CRIME HUNTER: Sex therapist’s alleged killer could face death penalty

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Hollywood sex therapist Dr. Amie Harwick was going places.

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She had an A-list clientele, a bestseller, a massive profile in the media, podcasts and her own YouTube channel.

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But the 38-year-old had something else: A vindictive ex-boyfriend who had slithered back — unwanted — into her life. Yet, the Pennsylvania-born PhD remained a romantic.

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

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Her 2014 book, The New Sex Bible for Women, was a game changer. The torrid tome covered masturbation, oral sex, self-esteem and self-care, sex positions, safety and concerns, and sex aides.

In January 2018, she became engaged to funnyman Drew Carey. The duo had been dating for two years but broke things off later that year and remained friendly.

On Feb. 14, 2020 — ironically, Valentine’s Day — she went to a burlesque show with pals.

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

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Minutes after sending a final text to a friend, she was attacked as she prepped for sleep in her third-floor bedroom. Unaware, her roomie slept on the main floor.

And then her roommate heard Harwick screaming. He couldn’t find his phone, so he ran across the street for help.

When cops arrived, Harwick was barely breathing on the ground where she had fallen. She had severe injuries to her neck 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 was on the ground. For the killer, this was very personal indeed.

Her roommate told cops he had heard a noise earlier in the evening but blew it off.

An autopsy ruled the doctor died from manual strangulation and blunt force trauma. Investigators began scouring 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 dated nine years before and it didn’t end well. Harwick had filed two protective orders against her onetime beau.

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

He warned: “Things will get worse.”

And then, he cooled it and Harwick hadn’t seen him in years. But a month before the slaying, she ran into Pursehouse at an event she was photographing and that allegedly renewed his sick obsession.

In court, it was revealed that he allegedly called Harwick a “bitch” at the fateful event, claiming she had ruined his life.

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The trial is slated to kick-off Tuesday but prosecutors claim DNA will make it game, set and match. A syringe found at the crime scene allegedly contained the same liquid as one in the accused killer’s home — a lethal dose of nicotine.

Pursehouse is charged with capital murder and robbery. Because he was allegedly lying in wait, he’s eligible to get the big adios in the green room at San Quentin if convicted.

COLD CASE COPS SAY HUBBY KILLED LADY OF THE DUNES

She died in Cape Cod’s sandy dunes in July 1974. A little girl found her naked, battered body.

The victim’s hands had been severed to thwart identification and she had nearly been decapitated.

For decades, her identity was a mystery vexing amateur and professional sleuths 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 1970s summer?

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Jane Doe became known as the Lady of the Dunes.

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

Now, detectives have determined that her husband was her killer who they zeroed in on after she was identified.

Guy Rockwell Muldavin married Terry several 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 he will never face justice on this earthly plain: Muldavin died in 2002.

State Police learned the pair travelled to Tennessee to visit her family after they got hitched.

“When Mr. Muldavin returned from that trip, he was driving what was believed to be Ms. Terry’s vehicle and indicated to witnesses that Ms. Terry had passed away,” 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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