00:00:02
[Music] I don't think the grieving ever ends it evolves we've been wanting to tell Amy's
00:00:23
story and just felt like we weren't ready before but now we feel like we can do it
00:00:31
was so proud of her and what she's accomplished oh my goodness fire eater dancer
00:00:42
photographer model therapist she wanted to fix people you might want to speak to this woman Dr Amy
00:00:53
haror as a licensed marriage and family therapist I see all kinds of different things you anxiety depression change of
00:00:59
life stuff break UPS moves things like that Amy helped me so much I had gone to see Amy because I had dealt with a
00:01:09
relationship that got very out of control and turned into a very serious stalking case jealousy can become
00:01:17
dangerous even lead to violence it can lead to death I want 434 yeah somebody just
00:01:27
attacked my roommate please get a cop here I just was woken up by screaming like blood curdling scream and and then
00:01:37
I realized that the screaming wasn't stopping or slowing down and I yelled up you know Amy and I heard choking right
00:01:45
after that I knew we were in trouble this is for real this is really happening I knew we needed help like I'm
00:01:52
going to have to make a break for it when the First Responders first got that call
00:02:00
where did they go they came right here to this house Hey sir hi I can help you my roommate was attacked I know it I I
00:02:08
heard it she's screaming she was thrown to the ground okay hold on okay Michael Herman was out here he's frantic he's
00:02:15
nervous they didn't know what to think of this guy right right they had no idea of who he was why he was involved in all
00:02:22
this they knew he was rambling on they had some doubts about him originally I think there okay sir do me a favor do me
00:02:28
a favor calm down calm down other than your roommate is there anybody else inside the house I don't know I don't
00:02:33
know thanks and I'm walking them around to the back of the house and it's dark back there there's
00:02:42
some light but it's pretty dark back there and when they get around to the back now they can see a body on the on
00:02:48
the ground sir sir come here I remember not knowing what I was seeing you know after
00:02:56
was realizing it was Amy really really what hit me was the way that she was killed so heartbreaking
00:03:05
that her of all people had to be taken in the way that she was I said I know who did it I just knew
00:03:13
it I was the only person she was afraid of it's the only one she was ever afraid
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of [Music] [Music] take a seat take a seat oh my God hey we need we need to this what
00:04:14
happened to you in the early morning darkness of February 15 2020 police body cameras were recording as Amy Harwick
00:04:22
barely clinging to life outside of her Hollywood Hills Home was taken to a hospital if she said anything in the
00:04:31
hospital need to know that as EMTs tried to save Amy officers from the Los Angeles Police Department tried to make
00:04:39
sense of the scene Amy's roommate Michael Herman appeared to be the only witness he told officers an intruder had
00:04:48
attacked Amy I swear to you that was a struggle I heard but is there any sign of the Intruder there wasn't there
00:04:57
wasn't Scott masteron was was the lead detective all we knew when we showed up was that a female was found on the
00:05:06
ground in the back of the house we're wide open to what really went on even open to the possibility that this wasn't
00:05:14
foul play at all when officers searched the three-story house they found Amy's purse jacket and broken necklace on the
00:05:23
floor not exactly telltale signs of a crime and a discovery on Amy's balcony made them wonder if this could have been
00:05:32
an accident or even suicide on the deck of the balcony we found a medium siiz syringe and it was loaded with a
00:05:42
yellowish Brown substance yeah it's heroin when the officers first saw that they thought what was this some kind of
00:05:50
drug deal or exactly or maybe she was using drugs and fell over they they didn't know sir do you know her history
00:05:58
of drug use no she's sober she don't drink it she didn't even drink she doesn't drink she doesn't even drink
00:06:03
she's sober and when I first saw it I said that's not heroin not heroin but he didn't know what it was but what did you
00:06:11
think wasn't that odd very odd very strange and very strange to investigators says Masterson was that
00:06:20
Michael had blood on his shirt and although he said he was a roommate he didn't have his keys to the house when
00:06:27
First Responders arrived they don't know if he's part of the problem part of the
00:06:34
solution so you know they're thinking was he in a fight with her that was not true Michael Herman is
00:06:42
telling his story publicly for the first time about the events on the night of Valentine's Day 2020 and into the early
00:06:51
hours of the next day the word nightmare isn't even a big enough word is it no no
00:06:58
Amy had gone out with friend and Michael was in his downstairs bedroom I've been mostly nodding on and
00:07:05
off I remember what sounded like a plate drop and being woken up by it thinking it was Amy's cat he says he
00:07:13
fell back asleep he later woke up to Amy returning home and that blood curdling scream he then heard what sounded like
00:07:22
Amy being thrown to the floor and later choked the sound made you feel that there was someone up with her I knew I
00:07:30
knew for a fact there was somebody up there after that I'm trying to listen you don't know for sure what's going on
00:07:36
was he acting alone was there more than one person I just start rushing to look for my
00:07:42
phone but Michael says he couldn't find his phone he then started yelling to scare the Intruder I remember thinking
00:07:50
like this is so much worse than any horror movie I've ever seen you're realizing that to save her like you've
00:07:56
got to make the decision to leave her it was such a hard decision Michael fled the house to get
00:08:04
help but when he got to the front gate it was locked he climbed over a fence cutting himself on spiked rods
00:08:12
frantically he ran to the next door neighbor's house that neighbor's surveillance camera shows Michael
00:08:19
knocking on the door but no one answers I just kind of panic you know feeling like a a lot of time had already passed
00:08:27
he then ran into someone on theet Street and use their phone to call 911 you guys need to get a a cop here
00:08:35
quick sir the officers are on the way after spending hours at the scene investigators found something in the
00:08:44
light of day that they had missed before a broken window from a French door on the ground floor with blood nearby and
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so as soon as we saw that okay this is our point of entry we have a crime here somebody broke into this house and did
00:09:01
this so this was the first piece of evidence that said to you Mike Herman might be telling you the truth correct
00:09:09
correct later at the Hollywood Police Station Michael told Masterson about the person he believed was responsible told
00:09:17
them she had an ex-boyfriend that she had had a restraining order against um that had expired I don't know his name
00:09:23
but Robert would know his name Robert is Robert kin one of Amy's closest friends we first spoke to Robert
00:09:32
in 2020 he told us what he told police they were like do you know do you know who might have you know could have done
00:09:39
