Dr. Amie Harwick was a prominent sex therapist, author and former fiancée of Drew Carey, host of the popular game show The Price is Right. She was a bit of a celebrity herself as well, appearing regularly on podcasts, TV shows, and working as a model as well.
That all came to an end on Feb. 15, 2020 when her former boyfriend and then stalker Gareth Pursehouse violently shoved her from a balcony, and she plummeted to her death. The case is troubling not just because of the violence, but because Harwick had filed for a restraining order against Pursehouse and it had recently expired.
So how did it go down?
Who is Dr. Amie Harwick?
Striking, smart and talented. That’s the best way to describe Dr. Amie Harwick. It’s a devilish combo in the wrong hands, but for someone trying to do some good it can be incredibly alluring. So alluring that Harwick’s ex apparently believed he couldn’t stay away.
Harwick was born on May, 20, 1981 and grew up in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. She moved to LA in 2001 and eventually earned a Doctorate of Human Sexuality from the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.
She worked with people who had physical and mental disorders stemming from trauma or other ailments. In 2014, she published a book called The New Sex Bible for Women. The book raised her profile considerably, with excerpts published in publications like Playboy and Elite Daily.
She loved taxidermy and horror movies, and she was proficient both in front of the camera and behind it. She met Drew Carey in 2017 at a “big Hollywood party,” Carey told CBS News.
For their first date, they went to Disneyland. It took her some time to open up, she was adopted as a child and grew up in foster care. Carey said she made him feel incredibly comfortable around her. Then the problems started.
First of all, they were getting a lot of attention online when they went out together, and then either the next day or soon after, negative reviews would show up online. The comments were anonymous and appeared on sites that reviewed doctors.
Harwick started to worry about her reputation as a therapist. She told Carey she knew who was behind it all: Her ex-boyfriend, Gareth Pursehouse. Eventually the two broke up amicably, but Carey said he always held a candle for her.
On Feb. 14, 2020, Harwick texted Carey:
“I would love to get together with you and talk.” And I said, “Yeah, I would love to do that. I love you.”
She was dead the next day.
How did Sex Therapist Dr. Amie Harwick die?
Amie Harwick dated Gareth Pursehouse a few years before she met Drew Carey. They met in 2008 at a photoshoot when she was a model going by the name “Amie Nicole.”
According to her friend Robert Coshland, Pursehouse was a “software engineer, wannabe comedian and photographer.” Coshland went to authorities after her murder, and said Pursehouse assaulted Harwick on several occasions.
He also said that Harwick threw a pillow at Pursehouse once, and that he hit her and bashed her head on the floor. He would always immediately apologize and profess his love to her.
In April of 2011, she filed a restraining order against him. Here’s an excerpt, courtesy of CBS News.
“Gareth Pursehouse forced me to the ground, covered my mouth to prevent my yelling, kicked me. In mid-May, there were multiple arguments in which Gareth Pursehouse … choked me, suffocated me, pushed me against walls, kicked me, dropped me to the ground with forced force, restrained me, slammed my head into the ground, and punched me with a closed fist.”
It took four years, but she finally moved on. Then someone broke into her house. She called Coshland and told him someone had stole her photo albums and her computer. She suspected it was Pursehouse, but she couldn’t prove it.
He also sent weird messages to her friends trying to sabotage their friendships. She even believed he was bugging her home. They met face to face again by chance in January 16, 2020. It would prove to be a pivotal meeting, because she was dead less than a month later.
She was at the XBIZ awards, an adult film event, and she spotted Pursehouse working. She told Coshland that he blew up on her. “You’ve ruined my life,” he yelled. He created a giant scene and started reading text messages from back in 2012.
He started sobbing and then fell to the ground crying in the fetal position. She spent about 45 minutes talking to him to calm him down, in the presence of security.
In the best way she could, she asked him to move on with his life, and left the meeting feeling better. Still, there was a lingering feeling of dread. So much so that she shared her phone location with Coshland. She said, “if anything ever happens to me, it’s him.”
Weirdly, she told her parents that if she died she wanted her funeral to have an open casket.
The last day of her life, Harwick went on a hike with with her friend, then attended a burlesque performance event in the city. She had spent the day telling friends how happy she was, and how she finally felt she was in a good place.
While she was out partying, her roommate Michael Herman was asleep on the first floor of the house they shared. He thought he heard the sound of a smashing plate, but figured it was just Harwick above. Authorities believe that was the sound of Pursehouse breaking in.
She pulled into her driveway about 1 a.m. on Feb. 15. She sent her friend a text to “send me pics on the green couch” from the festivities. Unbeknownst to her, Pursehouse had been waiting in her apartment for hours.
When she opened her door she was viciously attacked. Six minutes later she’d be clinging to life by a frayed rope about to break. Her roommate Herman sprung to life when he heard the commotion. He heard bodies falling, and muffled screaming. He couldn’t find his phone, but he yelled at the whoever was in the house, hoping to scare them away.
Then he ran for help, over a tall metal fence, cutting himself, frantic. It was about 1:08 am. He ran to a house and knocked, but no one answered. He ran to another house. They had a phone. It was now 1:14. Police responded, and found Harwick about 20 feet below her bedroom balcony. She was barely breathing.
At 2:05 am, her friend texted the green couch photo, with no idea that Harwick was almost gone. At 3:26 am, Amie Harwick was pronounced dead.
Investigators found remnants of a bloody struggle in the bedroom, and blood on the door. She was wearing rosary beads, and they trailed from her bedroom onto the balcony. They also found a syringe filled with a lethal dose of nicotine.
Pursehouse finally faced trial for the murder in Sept. 2023. A jury found him guilty after seven hours in a courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. On Dec. 6, he was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.