Watch CBS News

Amie Harwick murder brings renewed demands for stronger stalking, domestic violence laws

The Life and Death of Amie Harwick
The Life and Death of Amie Harwick 40:09

Produced  by James Stolz, Liza Finley, Paul La Rosa and Susan Mallie

[This story first aired on February 22, 2020. It was updated on August 22.]

In life, family therapist Amie Harwick devoted herself to helping others work through their personal struggles. Now, her shocking death is putting a spotlight on domestic violence.

In the early morning hours of February 15, Los Angeles police officers responding to a call of a "woman screaming" found the 38-year-old lying on the ground. She was battered and unresponsive lying beneath the third-floor balcony of her Hollywood home.

Amie's injuries were consistent with a fall and the coroner says there was also evidence of strangulation. An ex-boyfriend, Gareth Pursehouse, was arrested and charged with her murder. Authorities say he had been lying in wait for her. 

Amie had ended her relationship with Pursehouse years earlier. She had filed for restraining orders against him twice – detailing physical abuse. The last one expired in 2015.

But just last month, at a professional event, she had a chance encounter with him.  "She was afraid 'cause he had acted so crazy," said friend Robert Coshland. "She had always been afraid that he would – might do something violent."

Among those now grieving for Amie Harwick is her former fiancé, Drew Carey, who is calling for updated laws that will ensure the safety of victims, something Harwick was passionate about in her practice.

AMIE HARWICK'S LAST HOURS

On February 14, 2020, darkness descended over the famed Hollywood Hills — Valentine's Day was fading. Amie Harwick arrived home after a night out with friends.

Robert Coshland: We texted … I sent her my last text at probably 11:00 at night. She responded to me at, like 1:01 a.m.

Robert Coshland is Amie's best friend.

Robert Coshland: When I woke up around 7:30 or so there were two calls from her roommate to me — which seemed weird.

There was a message saying Amie had been assaulted.

Robert Coshland: I was trying to call and eventually I was sending texts. I sent her a text, "Are you OK?" … Finally, I heard from her roommate. … he called me and he's like, "You need to come to the police station."

Coshland soon learned that just minutes after he and Amie had been texting, an intruder attacked her. Investigators would later say she was strangled and thrown from her balcony. Amie would later die at a local hospital.

LOCAL NEWS REPORT: Police say Harwick, a famed Hollywood therapist, was killed … in what may have been a case of domestic violence.

Robert Coshland [emotional]: Her legacy — it's my new thing —is honoring her and making sure people know about her is my new goal — life goal.

Erin Moriarty: She was that special?

Robert Coshland: Yes.

Amie Harwick
Days before she was killed, Amie Harwick told friends she feared the ex-boyfriend who is now charged with her murder. Tara Simon

Amie Harwick seemed to have a natural feel for people and what they needed — even a helping hand.

Moushumi Ghose:  She was … super positive. … She was very fascinated with the field of psychology and mental health and she was really passionate about it, too.

So, in 2012, therapist Moushumi Ghose was only too happy to give Amie the internship that launched her career.

Moushumi Ghose: I was excited to have someone like Amie in the practice.

She specialized in relationships and sex therapy.

Moushumi Ghose: She was passionate about destigmatizing … the way we see sexuality. … She really wanted to normalize it.

And in no time, Amie had her own practice.

Moushumi Ghose: This girl had so much energy.

Erin Moriarty: I mean, that's incredible.

Moushumi Ghose: It was incredible. Yeah.

Amie even started up her own YouTube channel.

Robert Coshland: She was passionate about helping people that, like, sometimes get marginalized by society. … So, you know, sex workers in — in particular.

Hernando Chaves was one more therapist who saw Amie's passion up close.

Hernando Chaves: She was a helper. She was a healer.

But there were some things and some people that even Amie had trouble with.

His name is Gareth Pursehouse -- a wannabe comedian, software engineer and photographer. Back in 2011, Amie was dating him when Gareth allegedly turned abusive.

Robert Coshland: She told me about a time where, you know, they would get in, like, yelling fights. And one time she threw a pillow at him. And he — he hit her and — bashed her head against the floor.

