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Amie Harwick’s Re-Arrested Ex-Boyfriend Faces Death Penalty For Hollywood Therapist’s Murder

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The former boyfriend who authorities believe killed Dr. Amie Harwick on February 15 is back behind bars and facing the death penalty for the Hollywood therapist’s death.

Less than 24 hours after posting a $2 million bond and walking free, Gareth Pursehouse was arrested for a second time today by the LAPD and will face arraignment tomorrow in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom. The L.A. County District Attorney’s office has charged Pursehouse with one count each of murder and first-degree residential burglary with the special circumstance allegation of lying in wait.

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Pursehouse was first picked up by the cops on Saturday afternoon near his Playa del Rey residence.

Now being held without bail, it is that last part of the charges that put the suspect in line for the death penalty in the Golden State. Whether or not Jackie Lacey’s office pursues the death penalty for Pursehouse, or life in prison without the possibility of parole, will be finalized later, representatives for the D.A. said Wednesday. Though California still hands out capital punishment, Governor Gavin Newsom put the brakes on further executions by official moratorium in March of last year.

Harwick, 38, the former fiancée of Drew Carey, was killed during the alleged altercation with Pursehouse in the early morning hours of Saturday at her Hollywood Hills home. A respected family and sex therapist, Harwick appeared in the 2015 documentary Addicted to Sexting. She and The Price Is Right host Carey dated for around for a year before the two split up in 2018.

After dating Pursehouse in recent months, Harwick had a restraining order against him after they broke up. That order had expired and the duo had seen each other in the past few weeks before the attack at Harwick’s home last weekend, according to the LAPD.

Taken to a nearby hospital once police were called, the L.A. County Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner said that the therapist died from blunt force injuries of the head and torso. A report made public yesterday classified Harwick’s death as a homicide. The Coroner’s office added that said the injuries occurred when she fell from the third-floor balcony after an altercation. It also found “evidence of manual strangulation.”

Deputy L.A. D.A Victor Avila of the Major Crimes Division and Deputy L.A. D.A. R.J. Dreiling of the Family Violence Division are prosecuting the case for the County. The LAPD say that the matter is still considered an ongoing investigation.

Jackie Lacey is facing a hard primary March 3 challenge in her attempt at a third term, with two of her own deputies in the race to replace the incumbent, as well as former San Francisco top cop and D.A. George Gascon.

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