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Lansdale native Amie Harwick, sex therapist and ex-fiancée of Drew Carey, killed in Los Angeles

Harwick died early Saturday morning after police responded to her home in the Hollywood Hills to find her “gravely injured” on the ground under a third-story balcony.

Amie Harwick, who once was engaged to actor and comedian Drew Carey and was popular on social media, where she discussed her work as a therapist, had previously filed a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, but it had expired. She also voiced fears after encountering him just two weeks before.
Amie Harwick, who once was engaged to actor and comedian Drew Carey and was popular on social media, where she discussed her work as a therapist, had previously filed a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend, but it had expired. She also voiced fears after encountering him just two weeks before.Read morePhoto via 6ABC/@DrAmieHarwick In / TNS
    by Anna Orso
    Updated 
    Published 

A Hollywood sex therapist who was a native of Lansdale and a former fiancée of the comedian Drew Carey was killed over the weekend, and police in Los Angeles have arrested an ex-boyfriend in connection with the slaying.

Amie Harwick, 38, who graduated from North Penn High School in 1999, died early Saturday morning. Police responded to her home in the Hollywood Hills and found Harwick “gravely injured” on the ground under a third-story balcony. According to Los Angeles police, she was taken to a local hospital and died of her injuries, which were “consistent with a fall.”

At the scene, investigators encountered Harwick’s roommate, who told them Harwick had been assaulted inside, and found evidence of forced entry and a struggle in the home. They also learned Harwick had previously obtained a restraining order against ex-boyfriend Gareth Pursehouse, 41, of the Playa del Rey section of the city.

According to police, the restraining order had expired, and Harwick ran into Pursehouse about two weeks before she was killed. She had expressed fear to those close to her.

Pursehouse was arrested Saturday and faces murder charges. He is held on $2 million bail.

Harwick was a noted family and sex therapist in the Los Angeles area. She authored numerous articles, and in 2014 published a book titled The New Sex Bible for Women.

According to Deadline Hollywood, Harwick and Carey, host of The Price Is Right, got engaged in 2017 and broke it off about a year later. Tapings of Price Is Right were postponed following Harwick’s death. Carey released a statement to the Los Angeles Times saying he was “overcome with grief.”

“Amie and I had a love that people are lucky to have once in a lifetime,” he said in the statement. “She was a positive force in the world, a tireless and unapologetic champion for women, and passionate about her work as a therapist.”

According to her website, Harwick attended college in California, earning degrees from California Polytechnic State University, Pepperdine University, and the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.