Now it was Amie's turn to ask for help. And two separate times, beginning in June 2011, she went to court and requested a restraining order.

Erin Moriarty: What does that say about how much she feared?

Robert Coshland: Oh yeah, no — obviously she was very afraid of him.

Amie told authorities Pursehouse pushed her out of a car onto the side of a freeway, and in other incidents, choked and suffocated her. In 2012, he was ordered to stay away from Amie. The glamorous therapist went on with her life, her career, and her friends.

harwick-report.jpg
Two separate times, beginning in June 2011, Amie went to court and requested a restraining order against Gareth Pursehouse.  She reported that he pushed her out of a car onto the side of a freeway, and in other incidents, choked and suffocated her.

Robert Coshland: I went through a divorce from a very long-term relationship. And during that time, she was really there for me. That was something she did for her friends.

Amie refused to be defined by others — she was impossible to pigeonhole.

Ashley Williss: She was, you know, a doctor by day, and at night she would still dance.

Ashley Williss was a friend, too; a part of Amie's other life: that electric, wild Hollywood world. 

Ashley Williss: You were never bored around her.

Hernando Chaves: She would do a lot of performance art. And she learned how to do the batons. … And also lighting those batons on fire. And she actually would put the batons with fire in her mouth.

Amie Harwick
"You know, one day she's doing a performance breathing fire and the next day she's lecturing at Pepperdine," said friend Robert Coshland. Robert Coshland

Robert Coshland: She was a performer. She was a model. She was a talented photographer. … She had magic that few people possess … She was a superstar.

And it seemed inevitable that, at some point, another superstar would take note of Amie Harwick.

Robert Coshland: She met Drew. … Drew took her to Disneyland. … The next week Drew wanted to meet all her friends. … He told her, "Hey, you know, get — get your best friends together and we'll all go [cries]. It was a lotta fun.

Drew Carey, host of CBS' "The Price Is Right," would later announce that he and Amie were engaged.

Erin Moriarty: Did she love him?

Robert Coshland: Yeah.

Erin Moriarty: Did he love her?

Robert Coshland: Yeah. Very much.

Drew Carey and Amie Harwick
Drew Carey and Amie Harwick  Getty Images

 
But the romance wouldn't last. In November 2018, 10 months after Carey and Amie got engaged, they called it off.

Hernando Chaves: And I was very sad that the two of them didn't work out. … They both put in as much as they could into the relationship.

It was just over a year later, January 2020, that a chapter Amie Harwick thought was closed came back with a vengeance.

Hernando Chaves: We drove together. When we arrived, we went immediately to the red carpet.

Hernando Chaves: It was a celebration of the adult industry … And she was excited to go. … She had this black dress on. … She looked ravishing. … When she sees a camera, she turns into a model.

Then, out of nowhere, came a photographer seemingly covering the event. It was Gareth Pursehouse. The allegedly abusive one-time boyfriend approached Amie.

Hernando Chaves: He looked upset … agitated, distressed.

Erin Moriarty: Was she scared after that confrontation?

Hernando Chaves: She was.

Erin Moriarty: Scared of what?

Hernando Chaves: Scared of the what ifs.

Amie would later tell Coshland about Pursehouse's public meltdown.

Robert Coshland: He was yelling in her face saying, like – "You've ruined my life." And reciting text messages she had sent to him in 2012. And like, you know, created a giant scene.  … She was traumatized. … After that she was like, "I want to share my phone location with you." …  "If anything ever happens to me, you know it's him."

A month later, Amie Harwick was dead.

Robert Coshland: And they were like, you know, "Do you know who might have … done this?" And I was like, "Yeah, Gareth."

Erin Moriarty: You thought that immediately?

Robert Coshland: That was the only thing I thought.

WHO IS GARETH PURSEHOUSE?

Today, Gareth Pursehouse is known as the infamous alleged killer of sex therapist Amie Harwick but before Valentine's Day, he was an unknown 41-year-old software engineer with a goofy social media presence.

