Amie Harwick Case Analysis | Victim of Long-Term Stalker?

hello says dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of amy harwick just a reminder i'm not diagnosing anybody in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i'll put the link to patreon in the description for this video so first i'll look at the background in the case of amy harwick i'll move to the timeline of the crime then i'll offer my analysis amy harwick was born on may 20 1981 in sellersville pennsylvania she graduated from north penn high school in 1999. she attended california polytechnic university earning an undergraduate degree in psychology she then attended pepperdine university where she earned a master's degree in clinical psychology she would go on to attend the institute for advanced study of human sexuality eventually earning a phd in human sexuality she became a licensed marriage and family therapist she was well known as a psychotherapist and sex therapist where she lived in west hollywood california she was active on social media she was in various podcasts and appeared on television she also offered direct services to clients she charged 200 an hour but she also provided low-cost mental health counseling to adult film industry performers at some point prior to becoming a psychotherapist amy harwick started dating a man named gareth pursehouse he was a photographer and software engineer the relationship ended acrimoniously in 2011. that same year harwick filed a temporary restraining order against purse house but it was dismissed after she failed to attend a follow-up hearing she filed another one in 2012. this order was in effect until april of 2015. purse house was ordered to stay at least 100 yards away from harwick and refrain from any type of contact here's some of the allegations that harwick made against purse house in her petitions for restraining orders she said that he choked her suffocated her kicked her dropped her to the ground with force pushed her against walls slammed her head to the ground and punched her with a closed fist she indicated that purse house pushed her out of a car on a freeway in june of 2011. it was at night and she was stranded she said that in march of 2012 he broke into her apartment complex and smashed 10 picture frames on her door the next day he broke in again but this time he left four dozen flowers taped to her door the day after that he returned once again this time he waited outside of her door and played music after this it does appear that at least for a time purse house gave up trying to contact harwick she said that there was some mysterious occurrences like she thought somebody broke into her apartment and wiped out her computer and things like that but there was no proof that purse house was the one responsible for what happened harwick would become engaged to the actor drew carey in 2018 they would split up after having been engaged for only 10 months this takes us to january of 2020. harwick was attending some type of red carpet event that had to do with the adult film industry it was hosted by stormy daniels evidently purse house was working at the event as a photographer and saw harwick purse house confronted harwick then spoke to her for about 45 minutes harwick's friends would overhear purse house saying a few things including you are a hypocrite you broke my heart how can you be here he also talked about voicemails that he had received from her in 2012. he was repeating the content of those voicemails back to her after the event was over the two would speak for another half hour later harwick would tell friends that she was shaken by the encounter she mentioned putting together a safety plan that involved talking to the police and buying pepper spray apparently she told purse house that she had ordered pepper spray and hired a contractor to check the locks at her home she would later tell somebody else that she was unsure how to protect herself this takes us to february 15 2020. harwick was at a residence in hollywood hills she was texting a friend the last text she sent was at 101 am the police responded to harwick's residence at 1 16 a.m after receiving a report of a woman screaming harwick's roommate met the police on the street and told them harwick was being assaulted inside the residence they made entry into the home and found harwick beneath a third floor balcony she was unconscious and severely injured the police said it was apparent she fell from the balcony or she was thrown off of the balcony she was transported to the hospital where she died the cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head and torso caused by the fall there was also evidence of manual strangulation the police said there was evidence of forced entry into the home and evidence of a struggle surveillance video revealed that the assailant was a white male dressed in black the police allege that this individual was gareth pursehouse purse house was arrested about a day later and charged with murder and first degree residential burglary he would plead not guilty on april 16 2020 at the time making this video he is awaiting trial now moving to my analysis there are a number of elements that really stand out in this case that i think have led to it being considered both unusual and significant i will talk about several here the first one is how amy harwick was a high profile figure she was not only a phd but an active psychotherapist in hollywood she had been a model at one point she was in playboy she was very active defending the rights of people in the adult film industry high profile figures often have stalkers this is not unusual but to have a stalker who works in a similar industry and happens to be at the same event is quite peculiar i don't know if purse house was simply working that night and the encounter was a coincidence or if he selected that event to work because he knew she would be there purse house had valid press credentials so he could select that location to take pictures if he wanted i think he probably did pick it because harwick was there but that's just a guess of course i don't know the next unusual item is the length of time between when purse house no longer had contact with harwick and when he allegedly murdered her about eight years had passed often stalkers will lose interest after that amount of time just because they get distracted or