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[Music] [Music] I hate seeing people get away with stuff and I like figuring stuff out my
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name is Ian iello and I was the lead detective in the Sarah Harris case Sarah Harris she
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was incredibly bright um one should always pursue knowledge no matter the topic very energetic very fun did Sarah
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have any idea how beautiful she was honestly I don't think she did Sarah Jane Harris Sarah hopes to become an
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anesthesiologist she was shocked that she won the Miss Marilyn petique pageant she had thought from a very young age
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that she would want to be a doctor she wanted to help people in 2020 Sarah needed wisdom teeth pulled
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she initially met James Ryan as a patient at his oral surgery practice I'm James Ryan I mean it's not just that we
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say that we care but we really do we take pride Dr James Ryan was a well-respected oral surgeon a lot of
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people knew him and thought very highly of him so she gets the teeth done she starts getting all these text messages
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and they're from Dr Ryan and he says by the way I'm looking to hire someone as a
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surgical assistant do you know anyone she says something like well what about me Mom and he offered her the
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job she then became an employee and then his girlfriend and his living girlfriend Sarah's life appeared
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glamorous on the outside but behind closed doors I mean that wasn't necessarily the case
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I would have never ever thought that her life would end the way it did Montgomery count
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911 my girlfriend I think overdosed I'm trying to resuscitate her right now and what is your first and last name j Ryan
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I'm doing so compression and is responsive is she breathing she's not breathing when the two responding
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officers um got to the house they saw Sarah she's laying on the floor what did authorities think had happened
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to Sarah that day she overdosed and we don't know if it's an accident if it's suicide or if it's a homicide the
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decision was made to charge him with depraved heart murder I think most of our audience will have never heard of
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depraved heart murder I have never seen it before you have to show an extreme indifference to human life James Ryan
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provided those drugs that caused her death that doesn't mean he's guilty of murder another way of presenting this
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case would be you never intended to hurt her I knew this was not just some simple
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accidental overdose this was much more [Music] [Music] was she sleeping on the couch last night
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yeah she would do that sometimes it's the morning of January 26th 2022 Sarah Harris lies unresponsive on
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the floor of the room in disarray her boyfriend Dr James Ryan tearfully talks with police at the scene the
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conversation is recorded on a body camera as they ask him about the night before we're watching TV know that she
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said you should probably go to bed because you're tired and you have to work tomorrow so I did uhhuh what time
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did you go to bed probably about 10 or 11 Ryan has already told authorities he's a doctor and that he thinks it's an
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overdose and he says it's happened before and I did CPR and brought her back this time Sarah doesn't
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survive Dr Ryan has suggested where she got at least one of her drugs of choice a powerful anesthetic
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she used to take probol too she used to steal that from my office how they got into her body I've caught her before
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with um like injecting herself with things and why she was bipolar also so she would could be really angry or could
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be really happy Ryan had called Sarah's family with the awful news that morning but her
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mother Tina just didn't believe anything he said she immediately suspected James
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Ryan was responsible for Sarah's death she arrived at the scene about 20 minutes
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later I started kicking and hitting him and screaming up the mail let the mail let the mail what did he say
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happened he said he went to bed and left her alone and came down and she was unresponsive in the morning authorities
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say they found wrappers from syringes tourniquets and saline bags next to the kitchen sink and Drug vials in Sarah's
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purse Tina thinks Ryan arranged it that way he wanted to look like it was a suicide Tina had long held suspicions
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about Dr Ryan he had encountered Sarah harrris more than a year earlier not as a girlfriend but as a patient to get her
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wisdom teeth out Dr Ryan is somebody who's practiced for over 20 years he has incredible credentials Mary fulan is a
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former prosecutor and defense attorney and a CBS News consultant we asked her to use her Decades of courtroom
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experience to help analyze this case he's esteemed and regarded in his community as one of the best at what he
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does Tina haris says the first time her daughter met Dr Ryan for her teeth in the summer of 2020 the doctor was
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professional but she does remember at the time feeling it was curious when his interest in Sarah seemed to change she
