CRIME HUNTER: The alleged murderer of a sex therapist faces the death penalty

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Hollywood sex therapist Dr. Amie Harwick was out.

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She had a top clientele, a bestseller, a big media profile, podcasts and her own YouTube channel.

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But the 38-year-old had something else: a vengeful ex-boyfriend who had – unintentionally – snuck back into her life. Nevertheless, the Pennsylvania-born doctoral student remained a romantic.

Two days before Valentine’s Day 2020, Harwick wrote on Instagram, “Let’s stop falling in love and start working together in love.” Let’s remember how much control we actually have over the partners we choose and how we moving forward in our romantic relationships.”

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Her 2014 book, The new sex bible for women, was a game changer. The hot tome covered masturbation, oral sex, self-esteem and self-care, sex positions, safety and concerns, and sex aids.

In January 2018, she got engaged to comedian Drew Carey. The duo had been together for two years but split later that year and remained on friendly terms.

On February 14, 2020 – ironically on Valentine’s Day – she went to a burlesque show with friends.

According to 48 Hours, the raven-haired beauty wore a pink dress and a necklace with a rosary and a cross on it. She was home shortly after midnight.

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Minutes after sending a final text message to a friend, she was attacked as she got ready to sleep in her third-floor bedroom. Without realizing it, her roommate was sleeping on the ground floor.

And then her roommate heard Harwick screaming. He couldn’t find his phone and ran across the street to get help.

When police arrived, Harwick was barely on the ground where she had fallen. She suffered serious neck injuries and was pronounced dead in hospital just before 3:30 a.m

At the crime scene, her bedroom was covered in blood and her torn dress lay on the floor. For the murderer this was very personal indeed.

Her roommate told police he heard a noise earlier that evening but ignored it.

An autopsy revealed the doctor died as a result of manual strangulation and blunt force trauma. Investigators began examining every aspect of the dead woman’s life.

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And 15 hours after the 911 call, they had the name of a suspect: Gareth Pursehouse.

Harwick and Pursehouse had been together nine years ago and it didn’t end well. Harwick had filed two protection orders against her former boyfriend.

Pursehouse was obsessed. He broke into her apartment, sent her gifts she didn’t want, and played Tom Peeping Tom outside her window. And he had been violent, telling the doctor she had “made him so angry”.

He warned: “It will get worse.”

And then he cooled down and Harwick hadn’t seen him in years. But a month before the murder she met Pursehouse at an event she was photographing, and that is said to have renewed his sick obsession.

It was revealed in court that he had allegedly called Harwick a “bitch” during the fateful event and claimed she had ruined his life.

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The trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday, but prosecutors claim DNA will survive anything. A syringe found at the crime scene allegedly contained the same liquid as one found in the accused killer’s home – a lethal dose of nicotine.

Pursehouse is charged with murder and robbery. Since he was supposedly lying in wait, if he is convicted he will be entitled to the great accolades in the green room at San Quentin.

COLD CASE COPS SAY HUSBAND KILLED DUNE WOMAN

She died in the sand dunes of Cape Cod in July 1974. A little girl found her naked, battered body.

The victim’s hands had been severed to prevent identification and he was nearly decapitated.

Her identity was a mystery for decades, baffling amateur and professional detectives alike. Was it a serial killer? Was she a transient? And was she an extra in the mega-blockbuster Jaws, filming nearby during that golden summer of the 1970s?

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Jane Doe became known as the “Lady of the Dunes.”

In October, investigators finally identified her as Ruth Marie Terry of Tennessee, who was 37 at the time of her murder. Police said she died of blunt force trauma to the skull.

Now investigators have discovered that her husband was her killer, whom they targeted after being identified.

Guy Rockwell Muldavin married Terry a few months before her murder. He was also the prime suspect in the double murder of his ex-wife and stepdaughter in Seattle in the 1960s.

But justice will never be served on this earthly plane: Muldavin died in 2002.

State police learned that after the couple got married, they traveled to Tennessee to visit family.

“When Mr. Muldavin returned from that trip, he was believed to be driving Ms. Terry’s vehicle and indicated to witnesses that Ms. Terry was deceased,” District Attorney Robert Galibois said in a statement. “MS. Terry was never seen by her family again.”

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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