when Sarah Harris In the summer of 2020, she went to surgery to remove intelligent teeth, and she must have thought she was in good hands. Dr. James Ryan, the oral surgeon of her choice, received years of training, a good reputation and a thriving exercise near her home in Washington, DC. As a new patient at 23, she probably never dreamed of watching her when he was only 14 years old. Ryan did more than just take off Sarah's teeth. Her family said he would self-control and eventually take her life.

On the morning of January 26, 2022, the first responder found her unresponsiveness on the floor of the house she lived with Ryan. After the operation, both have been romantically involved. Ryan told authorities that he went to bed the night before at 10:30 pm and found her in the morning. He told first responders Sarah had been struggling with drugs and mental health, and he suspected overdose. The authorities on site believed Dr. Ryan’s account.

But there was a time when Sarah's mother, Tina Harris, was suspicious of Ryan. Tina Harris told 48 Hours contributor Nikki Battiste that Ryan admitted to her that he noticed Sarah and his friends when they met her in the park when they were 14 years old. This is all in the report titled “Murder of the Fallen Heart.” On Saturday, May 10, broadcast on 9/8C on CBS and streamed on Paramount+.

Tina Harris said she knew Ryan had been responsible for his death from the moment he called his daughter that morning. She said Sarah had a history of depression and anxiety. She said that over the past three months, she has discovered Sarah in nearby speech and drug vials and medical instruments, she instructed Sarah’s sister Rachel to take photos. Tina Harris said both Sarah and Ryan claimed he was just hydrating her and they convinced Tina Harris not to notify the police. But she said she was sure of Sarah's danger when authorities discovered that Sarah had two powerful surgical anesthetics in her system and after her daughter died: Pbotto and Ketaminethe latter is also used for depression and the actor died in 2023 Matthew Perry.

During high school and after graduation, Sarah was a good student, aspiring model and beauty pageant champion. She already has a boyfriend. But Tina Harris said Ryan didn't seem to care. She said his interest in Sarah became more public shortly after the medical procedure. Tina Harris said she was over twice her age, texting her with a smiley emoji and providing Sarah with his surgical assistant. She was interested in her medical career, and she worked on the job, Tina Harris said he left Sarah in her locker around that Christmas. Ryan divorced three adult children and he had a child with an employee.

"I said, 'Well, he's following you,'" Tina Harris said. "You have to put your feet down."

But Tina said in early 2021, Sarah agreed to have a meal with Ryan. Tina Harris said that in the next few months he put Sarah on, bathed her through attention, gifts and travel, and even paid for other Harris.

"Do you think he's embellishing Sarah?" Baptist asked.

"Yes, yes," Tina Harris replied. "And...I think he's modifying me; I think he's modifying Rachel."

They were all on a trip to Key West in September 2021, when Tina Harris said the drunk Ryan revealed something to her and Rachel, which made them immediately uncomfortable: He noticed Sarah long ago. Tina says Sarah is only 14 years old.

Tina Harris said: "'I used to see Sarah playing in the park with her friends,'' she said, and he then added a reference to Sarah "very beautiful."

The conversation cannot be independently confirmed, but Tina Harris said Ryan has been talking about it. "I found her working at the toy store across the street from this little shopping area," she said. "'So I'll take my kids there, so I can see her, and I remember when she dressed up as Elsa from 'Frozen' she looked like Elsa.

According to Tina Harris, Ryan later discovered that Sarah's staff worked.

"Then I found out she worked in one of the restaurants...so I would go there for supper so I could make her my server."

Baptister observed: "It sounds like Dr. Ryan is fascinated by Sarah."

"He's. He's that," Tina Harris said.

Tina Harris said she shared her concerns with Montgomery County Police Detective Ian Iacovello a few weeks after Sarah's death. Pharmaceutical case experts are about to retire, but first filed a lawsuit against James Ryan with prosecutors, who prosecuted him and tried him.

"I can't imagine parents hearing another adult man say they're looking at my kids," Iacoviello told us. "There's a problem, well, obsession, almost a control aspect."

During and after Ryan’s initial courtship against Sarah, authorities said he removed her from the office and controlled her drugs, as evidenced in a series of texts between them, unearthed by Rachel Harris after his sister Sarah’s death.

Ryan wrote on February 11, 2021: "I can give you an injection... Anxiety will completely disappear in 6 seconds S (sic) ... it will work. Let's try it. Let's try it..." In October, Sarah was asking for drugs, writing: "We have ketamine here: "We're here..." November: "November: "We need Syringes... I feel like S*** ***." "." In December: "I really need... sleep Xan (Sic) you carry propofol..."

"He created an addict," Iacovello said.

In at least one case, Ryan appears to have actually imposed drugs on Sarah herself. On December 20, 2021, he wrote "If you wake up...I just changed, I just gave you ketamine..."

"He was injecting her while he was asleep." "No surveillance, no surveillance."

"She is chemically dependent on him," said social worker Janice Miller. Miller told jurors from the witness box that the dysfunctional relationship could be caused by an imbalance, where one side seeks power over the other and then uses that power to control. Miller told Baptister that although she had never met Ryan, his behavior was in line with the pattern of abusive partner, so his need for control of Sarah Harris could have started a few years ago.

"If Dr. Ryan was still attracted to Ms. Harris, she was a teenager at the time, uh...he didn't really see her as a person," she said in an interview with "48 Hours". "He thought she was an object...not someone who had an equal relationship with people. So if that was true, then he had this relationship, not because they could maintain an equal relationship, but that he could control her."

Ryan may want to take control of Sarah, but prosecutors face challenges in filing the lawsuit. They had no conclusive evidence and he wanted her to die. Therefore, they accused him of drug distribution, intended distribution and very rare murders.

What is the "fallen heart murder"?

it's known “The Fallen Heart Murder.”

They tell us that this is a subcategory of second-degree murder – more serious than manslaughter, in which the state must show that the defendant has reckless disregard for human life. Assistant Maryland State Attorney James Dietrich takes "48 hours" as an example:

Dietrich said: “If I… pick up the gun and shoot it randomly into the crowd, I don’t necessarily want or care about anyone’s death.

Dietrich said Dr. Ryan’s medical training means he must know the risks of the drugs he brought to Sarah Harris.

Ryan's alleged comments about Sarah's 14-year-old never appeared at trial, and the defense team argued that when Ryan and Sarah met as adults, he just wanted to help her, and that her own battle with drugs and depression might have played a role in her demise. However, considering Rachel Convicted verdict All fees.

James Ryan isn't the only doctor to charge with a fatal overdose. Just last summer, federal prosecutors accused two doctors of conspiracy to distribute ketamine in Matthew Perry's case.

In the Ryan judgment of January 3, 2024, Ryan spoke to the court before the judge sentenced him to 45 years in prison.

"While I didn't give Sarah drugs, I'm not sure when she got the drugs, but these drugs are definitely my responsibility," Ryan said. "And I should make sure she never touched them...I never thought I could control her addiction..."