this and I was like yeah Gareth Gareth pers house an old boyfriend whom Amy had had a troubled
00:09:48
relationship with when they dated almost 10 years earlier I was like you need to
00:09:53
go find this guy right away masteron then broke the news to Robert and Micha Amy had died at the hospital she was 38
00:10:03
years old how difficult was it to hear that Amy didn't make it it's still difficult to
00:10:11
hear as investigators worked to find Amy's ex-boyfriend they also tried to find Amy's parents Penny and Tom Harwick
00:10:20
in Pennsylvania the Harwick remember getting ready for bed when there was a knock at the door it was the local
00:10:28
police and he said Amy's been murdered it it's it's a blur right now I I don't know how to describe it
00:10:45
just devastated Penny and Tom's life with Amy began when they adopted her as an 11
00:10:53
month old baby do you remember the first time you saw your little girl oh absolutely remember kind of like a fairy
00:11:01
tale it's like here's this beautiful little girl sitting there she's going to come home with us and and be our
00:11:08
daughter it was wonderful and believe it or not she had a headful of curls and her hair was honey colored by the time
00:11:15
she was four it was so dark around that same time the Harwick adopted their son Chris and she was okay with it for a
00:11:24
couple of weeks and then she said well when is he going back and I said well he's not he's your
00:11:31
brother he's going to be here forever how would you describe your sister Amy was a very interesting uh
00:11:40
character she was into heavy metal into rock music going to concerts and Amy got
00:11:45
her parents in on the action too she turned Penny into metalheads her headers seriously seriously she would
00:11:55
always manage to get either backstage or to meet the perform perers that's just who she
00:12:02
was After High School Amy met Tommy Decker a drummer from La at a local concert the two began dating long
00:12:12
distance and then she said I want to move out there I want to move out to LA in 2001 she headed west she was 20 years
00:12:21
old she needed to find out who she was she needed to do that for herself soon the couple t died the not
00:12:30
but after a three-year marriage Tommy and Amy divorced it wasn't until 2009 that Amy
00:12:37
would go on to meet carth pous the man police suspected had killed her and whom they were Now searching
00:12:56
for heartbreak for a local neighborhood after a well-known therapist was killed at her Hollywood Hills
00:13:04
Home people have left flowers here for Amy Harwick and her friends and family are hoping for
00:13:12
justice I was very confident that you know carth pers house was our guy within 13 hours of Amy harwick's
00:13:20
death on February 15 2020 police descended on Gareth P House's Beachside neighborhood to arrest him
00:13:30
you could tell he was playing the old what's this about why do you want to talk who uh oh yeah I know Amy sure yeah
00:13:37
he basically was saying I've been at home detectives weren't buying that story or the explanation P house gave
00:13:47
for what appeared to be a fresh black eye he blamed a home renovation I said I think you better get a contractor if you
00:13:55
get a hold of a power tool you're going to be in real trouble P house was charged with Amy's murder on
00:14:02
February 19th 2020 and detectives were learning about his troubled pass beginning not long after he and Amy
00:14:10
began dating in 2009 they seemed like a pretty fun couple and kind of nice to see you know friends get together when
00:14:18
we first spoke to Rudy Torres in 2020 he talked about how the couple met Amy them
00:14:24
working as a model and Dancer would often run into purse house an event photographer at flashy La parties if you
00:14:32
would meet him you would think he's Charming little goofy kind of dorky he wasn't a musician like she normally dat
00:14:41
no no and she was trying to break the Habit her house was also a computer expert and an aspiring comedian here he
00:14:50
is one more time for Gareth everybody come on I bad news for the entertainers over there the best day of your career
00:14:56
is going to be the days after you die but oddly says was Amy's mother Penny her daughter didn't share much else
00:15:02
about him and why do you think that is well maybe she was already feeling like he wasn't who she thought he
00:15:12
was and Penny says her daughter never shared how volatile the 2-year relationship had become she had gone
00:15:20
through quite a bit with Gareth there was there was a number of police reports that were made detectives learned that
00:15:27
Amy had called police to report several violent incidents over the years she said that on multiple occasions Gareth
00:15:35
pers house had choked suffocated and punched her with a closed Fist and she even documented her injuries with these
00:15:46
photos but Amy's Father Tom says Amy didn't share just how bad things had gotten she didn't go into details do you
00:15:55
think she just wanted to protect the two of you yes yes after after Amy ended the
00:16:00
relationship she took steps to protect herself obtaining a restraining order against P house in 2012 but while she
00:16:09
was trying to distance herself from him Rudy says pers house could not let her go he always wanted to get a hold of her
00:16:18
and I used to tell him that he should just leave her alone and he wouldn't take no for an answer and then he cut me
00:16:25
off in the years after their breakup Amy told her parents that her home was broken into on one occasion strangely
00:16:34
the only things taken were personal photos and on another her computer was wiped clean and did she think it was
00:16:43
Gareth she did oh yes but no way of proving no way of proving anything of course we were worried but then we also
00:16:50
felt like well she's done with him it's over and it was never [Music] over and says Amy was thriving getting a
00:17:01
degree to become a licensed therapist hi this is Dr Amy Harwick licensed marriage
00:17:06
and family therapist Amy posted therapy videos on her social media Rel you can seek therapy to address an issue like
00:17:14
depression anxiety a breakup you can also seek therapy to be a better you but even as Amy focused on helping others
00:17:22
she couldn't quite shake the Shadows from her past she lost a job as a youth counselor Penny says after prospective
00:17:31
employer was anonymously sent nude photos of her Amy believed P house was behind it she was really upset about it
00:17:40
and then she wasn't sure what she was going to do despite that obstacle Amy studied for a PhD in human sexuality
00:17:49
earning the title doctor she took a special interest in marginalized groups sex workers and vulnerable women and she
00:17:59
doesn't stop she just she bounced right back I wrote a book called the new sex Bible for women no she didn't stop she
00:18:04
would work with these groups of people that she felt were underrepresented and needed help what
00:18:11
was Dr harwick's reputation Dr Amy Harwick had an amazing reputation I had a lot of mutual friends that had seen
00:18:19
her Emily sear is a model whose Grace the cover of Maxim magazine first started seeing Dr Amy Harwick in 200
00:18:29
17 in part to help her overcome anxiety she had around dating and intimacy I felt that she was relatable or I didn't
00:18:39
know just exactly how relatable it was even when she opened up to Amy about an abuse of ex-boyfriend who had stalked
00:18:47
her Emily says Amy never told her about her own similar experience and that still is something
