(NewsNation) — Police bodycam footage could provide crucial insight into the night Dr. Amie Harwick, a prominent marriage and sex therapist, fell out of her balcony to her death.
Harwick’s ex-boyfriend Gareth Pursehouse, 45, is accused of breaking into her home, strangling her and throwing her off the balcony in February 2020.
The trial Wednesday focused on the scene inside and outside Harwick’s home after the initial police response quickly turned into a crime scene and murder investigation.
Police bodycam footage from inside Harwick’s home the morning after she fell from the balcony was shown to the jurors in the trial.
Pursehouse has barely looked up during much of the trial, keeping his eyes down as jurors watched the footage and heard testimony from LAPD officer Daniel Ficek.
Ficek testified to there being a puddle of urine in the home.
“The puddle appeared to be recently dried. It had a strong odor, not consistent with urine that’d been sitting for a while,” Ficek said.
The bodycam footage also showed signs of a struggle throughout Harwick’s room, with beads from two rosaries she was wearing strewn everywhere.
“It was a struggle, definitely a struggle,” said an officer on the bodycam video.
A syringe filled with a lethal dose of nicotine was also found on the balcony. The defense is claiming Pursehouse was suicidal and intended to use it on himself.
When the investigation began, Harwick’s roommate Michael Herman and her friends were quick to point police to Pursehouse, saying the evidence spoke for itself.
Harwick’s close friend Rudy Torres told NewsNation he would be in court daily to stand in for those who couldn’t be there and send a message to Pursehouse.
“I don’t ever want him feeling comfortable enough that he can look over his shoulder and not know there’s somebody there for her,” Torres said.