In an Instagram video he posted in 2019, Pursehouse jokes about a scene from the television series "Game of Thrones" where someone is thrown from a tower:

GARETH PURSEHOUSE [INSTAGRAM VIDEO]: OK," Game of Thrones." First season. The brother and sister are up in the castle … = and the brother has to go and throw the kid off to kill him. And even though it's evil - I feel kind of bad for the brother, because even though he doesn't want to do it, his sister incest-ed… [laughs] 

"48 Hours" showed that video to Kris Mohandie, a forensic psychologist who has written extensively about stalking.

Gareth Pursehouse Instagram video
"It's a bit disturbing that he's laughing about it … Given what we know now, it's almost prophetic …" Kris Mohandie says after watching an Instagram video posted by Gareth Pursehouse.

Erin Moriarty: What's your reaction to that?

Kris Mohandie: It's a bit disturbing that he's laughing about it … Given what we know now, it's almost prophetic …

In February 2020, Pursehouse was charged with murder lying in wait; in April, he pleaded not guilty.    

Kris Mohandie: This story is big not just in Los Angeles, but it's … a national story because there's so many variables here that people can identify with.

Erin Moriarty: From what you know about Amie's former boyfriend, was he a classic stalker?

Kris Mohandie: He's pretty typical  —  in terms of an intimate stalker. Lots of anger. Violence. Domestic violence. Threats. Property damage. It's all there.

And Amie spelled it all out in stark terms when she requested protection orders in 2011 and 2012. 

Erin Moriarty [to Kris Mohandie]: So, this is what she wrote:

"In April 2011, Gareth Pursehouse forced me to the ground, covered my mouth to prevent my yelling, kicked me.

"In mid-May, there were multiple arguments in which Gareth Pursehouse … choked me, suffocated me, pushed me against walls, kicked me, dropped me to the ground with forced force, restrained me, slammed my head into the ground, and punched me with a closed fist."

But that's a side that photographer Glenn Francis says he never saw. 

Glenn Francis: He's very handsome … he's very personable. And he's very smart. He's really smart. And all the girls like him … girls were very much attracted to him.

Francis met Pursehouse back in 2008 at a photo shoot for Bench Warmer trading cards. The cards feature attractive women, one of whom was Amie modeling under the name Amie Nicole.

Glenn Francis: She's one of the most finest people I've ever known in my life … she's just really — intelligent and wonderful to talk to and be around and — and, you know, all of that.

Francis says he knew Amie and Pursehouse were dating and had no idea there was any trouble. Neither did friend Rudy Torres, who knew the couple well. 

Rudy Torres: At the time … he was — he was loud … charming. A little goofy. Kinda dorky. He seemed like a pretty fun guy to be friends with. … They seemed like a pretty fun couple, and kinda nice to see, you know, friends get together.

But then Amie and Pursehouse broke up.

Rudy Torres: Gareth didn't take that very well at all. He would start to get obsessive.

Rudy Torres: He always wanted to know where she was at … he used to want me to be his go-between, which I did not wanna do. He'd always ask me to send her …  photos, send her links to sappy love songs. … And I used to tell him that's not a good idea … And he wouldn't take no for an answer.

And Amie believed that Pursehouse somehow had accessed her computer – sending nude photos of her to potential employers, costing her jobs, says her friend Robert Coshland.   

Robert Coshland: He was kinda, like, a hacker, a programmer. And I think he may have … installed something in her … computer.

Robert Coshland: So, I went into her house to look … at her computer. And it had been wiped … Windows was no longer installed on her computer. And I was like, "This is not something that, like, happens easily."

pursehouse-gareth.jpg
Gareth Pursehouse was arrested and charged with ex-girlfriend Amie Harwick's murder. Authorities say he had been lying in wait for her. 

Most everyone who knew Amie eventually heard about the ex-boyfriend Amie considered violent.

Erin Moriarty: Had you heard the name Gareth Pursehouse?

Danny Beck: Yes, I did … she had told me about the story sorta early — on that she was — that she had a stalker.

Danny Beck dated Amie after Drew Carey and Beck says Amie really opened up about her past following the encounter with Pursehouse at that awards ceremony.