00:18:55
that I am struggling to process knowing that I was sitting across from her and she had been through so much that was
00:19:04
similar as Amy was helping Emily work through her issues around dating Amy was Taking a Chance on a new man in her own
00:19:12
life Happy Valentine's Day Dr Harry comedian and host of the prizes right on CBS she was obviously really beautiful
00:19:21
she was really smart she just wanted to help people especially women we spoke to
00:19:26
Carrie in 2022 he said it wasn't long after meeting Amy at a party that he decided she was the
00:19:34
one and I said if this keeps going the way it's going I'm going to marry her and what happened what happened was he
00:19:41
ended up taking her to Paris on New Year's Eve and proposing to her she accepted Drew and Amy shared the news on
00:19:48
his show soon after I'd like to introduce you to my brand new lovely fiance Amy how you doing
00:19:55
Amy but instead of spending the rest of their lives together later that year the
00:20:01
couple split up how did she take the breakup she was devastated I mean she broke it off and I think that's because
00:20:11
while Fame was getting in the way that's because say penny Amy feared that with the added public attention she was
00:20:18
getting while on the arm of a celebrity she could be putting herself in danger you know who was watching and it made
00:20:29
her [Music] worry it hit home a lot after am passed in the way that she did how dangerous it really is for women
00:21:03
Emily Sears one of Amy harwick's therapy clients was shaken by the news of her death the reality is we're not safe
00:21:12
nobody is in dealing with some domestic violence because this was a bit different because the way Gareth persos
00:21:17
acted in this case was more methodical when Deputy district attorney Victor AA took on the case he was
00:21:25
particularly troubled by evidence that pers house had broken to Amy's house hoping to catch her off guard when she
00:21:32
arrived home and that's at the point that we decided to charge not only the murder charge also the special
00:21:38
circumstance of lying in weight these are the crime scene notes AA along with his co-counsel Deputy district attorney
00:21:45
Katherine Mariano reviewed surveillance and body camera video interviews with Amy's family and friends and compiled a
00:21:54
timeline of the events leading up to the murder became very clear to me that his obsession drove his intent to kill
00:22:04
her they believe that pers House's obsession with Amy was ignited when he saw her at this award show about a month
00:22:12
before her murder it was a chance encounter P house working the gig as a photographer Amy smiling for the cameras
00:22:21
enjoying the Limelight but moments earlier off camera Witnesses say an angry PSE house confront red her Penny
00:22:29
harick recalls Amy telling her she hadn't seen him in almost a decade he called her a and he told
00:22:38
her she ruined his life and she just told me how afraid she was because he was crying and causing a huge scene and
00:22:46
she said Mom I went into therapist mood I just tried to calm him after talking to
00:22:53
Gareth for almost an hour Amy left the event very worried was your reaction Penny when she was
00:23:01
telling you this that's when we talked about security and she said she was going to get pepper spray we decided to
00:23:08
start sharing locations so I could track where she was her close friend Robert klin says that sharing her phone's
00:23:14
location was one of the few things Amy felt she could do to feel safe the restraining order against P house had
00:23:22
long expired and because P house hadn't expressly threatened her Robert said she
00:23:28
didn't think going to police would help still he says Amy was very concerned that's when she said look if something
00:23:39
happens to me he did it she actually said that she literally said that she's thinking that he can cause me harm and
00:23:45
the very next day he finds her phone on the internet and starts texting her Gareth sent Amy a series of texts and
00:23:52
later left her a tear-filled voicemail I have so much I need to say please give me a chance to just say
00:24:02
it please please that's when prosecutors say Amy decided to block his number I believe up until that point he was
00:24:13
trying to manipulate his way back into her life at the point that she made the decision to block him that was her
00:24:18
choice and she had that right to do that prosecutors say pel started to plan to kill Amy on Valentine's Day was that
00:24:26
just a random date absolutely not I think he wanted to make a statement by killing her on Valentine's
00:24:33
Day on February 14th 20120 Amy went out with a group of friends around 700 p.m. 2 hours later say prosecutors
00:24:43
surveillance cameras from her nextdoor neighbor's property were activated you get those ring cameras that show a
00:24:50
person that looks just like Gareth Pur house with gloves when he first comes into view he covers the camera and when
00:24:58
the camera senses no more motion it shuts off and then he hops over the fence into Amy's yard soon after around
00:25:06
9900 p.m. they believe perz house broke through that French door and that's consistent with Michael Herman he heard
00:25:14
something breaking upstairs early in the evening and I think he just got into the
00:25:19
house cut himself I don't think he even realized he cut himself leaving that blood police later found nearby DNA
00:25:27
testing would confirm it belonged to P [Music] house and detective Masterson says where
00:25:35
P house went next was revealed by Amy's unmade bed I think he climbed in her bed
00:25:42
he was there waiting for her for quite a while how creepy is that crazy creepy that's where masteron believes
00:25:52
Amy found him 4 hours later when she arrived home a little after 1:00 a.m. she walks into her bedroom and I think
00:26:01
she just froze in shock and fear and the one thing that was on the bed was her phone so I think she actually threw her
00:26:07
phone at him and turned and started to run out of the bedroom and she's screaming and they're fighting and
00:26:15
they're wrestling how hard did Amy fight for her life I think she fought with everything she had yeah something that
00:26:21
appeared to look like a bite mark on his bicep and P house also had that black eye to it was indicative of Amy fighting
00:26:30
for her life but she was obviously up against a much bigger stronger opponent prosecutors believe purse house started
00:26:37
choking Amy and that's when Michael Herman yelled they believe catching Pur house by surprise and I think that plan
00:26:46
was definitely thwarted by the unbeknown presence of Michael Herman there I just
00:26:51
don't believe that he even knew that somebody was home in his Panic they believe pers house dropped that syringe
00:26:57
police found on the balcony it was months before lab test revealed what it contained liquid nicotine a toxic poison
00:27:08
that if injected into someone it would kill them why kill her that way I mean with that lethal dose of nicotine people
00:27:14
may not know what killed her it may not be [Music] detected with his original plan
00:27:21
interrupted prosecutors believe that per house carried Amy barely conscious after
00:27:27
being strangled to the third story balcony he lifts her right over the rail and then drops her to kill her Gareth P
00:27:35
house is caught on the neighbor's camera hopping back over the fence with their suspect and theory of
00:27:44
the crime the prosecutors were ready for trial but they were surprised by Gareth