due to legal consequences purse house really didn't have any legal consequences and i guess he was not adequately distracted i suppose one possibility is that something reactivated his stalking behavior something brought back the pain of rejection the desire to be with harwick or both perhaps something before the red carpet event which explains why he was there or perhaps just running into her was enough if it was not planned perhaps it was almost like someone who was addicted to a substance like cocaine or heroin they stop using for several years then if they decide to use again a little bit of the substance can cause a strong reaction they don't have a tolerance for it anymore so if this was an unplanned encounter maybe he was just overwhelmed with all those feelings and it was just too much for him to process the next item has to do with the characteristics of gareth pursehouse running under the assumption for a moment that he's guilty which of course at the time making this video has not been established friends described pursehouse as hyper and a little peculiar but otherwise fairly normal and well adjusted his personality seemed to change after being rejected by harwick this is when he started exhibiting the stalking behavior which was a new behavior for him it would seem that he believed there was something special about his relationship with amy harwick like maybe they were destined to be together she was an ideal partner like a perfect love nobody else could function as a substitute purse house could have pursued any number of potential love interest but he became fixated on one it would seem he just couldn't stop thinking about her he couldn't stop imagining what a life with her would be like in an interview drew carey would say that purse house was mentally ill and abused as a child he didn't say it in a mean way he actually said it in the context of forgiving purse house for the alleged murder i'm guessing that drew carey heard that information from harwick who of course had first-hand experience with pursehouse but i don't know how the information was transmitted or if it's even true however one thing i did find interesting in terms of purse houses history was that his father who is now dead was accused of stalking apparently his father engaged in long-term pervasive stalking that was somewhat similar to purse house's alleged behavior perhaps purse house learned this behavior maybe it was something genetic a little bit of both there's no way to know for sure the last item in my analysis has to do with how harwick did everything she could to protect herself and yet was murdered harwick provided counseling to survivors of domestic violence giving them advice on how to stay safe she would provide them with hope for a better future try to give them the tools to adjust to the stress they had endured amy harwick did appear to follow her own advice she did everything correct in order to protect herself from purse house she obtained a restraining order she told her friends about her concerns with purse house she had a security system she had a gate according to the autopsy she fought back at her attacker on the night she died now of course there was the one hearing for the restraining order that she missed in 2011 but that might have been because she was afraid of purse house or maybe he promised to stop harassing her so she dropped it at that point she did of course file a restraining order the next year even with all the action she took to protect herself she was still murdered other than hiring armed guards buying a firearm and training with it or moving away it's hard to imagine what else she could have done those actions of course aren't for everybody not everybody can do those things and not everybody should for example with gun ownership and using a gun for self-defense not everybody is capable of safely handling a firearm and some people simply don't want to have to be put in that situation where they're going to use lethal force it's understandable and amy should not have been pushed to a point where she had to contemplate options like that she shouldn't have had to do all the things that she did do to protect herself as i mentioned she told someone she didn't know what to do there have been a number of people who have been looking for changes to the law in wake of harwick's murder perhaps having a clear set of instructions and protections for stalking victims would be a start no victim of stalking should ever have to tell somebody they don't know what to do to protect themselves the law should have a remedy for them the law should have a plan that victims could follow another problem in this situation is the nature of a stalker who turns to homicide the difficulty for the victim is they don't know when or if the stalker is going to strike being on the defense all the time is stressful tiring and drains resources being on the stalker side is relatively easy they can just live their lives until one day they decide to commit murder they get to choose the time and place of the attack this advantage makes the situation so lopsided against the victim many people have lost hope they take on this mentality that whenever the stalker chooses to kill they will simply do it what can be done to stop them closer supervision of stalkers and mandatory mental health care would be a good start but unfortunately there is no easy answer this is a tough problem that has been around for many years stalkers can roam with impunity and there are no consequences until they strike they make people nervous for a long period of time make them fearful stalkers get to exact a terrible revenge on their victims even if they don't choose to do something like homicide my final thoughts here amy harwick left a legacy of trying to help people trying to protect people her death stands as a reminder of the dangers of stalking how it is not an innocent consequence of unrequited love rather a destructive behavior that society cannot tolerate those are my thoughts on the case of amy harwick please put any opinions and thoughts in the comments section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be interesting thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 116,784

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Id: fyt8h2btbms

Length: 13min 24sec (804 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 02 2021