Danny Beck: It was after she ran into him that she started to divulge a bit more information, but that he was violent. That he was obsessed with her.

Running into Amie likely sent Pursehouse into a frenzy, Mohandie says, given the irrational way he behaved when he saw her.

Robert Coshland: There's like a hundred people in this room and he's screaming. He's working the event. He's a big guy and he's screaming at her, sobbing -- falls to the ground in a fetal position wailing.

It was one month before the murder.

Kris Mohandie: These kinds of events usually have a trigger or a precipitating event that gets the person started again.

Erin Moriarty: Do you think it's significant that he entered the house, according to the indictment, on Valentine's Day?

Kris Mohandie: You can't ignore the Valentine's Day occurrence … The selection of day that this violence is going to happen, that there's going to be a confrontation being Valentine's Day, I do not think that is an accident.

Certainly, Amie took note of Valentine's Day. In her very last Instagram post, she mentioned couples feeling overwhelmed because they're in "unhealthy relationships."

It was something she knew all about, and the way she died has resonated with stalking victims everywhere.

Kris Mohandie: Other people that have been victimized and survived these experiences see what happens to Amie and say, "That could have been me."

OUT OF THE SHADOWS

News of Amie Harwick's death, allegedly at the hands of her stalker, hit Peggy in the gut. 

Peggy: I couldn't stop shaking. I was sick to my stomach. I did not leave my house all day.

It was just as terrifying for Katherine.

Katherine: You can't stop crazy … you may think that you've created a safety bubble for yourself … but you can't stop crazy 'cause if they want to harm you, they will.

Like Amie, Katherine and Peggy – we agreed to use their first names only — both were stalked by former intimate partners. But, oftentimes, it takes a high-profile case like this one to bring attention to the Katherine and Peggy's of the world, says forensic psychologist Kris Mohandie.

Kris Mohandie: This is going on every single day in America. There are anonymous victims who are being killed by their stalkers who were ex-boyfriends, ex-girlfriends … She is a symbol of all the people that we don't hear about that are happening every single day in our country.

"48 Hours" first met Katherine and Peggy in 2017. They were determined to take the crime of stalking out of the shadows, speaking publicly about their own terrifying experiences despite the risk.

Katherine: I kept everything very small and very quiet. And it didn't protect me.

Erin Moriarty: Are you concerned at all about talking to me? That you could anger him?

Peggy: I think that it doesn't matter what I do. I think that he's gonna do what he's gonna do no matter what I do.

Peggy – an accomplished attorney and single mom – says her stalker has affected everything about her life.

Peggy: I don't vote. I don't have Facebook. I don't have Twitter.

Peggy: I can't be like a normal mom and post pictures of my son on my Facebook page. When I say, "I can't," I mean I'm in fear to do that.

Peggy: He destroyed everything.

peggy-fear.jpg
Peggy says news of Amie Harwick's death, allegedly at the hands of her stalker, hit her in the gut. "I know what it's like seeing that kinda terror. And I can't imagine what she was feeling." CBS News

It all started with a simple date with a seemingly nice guy Peggy met online after her divorce.

Peggy: We had a good time … I think we dated for maybe about 5 months.

Peggy says he broke things off in 2013. She moved on, but several months later, Peggy says she received threatening emails from him. The most damning: a death threat that still gives her nightmares.

Peggy: That he is going to come up behind me when I least expect it and shoot me in the head.

Before that, he had showed up uninvited to where Peggy was living at the time.

Peggy: I hear someone coming in the house. And he's standing in my living room. … And he starts yelling at me.

He left after his rant, but a scared Peggy got a restraining order. Still, it didn't stop his reign of terror. Peggy says he branded the word "whore" on her lawn.

Peggy: It was so horrific to have to explain to my neighbors … And then I tried to put some [cries] green paint on it and it made it stick out more.

He also left menacing voicemail messages:

I am going to dedicate my whole f---ing life to wrecking yours.

And when she thought things couldn't get any worse—they did. Peggy says she saw her stalker run from her home, just as she heard a loud crash.

