In February 2020, police found famous family and sex therapist Amie Harwick unresponsive at her Hollywood Hills home. Over three years later, in September 2023, a jury convicted her ex-boyfriend, Gareth Pursehouse, of her murder. He received a life sentence with no parole on December 6, per Deadline.
Prosecutors allege that Pursehouse broke into Harwick’s home on Valentine’s Day 2020. There, he lay in wait for hours before strangling her and then throwing the victim’s body off the third-floor balcony. The police found the latter unresponsive but alive at the scene. She later died at a local hospital.
The duo had previously dated for a year before Harwick broke up with Pursehouse in 2012. She even filed a restraining order against Pursehouse. The order had, however, expired, and the former couple had bumped into each other at a work event in Las Vegas a month before the murder. Harwick was previously engaged to the comedian Drew Carey, per the Guardian, before their breakup in 2018.
Where is Amie Harwick’s ex-boyfriend Gareth Pursehouse now?
According to the Deadline report, police arrested Amie Harwick’s ex-boyfriend, Gareth Pursehouse, on February 19, 2020, shortly after her death. He has been in custody in the county jail ever since. After a delayed trial earlier this year in September, a jury convicted Pursehouse of first-degree murder of the famous family and sex therapist. On December 6, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Guardian’s report mentioned that prosecutors alleged Pursehouse planned to kill Harwick after becoming “obsessed” with her. The former couple dated for a little more than a year before the latter broke up with him in 2012. Deputy district attorney Victor Avila told People magazine, “The evidence showed [Pursehouse] was obsessed with Amie Harwick. He felt entitled to her.”
The outlet further elaborated on the prosecution’s theory that Pursehouse broke into the victim’s home on Valentine’s Day in 2020. There, he waited for several hours for the 38-year-old to return before strangling and punching her as she tried to defend herself. After the struggle, he threw her over a third-floor balcony.
New York Post stated that the defendant’s attorneys argued that Harwick accidentally fell off the balcony, maintaining Pursehouse’s innocence in the matter.
When police arrived at Harwick’s home, responding to a 911 call, they found her unconscious but alive. The LAPD report stated that patrol officers found her body on February 15, 2020, around 1:16 a.m. First responders rushed her to a hospital, where she died not long after. An autopsy revealed that she died from “blunt-force injuries of the head and torso” as well as “manual strangulation.”
After her death, police records revealed that Harwick had previously filed a restraining order against Pursehouse in 2012. She took out an additional protective order against him, which expired in 2015. The New York Post also mentioned a restraining order in which she wrote, “He [Gareth Pursehouse] has suffocated me, punched me, slammed my head on the ground, kicked me. This has resulted in bruises, inability to walk, bleeding, broken blood vessels around [my] face, whiplash, sore neck and back.”
Moreover, a month before the incident, the victim ran into the ex-boyfriend at a work event in Las Vegas. Her friends believed Pursehouse became angry after she rejected his attempts to stay in touch.
A CBS 48 Hours episode titled “The Life and Death of Amie Harwick” featured the case last year in September.
