Ex Accused Of Killing Family Therapist Amie Harwick Pleads Not Guilty

The man accused of killing marriage and family therapist Amie Harwick has pleaded not guilty to her murder, according to officials.

Gareth Pursehouse, 41, is alleged to have killed Harwick, with whom he was previously in a romantic relationship, by throwing her off of the balcony of her Hollywood Hills home on Feb. 15, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said. He faces charges of murder and first-degree residential burglary with the special circumstance allegation of lying in wait; the latter charge makes him eligible for the death penalty, but prosecutors have not yet decided if they will pursue a death sentence.

Pursehouse entered his plea on Thursday and is slated to return to court on June 24, according to the district attorney’s office.

Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department responded to Harwick’s home at around 1 a.m. in response to reports that there was a woman screaming, police said in a press release. Upon the arrival of police, Harwick’s roommate, who had run for help, told them that she was being assaulted; officers then found Harwick unresponsive and lying on the ground underneath the balcony of her apartment, having sustained serious injuries suggesting a fall. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she died from her injuries. She was 38 years old.

Police were informed that Harwick had expressed fear about an ex-boyfriend who she’d come into contact with two weeks before her death, and who she had previously gotten restraining orders against, according to the release. Pursehouse was arrested the same day that Harwick was killed; he was released after posting $2 million bond, but quickly re-arrested on a no-bail warrant.

The Los Angeles Medical Examiner confirmed to Oxygen.com that Harwick’s cause of death was “blunt force injuries to her head and torso,” and it has been ruled a homicide. Injuries on her neck suggested that she’d been strangled before she was thrown off of the third-floor balcony, but there were also wounds on her hands and fingers suggesting that she tried to defend herself against her attacker before she was overpowered, according to an autopsy report obtained by The Blast.

Harwick was formerly engaged to “The Price Is Right” host Drew Carey before the two called off their engagement and parted ways in 2018. Carey publicly mourned his ex during an episode of his SiriusXM radio show, during which he also announced that he’d be taking time off to deal with the loss.

“I just want to say, I’m so broken up,” he said, adding, “Even after we broke up, you know, we still loved each other very much. Even though we broke up the engagement, I was still so in love with her, and she loved me back.”