Dateline NBC - The Landing

Episode Date: January 30, 2024

The parents of missing South Carolina woman Heather Elvis, Debbi and Terry Elvis, open up to NBC News’ Andrea Canning about the search for their daughter. Originally aired on NBC on September 28, 2019. Andrea Canning catches up with Heather’s sister, Morgan, and her parents, Debbi and Terry. Morgan tells Andrea how her studies have launched her on a mission to help others dealing with grief. Debbi describes her ongoing work to advocate for other missing people.After the Verdict is available now only by subscription to Dateline Premium on Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3UoE4SeHeather is just one of 37 people missing in Horry County. Learn about the others here: https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/video/missing-from-horry-county-have-you-seen-me-70110789658

I'm Lester Holt. Tonight on Dateline. She is and will always be my sister. I don't know what happened to her. I don't get to say goodbye. It was awful. If you took her, please just let her come home. She's missing. Where's she at? Just all so overwhelmingly horrible. This random pay phone number called Heather's phone.

You're like, whose number is this? He found Heather's card at the landing. I was scared to death to open that trunk. This crazy love triangle kidnapping, potential murder? This is Heather's life we're talking about. Terrifying. You wish that you could take all their pain away. It's impossible.

Here's Andrea Canning with Return to the Landing. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Vacation heaven. 60 miles of Instagram-worthy sand and surf. And thrills at every turn. But leave the tourists behind and go inland a mere 20 minutes to a bend in the Guacamole River. It's tranquil. The trees are draped in Spanish moss.

There's a boat landing here with a fancy name, Peachtree Landing. It's a quiet spot that you can go think. You don't get a lot of that in a small town. So when you find a spot, I mean, you go all the time. What happened here to 20-year-old Heather Alves one December night in 2013 became an enduring mystery. I know that there is no way that Heather would not come home if she could come home. No way. You don't realize how much somebody's face means to you until you can't see it anymore.

A family anguished, clinging to hope, searching for answers, a journey that would consume them for years. One of my best friends came to the house. He looked at me and he said, he said, I hope she didn't suffer. I can't get that thought out of my head. Heather was born in 1993, the middle kid,

sandwiched between elder brother Chris and younger sister Morgan. As Morgan vividly remembers, Heather would never let a label define her. She wasn't really a girly girl or a tomboy. She was somewhere in between. She would drive four-wheelers and play volleyball and shoot paintball guns. And then she'd turn around and put on a dress and go you know look beautiful for photos her parents Debbie and Terry Elvis say Heather was driven by a passion to create she drew all the time decorating the family house with her doodles everywhere you went in the house there

was some kind of writing or some kind of drawing or some kind of doodle. So her brain's working overtime. Constantly. Just as a reminder, small desk in the house that I set out has a computer at it. There's little sticky notes all over the top part of the desk. And the one that sits right in front of my face just says in her handwriting, Heather is amazing with a little heart on it. And Heather was amazing when it came to cosmetology, the art of makeup. In a way that only siblings can, she sparked Morgan's interest in it too.

She said cosmetology was hers. She was, I was not allowed to have it. And I did it anyway. And that's kind of, you know, what sisters do is, don't tell me no, because I'm going to do it anyway. And that's kind of, you know, what sisters do. Oh my gosh, tell me about that. Don't tell me no, because I'm going to do it anyway. After graduation from high school in 2011, Heather began working at a local pub called The Tilted Kilt,

where she became a hostess. Brianna Koltzer, known as Bri, worked with her there. She would walk them back to the table. She'd already have them laughing, having a conversation, seeing a thing when they were leaving. Bree shared almost everything with Heather, including her apartment. And when Heather confided that she didn't always see eye to eye with her parents, well, that was hardly unusual for a young woman determined to make her own way. They love each other dearly. It's just I think they knocked heads because Heather wanted to explore. As for boyfriends, Brie watched Heather go through ups and downs.

Just recently, she'd emerged from a difficult relationship with an older man. I know for a fact she still had feelings for him. You don't just fall out of love like that as much as sometimes we wish we could. But on December 17, 2013, everything was falling into place for Heather Elvis. She got a new job as a makeup artist, had a date with a new guy, even learned how to drive a stick shift in her date's truck. There she is, around 10, in a picture she texted her dad. She was proud of herself. It was a good day for her. And you two must have been so proud of her that day. Yeah, I think

the picture was, it was like, I did it without you, you know, but you couldn't help but be proud of it. And then, two days later, a knock at Debbie and Terry's door. A police officer with an odd question. Were they missing a car? That was his exact words. Are you missing a car? And I looked in the driveway and I, nope, they're all there. Not thinking about that he found a car somewhere. Was Heather's car registered in her name?