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starts getting all these text messages he asks her how are you doing and she says I'm fine and he starts sending
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little emojis what are you thinking as her mom I thought it was a little bizarre that he added a little happy
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face and I thought well maybe he just likes using emojis she says that's when Ryan had mentioned
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he was looking to hire someone as a surgical assistant I thought well you know maybe he just thinks that she'd
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really be a good addition Dr Ryan hardly seemed like a threat he was divorced with three grown children and was
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involved with a woman with whom he already had a baby at 47 he was more than twice Sarah's age he say no I don't
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need your resume just come on in for a working interview I said well I'm proud of you honey that's
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pretty incredible he's going to teach you all this stuff at the beginning Sarah seemed to
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love the job but Tina says as the holidays approached an extravagant gift retriggered her suspicion that Dr Ryan's
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interest in Sarah was more than professional what was it a diamond necklace that's quite a gift I said okay
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he's after you I said you got to put your foot down instead in early 2021 she says Sarah and announced she had agreed
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to go out for a meal with Ryan who was ending his other relationship he seemed to win over Sarah and Tina admits in
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their early days as a couple even she found him impressive as a mother was a part of you excited she was dating a
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doctor well I was excited I was excited because he had a wonderful reputation and she says Ryan was generous he would
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Le Sarah a new car and take her and her family on trips all expenses paid Tina says in a way he spent time courting her
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too you know he would say I would love to have you as my mom Sarah's so blessed to have you Tina says she and Sarah
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always had a special bond we were very very close she says Sarah was close to her
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three siblings too especially older sister Rachel Rachel took it upon herself that she was going to be the
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protector but there had been a rough period during Sarah's youth in Suburban Maryland like many young people she
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experimented with drugs and had problems moderating her mood she suffered from anxiety when did she first struggle with
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depression I noticed depression coming about when she was about 14 15 years old she would start feeling down but Tina
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says Sarah is still excelled in high school craving knowledge and the skills that came with it um it's currently
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hanging in the in Paris she learned German Spanish Russian and sign language to she put a lot of pressure on herself
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especially with her grades before long Sarah got her social bearings she fell into a great group of
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kids they would sit out in the living room play the guitar play the piano sing she was at a music festival in
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2018 when 21 one-year-old Sarah caught the eye of Henry Peterson 7 years older I feel like it was like stars colliding
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and uh meeting someone like you're supposed to meet they lived 7 hours apart but he says they quickly became
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emotionally Inseparable we talked about everything you could think of in terms of a future um marriage and children and
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family he says the distance eventually made them drift Peterson broke it off though he says he still imagined they
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would end up together she and I never stopped talking the love was always there by her mid 20s Sarah had gotten
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into modeling and competing in beauty pageants and in 2020 she'd won that Miss Marilyn petite pageant the next year is
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when she started quietly seeing Dr Ryan and by that summer they had decided to live together and that's when everything
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goes downhill [Music] [Applause] by the end of the summer of 2021 Tina Harris says James Ryan was dominating
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Sarah's life boss boyfriend even letting her live rentree in his house but instead of flourishing Sarah seemed
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anxious and depressed she saw a psychiatrist who gave her that bipolar diagnosis her complexion starts to
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change she starts to lose weight on a family trip to Key West that September Tina says Sarah had been
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asleep when a drunk Dr Ryan revealed something unsettling he had first noticed Sarah in
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the park when she was just 14 I used to see Sarah walking the neighborhood and playing at the park with her
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friends and he says then I found out she worked in the toy store so I would take
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my kids there so I could see her and I remember when she dressed up as Elsa from Frozen and she looked just like
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Elsa and then he said yeah and then I found out she worked at one of these restaurants and so I would go in there
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for dinner so I could get her as my server it sounds like Dr Ryan was obsessed with he was he was very much
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so by their next trip to Florida a month later she says Sarah was acting strangely she wore a bulky longsleeve
