The ex-boyfriend of Amie Harwick, a respected Hollywood marriage and family therapist and former fiancée of Drew Carey, has been convicted of throwing her over a balcony to her death in 2020. https://t.co/zefb5hzlbz
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) October 2, 2023
The ex-boyfriend of Amie Harwick, a respected Hollywood marriage and family therapist and former fiancée of Drew Carey, has been convicted of her 2020 murder. Gareth Pursehouse was found guilty of one count of murder and first-degree residential burglary in Los Angeles on Thursday after throwing Harwick over her balcony at her Hollywood Hills apartment in February 2020, according to the LA County District Attorney’s Office.
On Valentine’s Day 2020, Harwick, 38, returned home after a night out with friends. Pursehouse, who had been awaiting Harwick’s return, is believed to have attacked and strangled her before throwing her over the balcony. She was taken to a hospital where she died.
The pair had dated for a year and a half a decade prior, and in 2012 Harwick filed restraining orders against him and claimed he was both physically and emotionally abusive. After a chance run-in, his obsession renewed months before her murder.
She later dated and was engaged to actor and Price Is Right host Drew Carey from 2017-18.
“Amie and I had a love that people are lucky to have once in a lifetime,” Drew Carey said in a statement to EW at the time. “She was a positive force in the world, a tireless and unapologetic champion for women, and passionate about her work as a therapist. I am overcome with grief. I would like to thank you in advance for giving myself and everyone who loved Amie privacy while we try to work through this tragic situation.”
In the wake of Harwick’s death, Carey’s The Price Is Right halted production. Carey later told CBS that his final exchange with Harwick before her death was filled with love: “I got a text from her [that read], ‘I would love to get together with you and talk,’” he said in the special 48 Hours: The Final Hours of Amie Harwick. “And I said, ‘Yeah, I would love to do that. I love you.”
A rep for Carey didn’t immediately respond to EW’s request for comment about the conviction.
Harwick’s killer faces a possible maximum life sentence in state prison without the possibility of parole.
