Ex-boyfriend of celebrity therapist Amie Harwick sentenced to life in prison for her brutal murder

The ex-boyfriend of celebrity therapist Amie Harwick, Gareth Pursehouse who was found guilty of murderearlier this year, has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, on Wednesday (Dec 6). Harwick was once engaged to comedian Drew Carey, host of “The Price is Right.”

‘Justice is served’

Pursehouse, 45, who is also said to be a stalker, was convicted by a jury in September of first-degree murder and first-degree residential burglary for the killing of 38-year-old Harwick in 2020.

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Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón, in a statement following the sentencing, said “justice was served” and that Harwick’s loved ones “endured unimaginable pain throughout this terrible ordeal.”

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According to the prosecutors, Pursehouse murdered Harwick, 38, by throwing her over a balcony at her home in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles on 15 February 2020.

In the courtroom, the 45-year-old sat silently as the family members, including Amie’s parents, spoke and thanked the presiding judge, prosecutors, and jury for bringing Pursehouse to justice.

Pursehouse has also been ordered to pay $7,500 for Amie’s funeral and restitution to Amie’s parents for travel, lodging and food costs during the court proceedings.

About the case

Pursehouse also reportedly stalked Harwick for around a decade, broke into her house and waited for hours before strangling and throwing her off the balcony from the third floor. Subsequently, the police were called after reports of a woman screaming.

Harwick was found unresponsive but still alive beneath a third-story balcony, according to the LA police. She later succumbed to her injuries sustained during the fall in a local hospital.

Over the course of the investigation, detectives also found signs of struggle in Harwick’s home in Hollywood Hills and learned that the 38-year-old had recently expressed fears about her safety because of Pursehouse and filed for a restraining order against him.

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However, the restraining order, according to the LA police department, had expired. In 2020, her death also sparked a conversation about how restraining orders fail to protect victims of stalking.

In 2012, Harwick, a former Playboy model and prominent sex therapist, filed a restraining order against Pursehouse whom she had dated for just over a year and had accused of stalking for 10 years after a bad breakup.

Harwick was a therapist who advised married couples and also wrote a self-help book The New Sex Bible for Women, in 2014.

(With inputs from agencies)