Why a Domineering Doctor Was Convicted of the 'Depraved Heart' Murder of Beauty Queen Girlfriend

CBS' '48 Hours' examines the "depraved heart murder" of Sarah Harris in a new episode airing Saturday, Oct. 4, at 10 ET/PT

Sarah Harris’ life appeared idyllic from the outside: She was 25 years old, fresh off winning the Miss Maryland Petite Pageant, and she had suddenly received a dream job offer.

But there was something more sinister at play, according to a new 48 Hours report in an episode titled, “The Depraved Heart Murder,” airing Saturday, Oct. 5, at 10 ET/PT.

The episode examines Harris’ death in 2022, when first responders found her unresponsive after an overdose at her boyfriend Dr. James Ryan’s home in Montgomery County, Md.

“This was not some simple, accidental overdose. This was much more,” Ian Iacoviello, a special investigator with the Montgomery Police Department and the lead detective in Harris’ case, says in a preview of the episode shared by CBS this week.

CBS’ new 48 Hours episode features in-depth interviews with several investigators, including Iacoviello, as well as Harris’ mother Tina Harris, who says she “never ever thought” her daughter’s life could have ended the way it did.

Harris was an “incredibly bright, very energetic, very fun” 25-year-old, according to Iacoviello.

The former Maryland beauty pageant winner met Ryan after she was a patient at his oral surgery practice and he continued to contact her after taking her wisdom teeth out, according to Harris’ family.

Related: Oral Surgeon Charged with 'Depraved Heart' Murder for Allegedly Giving Girlfriend Drugs That Led to Overdose

Harris had hoped to work in the medical field, expressing an interest in anesthesiology.

“She thought from a very young age that she would want to be a doctor,” her mother tells 48 Hours. “She wanted to help people.”

So when Ryan, now 51, texted his former patient asking if she knew anyone looking to become a surgical assistant, Harris asked her mother, “Why not me?”

She began working alongside Ryan and later decided to move in with him after they began dating.

“A lot of people knew him and thought very highly of him,” the detective says.

But an investigation into Ryan’s relationship with Harris found something more concerning, according to 48 Hours’ trailer for the episode. The doctor soon became a suspect in Harris’ death, after detectives found that he was supplying her with drugs taken from his medical practice, local NBC4 in Maryland previously reported.

The reason he gave her drugs, according to Iacoviello, was to control her.

Ryan, Iacoviello told 48 Hours, "created an addict." And social worker Ann Miller, who testified for the prosecution, said, "She was chemically dependent on him."

Miller adds, "He viewed her as an object … not a person to be in an equal relationship with. And so, if that's true, then he entered into that relationship not with the idea that they could have an equal relationship, but that he could control her."

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Ryan was ultimately found guilty of “depraved heart murder,” a rare conviction prosecutors landed on by arguing he had shown "an extreme indifference" to her life, CBS News previously reported.

Harris’ father, Mark Harris, once told NBC4 that she “was a caring, loving daughter, sister, granddaughter, aunt and friend.”

“Sarah was the shining star to all of our lives,” he said.

CBS' 48 Hours airs Saturday, Oct. 4, at 10 ET/PT

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please contact the SAMHSA substance abuse helpline at 1-800-662-HELP.

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