Drew Carey’s Ex-Fiancée Amie Harwick’s Accused Killer Gareth Pursehouse Sentenced to Life

Gareth Pursehouse will serve life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of Drew Carey’s former fiancée, sex therapist Dr. Amie Harwick, TMZ reports.

Pursehouse, who also dated Harwick, was convicted of first-degree murder with a special circumstance allegation in September.

He was accused of breaking into Harwick’s home in February 2020, where he allegedly lay in wait. When she got home, he reportedly attacked her and threw her from a third-floor balcony.

The defense argued that despite entering her home, he never intended to kill her. His lawyers also claimed that Amie may have climbed over the balcony herself and then fallen, insisting the prosecution did not prove that Pursehouse threw her off. The jury still sided with the prosecution.

Back in 2020, the LAPD told "Extra" in a statement, “On Saturday, February 15, 2020, around 1:16 a.m. Hollywood patrol officers responded to a radio call of a, 'Woman Screaming,' in the 2000 block of Mound Street in Hollywood Hills. When officers arrived, they were met by a roommate who was in the street. He informed officers that the victim was being assaulted inside of her residence. The roommate had jumped a wall and went to neighboring residences to call for help.”

“When officers went to make entry, they found the victim on the ground beneath a third story balcony. The victim was gravely injured. She suffered significant injuries consistent with a fall. The victim was unresponsive,” the statement continued. “The Los Angeles Fire Department transported the victim to a local hospital where she later died from her injuries. The investigation revealed possible evidence of a struggle in the upstairs as well as forced entry to the residence. A canvass of the area located further evidence of an intruder (suspect) entering the property and leaving after the murder.”

According to the Los Angeles Coroner's Office, Harwick died of blunt force injuries to the head and torso. M.E. spokeswoman Sarah Ardalani later revealed that there was also evidence of “manual strangulation” before she was allegedly thrown off the balcony.

Her death was ruled a homicide.

Amie and Gareth reportedly split years before, but she had taken out two restraining orders against him over the years. The most recent one expired two weeks before her death. Witnesses told The L.A. Times that the exes had a run-in at the XBiz adult industry award show in January.

The restraining orders paint an ominous picture of Pursehouse, to whom Carey had once been engaged for less than a year. She accused him of pushing her out of a car and leaving her on the side of a freeway; suffocating, punching, and kicking her... and even slamming her head on the ground.

In 2020, “Extra's” Billy Bush spoke with Harwick's friend Moushumi Ghose, who had been in touch with Amie just days before she died. Ghose said of Harwick's fears of Pursehouse, “She was scared of him for a really long time. He basically used to try and sabotage her work… her career, her friendships. She knew he was really dangerous.”