Direct Exam: Jay Clark

She said she has worked as Dr. Becker's dental assistant for 19 years and she lives in Alexandria, Ky.

Sarah was hired as a dental hygienist in July 2006 and Dana Parker-Kist worked there at that time too. Sarah had a very bubbly personality and was very nice. "She always seemed happy", she said.   Dana and Sarah became very good friends. They went to each other’s houses, ate lunch together, went to each other’s bridal and baby showers, and Dana was in Sarah's wedding. She never noticed if her father's illness and death took a physical or emotional toll on her; if it did, she didn't let it show.

She said when she got to the office in the morning, sometimes she found Sarah sleeping in her car. Sarah would set the alarm on her phone, or someone would beep or knock on the window to wake her up. After her last appointment of the morning she went to her car and slept during lunch "fairly often." Kroger said Sarah's sleeping through lunch "made it hard on everybody. We didn't all get a nap; it was aggravating", she said. When she slept through lunch it made extra work for everyone else. She only knew of one time that Sarah went to lunch with Dana before the wedding. They went to Taco Bell to talk about dresses.

Sarah complained of headaches and stomachaches and said she remembers 3 or 4 times when Sarah got blurred vision and one time she couldn't see her hands when she held them up to her face. "She complained a lot about headaches," Patty said. Sarah would take Tylenol sometimes but She told her she didn't take any medicine except a teaspoon of honey to help with her allergies. The week before Sarah died, she walked in the room and Sarah was holding her stomach and said, "Patty, I just don't feel good." Dr. Becker was concerned about her vision problems so he called an eye doctor friend, but she didn't know if anything came of it. Sometimes she would go to the computer room and turn off the lights to deal with her headaches, but she never fainted or lost consciousness.

She said she first met Ryan at an office Christmas party. She said he was always very nice. He had a few drinks at the party, but "we all had a few," she said. Ryan wasn't drunk or out of control. She never saw them talking to each other in a "hateful" way and Sarah never complained that he did. She saw Sarah talk to Ryan on a cell phone once, and they talked nice to each other.

Clark put a photo on the screen of Sarah and Ryan doing their first dance at their wedding. She knew they took lessons for the dance and when she went to the wedding she said, "They just looked like a happy couple."

Kroger worked with Dana for about four years. They were friends, and she went to Dana's baby shower. There were about 35 people there and she recalled the game where name tags were used to identify the guests. The name tags were baby items, and Sarah's tag was "sleeper". Clark put the photo on the screen, of Dana and Sarah at the shower. She said Sarah was sleepy at the baby shower, but didn't fall asleep

She never had conversations with Sarah about her relationship with Ryan, but Sarah never complained about Ryan being controlling about their finances and she never complained about his drinking. Dana was Sarah's closest friend at work. As far as she knew they were just a happy couple.

"Sarah was very clean and her room was always tidy and she wore gloves when she worked on patients", Kroger said.   She added that Sarah's nails were well-manicured and maintained on a regular basis. Sarah told her that she liked to take a bath every day and she would wipe the tub down with an anti-bacterial wipe".

She said she had occasion to look at Sarah's medical file during the second trial and Clark handed her a document, which she identified as Sarah's official patient record and the one she filled out on the computer during software training. On May 21, 2010, she provided four pages of Sarah's questionnaire form to Ryan's attorneys. Dr. Becker didn't know about it or give her permission to make copies.No further questions.

Cross Exam: John Arnold

When asked if Sarah shared one particular concern regarding Ryan's drinking, she replied, "She said something about drinking and smoking" but they would drink together.   He then asked if she told Dr. Becker that Sarah didn't like to have sex with Ryan when he was drinking because it got "too rough", and she said she didn't remember saying anything about sex.

Arnold asked if she took Sarah's records without permission and she replied, "Yes". "They weren't yours to take?" he asked, and she said, "No". Arnold then asked if she told investigators in August 2008 that Sarah didn't complain much and Kroger said she didn't remember saying that, but she would have told investigators about Sarah's medical issues if they had asked.  

"When her father died, it "took no toll on her?", Arnold asked. Kroger replied that Sarah didn't talk about it in the office. Kroger agreed that she was aggravated at Sarah's sleeping habits because she worked long hours too and didn't get a nap.

he didn't know if Dr. Becker ever made arrangements for Sarah to see the eye doctor, but for a young girl, she thought Sarah complained a lot about not feeling well. When Arnold asked if she was aware that when Sarah had her last check-up she didn't complain about her headaches, stomach or sinus problems, and Kroger replied, "No". She also didn't know that Sarah was on medicine for sinuses. Nothing further.