Ryan Bedford was a suspect in the rape and murder of the wife of mob attorney Sidney Truex, the father of his girlfriend Charlotte, and the attempted murder of the attorney himself.
History[]
Just as he was arrested for the murder, Ryan suddenly suffered from cardiac syndrome and died. Due to Detective Elliot Stabler using excessive force in subduing Ryan and an autopsy showing that he had a ruptured spleen, M.E. Melinda Warner ruled Ryan's death as a homicide caused by internal bleeding from his ruptured spleen. Under a barbiturate interview, Charlotte revealed the true events of the night of her mother's murder and was cleared.
However, after a video of Ryan's arrest and death surfaced, Stabler faced murder charges and suspension by IAB. While comforting Stabler, Warner learned that Stabler had tried to save Ryan with CPR, something that wasn't in the EMS report as Stabler had stopped before they had arrived. Warner realized that Ryan's ruptured spleen was actually caused by the CPR and that Ryan was already dead when it happened.
Reviewing Ryan's case file and medical records, Warner discovered that he had been diagnosed with Long QT syndrome, a heart condition for which Ryan was taking a beta blocker. However, instead of taking his medicine, Ryan had taken it to a pharm party shortly before the murder. A combination of his untreated condition and the stress of running from Stabler had caused a fatal arrhythmia which had killed Ryan, something that was undetectable by autopsy. With Warner's revised analysis provided to the grand jury, Stabler was cleared of Ryan's death. (SVU: "Dependent")