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

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. … 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. 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 seemed to have a natural feel for people and what they needed — even a helping hand.Moushumi Ghose:  She was … super positive. … 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. 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. 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. … 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.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 last year, 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. 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. … 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. … 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. 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. 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."News of Amie Harwick's death, allegedly at the hands of her stalker, hit Peggy in the gut. 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. 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 three years ago. When I say, "I can't," I mean I'm in fear to do that.Peggy: He destroyed everything.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. 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.That was until her stalker started vandalizing other women's property, as well. … 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. 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. … 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. 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. 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. … 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. … 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.