Peggy: He had thrown two cans of red house paint directly … through the windows with such force. … There was glass everywhere. There was paint all — red paint all over my son's toys.

Peggy contacted the police thinking it would lead to an arrest.

Peggy: And he said, "You know what, I don't believe you." And I — I said, "You — what don't you believe? Do you not believe that he threw paint through my — that he did this? You think I did this myself?" … And I said, "You ha — you are mandated by law to write this up as a violation of my restraining order and to pick him up." … And they did nothing. They — they gave me a report and they left the house.

Erin Moriarty: What is going on there?

Peggy: Unless you are physically harmed, you know, they wait … and they reinforced this feeling that no one was gonna help me.

stalkign-generic-gettyimages-1084922954-1.jpg
Are you being stalked? Learn more about the signs of stalking and how to help yourself or someone you know who may be in danger from the National Center for the Victims of Crime. 

That was until her stalker started vandalizing other women's property, as well. Now, with multiple victims, the LAPD Specialized Threat Management Unit got involved.

Peggy: They were astounded at what had happened. That nobody had done anything.

Peggy's stalker was finally arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison. But after just 2 years, he was released on parole. Nine months later, she got an email with an attachment: a screenplay.

Peggy: This is a complete articulation of every moment of my relationship with him and everything he did to me.

The names were slightly changed, but It was all there: the throwing of paint, the writing in the grass.

Erin Moriarty: I mean, this is a confession.

Peggy: Yes. 

And even worse, new threats.

Erin Moriarty: What were the worst threats?

Peggy: One was that he … he had dug a hole in the desert and he was going to bury me in the desert …

Peggy: And a number of his threats have been about … killing me and everybody that I know.

Peggy immediately sent the screenplay to police. This time they were able to charge him with making criminal threats. In February 2020, Peggy had to face him at a court hearing.

Erin Moriarty: You had not seen the man for 6 years.

Peggy: No. … When I finally was able to look at him, he was unrecognizable. He looked like the monster he is. … And just him trying to look at me, I guess I don't think that most people feel that kind of fear in their life ever.

With Amie Harwick's death, it has become even more terrifying.  

Erin Moriarty: What was the very first thought? 

Peggy: That's me. I'm dead.

Erin Moriarty: That's what you thought?

Peggy: That's what I thought

Erin Moriarty: Why?

Peggy: Because I know he won't stop.

UNDER THREAT

Since 2015, Katherine has tried to put her stalker out of her mind. But he's always there somewhere.

Katherine: There's always a sort of low energy of panic. And — and it just takes the right little microcosm of events to kinda set it off.

Erin Moriarty: Like Amie's death.

Katherine: Like Amie's death, without a doubt.

A frightening reminder, says the Los Angeles artist, that the passage of time offers no protection.  

Katherine: The thing that really just stuck out was that there was that quiet period. … She had a restraining order. It kind of went dark. She went on and created this amazing life for herself. … And had a chance encounter with him after her order had expired that just set him off.

Amie's death took Katherine back to her own private hell, to her own stalker — ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Gouda.

katherine.jpg
Amie's death took Katherine back to her own private hell, to her own stalker -- an ex-boyfriend -- and his campaign of revenge. CBS News

Katherine: Somebody asked him one time, "Why are you doing this? Why? Why are you persisting with this?" "Revenge. She ruined my life. I want to ruin hers."

When "48 Hours" first spoke with Katherine, she told us that Gouda's campaign of revenge started after a vicious fight in 2015.

Katherine: He just — he got furious with me. And I just got the hell out of there as fast as I could. … And that's when I was like I'm out of here, "I — this — he needs to be out of my life."

Erin Moriarty: And how did he accept that breakup?

Katherine: He never accepted that breakup.

Katherine got a restraining order but found it of little use.  The order required him to stay 100 yards away from her, but he found a way around that.

Katherine: He would actually park his car at 105 yards and camp out.

Katherine: He was sleeping in his car. He was living out of his car at the end of my street.

Erin Moriarty: For how long?