00:27:51
pers House's defense blaming Amy for what happened that night [Music] [Music] in August 2023 more than 3 years after
00:28:13
Amy harwick's death her accused killer Gareth pous went on trial I almost didn't recognize him
00:28:22
right in their opening statements prosecutors Victor Avala and Katherine Mar o told jur why and how they believe
00:28:31
P house ended Amy's life in the early morning of February 15 2020 Dr Amy arick was murdered by defendant GTH pous
00:28:43
because he was obsessed with it he strangled her lifted her up over the balcony and dropped her to her death I
00:28:52
just pray that Amy was unconscious when she was when she went over the balcony Tom and Penny sat through every second
00:29:02
of the trial even the most graphic moments I need to know what happened to my daughter and we wanted to be there
00:29:09
for Amy yeah through the whole ordeal but the Harwick were not alone also in the courtroom a small army of Amy's
00:29:17
friends including Rudy Torres this is the last thing I could ever do for her although fortified by her friends
00:29:27
nothing could prepare the Harwick to hear for the first time ever Gareth P House's explanation about what happened
00:29:35
the night Amy died defense attorney Evan franel claims that running into Amy in January 2020 at
00:29:44
that award show had sent pers house into quote a deep debilitating depression unquote and the only way out of it was
00:29:54
to talk to Amy on Valentine's Day 202 20 his only intention that night was to speak to her what was your reaction to
00:30:04
that to put it bluntly they're making up stories cuz they have no defense and as for that nicotine filled
00:30:12
syringe found at the crime scene P House's defense attorney says it wasn't for Amy he brought it intending to kill
00:30:20
himself why didn't he no he was on a mission to kill her he was wearing gloves when he went there he covered up
00:30:27
the cameras what's the purpose in doing all that if you're going to kill yourself there in front of her in this
00:30:32
trial the defense tells the jurs they will hear from an Accident Reconstructionist who will show that Amy
00:30:39
fell on her own defense attorney franel then shows the jury two images a screenshot of the Reconstruction showing
00:30:48
an animated figure hanging from the balcony and an undated photo of Amy posing on top of a balcony railing
00:30:58
you'll see that she had a certain Comfort level with the balcony rail beautiful young lady wasn't she she
00:31:05
looked glorious what was your reaction ridiculous I couldn't take it seriously it was just so farfetched to
00:31:14
me she's been strangled she's debilitated so for her to then walk climb over a 3-foot rail do all that it
00:31:22
doesn't seem reasonable it seems actually unreasonable the defense's opening concludes with this damning
00:31:29
admission yes GTH first house was waiting in her home he broke into her home had he not been there she wouldn't
00:31:38
have died that night that is not in dispute he set a chain of actions into motions that led to her death but the
00:31:50
evidence will show that he never intended on killing them over the course of 10 days the
00:31:58
prosecution presented its evidence to prove that Gareth pous did intend to kill Amy Harwick dozens of witnesses
00:32:07
testify for the state including detective masteron now retired Robert kosin call Michael Herman and of course
00:32:18
Amy's roommate Michael Herman the man who heard it all Michael described for the jury how after that incident on the
00:32:27
red carpet Amy had been concerned about those French doors that pers house would
00:32:33
later use to break into her home Amy had met with a handyman I remember uh they were over by the the glass doors and Amy
00:32:44
was pointing it out and telling him we need to secure this prosecutors also play for the jury
00:32:50
this tape jail conversation between P house and his friends after his arrest I guess I'm officially a bad boy now right
00:32:59
I've always been kind of just a couple of weeks after he's been arrested for murder he's laughing
00:33:04
with his friends you never hear any moment of concern for Amy during that call yeah so it's not
00:33:12
great I'm not getting out of here why was that important I think that's one piece of evidence to show a
00:33:19
consciousness of guilt so he knows what's coming because the evidence shows what he did it proves what he did when
00:33:26
it was the defense's turn to present its case and call its expert witness to show
00:33:31
how Amy's fall from the balcony was an accident the defense suddenly rested without calling a single witness didn't
00:33:40
that hurt the defense I am sure some jurors were wondering what happened so I don't think that helps during closing
00:33:48
arguments defense attorney Robin Bernstein Le presented a new theory of what happened that night that Amy may
00:33:56
have attacked pers house we don't know who initiated the physical confrontation it is just as likely if
00:34:08
not likelier she preemptively attacked Gareth bur house in order to subdue him because she was afraid of him you see
00:34:18
that all the time don't you a 115 lb lady picking a fight with a 230 lb 6'4 man just Preposterous on its face did
00:34:26
that make you mad oh took all my willpower to stay in that seat to keep my mouth shut during the state's closing
00:34:35
arguments it's Amy Harwick who has the last word with prosecutor Marano reading from an email Amy wrote to herself hours
00:34:46
after her January 2020 encounter with P house tonight I felt very scared Dereck came up behind me and started screaming
00:34:55
I'm pretty nervous that I'm more on his radar now terrifies me that he's obsessed with me for 9 years thinks
00:35:01
about me every day he's focused on harming me that's the closest we've ever had to
00:35:08
to a victim test toyed in their murder I thought it was extremely devastating jurors had three choices
00:35:16
murder in the first degree murder in the second or the Lesser charge of voluntary
00:35:22
manslaughter when it came time for deliberation I think we all thought it would be rather quick day one went by
00:35:29
nothing I started getting a little worried and thinking what could they be debating
00:35:38
about what do you make of Gareth P House's defense see more evidence from the case at 48
00:35:56
hours.com I felt nervous yeah cuz you never know as jurs met for a second day to
00:36:03
decide Gareth P House's Fate The Waiting for a verdict began to weigh heavily on
00:36:08
the prosecution it's incredibly Nery the weight is the worst part and on Amy harwick's friends and family and all you
00:36:16
hear is just like a symphony of of anxious bellies just so everybody's nervous but as Court
00:36:26
was about to adjourn we were walking out of the courthouse and Rudy called down and said everybody
00:36:32
get up here there's a verdict was it correct that the jury has a verdict you can have the verdict forms
00:36:37
over to the B please with the jury and the above entitled action finding defendant Gare P guilty of the crime of
00:36:44
Murder in the First Degree Gareth pous guilty of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of lying in weight
00:36:54
what did you feel at that moment a huge relief huge relief I I just started crying and I couldn't
00:37:01
stop it was like pH finally after all this time he's going to be held accountable for what he
00:37:10
did two months later pers house was sentance to life in prison without parole he didn't say a
00:37:24