Yeah, it was still in our name. So that's why he's at your doorstep. Terry came up right behind me and asked what was going on. And he explained that he found Heather's car at the landing. What was going on? If Heather's car was at the landing, then where was she? When we come back, a family holds on to hope. One of the local hospitals said that a Heather Elvis had come in on their own and had been released. But fear creeps in. It felt like something was wrong. He said, let's take a look in the trunk.

I was scared to death to open that trunk. Heather Elvis' parents didn't know what to think. Two days earlier, their daughter had been all smiles out on a date. Now, a policeman was at their door. He just found Heather's car at Peachtree Landing, abandoned. The officer said, do you have extra keys or spare keys to the car? I said, yes. He said, well, grab those and let's go take a look at it. Heather's mom, Debbie, tried calling her daughter's cell phone.

And it was just going straight to voicemail. It wasn't ringing. While her dad, Terry, rode down with the officer to the landing. As we pulled up to this direction, we could see that the car was sitting facing the water. He took us there, explaining what the officer showed him that night. He had shined the spotlight on the back of the car and checked the tag. It was his daughter's Dodge Intrepid. Right away, Terry could see something was off. But instead of being this way, the car was turned this way, basically taking up two, possibly three parking spaces. I unlocked the car for him and he stopped and he put on gloves. He handed me a pair so

he said just to be on the safe side. Terry Alvis couldn't understand it. The last time he heard from Heather was when she sent that photo from her date. She was fine. Now she was nowhere to be found. He was searching her abandoned car. On the center console, her driver's license was there. That's weird. And a couple of other business cards and identification cards,

but there were no keys. That's when the officer said something that made Terry Elvis's heart skip a beat. He said, let's take a look in the trunk. And I went back and I turned the key and he said, let me open it. I said, you know, just let me lift it. He held his breath as the lid to his daughter's trunk popped open. Were you worried about? I was scared to death to open that trunk. And we both looked in it and it was fine. There was nothing there. There was plenty of clutter. No sign of foul play. By that point, Brie, who'd been out of town for several days, had gotten word her best friend Heather was missing. I called her dad, who was with police at the time, at Peachtree, and he had asked when the last time I talked to Heather was.

Bree told the two men that Heather had called from their apartment a day earlier, around 1.30 a.m., Tuesday, fresh from her date. She started saying, well, you know, I had an amazing date, and I'm supposed to see him tomorrow when he gets off work. But Bree said Heather didn't want to chat about the new guy. She was upset about a call she'd gotten from that older man she once dated. His name was Sidney. Weeks earlier, he dumped Heather. Her exact words, Sidney called me.

And I was like, what? And she wasney called me. And I was like, what? And she was like, yeah. And I was like, well, what did he say? She said he wanted to be with me and see me. Bree told her friend not to do anything rash. And she was like, you know what, you're right. I'm going to get some sleep. I'm exhausted.

And I love you because we always say I love you when we hang up and hung up. As far as the Elvises knew, that was the last time anyone had spoken with Heather. Now, almost 24 hours later, they started to worry. I felt like something was wrong. Heather's sister Morgan arrived home from a basketball game. Had they told you at this point what was going on? They hadn't, and I just kind of picked up what was going on through conversation. That Heather was nowhere to be found.

That's when it dawned on them. They could retrace Heather's steps by way of her cell phone. She was still on their family plan. I ended up going online and going to our cell phone provider because you can look at the call records. And they pull up the information and they emailed it to us. They could see the most recent calls their daughter made and received. After her call to Bree, Heather dialed another number several times.

These are the early morning calls? And I'm like, whose number is this? The worried parents suddenly found themselves playing detective in the very real case of their missing daughter. We Googled the numbers, trying to figure out what they went to. And they got a hit. The numbers Heather dialed belonged to a man named Sidney Moore. They figured that had to be the ex-boyfriend Brie had mentioned earlier.

And Terry was like, I'm going to call him. I'm just going to call him. Wow. And I said, Terry, you can't call somebody in the middle of the night. He did anyway. On the other end, a man answered. The way Terry recalls it, the man was not happy. I said, you know, you don't know me. I said, but I'm Heather's father, Heather Elvis. And before I could get the next word out, I'm getting cussed out left and right.

Like cussing about what? Nothing, just cussing. Just like, don't call me. I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know this person. Okay, that's a very odd reaction. But it's just cursing after cursing after cursing. The man who had dated their daughter was hotly denying he'd ever heard of her.

