat he called hard in this stupid area. He's likely referring to his line of work. Since having to administer the drugs you're trying not to take. And having them basically sitting there all day would be tempting.

Employees at his practice once found Dr. Ryan sleeping in his office so deeply, they apparently had to use smelling salts, which are a form of ammonia you inhale to wake up. It doesn't seem like he was just taking a little cat nap. As a busy dentist getting some rest, it actually looks like he was dangerously close to needing CPR himself. According to CBS News, there were also texts from Sarah asking, do we have any ketamine here and telling James, we need more syringes?

One of Dr. Ryan's friends recalls him asking how he could support someone struggling with depression and drug addiction. James Ryan was vague about who he needed help for, but the friend thought he was asking how he could help support Sarah. They didn't talk about it again, and the friend was shocked to hear that, Dr. Ryan was facing charges for Sarah's death. And I do think more if that, you know, this talk of Dr. Ryan having an addiction as well is important.

And we just mentioned that he had his own mental health issues. You just wonder how much both of those factors played into the decisions that he made. James Ryan did talk at his sentencing hearing, but only took. took partial responsibility for what happened. He told the court, while I did not administer the drugs to Sarah, and I'm not exactly sure when she got them, those drugs were absolutely my responsibility. And I should have made sure that she never had access to them. I should have never thought I could control her addiction.

Detective Icaveo believes that Dr. Ryan is the one who injected Sarah with the drugs that finally killed her because they were so fast acting. acting, that she wouldn't have been able to put the vials in her purse across the room or clean up the scene before she lost consciousness. Sarah's mom, Tina, told CBS that she believes that he wanted it to look like it was a suicide. An IV poll was later found in a closet. The home was never treated as a crime scene by investigators. So it's unknown. What else could have been moved or stashed away? And I want to talk a minute about, you know, Ryan taking part of the case. partial responsibility. We see that quite a bit, right, where individuals don't come out and say,

yes, I did it. All of this was my fault. You know, they kind of parsed their words. And in this case, he's saying, hey, I didn't administer the drugs to Sarah. He even says, I'm not sure when she got them. But the drugs were absolutely my responsibility. And I should have made sure she never had access to them that seems to fly in the face of all the text messages and and correspondence that they had back and forth. Yeah, I think it's it's clear that he participated in and enabled her to take these drugs and you know, the proof is there. So, you know, it seems like he's just trying to shift blame when that, when there's no way to shift it. He was responsible. That's what the jury said. When Michael Jackson passed away due to the unmonitored use of propofal and benzodiazepines.

Dr. Conrad Murray cleaned up the scene before the authorities were called. Bodyguard Alberto Alvarez testified to gathering up files of medication from Jackson's bedside and putting them all in a bag that he placed in the closet, as well as removing an IV bag from its stand. Investigators recovered a saline IV bag that had been cut so that a 100-millimeter vial propofal could be added to the saline, as well as additional vials of propofal and medazolam, from the bag in the closet, which also had remnants of medical supplies in it, like empty syringe packets and an open IV administration kit. Dr. Murray initially claimed to have walked away from

Jackson for just long enough to use the restroom. This was likely just an attempt to cover up his negligence, as a bathroom break is much more understandable than just giving these dangerous drugs with no monitoring and simply going about your day elsewhere. Dr. Murray knew that saying anything more than a few minutes would be even more damning than the at-home setting. He knew this because all doctors who work with these drugs understand how dangerous they can be, even when used properly. But Dr. James Ryan was regularly leaving Sarah alone, both with access to these medications

and the necessary supplies to inject herself, or while being actively administered. the medication by an IV he set up. In fact, according to Montgomery County Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Harrison, oftentimes he would leave her and go to sleep for the night, leaving her hooked up to an IV on these dangerous medications. These drugs not only require monitoring, but a crash cart nearby,

specifically to prevent this from happening. Dr. Ryan did not have one at his home, despite bringing home supplies to make it easier for Sarah to take the drugs. He brought home syringes, IV bags, and even an IV pole, which would enable continuous administration of the medications. He even left supplies and medication vials in the trunk of his car and told Sarah to come pick them up while he was working. James Ryan continued to provide drugs right up until Sarah was dead.