word Amy's friend Robert koslin Justice was rendered and that's good but we shouldn't be here at all this should
00:37:33
never have happened to begin with the whole in our lives remains he's impacted so many people with his actions so many
00:37:41
people he devastated our [Music] family a family that has grown after the verdict Tom gathered Amy's friends the
00:37:53
ones who have stood by them every step of this journey I said uh you are not our friends you're
00:38:00
family you you really have become our family could you have gotten through this without them no I don't think
00:38:10
[Music] so it's a testament to the amazing life and Community Amy Harwick created she
00:38:19
was really happy she was really happy that she had really gotten her life together man and
00:38:27
we were all happy Michael Herman says he still keeps replaying that night she's gone and I'm
00:38:38
still here you want a second chance I'm still trying to save her Michael Herman has a lot of Survivor guilt oh my
00:38:46
goodness he did the exact right thing he made all the right decisions do you feel
00:38:51
your sister got Justice I feel I feel she did Amy's brother Chris we wish that she still
00:39:00
could be here to to continue to help people cuz that's what she's all about we lost a friend but so many other
00:39:10
people lost a Healer I think of Amy every day because she she helped me so much Emily sear says she's struggling
00:39:20
without Amy's guidance it's just so hard to feel safe when this is the reality of
00:39:25
what happened to her and what happens to so many people Amy's loved ones are hoping to
00:39:32
change that reality after her death a petition was created to rewrite California domestic violence laws
00:39:41
including a statute preventing restraining orders from expiring and our biggest disappointment was it lost all
00:39:48
its impact when Co shut everything down prosecutor Catherine Mariano acknowledges that there are limits to
00:39:56
the legal system by the time it gets to our table we're in a position to act reactively rather
00:40:02
than proactively but as a society I think we can always do better right after the trial Amy's parents
00:40:09
headed home to Pennsylvania the place where they first became a family with their little girl and watched her grow
00:40:16
into the woman admired and now missed by so many what's the hardest part just the the absence
00:40:28
The Quiet One huge void one huge void and I miss our [Music] adventures Adventures remembered when
00:40:39
they visit Amy's grave and I couldn't get a brighter orange I know orange was your favorite
00:40:47
color but this is the closest I could get we're not the same people we were before but we keep trying to be we miss
00:40:54
you Amy every day we think of you anything you wish you had been able to say to her
00:41:02
just to tell her one more time that I love her I know she knew it but I wanted to be able to say it
00:41:11
[Music] [Music] four women at the breaking point we were desperate in fear every day an
00:41:39
investigative reporter comes to the rescue does he become the target this was a very personal attack he is 100%
00:41:45
our hero who killed Jeff Gman 48 hours Saturday on CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus
00:41:54
[Music] hello I'm anarie green and this is postmortem this week's case about the
00:42:09
murder of Amy Harwick might be familiar to you if you're a longtime 48 Hours fan
00:42:13
this is actually the third hour 48 Hours has dedicated to Amy's story so joining
00:42:19
me today is the reporting team that covered this case from the beginning correspondent Aaron Mor arti producers
00:42:25
Richie Fetzer and Lauren white thank you so much for joining us welcome guys well
00:42:30
we've been living this for four years so we want to talk about this that's right
00:42:34
oh absolutely thank you for having us I feel like I remember Aaron when you first covered the first hour and we did
00:42:40
it right away the week afterwards so let me take you back to that time so it was
00:42:46
the early morning hours of February 15 2020 just as Valentine's Day was coming to a close it was Hollywood Hills La and
00:42:57
Michael Herman calls 9911 and he reports that his roommate a Woman by the name of
00:43:03
Amy Harwick had been attacked in their home um he's frantic he has uh some blood on him when the police get there
00:43:13
they find Amy Harwick she's on the ground right below the balcony and she's barely clinging to life sadly she dies
00:43:21
then later at the hospital now when it got lighter when the police started looking around it was clear that Mike
00:43:27
Herman was right somebody had broken into the house there was this shattered French door signs of a struggle in Amy's
00:43:35
room and then there was the really strange piece of evidence a syringe they could not figure out what it was and it
00:43:42
took them a while to figure out what it was it's important to know that Amy was like this amazing woman she had had so
00:43:48
many different lives she was at that time of marriage and family therapist but she had been an occasional
00:43:54
photographer a dancer a model in other she had a lot of friends tons of friends and most of them all said if somebody
00:44:03
attacked this woman it could only be one person a man by the name of Gareth pers
00:44:08
house who was an old boyfriend yeah and and not just an old boyfriend an old problem absolutely yeah um so you know
00:44:18
Amy's death made national headlines she had been engaged at one point to Drew Cary everyone knows and loves Drew Cary
00:44:25
comedian he's the host of The Price is right on CBS and so that brought a little sort of celebrity attention to it
00:44:31
but the story really became so much more because of the people that loved Amy her
00:44:36
friends and family kept it alive their advocacy work their insistence on bringing the issue of domestic violence
00:44:46
to the Forefront of this case well because she really became a symbol in a way this story had a big impact in LA
00:44:55
and nationally because this was a woman who I mentioned was a a marriage and family therapist and she focused on
00:45:02
helping women in toxic relationships so if she could be attacked by a former boyfriend all of us covering it thought
00:45:11
oh my God is there safety for anyone correct you know I think looking at this case um you know Amy was just such a a
00:45:18
wonderful person and um really did have all the tools necessary to succeed and it's just such a shame that she didn't
00:45:25
feel as though she could go to the police because Gareth hadn't uh explicitly threatened her um and so
00:45:31
therefore she didn't feel like she could extend the restraining order which had expired which now that's a part of her
00:45:37
friend's advocacy that restraining order should expire oh totally and I just wanted to say like Lauren booked one of
00:45:44
Amy's clients which brings up a good point because this is a woman who went to Amy for help she had experienced an
00:45:52
abusive ex who had also stalked her he broken into her home and Amy help her so she talked to us in this hour about the
00:46:00
fact that Amy had helped her and then she fell victim to this type of a crime completely took her safety away yes
00:46:07
because the thing about it is Amy did everything right she thought it wasn't a good relationship she got out when she
00:46:14
felt like she was being threatened she went to the legal system she got a restraining order she had the
00:46:20
psychological tools to know how to diffuse a a situation I mean this this is a woman that should have been sort of