As the hours ticked by, Terry and Debbie grew more anxious. They knew they needed a new plan to find their missing daughter. Coming up, two new on-camera clues. Someone at a payphone. It appears that this is someone she knows. Right, exactly. Then someone in a pickup. You can see a dark pickup truck go by. Soon after that, her phone goes dead and nobody ever heard from her again. When Dateline continues. Her parents couldn't get in touch with her. Police couldn't find her.

And then all of Myrtle Beach was searching for her. Heather Elvis, a missing person. Volunteers keep searching for the 20-year-old. Heather's desperate parents called on everyone to scour the area. They printed out flyers. There wasn't a storefront in Myrtle Beach that didn't have one or two flyers in it. And then they were in Georgia and Tennessee and Florida. They posted pleas online for information.

They turned to the news media, local. Is Heather alive? My heart tells me that my daughter's alive. And national, including Dateline's Missing in America digital series. The Elvises let our cameras into those agonizing early days. There's this hole that we all in the family just feel. And bearing silent witness to their anguish was another daughter, Morgan. I can probably count on one hand how many times I've seen my dad cry.

And to see something like that makes your whole world fall apart. Police quickly turned their attention to Heather's new guy, the man who had been with her on a date that night. His alibi, that he dropped Heather at her apartment and returned home, checked out. The date has been questioned. He has cooperated with law enforcement, and he is not listed as a person of interest or a suspect. But what about the old boyfriend, Sidney?

Police wanted to know more about his relationship with Heather. Her best friend, Bree, was just the person to tell them about it. He flirted with her just as much, if not more, than she flirted with him. It was mutual. Bree said that the two had met that spring at the Tilted Kilt, the pub where Heather had been a hostess. Sidney took care of maintenance there. You could tell that he really did care about Heather when he would come in and see her or just the little things, the texts or the calls

to check up on her at work. But there was a big problem. Sidney was married, although Heather didn't seem to mind. Heather had it in her head that he was going to leave his wife. She swore up and down that he was going to leave. Bree knew that would never happen. Sure enough, in October 2013, Sidney's wife got wind of the affair. He broke things off with Heather. It hurt her. It hurt me to see her go through that. Sidney told police he was home the night Heather disappeared. But he did say that Heather called him. Police went back to her phone records,

where they saw that call to Sydney. And they also found a mysterious number that had never called Heather before. Investigators traced it to a payphone at a gas station. A security camera was pointed right at it. This random payphone number called Heather's phone, called it once. It lasted about four minutes. And then she actually tried to call that number back multiple times. Marissa Tansino covered the case for NBC affiliate WMBF-TV. It appears that this is someone she knows. If she's having a conversation that's lasting that long, and she's repeatedly calling back. Right, exactly.

Was it Sydney? They pulled the security footage from the gas station. You can see somebody walk up to the payphone and place that call to Heather Elvis. Police wondered if that somebody was Sydney. They asked him to come in for another round of questioning. If he'd been home, what was he doing at a payphone? Calling Heather. He finally fessed up. Sidney Moore told them in an interview with police, I made that phone call to Heather.

Investigators began to build a timeline from Heather's phone. At 1.35 a.m., Sidney called Heather from the payphone. Nine minutes later, at 1.44, Heather called her friend Bree. Between 2.29 and 3.05, Heather called the payphone nine times, but no one answered. Her phone did connect to Sydney's cell phone at 3.17 a.m. for four minutes. Then, from 3.25 to 3.37, her phone was in her car on the way to Peachtree Landing. But where was Sydney around that time? Police didn't know. That is until a woman who lived near the landing here told police her home had a security camera.

Perhaps she thought it captured something around the time of Heather's disappearance. Around 3.30 in the morning on December 18th, you can see a dark truck, pickup truck, go by her home. Police believe it was Sydney's truck. It was a huge break. Police believe they could now place Heather Elvis in her car and Sydney Moore in his truck, heading for Peachtree Landing at the same time. And then soon after that, her phone goes dead and nobody ever heard from her again. It was 3.42 in the morning.

Police now had a theory. Somehow, Heather had become a problem for Sydney. So he lured Heather to the landing and killed her. And there was more. Investigators believed Sydney and Heather weren't alone. Someone else was at the landing. Coming up, who was that mystery person at the landing? And why would anyone want to harm Heather?

The fire, the jealousy, explodes into utter rage. Terry Elvis isn't exactly sure when he realized his daughter probably wasn't coming home. Maybe it was the afternoon, long after Heather disappeared, when he was standing at his mailbox talking to his best friend. One of my best friends came to the house. He looked at me and he said, He said, I hope she didn't suffer. I can't get that thought out of my head. The not knowing made it worse.