Katherine: That went on for … least a good 4-to-6 weeks maybe.

After that he would, somehow, find her no matter where in Los Angeles Katherine was — from art exhibits to restaurants.

Katherine: I look out the window and all of a sudden, I see his car. And — his car is, like, circling the restaurant.

Det. Eric Reade: Based on all the times she said she had been runnin' into him, it was just too coincidental.

Then, LAPD's Threat Management Unit took over. While Supervisor Detective Eric Reade worked the case with his team, Katherine tried to make sense of it all.

Katherine: It's one thing when he's in my neighborhood. But now it's been Chinatown and downtown and Studio City. Like, how is — there has to be something on my car.

And there was. Katherine discovered a GPS tracking device inside the bumper, and detectives found another in the trunk.

Katherine: The tracker was underneath … in between the metal and carpet. … That meant that he was breaking and entering into my car.

Katherine: That was terrifying.

Erin Moriarty: Why was he doing this?

Katherine: I think it's motivated by — there's this part of him that can't let go, that just can't let go.

LAPD arrested Gouda and charged him with, among other things, felony stalking.

Det. Eric Reade: It was because the pattern of behavior. …  that she was in sustained fear, for one. Secondly, he was willfully, mercilessly harassing her all the time. And the fact that he was placing devices on her car to know where she was at all times.

Gouda pleaded guilty to felony stalking and was sentenced to 5 years of probation. Katherine was issued a 10-year criminal order of protection.

Erin Moriarty: So, has it ended the problem?

Katherine: No.  … Even when I know there's absolutely no way that he can be anywhere near me, I'm still looking at every single car that follows me for more than 30 seconds.

Since "48 Hours"' last conversation, Katherine says she found some comfort when Gouda requested to serve his probation almost 3,000 miles away in Florida, close to his family.

Katherine: There was a chance that he would be in Florida for years and get the help and hopefully move on.  … And it was quiet for 8 months. I had just gotten to the point where I could walk my dog and not have a panic attack in my neighborhood.

But then that quiet was shattered one day when she was supposed to go to an event.

Katherine:  Somebody called me and said, "Do not go. Do not come to L.A. Gouda is here. He's in California."

Katherine says he didn't have permission to be in L.A. and she called the police.

Katherine: He basically got off with a slap on the wrist and sent back to Florida and with no violation.

Jeffrey Gouda's probation will expire in October of 2021.

Erin Moriarty What are your fears for October 2021? What are your biggest fears?

Katherine: That he's gonna move back to California and that he's gonna start the stalking again. And he's gonna turn up at some event. … And for me, it'll be back to water torture of the slow, just picking away at you. And — and in every possible way until your fear overtakes you.

For women like Katherine and Peggy, it's the fear of being the next Amie Harwick.

Peggy: The amount of — empathy I feel for her, I know what it's like seeing that kinda terror. And I can't imagine what she was feeling. She's a beautiful girl.

FIGHTING FOR CHANGE

AMIE HARWICK | YOUTUBE: Hi. This is Dr. Amie Harwick, licensed family and marriage therapist, and in this video we are going to talk about relationship jealousy … Typically when people feel jealous, their first instinct is to grab on to their partner … Jealousy can become dangerous. There is a difference between jealous feelings and jealous behaviors.

Amie Harwick YouTube video
"She has this deep sort of compassion and empathy that I think is present with those that are ... struggling or suffering," said friend and therapist Hernando Chaves. "She was a helper. She was a healer."

Amie Harwick had no way of knowing the advice she so lovingly offered others would foreshadow her own shocking death.

AMIE HARWICK | YOUTUBE: Safety is important … If we don't feel safe in our homes, in our neighborhoods. If we feel that we could be emotionally or physically attacked at any time. Maybe we are being stalked …

Erin Moriarty: Is it also possible that even as knowledgeable as Amie was … that you sometimes underestimate the danger —

Moushumi Ghose: One hundred percent … you … wanna believe that people aren't capable of doing something so terrible.

Amie's friend and mentor Moushumi Ghose.

Moushumi Ghose: A violent person is a violent person. And they can retaliate at any time.