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sweatshirt despite the Heat and it seemed like she and Ryan were always fighting and she goes I hate him I don't
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want to be here I want to go home and when they returned to Maryland Tina saw the full horrifying picture of what
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Sarah's life had become she says she called Sarah on October 28th 2021 phone rang rang rang she finally
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picked up she could barely talk her words were extremely slurred so I said Sarah what's going on what's wrong with
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you she goes oh I'm just really tired mom you knew something was wrong yeah well I knew she was slurring Tina says
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she and Rachel left for Sarah's house minutes later and we walked into hell what did you see well Sarah
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answers the door she smells it looks like she hadn't bathed in a week or more she looked horrible she'd weighed 120
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when she'd had oral surgery with Ryan Tina says but Sarah was Skin and Bones now and Tina says there was more The Ivy
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bags needles laying all over the floor syringes tourniquets bloody Footprints bloody paper towels and there were drugs
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but bottles and vials everywhere Rachel gathered them up and photographed them I
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never looked at the drugs and I wish I had I do think some people watching would think how did you
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not look at what the drugs were of course I just wanted to get her out she says Sarah had offered an innocent if
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unconvincing explanation she goes I've just been dehydrated mom he's just hydrating me I said I'm turning him in
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and Sarah starts crying mom you can't do that please don't do that she's begging
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me I grabbed her arms and I pulled her sleeves up and she had needle marks from here to here all over her arms bruises I
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became hysterical against her better judgment Tina agreed to hold off on calling authorities but she says she
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insisted Sarah move back home just Days Later Tina says Ryan convinced Sarah to come back to
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him in the following weeks Tina says Sarah seemed to be getting better she started cooking eating even going to
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church but on December 3rd 20121 Tina says her daughter answered the phone slurring again Rachel Harris jumped into
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action Rael said I'm going to go and check on her when Rachel got there it was worse
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than the first time poking around the ground floor Rachel once again pulled out her camera
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finding drug bottles and vials as well as a saline bag an IV pole Ivy needles and bloody footprints on a
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kitchen mat she was so distraught she left without talking to her sister a few days later Tina confronted
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Dr James Ryan she was in no mood for another explanation I just reached across and smack the living crap out of
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him you hit him yeah oh I hit him and I said what are you doing are you trying to kill my daughter
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Tina says Ryan still insisted he'd only been hydrating her and you still believed it I believed he was giving her
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something I didn't know what it was I did not look at the vases all I could see was my daughter and what kind of
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trouble she was in but the next day she says Ryan admitted he'd been doing more than hydrating her he'd been giving
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Sarah drugs though only to keep her from them someplace else so I told him I said
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look you can break it off with my daughter or I'm calling the police and he said well I'll break it off with her
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but days turned into weeks and Dr Ryan never did after months of tension Tina says she couldn't keep arguing with her
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daughter anymore what was I going to do lock her up you probably wanted to I threatened it and she said if you do
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that Mom when I get out you'll never hear from me again and that scared me to [Music]
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death within weeks there was a new tragedy for the Harris family Sarah's brother Christopher just 38 died after a
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heart attack in Montana I had to sign the papers to take him off life support which um
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no mother should have to do his death was devastating to the whole family Sarah posted this tribute
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message to her brother never goodbye I'll see you soon big bro and only 18 days after Christopher's
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death at about 8:30 a.m. on January 26 2022 Tina says she and Rachel were together when Rachel got James Ryan's
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call Rachel started screaming she's holding the phone and James has it on FaceTime and he's got the camera pointed
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at my [Music] baby that's there on the ground saying she's gone she's [Music] gone at the time of her death Sarah
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Harris weighed just 83 lbs authorities would list her manner of death as undetermined Dr Ryan was not arrested
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they seemed to accept his story that Sarah struggling with mental health issues had
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overdosed but there would be help from a most UN likely investigator Rachel started trying to
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get into Sarah's [Music] eyecloud I just hope that you're happy that I'm with someone who truly truly
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loves me 3 months before before she died Sarah left a voicemail for her ex-boyfriend Henry Peterson I've
