Amie Harwick was murdered on February 15, 2020, after her ex-boyfriend Gareth Pursehouse broke into her Hollywood Hills home, strangled her, and threw her off a balcony.
Genevieve MarieAmie Harwick was a Hollywood-based therapist known for her work in family and sex counseling.
In the early morning hours of Feb. 15, 2020, Amie Harwick returned to her Hollywood Hills apartment after a night out at a burlesque show, texting with a friend about a possible upcoming trip. Nothing in her messages suggested fear. Nothing hinted that she was walking into a nightmare.
But inside her home, someone was already waiting.
Moments after Harwick climbed the stairs to her third-floor bedroom, her downstairs roommate, Michael Herman, was jolted awake by someone screaming. He heard the sounds of a struggle, and a body hitting the floor. Herman searched desperately for his phone but couldn’t find it, so he ran outside to find help and then immediately called 911.
When the police arrived, however, they found Harwick unconcious beneath her third-story bedroom balcony. She had bruises on her neck, and, nearby, investigators found a syringe containing brownish liquid.
At 3:26 a.m., Harwick was pronounced dead. An autopsy would later reveal she had been strangled before being thrown from the balcony. The question investigators immediately asked was: who would want Amie Harwick dead?
Her friends had an answer.
A Life Dedicated To Helping Others
Robert CoshlandAmie Harwick smiles during her first date with Drew Carey at Disneyland.
Long before her murder made headlines, Amie Harwick had built a life centered on helping other people. Born Amie Nicole Harwick on May 20, 1981, Harwick grew up in Pennsylvania and moved to Los Angeles in her 20s. She worked tirelessly to support herself with jobs as a personal trainer, a bartender, a go-go dancer, and a model, including work for Playboy, all while putting herself through college in hopes of becoming a therapist.
She earned a degree in psychology, followed by a master’s in clinical psychology, and eventually built a practice in West Hollywood specializing in family and sex therapy. Many of Harwick’s clients were women recovering from trauma and abuse, and Harwick advocated for sex workers who were often denied access to mental health care.
In 2014, she authored The New Sex Bible for Women and established herself as a prominent Hollywood sex therapist as she spoke openly about sexual health across podcasts, television appearances, and YouTube.
Four years later, Harwick’s life briefly entered the mainstream spotlight when she became engaged to “The Price Is Right” host Drew Carey. Though the engagement ended less than a year later, the breakup was amicable.
Robert CoshlandAmie Harwick was once engaged to TV show host, Drew Carey.
Indeed, in the weeks before her death, Harwick reached out to Carey again, suggesting they meet in the spirit of friendship and forgiveness. Carey was glad to hear from her, and the two agreed to reconnect after Valentine’s Day.
They never got the chance.
Amie Harwick’s Murder On Valentine’s Night 2020
On the evening of Feb. 14, 2020, Harwick spent Valentine’s Day with friends at a burlesque show at the Globe Theater. That night, Harwick wore a rosary-style necklace that would later become evidence in her murder.
After the night out Harwick made her way to her home in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Shortly after 1 a.m., she texted one friend asking for photos from the night, and another about an upcoming trip they were planning. Nothing about the messages suggested that Harwick knew she was in danger. But her killer was lying in wait.
Miss ToshAmie Harwick with friends on her last night alive. She’s wearing a rosary necklace, which later became a piece of evidence in her murder.
Earlier in the night, her downstairs roommate Michael Herman had heard what sounded a plate dropping. He assumed it was just Harwick’s cat, and fell back asleep. But after Harwick got home, he was woken up again — to the sound of a woman frantically screaming.
Realizing something was terribly wrong, and unable to find his phone, Herman raced to neighbors’ homes for help. No no one answered the door, but Herman was able to flag down someone walking by, who used their cellphone to call 911 at 1:14 a.m, according to reporting from CBS News.
By the time the police arrived at the scene just a few minutes later, however, Amie Harwick had already been thrown nearly 20 feet from her third-floor balcony. She was found battered and unresponsive on the patio below, and later died at the hospital from blunt-force injuries. Harwick was 38.