00:46:29
the poster girl for how you remove yourself from this toxic abusive relationship well that's because the
00:46:36
problem wasn't on Amy's part it was the law exactly the Frailty of the law the limitations of the law yeah totally um
00:46:45
so Ain you actually spoke to Drew carry I I'm trying to like go back in time because I feel like when we first talked
00:46:50
about this you didn't know if J Cary was going to be willing to talk to you or not oh not at all this was this was such
00:46:56
a surprise because I was told okay he only has a very short time to talk to you and so I was very nervous I wanted
00:47:03
to get all my questions out but Drew Cary loved Amy Harwick and he wanted to talk and there was one point where one
00:47:11
of his people tried to you know cut it off and he waved her away he wanted to talk about her he was proud of her he
00:47:20
loved the way that she helped women he made such a point about that and then um you know was sad cuz they had broken up
00:47:29
but something we learned that just breaks our heart to this day and I think breaks his right before Valentine's Day
00:47:37
they had not spoken for a while and she had texted him and they made plans to meet and she never got that chance
00:47:44
because she was killed and so number one we hear those stories but we also learn
00:47:49
and he did not you know like brag about this we learned from friends after her death he helped her parents go back and
00:47:57
forth for the trial he was there he took her friends and made sure they got to the funeral um he rented a bus for them
00:48:06
so that they could go back and forth for the funeral he's a lovely man and it is
00:48:11
a testament to Amy it really is and so I will say I love Drew carrot even more today because I just saw such a human
00:48:19
side of him in an interview and I should let everyone know that interview was in
00:48:23
2022 that's when you were able to sit down and talk with him so this hour also has a lot of new interviews and new
00:48:29
evidence like the police body cam footage from the crime scene that hadn't actually been included in the previous
00:48:36
broadcast how did you get all these new elements to to update the hour so I mean
00:48:41
a big part of it we had the benefit this time of the trial had happened so we actually had access to a lot of these
00:48:46
elements so in the past when Aaron you know had covered the story and you're trying to make sense of a crime now we
00:48:53
actually you can see it happening so or you know the after there's emden that into it because there's all
00:49:05
these things that you've tried not to imagine and now you're actually seeing it and it's really you know upsetting
00:49:12
and you know frankly I think makes you angry that this happened to her but it also helped in our reporting we should
00:49:18
make a very big point of that because when you see the body cam footage now you understand that when the police got
00:49:24
there and you understand why they didn't really know what it happened so yes her
00:49:28
roommate Michael Herman was outside but he had blood on him and he said he's a roommate but he doesn't have the keys to
00:49:34
the house so they're thinking was this guy involved or was he not involved they see the syringe the young cops say oh my
00:49:42
God that's heroin that's what they think so they think it might be drug related when the uh weathered lead detective
00:49:49
masteron shows up he goes That's not heroin but they didn't know what it was and so you really get a sense from
00:49:58
looking at this evidence that we couldn't before of how difficult it was initially to get to the bottom of what
00:50:05
happened to Amy Harwick definitely that's a great point and you know with the conclusion of the trial what also
00:50:10
happened is you know the floodgates opened as far as people wanting to speak with us who had never spoken before so
00:50:16
you know we have detective Masterson the lead homicide detective the prosecutors
00:50:20
Michael Herman who you know really shout out to our booking producer Michelle II
00:50:27
she has been in contact with Michael you know since the very beginning and I would call it you know the soft touch
00:50:33
and the long Touch where it was just you know checking in with him not pressuring
00:50:38
him you know letting him voice his his frustrations or his concerns and really being there for him and and so when the
00:50:45
trial concluded he was ready uh the same goes with the parents you know we included a statement of theirs at the
00:50:51
end of the first show in full and they really appreciated that and I think they remembered that they did they told us
00:50:58
they told us that that they remembered that and that's what was a part of their thinking about participating this time
00:51:04
around you know these were two uh people Penny and Tom they adopted Amy and her brother they wanted these children so to
00:51:13
make sense of why Amy was taken away it took time for them to be able to talk but I think they finally after they saw
00:51:20
that we cared about this case too they decided that it was the best place for them to talk about this daughter that
00:51:29
they loved and lost she was so much a part of their lives you know they they joke you know she was into you know
00:51:36
heavy metal music when she was growing up and they became metal heads because of her you know and so imagine having
00:51:44
that huge personality suddenly gone and I think that's why it took them a long time to talk about it but then when they
00:51:52
did and they they smiled a lot and because kind of brought her back for that moment when they were allowed just
00:51:59
to talk about her so let me ask you you know at the end of the trial you get access to all this evidence some of it's
00:52:05
video evidence so it works really well for TV but then you have to sift through it that must have been tough very
00:52:13
especially I mean we talked about this you know Amy when the police get there um they call an ambulance but the
00:52:21
ambulance they got lost it took them a while to get to her she's on the ground this whole time and they can't they're
00:52:27
not touching her cuz they don't want to you know cause more issues cause more problems she's just on this ground but
00:52:33
words what upset me when I looked at it and I was really disturbed by this Michael Herman who was a roommate wants
00:52:40
to go help her he sees it for the first time on the ground and he runs to there and they go sir sir and they stop him
00:52:47
and in my head I kept thinking he didn't get to hold her hand I understand why the police they didn't know whether he
00:52:54
was a was he the attacker was he involved was he not they didn't know but the idea that her roommate couldn't hold
00:53:02
her hand still haunts me it is haunting and you see that in the video we wouldn't have you know unfortunately
00:53:09
that's what you're feeling as you're looking at this evidence that is now available to us I really felt for him
00:53:15
100% you know when you talked about the Survivor skeleton in the hour I thought I can totally understand it because I
00:53:23
imagine he must be going over that night over you know why didn't I get up when I
00:53:28
thought it was the cat why didn't I you know react faster when I heard her yelling like it it must have been so
00:53:34
hard and then to see the video and sort of relive that moment must have been tough and think about this too Amry not
00:53:39
only just racking your brain about all the things you could have done but this happened right before the pandemic and