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never trusted anybody as much as I've trusted the man that I'm with right now professionally
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emotionally you never let me in that way they' stayed in touch after breaking up so when she didn't answer her phone
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after January of 2022 Peterson says he had a strange feeling and decided to go online I Googled her
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name and uh uh there's an obituary yeah he says when Tina gave him details he joined her in the belief that James
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Ryan the man Sarah said she had trusted more than anybody else was responsible for her
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death but First Responders didn't think so they didn't shut it down as a crime scene police seized some drug violence
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but left the house unguarded Tina says that's because they believed what Dr Ryan had told them about where she'd
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gotten the drugs and how she'd taken them it was an overdose but she says she knew there was
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more to it than that though she didn't know how to prove it turns out there was someone very close to her who
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did Rachel told me she would find the evidence Rachel Harris decided to ex examin Sarah's laptop to see if it might
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contain Clues authorities hadn't seen she didn't know the password but she knew her sister well it took her
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about a couple of days to figure out Sarah's password coming through Sarah's computer and iCloud Rachel hit Pay Dirt
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a trove of texts between her sister and James Ryan the messages were full of references to drugs including a
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tranquilizer named Di Pam and two fast acting surgical anesthetics the type Rachel had seen in the home Dr Ryan and
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Sarah shared propop fall and ketamine which is sometimes also used for depression Rachel created a binder
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adding the photos she'd taken there Rachel compiled 200 pages of evidence the medical examiner would release
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Sarah's autopsy report which showed those same three drugs in Sarah's system research suggests they can all be habit
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forming and they can suppress breathing taking them in combination can be lethal
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all the while Rachel's building a case yes yes in February 2022 Rachel gave her binder to monomer County Police it
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eventually landed on the desk of detective Ian iello an expert in pharmaceutical investigations after more
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than 33 years as a cop iello was nearing retirement he decided to come and alone
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on a Sunday it was my birthday and nothing was going on you don't get parties when you're this age I'm like
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I'm just going to go in the office and look through this binder and just see what I cavello Saul in Rachel's
00:23:12
binder suggested cops at the scene had been wrong about Sarah's death he says reading the text between Sarah and James
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Ryan was like watching a murder in slow motion you could see Sarah die Sarah is suffering within the first month of
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their relationship she had anxiety she was having trouble sleeping Ryan offers a
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quick fix I can give you an injection the anxiety will be completely gone in 6 seconds he writes it will work let's try
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it he had already made the decision I cavello says the text suggests that over the months Sarah
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developed a drug habit and a habit of asking her boyfriend the doctor to feed it in October 2021 do we have ketamine
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here in November we need syringes I feel like in December I just really need sleep she writes can you bring
00:24:09
propol she's actively asking for drugs at no point does he say no iavo says the text suggests Dr Ryan
00:24:20
often brought Sarah the dangerous drugs and that he actually administered at least one about a month before her death
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it was December 20th 2021 if you wake up I just went to change after I gave you ketamine just
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now he writes he's injecting her while she's asleep no monitoring no anything an
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iello points to this exchange from the day before Sarah died is it possible to bring home ketamine when you come she
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asks yes I will bring some home I love you Baby Ryan replies the text tell a story they do
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so do Rachel's photos from Sarah's house says I cavello though his colleagues lacking experience in pharmaceutical
00:25:05
investigations might not have understood that they had no idea what they were really looking at he says Patrol cops
00:25:13
and paramedics often deal with overdoses of street drugs like heroin and Fentanyl
00:25:19
but the deadly drugs in Sarah Harris's house were masquerading as something else there's a difference
00:25:27
between drugs and medication iello says to the untrained eye the drugs at Sarah look like
00:25:35
medication the paraphernalia around the house might have been confusing too usually what we see is burnt spoons tin
00:25:43
foil uh some hypodermic needles maybe a shoelace or some other string that kind of drug paraphernalia but to I cavello
00:25:52
the syringes and the saline the professional tourniquets and the plastic wrappers at Sarah made it resem an
00:25:58
operating room that's what a lot of it looked like whatever questions responding authorities may have had he
00:26:06
says Dr Ryan offered answers and you've got James saying she did all of this without any other information okay
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well we're just kind of going to go with what he says he's a doctor he's a doctor
00:26:22
but I cavello says after reading through the family's binder any credibility Dr Ryan may have had at that day
00:26:29
vanished and on March 22nd 2022 nearly 2 months after Sarah's death James Ryan was arrested for the
