On February 14, 2020, Dr. Amie Harwick, a Los Angeles marriage and family therapist, was fatally attacked in her Hollywood home after returning from a night out. Her ex-boyfriend, Gareth Pursehouse, had broken into her home via third-floor French doors, disabled ring security cameras, and laid in wait inside her bedroom. When Harwick returned home around 1:00 a.m., Pursehouse assaulted and manually strangled her before throwing her over the third-floor balcony, causing fatal fall injuries. Harwick's roommate, Michael Herman, woke to screams and crash noises, escaped the house, and sought help to call 911. Police found Harwick on the ground below the balcony with severe injuries and neck strangulation marks; she died shortly after at 3:00 a.m. Investigation uncovered a syringe with liquid nicotine on the balcony, matching another found at Pursehouse's home, and Pursehouse's blood on the broken French doors. Pursehouse had engaged in a decade-long pattern of stalking, physical abuse, and obsession following their 2011 breakup, which reignited after an encounter at the XBIZ Awards in January 2020. Pursehouse was arrested 13 hours after the murder, convicted of first-degree murder with a lying-in-wait special circumstance and residential burglary on September 29, 2023, and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole on December 6, 2023.
Country: United States
State/Province: California, United States
City/Region: Los Angeles
Incident Type: Domestic Violence Homicide
Relationship Status: Ex-partners
Relationship Duration: Approximately 1 year
Incident Date: Feb. 14, 2020
Relationship Origins:
Relationship Stages:
Contributing Factors:
Red Flags:
Motives:
Relationship Outcomes:
How the relationship or connection began.
Approximately 1 year
Important relationship phases recorded for this case.
Reported red flags or early concern points.
Contributing factors and possible motives from the available sources.
2020-02-14
Recorded relationship or case outcome.
English labels are shown first. Original-language titles are preserved for source verification.
Coffee House Crime - USA · Original language: English
Obsessive Narcissist Kills Partner, Thinks He Got Away With It
Stalking and Obsessive Control
The relationship exhibited severe coercive control, physical abuse, and extreme post-separation stalking. After a brief dating period around 2010 to 2011, Pursehouse engaged in severe physical violence including choking, punching, and throwing Harwick from a moving vehicle. Following their breakup, Pursehouse initiated persistent stalking, vandalizing her property, breaking into her residence, and hacking her digital accounts despite court-issued restraining orders. A chance encounter in January 2020 triggered acute obsessive escalation, leading Pursehouse to systematically plan a fatal break-in and lying-in-wait ambush on Valentine's Day 2020.
LAPD homicide detectives initially responded to a call regarding a possible intruder and fall victim at Harwick's residence. Roommate Michael Herman was briefly interviewed and quickly ruled out after providing details corroborated by surveillance footage and victim's friends. Key physical evidence included broken glass with Pursehouse's DNA/blood, disabled ring cameras, a syringe containing liquid nicotine found on the balcony matching one at Pursehouse's residence, and manual strangulation marks on Harwick's neck. LAPD arrested Pursehouse within 13 hours of the murder. He was charged with first-degree murder with lying-in-wait special circumstances and residential burglary, convicted in September 2023, and sentenced in December 2023 to life without parole.
Initial responding officers were unsure whether Harwick's fall from the third-floor balcony was accidental or homicidal until physical evidence of strangulation and forced entry was identified. The roommate was initially treated carefully as a potential suspect before his account was validated. Additionally, the syringe recovered on the balcony was initially suspected to contain heroin until FBI lab tests revealed concentrated liquid nicotine.
Forensic scene analysis and timeline evidence established that Pursehouse carefully planned the crime over four weeks following the January 2020 encounter. He arrived on Mount Street, disabled neighbor security cameras, smashed French door glass to enter, and waited inside Harwick's bedroom for hours. Upon her return, he strangled her until unconscious and hurled her off the third-floor balcony to simulate a fatal fall. Blood evidence, matching syringe items, digital communications, and witness statements provided an unassailable evidentiary chain that led to his conviction.
The offender demonstrated extreme lethality risk factors, including past strangulation, physical abuse, property destruction, home invasion, digital stalking, refusal to accept relationship dissolution, and obsession spanning nearly ten years after breakup. The escalation following a chance meeting underscored the extreme danger posed by persistent fixated stalkers even years after separation.
1. Non-fatal strangulation and persistent post-breakup stalking represent severe lethal risk indicators in domestic violence cases.
2. Fixated stalkers can remain dangerous for many years after relationship separation, with chance encounters serving as rapid re-escalation triggers.
3. Physical security measures alone may not deter a deeply fixated offender without robust law enforcement intervention.
The primary early signals were Pursehouse's extreme possessiveness during dating, severe physical assault (choking, throwing from a moving vehicle), smashing property, breaking into her residential building, and relentless unwanted contact following separation.
Key clues connecting Pursehouse to the crime included surveillance footage showing a figure disabling cameras, blood left on the broken glass door panel, Harwick's email documenting her fear after the XBIZ Awards confrontation, and physical facial scratches observed on Pursehouse by his Valentine's Day date.
The strongest evidence types were DNA/blood evidence on the entry door matching Pursehouse, ring camera video clips, forensic pathology proving manual strangulation and lethal fall trauma, and an FBI-tested syringe with liquid nicotine matching items seized from Pursehouse's residence.
Roommate Michael Herman reported hearing a loud noise around 9:00 p.m. and later waking at 1:00 a.m. to terrified screams and crashing sounds above him. Best friend Robert and companion Hernando provided detailed statements regarding Pursehouse's prior abuse, stalking, and aggressive confrontation at the XBIZ Awards. A date of Pursehouse testified that he had visible face scratches on Valentine's Day 2020.
Follow-up investigative work quickly shifted the scene interpretation from an ambiguous fall or intruder incident to a targeted homicide, confirming Pursehouse as the sole suspect within hours and leading to his swift arrest and ultimate conviction.
It remains unresolved whether Pursehouse planned to use the liquid nicotine syringe as a primary lethal mechanism before physically strangling and throwing Harwick over the balcony.