Inside the home, detectives discovered a broken window, a trail of broken rosary beads which led out onto the balcony, and a syringe filled with liquid. This was an especially disturbing find given that Harwick’s friends said she didn’t drink or do drugs. Lab testing later revealed the syringe contained nicotine, a substance that can be lethal in concentrated doses.
Superior Court of California, County of Los AngelesAt the crime scene, investigators found a syringe filled with liquid.
So who had murdered Amie Harwick? As police spoke to her friends, they learned that Harwick had been living in fear. She had spoken about installing a new security system, carried pepper spray, and started sharing her phone location with a trusted friend, Robert Coshland. And after her death, Coshland accessed Harwick’s email and found something haunting.
Weeks earlier, Harwick had written a message to herself describing a terrifying encounter with an ex-boyfriend at an adult industry awards show.
“He started screaming,” Harwick wrote to herself after the alarming encounter. “He was sobbing… distorting his face and shaking violently… It terrifies me,” she added, “that he’s been obsessed with me for nine years.”
The man she described was named Gareth Pursehouse.
Gareth Pursehouse, The Man Who Murdered Amie Harwick
Superior Court of California, County of Los AngelesGareth Pursehouse was arrested and charged with the murder of his ex-girlfriend, Amie Harwick.
Weeks before Amie Harwick’s death, she had run into Pursehouse — an ex from almost a decade earlier — at an event. As Harwick wrote in her email to herself, and told her mother, the ecounter had been terrifying. Pursehouse had confronted her, screamed that she had ruined his life, and chillingly recited text messages that she had sent nine years ago.
“Tonight, I felt very scared,” Harwick wrote in her email. “Gareth came up behind me and started screaming… I’m pretty nervous that I’m more on his radar now… He’s focused on harming me.”
Harwick had a reason to be afraid: Pursehouse had physically abused her. He had choked her, suffocated her, and punched her during their relationship. Harwick had called the police multiple times, documented her injuries, and ultimately filed a restraining order against him, though it had long since expired. After the breakup, she also suspected that he had broken into her home, stolen personal photos, and wiped her computer clean.
After her run-in with Pursehouse in early 2020, Harwick took steps to protect herself, but didn’t think that she could file another restraining order, since he had not explicitly threatened her. Still, she felt her life was in danger.
To Coshland Harwick warned, “If anything ever happens to me…it’s him.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney’s OfficeGareth Pursehouse was arrested for the murder of Harwick on Feb. 15, 2020.
Indeed, investigators soon pieced together what happened on the night of Amie Harwick’s murder. They found a shattered glass panel in her French doors of her apartment, along with blood that matched Pursehouse, which indicated how he’d broken in. Though the rest of the apartment was clean, Harwick’s bed covers were disturbed, leading police to suspect that Pursehouse had climbed into Harwick’s bed and waited for her there.
When she arrived back home, they had seemingly fought until Pursehouse overpowered Harwick, strangled her, and threw her body off the balcony. And chillingly, when police went to Pursehouse’s house the next day, they found that he had a black eye and bite mark on his bicep. Inside his residence, police found a syringe similar to the one recovered on Harwick’s balcony.
At trial, Pursehouse’s defense attorney argued that he’d gone to Harwick’s house with the syringe to kill himself in front of her. But a jury ultimately convicted him of first-degree murder, bringing the end to a case defined by obsession, control, and terrible violence.
“I feel like a widower, you know, in a lot of ways, because I wanted to marry her, and then we had this horrible breakup,” Drew Carey said about Harwick. “And then before I could talk to her again, somebody killed her.”
Amie Harwick believed in advocating for women. Tragically, despite all her precautions, she couldn’t protect herself. With Pursehouse sentenced to life in prison, justice was finally served, even if it came far too late.
Now that you’ve read about the death of Amie Harwick, read about the shocking death of Hollywood actress Brittany Murphy. Then, learn the story of singing legend Whitney Houston and her tragic passing.
