(NewsNation) — A California man could see life in prison if convicted in the death of his ex-girlfriend, Dr. Amie Harwick, a prominent marriage and sex therapist.
Gareth Pursehouse, 45, is accused of breaking into Harwick’s home and killing her in February 2020. Prosecutors allege that rage and jealousy led him to attack Harwick and then throw her over the balcony in her bedroom.
Harwick was found fatally injured 20 feet below that balcony.
However, the defense says Pursehouse broke into Harwick’s home to talk with her and that the fall was purely an accident.
Testifying at Pursehouse’s trial Tuesday was Sarah Rollins, Harwick’s friend and one of the last people to see her alive. Rollins, Harwick and two other friends had gone out together hours before Harwick died for a “Galentine’s Day” celebration of fun. Photos from that night show Harwick was wearing two rosaries.
They took a final photo together before heading home. Harwick’s last text to Rollins had been a request for that picture.
Just days before, Rollins testified, Harwick had said she was in fear after running into Pursehouse at an awards show.
“She told me how she ran into an ex of hers, a very old ex,” Rollins recalled in court. “That he kind of went a little crazy and was triggered when he saw her and got into a fetal position on the ground, crying and reciting texts that they had had from a long time before.”
Pursehouse’s defense attorneys claimed he went into a deep depression after unexpectedly running into Harwick at that awards show, and evidence will show he had no intention of killing her.
Before her death, Harwick, a popular Hollywood therapist, was thriving. She had a high-profile engagement to comedian and “Price is Right” host Drew Carey in 2018. The two had called it quits before she died but remained close.
Harwick’s 2012 breakup with Pursehouse was long before that, but friends say he was obsessed and threatening, prompting two restraining orders against him, the second of which had expired.