00:53:44
the lockdowns and so he's by himself now racked with this guilt and now no way of
00:53:50
uh being able to get help or to to deal with it so it just really compounded the
00:53:55
issue for him I think in a lot of ways the grief yeah I think he's his own worst critic 100% And um the isolation I
00:54:03
mean he talked to us about pacing where he was and he was like damaging his feet
00:54:08
because he was like going over the night over and over and over again in his head
00:54:13
and it's it you know it's really upsetting I mean Aaron When She interviewed him had you know an
00:54:19
experience cuz you're see you're facing him I was you know interviewing him that
00:54:24
was the most raw the most honest um the most painful interview that I had sat through because even though Amy Harwick
00:54:35
died in 2020 and we are interviewing him near the end of 2023 that time had not passed and he was
00:54:44
so raw and and sadly even though he shouldn't feels responsible that he couldn't save her that was one of the
00:54:52
toughest interviews I've had to do we wanted to talk to him but I didn't want to cause any more pain
00:54:59
I just wanted to kind of help him rather than cause pain I can totally understand
00:55:05
that a reminder that there are always so many victims 100% you did speak to Amy's parents they
00:55:11
were ready to speak on camera I I love them um there was only one moment we all do oh my goodness but they caught us off
00:55:18
guard because um you know they're very proper and Penny is a very proper woman but when we asked her about um the
00:55:27
defense at the trial she came out with a word that we were not expeced an improper word oh yes we had
00:55:37
to bleep the word had to bleep part of the word bullsh I don't know if anyone else expected that reaction I surely did
00:55:45
not but it was it could not have told the the viewers more how she really felt about the defense so it was appropriate
00:55:54
from that perspective so another really interesting piece of evidence that you were able to show was a surveillance
00:55:59
video of uh Gareth P house and you see him walk up to the camera and then block it but did anyone I that was the first
00:56:08
time I realized that you could put your hand over a camera idea stop the action of the camera but you know what else
00:56:14
that shows the thought yes the planning that went into it that he planned to stop those cameras so on one hand I'm
00:56:24
like oh I didn't know that the other one was oh my God he did and he planned this
00:56:29
but you know what he was smart enough to know to wear gloves and to cover the cameras but not smart enough to cover
00:56:36
his face with a mask he didn't wear mask he didn't wear a mask that's very surprising I don't think he thought he'd
00:56:41
get caught I don't think he knew that Michael Herman was in the house and I think he thought and we will get to the
00:56:48
syringe but I think he thought he was going to get in he was going to commit his crime and get out and never be found
00:56:55
yeah I agree yeah another chilling new element of this hour is that voicemail from Pur
00:57:10
house he leaves it on Amy's phone after he he just kind of happens to bump into her one night I want to play a short
00:57:18
clip G sent Amy a series of texts and later left her a tear-filled voicemail I have so much I need to
00:57:30
say please give me a chance to just say it please that's when prosecutors say Amy
00:57:38
decided to block his number I mean at first when I heard that I thought oh that you know he sounds
00:57:46
like a sad guy you know you hear him crying but then you start thinking oh my God he had not really talked to her he
00:57:53
hadn't dated her for 9 years and he's still so focus on her and then it seems creepy you know then it's scary that's
00:58:01
not normal it shows his obsession and how this Obsession was sustained and also he didn't he it's not like he had
00:58:08
her phone number still he had to find her number online and then starts texting her and then leaves her this
00:58:15
this strange and she's texting back giving a boundary and then he will not stop she says you know um you know I
00:58:21
think the way that we ended things let's let that be I don't want us to be enemies
00:58:26
yeah but I think this is a boundary I need to set and let's not continue being in contact and that was not enough not
00:58:34
enough for him the the exact advice she would have given to any of her clients right so another detail not included in
00:58:40
the hour was also later discovered that pers house was texting another woman right before he killed Amy you
00:58:50
know if if online dating wasn't hard enough so these two women who have been talking to Gareth person house uh
00:58:56
unbeknownst to them you know they're texting with him on Valentine's Day and they're all making jokes and then right
00:59:02
after Amy Falls from the balcony he's responding ha haa to a woman and then when he's arrested 13 hours after Amy's
00:59:11
death he's on a date with another woman how calculating manipulative and self-absorbed you know that he took care
00:59:21
of one problem in his head and he's moving on of course I feel for those women you imagine you're responding to
00:59:28
somebody online and you find out that he's accused of killing a past girlfriend you know that's you might
00:59:33
want to shut down your dating profile and reassess yeah and then they had to testify I was you took that out of my
00:59:40
head yeah they had to testify in his murder trial to say yes these are the texts he was sending me this is the date
00:59:47
that we went on because the the woman that was on the date with him she asked him about that black eye oh that's a
00:59:53
good point he had a black eye pres you know prose UT would argue from his fight with Amy you know he attacks her and
00:59:59
she's fighting back fighting for her life and that's what they're assuming the black eye came from and you know
01:00:05
this woman is telling the police you know I asked him about it you know where'd you get that black eye and I
01:00:10
think he had said to her it was a shaving accident I was shaving but didn't he say the police it was a home
01:00:16
renovation he gave a different excuse to them yeah I was going to ask if he had been in any relationships in those 10
01:00:23
years I think he had you know it's interesting the change.org petition that the family created um in in Amy's memory
01:00:31
there's a woman that said you know this could have been me I was one of gareth's
01:00:35
um relationships This Could Have Been Me unbelievable yeah Gareth P house is charged with Amy's murder and you're
01:00:42
able to listen to and see the testimony um Amy's parents were there every day every every second every single day they
01:00:51
were there through and we all know from sitting through so many sadly so many murder trials uh the graphic nature you
01:00:59
know this is about the defendant more than it is about the victim sadly and so you see the victim in ways that no
01:01:07
parent should have to but they felt they had to be there for her his he had family there as well oh wow his mother
01:01:15
so tell about that story Lauren because that to me struck me we didn't know we found out from Amy's mother yeah so she
01:01:23
told Aaron during the interview that um during court one day she said it was one
01:01:28
of the harder days she believes it was right after they showed the autopsy photos of Amy and so Penny was leaving
01:01:35
the courtroom and gareth's Mom stepped out and and spoke to her and we have a clip of that exchange that wasn't
