The former boyfriend of the famed sex therapist Amie Harwick has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was convicted of her murder.
Gareth Pursehouse, 45, was found guilty in September of first-degree murder for the killing of 38-year old Harwick at her Los Angeles home in February 2020.
Prosecutors said Pursehouse planned to kill Harwick after becoming ‘obsessed’ with her following the couple’s breakup more than a decade ago.
How Gareth carried out the attack
‘The evidence showed [Pursehouse] was obsessed with Amie Harwick,’ Victor Avila, the deputy district attorney said. ‘He felt entitled to her.’
Prosecutors said Pursehouse broke into Harwick’s home, waited several hours for her, and then strangled and punched her as she attempted to fight him off. He then threw her over a balcony.
Police arrived at Harwick’s home after someone called 911 reporting that they heard a woman screaming.
Cause of death
Harwick was found unconscious but alive when police arrived but died shortly after arriving at hospital.
An autopsy found Harwick died from ‘blunt-force injuries of the head and torso’, with evidence of ‘manual strangulation’.
Pursehouse and Harwick had previously dated for 18 months, before she filed a restraining order against him in 2012.
Harwick took out an additional protective order against Pursehouse, which expired in 2015.
A month before her murder, Harwick reportedly bumped into Pursehouse at a work event where Pursehouse was taking photos.