Erin Moriarty: If there's a woman right now who's dealing with stalking, what would you tell her to do?

Kris Mohandie: The most important thing to do is to get a safety plan in place, which includes notifying law enforcement of what's happening, making police reports.

Kris Mohandie says saving threats – like texts or emails – is imperative.

Kris Mohandie: As offensive as the material might be, you need to hold on to it because that's gonna be what you hand over to law enforcement.

Also crucial: speaking up.

Kris Mohandie: They need to tell people that are part of their support system and they need to break the isolation that empowers the offender to continue victimizing them.

Jessica Everleth is a true-crime TV executive producer. She worked with Amie and says she did take a lot of those precautions, but they weren't enough.

Jessica Everleth: She blocked her stalker online. She had the two restraining orders. … She had a home with —a security gate, security cameras. … She did everything right. … So how could something like this happen?

Just days after Amie's death, the question of what legacy she leaves has already begun to get its answer.

Drew Carey, who described himself as overcome with grief, has endorsed online petition dubbed "Justice 4 Amie." it's addressed to Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, and California Governor Gavin Newsom, among others, and calls for sweeping changes in domestic violence legislation.

Jessica Everleth: We'd like to have the laws changed, to lower the threshold of what constitutes felony stalking — we'd have some sort of legislation, a bill, a law in Amie's name and honor.

Jessica Everleth: We can't just have this martyr who died for this cause. We actually have to do something about this.

Amie Harwick
Amie Harwick's friends are calling for updated stalking laws that will ensure the safety of victims, something Harwick was passionate about in her practice. Earl Fulcher

proitecThe petition calls for a national stalker's registry, similar to the kind that already exists for sex offenders. Therapist Hernando Chaves says there has to be change, so that no more women suffer Amie's fate.

Erin Moriarty: Do you feel she was let down by the system? That — that it wasn't there to protect her?

Hernando Chaves: I would expand that to the entire system, to our system of laws, our system of law enforcement. … I think our system needs more preventative efforts. … Not reactionary efforts that are happening after crimes or after actions and behaviors have been done.

Kris Mohandie: We really need to rethink the length of things like restraining orders — mandatory treatment or, you know, check-ins with probation officers or parole officers. A lot of things that people might say are a violation of rights. But the ultimate civil right is the right to be alive.

Gareth Pursehouse stands accused of denying Amie that ultimate civil right, leaving those who loved her to protect how she's remembered.

Hernando Chaves: What I was reading … was about Drew Carey's fiancée. It was about the celebrity sex therapist. … . You know, one of my closest friends has just had her life taken from her. And she was so much more than those headlines. … I hope the narrative will shift to domestic violence … to stalking, to how our laws are failing people.

AMIE HARWICK | YOUTUBE: Be positive, be fun to be around, be a happy person.

Robert Coshland says his best friend showed him how to be brave.

Robert Coshland: You can't live your life in fear. … If you wanna live in fear, you're giving that person control over you. And that's not who she was. She was her own person and she was gonna control her own destiny and to never give him that power. Ever.

Erin Moriarty: What will you miss about her the most? Is there one thing?

Robert Coshland: Her. Just her. Her, you know, sittin' next to me. You know, I hear her voice in my head every day. … She was a superstar.

Amie's parents, Penny and Tom Harwick, provided this statement to "48 Hours:"

"We are heartbroken. We lost a daughter, but the world lost one incredible woman. We would like to thank Amie's amazing friends for all of their support. We consider them our family."

RESOURCES

Are you being stalked? Learn more about the signs of stalking and how to help yourself or someone you know who may be in danger from the National Center for the Victims of Crime. 

What to do if you are being stalked: Kris Mohandie, a stalking expert and police psychologist, explains the four common categories of stalkers and offers guidance on some practical steps for those who think they may be being stalked. 

Stalking Resource Center from the National Center for the Victims of Crime

Victim Connect : (800) 855-2846

National Domestic Violence Hotline: (800} 799-7233

If you're in Los Angeles and need help: Email the LAPD's Specialized Threat Management Unit

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.