Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of abuse and murder. Reader discretion is advised.
CBS 48 Hours will revisit Hollywood therapist Amie Harwick’s murder by ex-boyfriend Gareth Pursehouse. The upcoming episode titled “Justice for Amie Harwick” will air on the network this Saturday, February 10, 2024, at 10 p.m. ET.
Reportedly, Gareth Pursehouse was accused of breaking into Harwick’s home on February 14, 2020. Where he waited for several days for her to return and then attacked her sometime around 1 a.m. on February 15, 2024. He strangled and punched the 38-year-old as she attempted to fight him off, reported The Guardian.
Pursehouse then threw Harwick over a wrought-iron balcony after hearing the latter’s roommate screaming for help, per People Magazine. She fell 20 feet down to the backyard patio and was barely clinging to life when the police arrived. They found the victim gravely injured and unresponsive beneath a third-story balcony. She died in a hospital two hours later.
The outlet reported that the medical examiner ruled Harwick’s death a homicide. The examiner said that she died from blunt force trauma to the head and torso, along with manual strangulation. NBC News stated that investigators had found signs of a struggle in the home, heard incriminating details about Pusehouse from Harwick’s friends, and also learned about her restraining order against him.
Where is Gareth Pursehouse now after the murder conviction?
According to the California Department of Corrections, Gareth Pursehouse currently serves time in the Wasco State Prison. His conviction came in December 2023, more than three years after Amie Harwick’s tragic death. NBC News stated a jury convicted Pursehpuse of murder and first-degree residential burglary with the special circumstance allegation of lying in wait last December. He received a life sentence without the possibility of parole, per NBC.
Pursehouse and Harwick had previously dated for 18 months before the latter broke up with him in 2012. The New York Post stated that Pursehouse became obsessed with Harwick following their breakup. The victim’s friends testified during Pusehouse’s trial, saying that the defendant continued to send her “weepy messages” over the years. Prosecutors said that Harwick had even warned her friends, “if anything happens to me, it would be Gareth.”
The outlet reported that Harwick had filed a restraining order against Pursehouse in 2012. She had also taken out a second protective order against the ex-boyfriend; however, it expired in 2015. In one of the orders, she wrote, “He [Gareth Pursehouse] has suffocated me, punched me, slammed my head on the ground, kicked me.”
Moreover, the duo had bumped into each other at a work event where Pursehouse was working as a photographer about a month before the murder. After their encounter, Harwick rejected his attempts to stay in touch and told friends that she was scared of him.
Deputy District Attorney Victor Avila told People Magazine, “The evidence showed [Pursehouse] was obsessed with Harwick. He felt entitled to her.” Avila further said, “Eight years by happenstance they bumped into each other. He goes into this angry emotional tailspin and tells her she ruined his life.”
NBC stated that following Pursehouse’s conviction, LA County District Attorney George Gascón said that “justice was served.”
CBS 48 Hours’ episode on Amie Harwick’s murder by ex-boyfriend Gareth Pursehouse will air on February 10, 2024.
