Kriti Mehrotra
When 25-year-old Sarah Jane Harris was found dead on the morning of January 26, 2022, it honestly left not just the state of Maryland but also the entire nation baffled to their core. That’s because while it was initially reported this aspiring model and anesthesiologist had overdosed, her 51-year-old live-in boyfriend, James Michael Ryan, was soon arrested for murder. The charge against him, though, was the uncommon depraved heart murder, which is why the CBS ’48 Hours’ season 38 episode chronicling this ordeal is titled ‘Depraved Heart Murder.’
James Ryan Met Sarah Harris Through His Work
It was in the summer of 2020 when Dr. James first came across pageant queen Sarah as a patient at his Evolution Oral Surgery private practice, only to later personally contact her. According to reports, he texted her emojis and made small talk before asking if she knew anyone who would be interested in a job as his surgical assistant, to which she replied: herself. After all, she had long had an interest in the medical field. Little did she know he would become romantically interested in her shortly after, resulting in them getting together around early 2021.
The truth is James was not just a divorced father of three adult children but also had another baby with an employee by the time Sarah came into the picture, yet he wore all her worries down. Thus began their romantic relationship, only for him to shower both her and her family with attention, gifts, as well as travel in the ensuing months, seemingly as a way to keep suspicions down. We say this because he was over twice his girlfriend’s age, and she had reportedly even begun heavily relying on strong drugs to manage her anxiety and depression after meeting this doctor.
James Ryan Was Allegedly Infatuated With Sarah Since She Was a Teen
While nothing regarding James’ purported obsession with Sarah since she was a 14-year-old girl has ever been corroborated, her mother, Tina Harris, maintains that he did confess this to her. As per Tina’s accounts, he had gotten drunk one night and told her he thought her daughter was pretty ever since he first saw her walking in their local neighborhood and playing in the park in the early 2010s. He reportedly then added that he subsequently made sure to find out where she worked and frequented those places as much as possible in the hopes of just seeing or maybe even interacting with her.
Therefore, Tina wholeheartedly believes James groomed her little girl before getting her addicted to anesthetic drugs that he could easily provide, just for it to, unfortunately, result in death. According to records, she had been suspicious for three months — since she noticed Sarah having slurred speech with drug paraphernalia nearby — but it was confirmed only once it was too late. We say this because following the 25-year-old’s death, texts between her and her boyfriend revealed he did indeed bring her drugs from his office and attempted to control their administration.
In fact, as per documents, James actually administered the drugs himself while Sarah slept on at least one occasion, with his text to her reading, “If you wake up… I just went to change after I gave you ketamine just now.” So, with her autopsy report indicating she died from an overdose mix of two powerful surgical anesthetics in her system — propofol and ketamine — he was arrested on March 22, 2022. He was charged with drug distribution, intent to distribute, as well as depraved heart murder, which is a subcategory of second-degree murder yet much more serious than manslaughter.
James Ryan is Currently Serving His Sentence
Despite all the evidence against James, he was never once accused of first-degree or capital murder because nothing actually suggested that he wanted his younger girlfriend to die at any point. Therefore, when he stood trial, the prosecutors only painted a picture of him as someone who wanted to control Sarah through her drug intake despite knowing better as medical personnel. On the other hand, his defense team argued he just wanted to help her addiction and battle with drugs before adding that her mental state could have played a role in her untimely demise.
Nevertheless, owing to all the evidence presented in court (without a single mention of his alleged infatuation), the jury convicted James as charged after a mere three hours of deliberation on August 25, 2023. Less than five months later, on January 3, 2024, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Thus, at the age of 51, he is currently incarcerated at the mixed-security Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown, Washington County.
We should also mention that during his sentencing, this former surgeon took partial responsibility and stated, “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.”
Read More: Where is Sarah Harris’ Family Now?