00:26:39
murder of Sarah Harris but prosecutors would have to make the case to a jury sometimes it's hard to convince
00:26:47
them maybe especially so in this case because James Ryan's defense is suggesting he was only trying to save
00:26:54
Sarah's life and that she had other ideas [Music] what do you make of those text messages
00:27:05
between Sarah and Dr Ryan chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X [Music]
00:27:20
[Music] I knew the case was solid detective Ian I cavello was sure Dr James Ryan was responsible for Sarah
00:27:38
Harris's death and he had no problem convincing prosecutors on Montgomery County's overdose task force Jennifer
00:27:46
Harrison it's his fault James Dietrich he was the one who was providing those drugs and Kimberly sisle he knew how
00:27:55
dangerous these drugs were was a doctor after all but as certain as prosecutors were that he knew he was
00:28:03
risking Sarah's life they had no conclusive evidence he intended to kill her we never suggested that you can
00:28:11
accept that James Ryan loved Sarah Harris but it does not excuse all the other actions that he took that led to
00:28:20
Sarah's Sarah's death so they charge Ryan with a subcategory of second deegree murder unfamiliar to many people
00:28:27
it's known as has depraved heart murder prosecutors say the charge doesn't require proving the killer actually
00:28:33
wanted anyone dead only that they knew their actions would likely kill someone and didn't care we have to prove that he
00:28:41
did it with Reckless disregard for the value of her life diet gave us an example forance if I take a gun and just
00:28:48
randomly shoot it into a crowd I may not necessarily want or care that anybody dies but that is such a grossly Reckless
00:28:57
Act that someone's likely to die prosecutors also charge Ryan with a slightly lesser charge involuntary
00:29:04
manslaughter plus two counts of drug distribution and one count of possession with intent to
00:29:12
distribute ladies and gentlemen meet Dr jamesan opening statements begin on August 16th
00:29:22
20123 there are no cameras in court but there is an audio recording but behind door he was conducting a deadly medical
00:29:32
experiment on his 25-year-old patient turned employees turned living brok the prosecution
00:29:41
portrays Ryan as a controlling older man who got his glamorous young girlfriend hooked on drugs he was stealing
00:29:51
dangerous sedation drugs from his business and administering them to his girlfriend sah
00:29:59
her prosecutors say the proof of Ryan's guilt is largely in those text messages Ryan offering to get rid of Sarah's
00:30:08
anxiety in six seconds telling her he gave her ketamine while she was sleeping and on the night before her body was
00:30:16
found apparently agreeing to bring ketamine home to her can you tell us not fa I don't know where to start I was the
00:30:30
first to testify she was my baby Tina Harris is emotional as she relives Sarah's downward spiral just months
00:30:40
before dying I asked to see her arms and she said no Mama but I grabbed her arms and I pulled up the sleeves and
00:30:51
her little arms were covered in Needle marks and bruises and the medical examiner tells
00:30:59
the jury about the Dangerous Drug cocktail that brought her life to a tragic end when people use all three
00:31:08
together those just cause profound strong sedation the drugs can be so dangerous in fact the prosecution tells
00:31:17
jurors that doctors who use these drugs have equipment and protocols in place to
00:31:22
revive patients if needed even though Dr Ryan would follow all of those safety protocol calls in his own office he
00:31:29
would never follow those at home she was chemically dependent on she was chemically dependent on him prosecutors
00:31:36
also call social worker Janice Miller who says that kind of power imbalance is a Hallmark of abusive relationships the
00:31:45
drugs were the way that he controlled her and really ensured that she wouldn't leave the relationship he's created an
00:31:51
addict Dr Ryan and his attorneys did not agree to be interviewed by 48 hours but
00:31:56
at trial they argue Sarah Harris may have played an important role in her own demise suggesting that after wrestling
00:32:04
with mental illness she was now losing her battle with anxiety depression and drugs their focus on Sarah Harris is
00:32:12
obviously her mental illness the defense suggests Sarah may have begun stealing the drugs herself they want the jury to
00:32:18
know about her Facebook post about seeing her deceased brother soon but the judge won't allow
00:32:25
it but they are allowed to tell jurors about a text Sarah sent Ryan months before her
00:32:33
death she said I've lost my will to live I've lost my will to live do you think there's any chance
00:32:45
Sarah was suicidal absolutely not absolutely not where's the indication of a suicide on the scene there is none
00:32:55
detective iello says the drug bottles found found in Sarah's purse were too far from her body for her to have given
00:33:02
them to herself these drugs are fast acting she's going to be out in seconds how she put all the medication in her
00:33:09
purse then went and laid down not possible she wouldn't have cleaned up somebody else had to have done
00:33:20
it but according to CBS News consultant Mary fanti the defense argues that detectives mishandled the seene that
00:33:28
there's no way to know exactly what happened including who administered the Fatal dose they didn't test to see if
00:33:37
his DNA or fingerprints were on those syringes Dr Ryan chooses not to testify the defense argues he was a loving
00:33:44
partner who was just trying to help Sarah this is a case about caring for somebody and possibly loving them to
00:33:50
death his lawyers call a friend who saw Sarah using drugs before she began dating Ryan and relative who saw them as
00:33:59
a happy couple in closings prosecutors remind the jury that to convict Ryan of depraved heart murder it doesn't matter
00:34:08
whether or not he actually put the drugs in Sarah's body or even whether or not he wanted her to Die the act of giving
00:34:16
her the drugs is him handing her a loaded gun but with the jury agree if you were a juror in this case
00:34:27
what would be your your verdict and why learn more about the case at 48 [Music] hours.com I try to believe the best in
00:34:49
people and my for as long as Kyle Stevens can remember his friend Dr James Ryan has done right by people he was
00:34:57
pretty straight lace clean cut guy when he talked about Sarah how did he sound in the beginning he seemed enthusiastic
00:35:04
and excited but Steven says at a certain point Ryan did reach out with a concern
00:35:11
he had asked about how to best be helpful and supportive to someone in that place of depression and possibly
00:35:21
addiction did it make you wonder if he was actually asking about Sarah yeah but I didn't press so Steven says he had no
00:35:29
idea what was really going on between the two then he discovered his friend was arrested and headed to trial when
00:35:37
you heard the verdict what did you think I was taken back after a nearly 2 we trial it takes
00:35:46
jurors Less Than 3 hours to reach their decision as to count one murder in second degree guil
00:35:57
on August 25th 2023 they find James Ryan guilty of the second deegree depraved heart murder of Sarah
00:36:06
Harris relief yeah relief they also convict Ryan on the manslaughter and drug charges my heart
00:36:19
just felt satisfied Sarah's voice was heard through this Tina and Rachel speak at a press conference after the verdict
00:36:28
she was this beautiful beauty queen and she wasted away at the hands of Dr James
00:36:33
Ryan and again at sentencing months later he is a predator he is a wolf and she's
00:36:41
floating FL put bar until his life is been but James Ryan's lawyers had submitted supportive letters from his
00:36:57
friends and a legal filing which detailed that James Ryan had his own struggles with drugs and mental health
00:37:04
Ryan addresses the court and insists he didn't administer the lethal dose but takes responsibility for not preventing
00:37:11
Sarah's access to the drugs that killed her the words do not exist to convey and
00:37:20
express the level of remorse I feel though the guidelines suggest a sentence of 15 to 25 years for this case of
00:37:28
depraved heart murder the judge has something else in mind it is the sentence of this court that you be
00:37:35
committed to the Maryland Division of Corrections for a period of 40 years with more time for the other
00:37:42
counts it's a total of 45 years in prison a 45e sentence puts James Ryan in a category with some violent murderers
00:37:51
you know 45 years for James Ryan is basically life patients rely on doctors and their expertise in their advice and
00:38:01
I think she's sending a very loud message to the medical community and State's Attorney John
00:38:07
McCarthy wants to send a message to lawmakers the depraved heart murder charge may have worked in this trial but
00:38:14
it's a difficult crime to prove in other overdose cases we need tougher laws as early as 2015 McCarthy began pushing to
00:38:24
streamline Maryland law so state prosecut leaders can more easily convict dealers and Distributors who Supply the
00:38:32
drugs that lead to overdose deaths but it hasn't been easy we're not at a place in Maryland right now that the
00:38:39
legislature seems very interested in creating new crimes and new penalties Ian I cavello who read murder
00:38:49
between the lines of this case and retired after the trial says he still thinks of Sarah often I did everything I
00:38:57
could um for her so does her ex-boyfriend Henry Peterson who looks back at their breakup
00:39:05
with regret I guess I always thought she was going to be there a regret Sarah seemed
00:39:12
to share he showed us a letter she wrote him years earlier when their relationship ended you made me feel
00:39:20
alive now that you're gone I feel so many pieces and parts have died with you as if to preserve his connection to
00:39:28
Sarah Peterson still practices a kerto he played at her [Music] grave where today a mother who faced
00:39:41
great loss with even greater courage struggles to face the future without Sarah and her brother so close in life
00:39:49
and death that she actually buried their ashes in the same casket I hear Sarah tell me
00:40:00
Mama it's okay what do you want your daughter's legacy to be I want people to remember my Sarah
00:40:12
as a light a brilliant young woman who cared about others and loved life loved it
00:40:34
[Music] as a kid growing up in Chicago there was one horror movie I was too scared to
00:40:43
watch it was called Candyman but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly
00:40:48
inspired by an actual murder listen to Candyman the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder wherever you get
00:40:54
your podcasts I'm Erin morard of 40 8 hours and of all the cases I've covered this is the one that troubles me most
00:41:03
listen to murder in the Orange Grove the trouble case against Crosley green wherever you get your
00:41:10
[Music] podcast welcome back to 48 Hours postmortem I'm your host an marie green
00:41:30
and this week we are discussing the Doctor Who was charged with depraved heart murder in connection with the
00:41:38
death of his girlfriend Sarah Harris now this is a charge that's new to me and perhaps to many listeners as well so to
00:41:44
explain it all I am joined by 48 Hours producer Josh gager Josh thank you so much it's pleasure nice to be here when
00:41:54
Sarah Harris overdose from a lethal drug cocktail 2022 Dr James Ryan was later charged with depraved heart murder this
00:42:02
is a subcategory of second deegree murder that I really had not heard of before um so I'm going to ask you Josh
00:42:09
just sort of explain it to us what is it have you reported on any other cases like this look I've been doing this job
00:42:17
nearly 30 years and when you've been doing it that long you you tend to feel like you've seen seen it all when it
00:42:24
comes to murder cases but this is something that I never seen and and members of the team said the same and in
00:42:30
order to prove this prosecutors don't have to prove intent in other words they don't have to prove you planned or
00:42:37
wanted to do this but what they've got to prove is that you acted with extreme disregard for human
00:42:46
life so how does that apply in this case the argument was in court that Dr James
00:42:51
Ryan knew as a physician and as a surgeon he knew about these particular drugs he knew how dangerous they could
00:42:59
be and he provided Sarah Harris with access anyway but Josh how difficult are depraved heart murder charges to prove a
00:43:09
trial they are not easy to prove and prosecutors told us there are a couple of real challenges they face one of
00:43:16
these challenges has to do with the definitions that attach to some of these crimes we asked about the similarities
00:43:24
and differences between depraved heart murder and manslaughter and the prosecution said
00:43:30
that the words in those definitions are similar in in in a number of instances words like Reckless disregard for human
00:43:40
life versus extreme disregard for human life and for two crimes that have such similar and and
00:43:49
comparatively uh vague definitions the punishments are incredibly different the sentences for manslaughter the
00:43:56
sentencing range the sentencing range for second deegree murder are very different so when you're comparing a
00:44:02
crime that may involve words like Reckless versus a crime that may involve words like extreme how is a jury
00:44:10
supposed to really compute what those two words mean and how they're different yet in making the decision between those
00:44:17
two crimes there may be Decades of difference in prison time between those two verdicts and I should point out that
00:44:23
that wasn't the only charge that he was facing right uh we should note that in addition to depraved heart murder a