And then, stunning news. New developments tonight in the Heather Elvis case. Two months after Heather's disappearance, Sidney Moore, Heather's ex-boyfriend, was arrested. And he didn't go to jail alone. He was joined by his wife, Tammy Moore. Both were charged with Heather's kidnapping and murder. Was this surprising to people? Tammy and Sidney Moore are parents. They have three

children. And then now they're involved in this crazy love triangle, kidnapping, potential murder? Yeah. It's something that you see in a Dateline episode. It's not a storyline that matches up with two people who have three children are supposed to be happily married. In her first televised interview, Tammy told us her marriage was a happy one. We were normal family. You know, it was about our children. Our kids always came first before anything. Tammy homeschooled the kids, and Sidney worked at local restaurants. They enjoyed cookouts together and family vacations. I've always loved Sidney, but I hated the things he'd done. Tammy told us she'd found the affair upsetting,

but quickly got over it. She said within a day or two, she'd had a nice conversation with Heather on the phone. I said, I'm not mad at you. And she said, well, and then she told me the stuff that they had done and what had happened. Prosecutors didn't buy Tammy's story for one minute, but they had to drop the murder charges. After all, they didn't have a body. How did that feel when they told you about that? There is some tiny bit of justice in the world for a brief moment, and then all of a sudden, it's like it never happened. But it wasn't over yet.

It was only just beginning. Both Sidney and Tammy still faced kidnapping charges. Sidney was up first. His trial began in the summer of 2016. He pleaded not guilty. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, the jury. The prosecution's case was purely circumstantial. There was no physical evidence, but they argued those surveillance videos and phone records proved the last person to talk

and meet up with Heather was Sidney. However, the jury deadlocked. A mistrial has been declared in this case against Sidney Moore. The prosecution didn't give up. When it came time for Tammy's trial, they came up with a bold new strategy. They argued that Tammy had not only been Sidney's partner in crime, she'd been the mastermind calling all the shots. They believe that she was the ultimate brains behind this whole plan. Prosecutors said it all boiled down to this. Far from being the understanding wife who had accepted Sidney's affair, Tammy had been consumed by it. A fire of jealousy was lit

in the defendant. She was livid. She was angry. An anger that became something more sinister when Tammy heard a rumor around town. Heather might be pregnant with Sidney's baby. When this gets out and becomes common knowledge, the fire, the jealousy that is in Tammy Moore explodes into utter rage. Prosecutors said that rage wouldn't be satisfied until Heather was out of the way. They said it was obvious how much the affair had upset Tammy by the way she had treated Sidney afterwards. She said she beat the hell out of him.

This witness said Sidney had a tattoo of Tammy's name across his abdomen. His understanding was that Tammy made Sidney get it. The state's theory was that was Tammy's way of saying, you're mine and you're never going to be anyone else's. The prosecutor said Tammy had even chained Sidney to the bed with handcuffs. I'm not speaking figuratively to you right now. Literally chained him to the bed at night. But as angry as she was at Sidney for cheating, prosecutors said Tammy was furious with Heather. She'd sent her several texts. The prosecution said some of them were threats.

Heather was really afraid of Tammy. She was. Her friends had played a prank on her one time at work where they pretended to be Tammy calling Heather's phone, and she was absolutely terrified. And the prosecution said if there was any doubt about the way Tammy felt, just look at this nasty Facebook post Tammy had written after Heather disappeared, calling her a psycho whore. She could have said, oh, I'm so sorry this girl's missing, and I hope you find her, and left it alone. But no, she goes on the attack.

Tammy is the one with the motive. She is the hunter. And it was a hunt, the prosecution said. This expert witness told the jury he'd used cell phone data to track the Moore's movements. In the days before the disappearance, they showed up near Heather's workplace. Some of the bars she liked, even her home. The prosecution suggested the couple was stalking her. Then, in the early hours of December 18th, with Heather's roommate out of town, the prosecutor said the couple struck. It began here. The prosecutor showed the jury surveillance video of Sidney walking into a Walmart and purchasing a pregnancy test for Heather. Soon as they leave from Walmart, they go and call her. Why? Because the test is for her.

