MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — CBS’ "48 Hours" is focusing on a local Montgomery County story this week that WUSA9 has been following closely for two years.
Sarah Harris, 25, was a med-school hopeful and 2020’s Miss Maryland Petite. Her boyfriend, then-48-year-old Dr. James Ryan, was an oral surgeon. She met him as his patient and later became his girlfriend, too, in January 2020. After a few months, she also became a surgical technician in his office in October 2020. And just a few months after that, she moved in with him.
That's when Harris' family began to notice an unhealthy change in her appearance, police said.
On Jan. 26, 2022, Harris died from an overdose in the home she shared with Ryan.
Police discovered that she had ketamine and propofol in her system, two surgical anesthetics. Ryan initially told police that Harris stole the drugs from his office, and at first, they believed him.
But two months later, Ryan was arrested and charged with second-degree depraved heart murder, involuntary manslaughter, distribution of ketamine and diazepam and possession with the intent to distribute midazolam.
Text messages between Harris and Ryan that showed Harris asking for drugs from Ryan, who agreed, providing drugs from his office. Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said some of the drugs used would "have no so-called medical use in the world of oral surgery."
Police said the text messages also provided evidence that Ryan gave Harris advice on how to make the drugs more potent and mentions bringing home medical instruments such as saline, fluids, needles and IV poles in order to “aid in the administration of drugs or the recovery from the effects," according to police. One text revealed that Ryan had given Ketamine to Harris while she was asleep.
CBS’s 48 Hours is delving into the case, talking to investigators and Harris’s family members.
Watch “The Depraved Heart Murder” episode of 48 Hours at 10 p.m. Oct. 5, right here on WUSA9.