00:44:29
prosecutors also charged Ryan with involuntary manslaughter plus two counts of drug distribution and then one count
00:44:36
of possession with intent to distribute right um I want to talk about you know a
00:44:42
scene that really kind of struck me Sarah's mom Tina uh she she's definitely a force she's the force behind the
00:44:50
continued push to find out more there is dramatic body cam footage of her screaming at Ryan when she finds out
00:44:59
that her daughter is dead and she runs into the house and she is hitting him um my heart went out to her I mean what you
00:45:09
spoke to her what was she like I think this is an extraordinary woman in our jobs we meet victims and
00:45:17
surviving family members of victims of of these horrific crimes all the time but I I must admit that this particular
00:45:24
person made a made an impression on me that's going to let asked for some time and part of that has to do with her
00:45:29
larger story you learn in talking to her that months before Sarah's Death Around
00:45:37
a year before her another daughter of hers Rachel Harris suffered an imense tragedy
00:45:43
Rachel's fiance took his own life in front of her and that was something that um hit very hard across the entire
00:45:52
Harris family then as if that's not enough just I think it's 18 days before Sarah Harris dies Tina's son Christopher
00:46:02
who's in his 30s died after a heart attack in Montana so on the eve of Sarah Harris's death if
00:46:12
you will Tina is already dealing with two appalling losses in her immediate circle of of relatives and soon to be
00:46:22
relatives um her strength in talking about it was was incredible and when you see
00:46:29
the body cam footage um it's hard to even process what she might she might be going through at that
00:46:37
moment so when I saw it I thought just about any reaction you could think of would be understandable because the
00:46:43
situation is so inconceivable so some people are going to wonder why Tina when she can see that
00:46:50
something is really off with this relationship and that her daughter is diminishing
00:46:57
why she didn't just call the police I think there are a number of of reasons I mean first she does try to
00:47:06
convince them to break up she's not a fan of the relationship big picture um but there are a number of reasons why I
00:47:14
think she does what she does and she doesn't do what she doesn't do the first is that Tina said Ryan on
00:47:20
paper looked like a pretty eligible guy for her daughter to be dating he was pretty impressive he was highly educated
00:47:27
he had a thriving practice he seemed to treat her daughter pretty well and so you can imagine a situation where you
00:47:34
have this highly trained educated person who claims to love your daughter and gives you his opinion on what's going
00:47:40
wrong and how he's trying to help you don't necessarily think you're being lied to the second is that as um Tina
00:47:50
discovers that there's something really wrong with Sarah in Sarah 's house that there's activity going on there that
00:48:00
looks suspicious um Sarah and James Ryan plead with her not to go to the authorities finally uh later on in the
00:48:13
second um instance where Tina threatens to blow the whistle her daughter says if you do that
00:48:21
I will never talk to you again look that puts a mother in in an excruciating situation I can't imagine
00:48:29
being in that situation and Tina says she feared for losing the relationship with her daughter the tragedy is that in
00:48:36
the end she did Tina also revealed something very unsettling that she says Ryan told her when they were on a trip
00:48:44
with Sarah Tina told you guys that Ryan said that he actually first noticed Sarah around town as a teenager a pretty
00:48:54
young teenager let's just listen to that clip from Tina and he says then I found out she
00:49:00
worked in the toy store so I would take my kids there so I could see her and I remember when she dressed up as Elsa
00:49:06
from Frozen and she looked just like Elsa and then he said yeah and then I found out she worked at one of these
00:49:15
restaurants and so I would go in there for dinner so I could get her as my server it sounds like Dr Ryan was
00:49:23
obsessed with Sarah he was he was very much [Music] so this is a conversation we could not
00:49:31
independently corroborate having said that we had no specific reason to doubt what Tina told us so what we learned
00:49:40
from Tina about this that Dr Ryan noticed Sarah when Sarah was in the park with friends at the age of 14 after that
00:49:48
Tina said Dr Ryan discovers that Sarah is working in a toy store and she says the Tina I remember going into the toy
00:49:56
store seeing Sarah dressed as Elsa he also goes on to detail um a situation where Sarah is working at a at a local
00:50:06
restaurant as a waitress and says that he went into that restaurant in order to have Sarah as a server and while we
00:50:12
don't know those the the exact timing of those second two types of encounter the
00:50:18
toy store and the restaurant it still tends to indicate that Dr Ryan has a rather unusual interest and Sarah and
00:50:27
James Ryan is 23 years older than Sarah so if you take Sarah in her mid- teens that puts him in his late
00:50:34
30s that's unusual and it paints things in a very particular light Sarah's sister Rachel is the real
00:50:52
hero in many ways here she broke into Sarah's laptop she guesss the password and she finds those damning text
00:50:59
messages between Sarah and Ryan how important was this evidence I think it was critically important the texts
00:51:08
really show three things first she complains of sleeplessness and anxiety and there's a text in which he's
00:51:16
saying I'm paraphrasing I can give you an injection that will take care of your anxiety in
00:51:21
seconds after that we see texts in which Sarah begins asking for these drugs drugs she's imploring him to bring home
00:51:31
drugs like ketamine propol which are dangerous and in combination with each other especially dangerous um and he is
00:51:39
bringing them home that's what the text suggest and finally on at least one occasion there's a text that shows Dr
00:51:47
Ryan actually administering a drug to Sarah and it's a text in which he says if you wake up
00:51:57
uh I've just given you ketamine something to that effect and now I'm changing according to authorities this
00:52:03
shows he's actually administering the drug to her in her sleep I thought that that text message was the most damning
00:52:12
because you obviously can't give permission when you're unconscious and I have to admit while I was listening to
00:52:17
the hour like I said earlier I kept on thinking but she's a willing participant in this until that text message so
00:52:26
Sarah's sister Rachel she took photos of the surgical drugs in Sarah's house both
00:52:32
times that she visited in 2021 sure and I'll just say the photos were critically
00:52:37
important Rachel takes photos around the house on two occasions in 2021 where they discover medical