01:01:42
included in the hour she put her hand on my arm and leaned close and said I am just
01:01:51
so very sorry for what's happened to your daughter and all I could say to her was um I know you would not have chosen
01:01:59
this for your family she's a victim just like we were what a gracious woman so empathetic
01:02:09
I'm sorry that was another time even hearing it that I got all Terri during the interview because I thought here is
01:02:17
Penny Amy's mother worried about another mother whose son took away her daughter
01:02:23
I get ter just talking about it but that tells you so much about Penny and Tom they were very gracious good people
01:02:31
talking to Tom and Penny you start to see where Amy came from especially Penny she's this very um you know InCharge
01:02:39
person and you know she speaks her mind and see where her daughter came from very impressive people it's it's
01:02:45
remarkable the defense put out an argument that I mean it was kind of to me and I'm not a lawyer it seemed a
01:02:54
little farfetched well it's blame the victim defense it's the classic blame the victim yeah they were claiming that
01:03:01
you know Amy fell off the balcony on her own and that uh Pur house brought the syringe filled with nicotine to take his
01:03:09
own life they used sort of proof that she fell off the balcony this one picture of her sitting on a balcony
01:03:17
which they didn't even know they haven't even been able to prove that that's her
01:03:21
balcony that could be any balcony you know I don't know anyone else's reaction but when I saw them use this picture of
01:03:27
her and try to use this in the defense I had a visceral reaction to that and we didn't speak to the jury so we don't
01:03:34
know what they were thinking but you don't know if that type of strategy maybe might have backfired because it
01:03:39
made me angry the idea saying well so she was so comfortable with that balcony she might have just tried to slowly
01:03:45
climb off and fell right um she was too badly attacked according to the prosecutors and in too bad as shape to
01:03:52
have ever been able to get to the balcony by let alone climb down yes but yes that's
01:04:00
what they used and then even in the closings for um his um defense attorney Robin Bernstein Leb to say we don't know
01:04:08
who initiated the physical altercation but let me just explain why they did that they did that I mean it was a legal
01:04:15
strategy so you know he is charged with uh you know basically first deg grade murder premeditated murder and I think
01:04:24
they were hoping the jury might wonder if he just wanted to talk to her but In the Heat of the Moment um he ended up
01:04:31
killing her and then that might have been a little bit of a lesser charged manslaughter voluntary manslaughter
01:04:37
which still carries a big term but it's just so painful for the family and friends to hear that did anybody talk
01:04:44
more about the nicotine syringe cuz I don't think I can recall a nicotine syringe coming up in any 48 hours I've
01:04:53
ever watched oh yeah no are you serious we're all looking at Aaron and I should point out that the lead detective had
01:05:01
seen our story years before and that's how he realized that that syringe that the First Responders thought might be
01:05:09
heroin was not heroin it was nicotine you had another case like that I did where a man was accused and convicted of
01:05:16
killing his wife with a syringe of nicotine and the theory being that number one they don't usually look for
01:05:23
nicotine when they're doing an autop y or a talk screen um and it's very easily obtained particularly now when you can
01:05:31
Vape you you know you can get pure nicotine and it can kill you and unless um a medical examiner notices a because
01:05:40
it's injected unless they notice this little spot on the body they wouldn't have known what killed her right that
01:05:46
was according to prosecutors it took them months to figure out what that yellowish Brown substance was they had
01:05:52
to send it to the FBI in the end to finally get to the bottom of it yeah they just don't test for it right so
01:06:00
fascinating um his defense uh presented not one single witness which was a shock they promised
01:06:09
to they promised they did they said they were going to have an expert and and they showed a um an image from this
01:06:16
reconstruction I but they never they never you know made good on that promise I wonder what happened so in opening
01:06:23
statements in this case the defense was presenting to the jury their theories and one of them was this expert that was
01:06:30
going to use these images to show that Amy fell they used screen grabs of this computer generated image showing a body
01:06:40
kind of it looks like it's hanging from the balcony and it was supposed to in their argument illustrate how she fell
01:06:45
and that's how she got the injuries but then we never really heard much more about it because they never presented
01:06:50
that I I assume they couldn't back up this reconstruction cuz they would have if they could of and of course he did
01:06:57
not take the stand in his own defense and not even at sentencing no he never spoke at sentencing he never spoke
01:07:03
throughout the whole trial process of course the big moment of this episode is that pers house is finally found guilty
01:07:10
of murdering Amy Harwick and sentenced to life in prison without parole tell us about the victim impact statement from
01:07:18
Amy's mother penny so Penny Harwick gave a very moving statement about how P house you know he broke into her home he
01:07:27
his hands were filled with vitriol and yes he used his hands to harm Amy but his were not the last hands to touch Amy
01:07:36
and so she talks about how the EMTs tried to help Amy how the doctors tried to help Amy the police and then finally
01:07:43
at the funeral Penny and Tom tucked Amy in one last time into her casket and kissed her and touched her
01:07:53
and said that how much they loved her that's tough yeah it's moving emotionally vulnerable yes I mean I
01:08:00
can't imagine giving a public statement like that and having to do it and it also I mean facing the man who did fac
01:08:05
him it was so eloquent I mean it's very quintessential who she is but and you know making about her daughter and the
01:08:12
loss I mean it was very impactful once again an exceptional hour thank you so much for joining us very happy to be
01:08:18
here but it's hard for me to give a goodbye to Amy might be our last show I'm saying goodbye to her too yes you
01:08:25
know such an honor when Richie and I first worked on this in 2020 we were associate producers and now to be the
01:08:30
producers of this and be able to tell her story and hopefully tell it tell it well um it really is just an honor to to
01:08:37
tell This Woman's story I think honor is the word and especially with the people
01:08:41
that spoke to us that they trusted us and you know you just want to do right by them well thank you thank you
01:08:48
again listen everyone join us next Tuesday for another postmortem and watch 48 Hours of course it's Saturdays 10 N
01:08:56
Central on CBS and streaming on Paramount plus and if you are liking the show please rate and review 48 Hours on
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Apple podcast and follow 48 Hours wherever you get your podcast you can also listen at free on the Amazon music
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and wry app or with a 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcasts