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(LOS ANGELES) — Following the murder of Dr. Amie Harwick, police have identified the suspect as ex-boyfriend Garth Pursehouse. Now facing murder charges, Pursehouse possibly faces the death penalty.
Deadline reports that the 38-year-old Harwick, who was once engaged to The Price Is Right host Drew Carey, died on February 15 after Pursehouse entered her apartment. The cause of death, which has since been ruled a homicide, is said to be from blunt force trauma of the head and torso following a fall from a third-floor balcony.
Pursehouse was initially released on Sunday after posting two million dollars bail, but was later re-arrested by LAPD on Wednesday and will be arraigned today.
Police have since charged him with murder along with first-degree residential burglary. If convicted, Pursehouse faces the death penalty, as capital punishment has not been outlawed in California.
However, it is more likely he faces life in prison because California’s Governor Gavin Newsrom opposes capital punishment and halted executions last March.
As previously reported, Harwick, a family and sex therapist, “recently expressed fear about a former boyfriend” whom she had filed a restraining order against, according to police.
The restraining order had since expired against the 41-year-old Pursehouse.
On February 15, authorities responding to the victim’s home found possible evidence of a struggle as well as evidence of an intruder going into Harwick’s home and leaving after the crime.
Carey reacted to Harwick’s murder on Monday, writing in a public statement “I am overcome with grief,” and that “she was a positive force in the world.”
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