00:52:45
paraphernalia and then there are photographs taken at the so-called crime scene where Sarah is discovered First
00:52:52
Responders misinterpret the scene of Sarah's death authorities said they are used to drug
00:52:59
overdose cases involving things like heroin where you find tin foil you find burnt spoons you find shoelaces as
00:53:08
tourniquet that's not what they found around Sarah Harris she was surrounded by gear that looked like it was from a
00:53:17
medical setting it was medical grade equipment with plastic wrappers syringes and vials of surgical anesthesia First
00:53:27
Responders aren't typically trained to look for that kind of stuff that's what we learned and it took a very particular
00:53:33
kind of cop a cop with expertise in um in pharmaceutical investigations to look at these photos to see this case in an
00:53:43
entirely different way he looked at those photos he sort of read between the pixels if you will of these photos and
00:53:50
what he saw was a different kind of drug overdose and and that um went a long way
00:53:58
both in making his case with prosecutors and in trying it in front of a jury so you were talking about detective Ian
00:54:05
iello who is the expert in pharmaceutical investigations if he had not been assigned to this case could
00:54:12
Ryan have gotten away with murder I think he certainly could have the investigation I think we could say
00:54:19
was dormant after First Responders talked to Dr Ryan who was on the scene Who provided an account of his
00:54:30
girlfriend Sarah Harris's life which included struggles with mental health struggles with
00:54:36
substances and in fact even included according to Dr Ryan a previous uh overdose in which Dr Ryan
00:54:45
said he brought Sarah back was able to resuscitate her so what he was doing with authorities was essentially
00:54:50
establishing an ongoing pattern of certain emotional mental psychological struggles Sarah had problems with
00:55:00
substance abuse and when you have a doctor on the scene of a death telling you in Fairly medical terms what he
00:55:05
thinks happened you don't have any glaring evidence at least not yet to the contrary police said you tend to take
00:55:15
his word for it so in 2023 Ryan is found guilty of depraved heart murder as well
00:55:21
as involuntary manslaughter and drug charges then months later in 2024 a judge is sentenced him and this is I
00:55:28
actually gasped because I was thinking how many years can he really get for this a judge sentenced him to 45 years
00:55:36
well above the sentencing guidelines for this combination of crimes I I wondered was this about
00:55:42
sending a message precisely because he was a doctor and he should have known better yes I think so first let's unpack
00:55:49
the charges he got uh a total of 45 years about five of those years had to do with the drug charges so he's left
00:55:58
with 40 for depraved heart murder so this man has a very very stiff sentence that's handed to him that seemed to us
00:56:05
and to experts we talk to clearly to be a sort of a message that the judge is trying to send to the medical community
00:56:14
you cannot go Rogue and sort of give or sell drugs that your patients shouldn't be
00:56:21
taking to them and if they wind up getting into trouble and die you are on the on the hook in a big way and you
00:56:27
don't have to look far um around the United States to see this kind of thing happening uh in the headlines very
00:56:35
recently you saw doctors charged in connection with Matthew Perry's death and in fact though many of the specifics
00:56:41
are not analogous um one of the drugs was ketamine one of the same drugs that Sarah Harris had in her system I think
00:56:51
increasingly we're seeing you know the justice system say no wait a minute there are differences between you know
00:56:59
conducting surgery and it goes bad or you know um prescribing a drug that someone has a bad reaction to that is
00:57:06
clearly an error versus something a little more malicious yeah it brings up an interesting legal question as well
00:57:14
and that is how well tailored is the law to situations where someone supplies drugs which wind up being used by
00:57:21
someone who dies and in fact in Maryland where this crime occurred State's Attorney's office told us that they have
00:57:28
been supporting for some time and trying to get new legislation passed to streamline the
00:57:35
laws um allowing for particular charges in cases where suppliers of drugs that wind up being used in fatal overdoses uh
00:57:47
can be charged more easily so that authorities are not in a position of having to try to take the facts of the
00:57:54
case square peg fitted into a charge that pre-existing charge round hole yeah I mean I can see
00:58:02
in this case it it seems sort of incredibly creative but it worked the the jury believed the
00:58:09
argument um the footage at the end of the episode of Tina at the grave site of both her son Christopher and her
00:58:16
daughter Sarah it's heartbreaking the fact that she buried their ashes together shows just how
00:58:22
close these siblings were as you mentioned earlier Christopher D just 18 days before Sarah um how did this
00:58:30
tight-knit family cope with this tremendous series of losses yeah it was heartbreaking to be
00:58:39
there and um it was clear in talking to her that these these two children she lost were not only close on the calendar
00:58:47
but they were close emotionally and I think she told us that that's why she decided to bury them in the same casket
00:58:55
she visits often and it's it's just every bit as brutal as you might expect it to be I think as perhaps we've heard
00:59:04
in other cases what the Harris family does what Tina does is she tries to look for something constructive in all of
00:59:12
this and pin her emotional well-being to that she said when she looks back at Sarah's downward spiral and her death
00:59:24
there are regrets that she has at the way she handled certain things and she said instead of sort of
00:59:33
closing in around those regrets and just suffering increased pain she wants to use those regrets and
00:59:41
actually highlight them for people in a way that allows people at least potentially who might find themselves in
00:59:48
a similar situation to avoid making the same mistakes and to me that's the definition of strength
00:59:56
I absolutely agree with you uh over and over in many of these episodes we see how powerful the love and the strength
01:00:05
of a mother can be uh that they often Drive the investigation they often demand Justice for their children and
01:00:13
she was definitely a perfect example of that but not just her the family as well Rachel was just
01:00:20
absolutely key to this having suffered her own tragedy she showed the same kind of strength remarkable
01:00:27
remarkable indeed um Josh thank you so much for joining us today it's been my pleasure thanks so if you like this
01:00:33
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