Former HMS Instructor Suspected of Murder

A recently dismissed Harvard dermatologist was arraigned this week for allegedly killing his estranged wife at her Wenham home last Friday night.

Dr. Richard J. Sharpe, a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty for over a decade until he was dismissed last month for neglecting his duties, is awaiting indictment after police arrested him early Sunday morning following a siege at a New Hampshire motel.

Wenham police found the body of Karen Sharpe in the front hall of her home Friday night following a 911 emergency call. She was rushed to Beverly Hospital, where she was pronounced dead from a single gunshot to the chest.

The couple was divorcing after a 27-year marriage, and Sharpe's wife had obtained a restraining order against him.

According to Wenham police Lieutenant James Foley, a tip from a motel owner in rural Tuftonboro, N.H., who had seen Sharpe's photo on the Saturday evening news, led police to the suspect.

Sharpe had come to the motel asking to rent a room, but the clerk referred him to a nearby motel because there was no space available.

The police arrested Sharpe at the nearby Pine View Lodge on a fugitive from justice warrant early Sunday morning, flushing him out of his room with pepper spray grenades thrown through his window.

County prosecutor Robert Weiner, the state's top lawyer on the case, said that he intends to seek an indictment from a grand jury sometime in August. A $100 million wrongful death suit has also been filed against Sharpe on behalf of his three children.

Sharpe pled not guilty to the charges Wednesday.

Part-Time Teacher

From 1993 until this June, Sharpe served as a clinical instructor in dermatology at Beth Israel Hospital. Clinical instructors are primarily involved in private practice but typically donate about one half-day per week to clinical teaching, Sharpe's colleagues say.

This March, while conducting a scheduled review of their faculty affiliates, the dermatology department decided that Sharpe had not been spending enough time at HMS.

"In the spring we had reviewed a complete list of part-time faculty," said Dr. Joseph C. Kvedar, an assistant professor in the department. "There were 30 people who weren't really actively involved. We sent them all a letter telling them that if they felt differently that they should contact us to provide us with evidence of their value [or else they would be dismissed]."

Sharpe never wrote back and his appointment was terminated in June.

Several media outlets, including The Boston Globe and the Associated Press, incorrectly reported this week that Sharpe is still with HMS, a point which university officials denied.

"He is not a faculty member at the Harvard Medical School," said HMS spokesperson John Lacey.

University officials said Sharpe's affiliation with HMS began in 1985, when he was a research fellow in the Wellman Laboratory.

After a year in the laboratory of Dr. Richard Granstein, now a professor at Cornell University, he became a resident in the HMS Academic Department of Dermatology, a position that he held from July 1987 to June 1990.

Following his residency, he was a full-time instructor in dermatology at HMS from mid-1990 to 1993, a position that involves seeing patients, teaching and making rounds with students in a patient setting.

Colleagues React

Sharpe's former HMS colleagues said his behavior was not suspicious.

Dr. Kvedar, who supervised Sharpe at points during his residency, said that he was a motivated, goal-oriented student.

"A lot of it is shocking," Kvedar said. "He was very, very bright, very directed and had very clear ideas of where he wanted to take his life and where he wanted to go."

Dr. Steve Shama, a clinical instructor in dermatology at HMS, said that Sharpe was also a leading donor to the Dermatology Foundation, an organization that underwrites research in the field.

"Richard was one of the most generous people in the state," Shama said. "He would give me whatever I would ask for."

He said that Sharpe seemed like a "up-right, nice guy," not a potential murderer.

"I knew him over a period of years," he said. "I'm shocked to see that this has happened."

But other former HMS colleagues said that it was impossible to comment scientifically on Sharpe's psychology.

"It would be sexy to say 'Oh yes, he seemed strange,' or as every newspaper seems to find someone to say 'Oh, he was regular guy, I couldn't believe it.' ... I never expected he would kill anybody but what does that mean?" said Dr. Granstein, Sharpe's research supervisor in the Wellman Laboratory.

The Massachusetts Board of Medicine suspended Sharpe's medical license Wednesday.