Dentist convicted of killing girlfriend with anesthetics

A Maryland dentist has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend after she overdosed on anesthetics delivered via an at-home IV station he had rigged in their home.

It took jurors less than three hours of deliberations to convict Dr. James Ryan of one count of second-degree depraved heart murder and one count of involuntary manslaughter in the January 2022 death of 25-year-old Sarah Harris.

Ryan, 50, an oral surgeon from Germantown, was also found guilty of possession with the intent to distribute midazolam and distribution of ketamine and diazepam — all powerful sedatives.

Montgomery County Assistant State’s Attorney Jennifer Harrison told jurors that as a trained professional, Ryan knew the risks associated with these “dangerous, deadly drugs” — yet he continued giving them to his girlfriend” even as he watched her deteriorate before his eyes,” reported The Washington Post.

“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,” Harrison added.

Davis weighed just 83 pounds when she was found dead in the rental home she shared with Ryan in Clarksburg on Jan. 26, 2022.

Ryan told police that Harris seemed “okay when he went to bed the night before,” but the next morning he discovered the woman “unresponsive on the couch with used hypodermic needles” and vials of controlled substances next to her, court documents stated.

An autopsy found that Harris died as a result of ketamine and diazepam intoxication.

A search of Ryan and Harris’ home turned up bottles of propofol, ketamine, diazepam and midazolam, along with hypodermic needles, syringes and tourniquet, Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said at the time.

Ryan had been providing anesthetics from his practice to Harris and often administering them to her himself, investigators said.

The couple discussed Harris’ drug use in text messages, which showed her asking her dentist boyfriend for various controlled substances from his practice.

Investigators have obtained text messages in which Ryan talked about bringing home IV poles, saline solution, fluids and needles to be used as part of an at-home drug delivery system.

In a Nov. 14, 2021, text, Harris ask Ryan: “Can you get some propofol and ketamine, too, please?”

He reportedly replied, “OK.”

“Thank you, love,” Harris wrote back, adding, “I’m sorry, we need some syringes.” The dentist replied that he had left the office but would go back.

Ryan first met Harris in the fall of 2020 when the former beauty pageant contestant came to his office as a patient seeking to have her wisdom teeth removed.

After learning that Harris had prior experience working in a dental office, Ryan hired her as a surgical technician.

The two began dating in January 2021 and moved in together that summer.

Before long, prosecutors said Ryan offered Harris sedatives from his practice — including the drug propofol that Michael Jackson was famously using when he died — to help manage her anxiety and insomnia.

Harris’ family members grew concerned about her physical appearance, noting that she “did not look healthy,” with her arms covered in needle marks and bruises, Chief Jones said.

Relatives who visited Harris in her final months testified during Ryan’s two-week trial that they saw drug vials, bloody towels and an IV pole rigged next to the woman’s bed.

Prosecutors argued that Ryan showed “an extreme indifference” to her life by continually bringing her drugs – and often leaving her alone hooked up to the IV while he went to bed.

The dentist’s lawyers said Harris struggled with mental health issues and died either by suicide, or by a self-inflicted accidental overdose.

Ryan did not take the witness stand in his own defense during his murder trial. He faces up to 55 years in state prison when he is sentenced at a later date.