the day before her death. She texted him asking him to bring ketamine home from the office. According to CBS, he replied, yes, I will bring some home. I love you, baby. In January 2024, just under two years after Sarah's death, James Ryan was sentenced to serve 45 years in prison. This is a decade shy of the maximum 55 years he was facing. In court, Circuit Court Judge Cheryl A. McCallie, who handed down the sentence told James Ryan, you knew better. Sarah's mom, Tina, told the Washington Post, I'm very, very satisfied. Her sister Rachel Harris, as she spoke to the media, said,

Sarah was this beautiful beauty queen, and she wasted away at the hands of Dr. James Ryan. James Ryan will be eligible for parole in two decades. He will be in his mid-70s by this time. He's currently incarcerated at Maryland Correctional Training Center. Sarah's ashes are buried with her brother, Christopher's, in one casket. Tina says, I want people to remember my Sarah as a light, a brilliant young woman who cared about others and loved life, loved it.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, there is help available. You can contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration's helpline by calling 1-800-662 help or by going to SAMHSA.gov. So, morph as we wrap up this episode, on Sarah Harris the entire time I was thinking that this beautiful young woman had her entire life ahead of her. And it seems to me that had she not gotten involved with James Ryan, things would have turned out so differently. Now, can I sit here and say, you know, absolutely she wouldn't have gotten into drugs and done some of that stuff.

No, I can't. But it's clear to me that this man had kept his eye on Sarah from the time that she was 14 years old. And when he found the opportunity, he seized it. You know, he gave her this job. She was obviously, you know, taken with him. He was older. He was established. he had money. The two started the relationship. I mean, I think you heard one of the authorities say,

he was giving her these drugs as a way to control her. She would be dependent on him. She wouldn't be able to leave him. And as with anyone who gets hooked on, you know, some of these powerful drugs that addiction sets in, you're going to need more and more, you have to have it. And I think he just continued to play into that. I think he started it and then he perpetuated it. Yeah. And the shame of that is, you know, as a physician, your, you know, their first rule is do no harm.

So when you put somebody in that situation and make their life worse and make it more dangerous for them as they go along in this addiction, you're going against the oath you took to help people and not harm them. And that's, you know, what's so bad here is, you know, most doctors would never do that. But unfortunately, we, we know there are some that cross that line and do things like this. Yeah, well, I think this is a guy who crossed a lot of lines. And he failed, not only as a doctor, but, you know, as a boyfriend, as a human being, he just completely failed. And my heart really goes out to Sarah's mom because not only did she lose Sarah, but she also lost her son. You know, he died from a heart attack, Sarah from the overdose, but,

you know, two children right back to back and can't even imagine how devastating that was for her. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, to me, this is one of those cases where, you know, the what ifs really creep in. You know, what happens in the life of Sarah Harris? If she doesn't go in for the dental procedure and it happens to be Dr. James Ryan, he offers her the job, they start a relationship. How would her life have turned out? I mean, I think the one thing you can definitely say is it would have turned out differently, but you could say that in a lot of these cases.

I just think this was a guy who was infatuated with Sarah from a young age, saw his opportunity, took it, and then tried to ensure that she would never leave him. That's the way that I look at this. And he crossed so many lines in his attempt to do that. Yeah, it's bad enough that there are drug dealers out there that supply people. so many people nowadays with drugs that are killing, you know, people in mass numbers. But when your boyfriend who's a doctor starts doing it, it's just a whole other level of an issue. Well, and it's also another example of a person in authority, a person with power, you know,

whether it's a doctor, a police officer, someone who has more power than the average person. Right. Most people don't have access to ketamine and all of these different types of drugs, but he did. And he misused that power. And ultimately got what he deserved. I truly believe that. Yeah, I agree 100%. But that's it for our episode on Sarah Harris. If you love the show, I haven't done so yet, go out, give us a five-star rating, leave a review. Also, keep telling your friends that word of mouth about the criminology podcast. really goes a long way. If you want to find us on social media, we're on X with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook by going to facebook.com slash criminology

podcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, Criminology podcast discussion and fans. So that's it for another episode of Criminology. But Morph and I will be back with all of you next next Saturday night with a brand new episode. So until then for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.