The prosecution's theory was that Sidney had called Heather to come and get the test, take it, and then meet up with him later at the landing. They said what she didn't know was that Tammy would be there too. There's no doubt. Sidney is to bait in this hunting. He's the bait. Prosecutors admitted they couldn't say what happened to Heather at the landing, but they asked the jury to use their common sense. An investigator showed the jury

a photo of several items found on the Moore's property. There is a spent shotgun shell basin. There is a bag of concrete mix here, and off to the side up here is some type of a bottle of a cleaning solution. The prosecution suggested it was nothing less than a kidnapping kit, what the Moores might have needed to kill Heather and dispose of her body. How hard was it for you, being in that courtroom every day, hearing these details, having to see Tammy? Most days when I woke up, I didn't want to come to the trial. But I went because when you see your parents hurting,

you wish that you could take all their pain away. And something like this, I mean, it's an impossible task for me to do. But you can do small things. You can sit with them, and you can hold their hands when they need it. After seven days of testimony, the prosecution rested and the defense announced Tammy was going to testify in her defense. As hard as it might be to listen to her, that was something Morgan didn't wanna miss.

Coming up. Did you kidnap Heather Elms? No, I did not. Tammy Moore on the stand and on the offensive. Tammy was just indignant. There's answers to this mystery and they refuse to solve it. When Dateline continues. Tammy Moore said her kids should have been tackling homework and hanging with friends. Instead, they were sitting in a courtroom watching her be accused of a terrible crime.

Tammy is the one with the motive. She is the hunter. Nobody deserves this. I just want to get home to my children and take care of them. Tammy believed she was being victimized by a relentless prosecutor. Heather's not getting justice by putting an innocent person in jail. She never will. I think that from the beginning, Tammy was just indignant that she was even charged with this.

Greg McCollum is Tammy's defense attorney. They cannot prove to you that anybody named Moore ever went to the boat landing at the end of Peachtree Road. The defense told the jury to look at the evidence, or lack of it, starting with Heather's car. The vehicle did not indicate that anything occurred inside the vehicle. The police officer who processed Heather's car testified he couldn't find any evidence of a struggle. Investigators found no trace of a crime inside the Moore's house or truck either. And speaking of their truck, the defense said you couldn't tell whether it actually was Sidney and Tammy's truck caught on camera heading towards Peachtree Landing.

You have low-image, low-resolution surveillance video. Our position is that you absolutely cannot draw any conclusion beyond the fact that that may be a certain make and model. This video did not pass the smell test for you? This video didn't even give off an odor, okay? Another piece of flawed evidence, according to the defense, was the cell phone data that seemed to suggest Tammy and Sidney had been stalking Heather. I would say you could compare their phone activity to anybody else's who lived and worked in the area.

Those are where the nightclubs are, there are restaurants there. It would appear that I were stalking her as well if you just looked at where my phone went. The defense said that what the jury really needed to understand was a simple fact. No piece of evidence put Tammy at the landing. If anything, her alibi placed her miles away. Did Tammy's children stay in the house there with you where your mother, Holly, lives? Yes. Tammy's sister, Ashley, told the court she was babysitting Tammy's kids

on the night of December 17th. She said Tammy and Sidney went out together in the hours leading up to Heather's disappearance. But Ashley remembered when her sister came home. She texted me that night saying that she was home. Do you know about what time that was? It was the beginning of three o'clock in the morning. I believe it was 310. For the defense, it was a time stamp, proving Tammy was home well before Heather went missing.

That wasn't all, he said. Both Sidney and Tammy's phones were on and pinging from their house, not from the landing when Heather was there. It was all so hard for Morgan to listen to. Someday she wished she hadn't come to court. But that all changed during a crucial moment in the trial. When I found out that Tammy was going to testify, I really wanted to be there because I do look like Heather. And she ran into me in the hallway, and it was the first time she had ever really made eye contact and been up close and personal with me, and I could hear her audibly gasp. But when Tammy took the stand, she seemed confident, ready to tell her story. She told the jury she wasn't a ruthless kidnapper. She was a mom. My youngest is on the far left over there.

And she was a wife who'd found out her husband was cheating on her. Initially, Tammy said she texted the other woman's phone number to find out who she was. The messages were never directed towards Heather Elvis. They were directed to the mystery person. I just wanted to know what it was. At the end of the day, Tammy said the only reason she was angry with Sidney was because he wasn't forthcoming about his affair. In their marriage, they had an arrangement. I said, I think it's a good idea to have an open marriage for a little bit and just see if we're meant to be together. The only thing I ask of you is to be honest with me. Sidney wasn't honest with me, and that's why I got angry with Sidney. She said when Heather went missing, she and Sidney were working on their marriage, even hoping to get pregnant. That test Sidney bought at Walmart, she said, was for her,

not Heather. Also, she denied that she made Sidney get a tattoo as punishment. She said he had gotten it long before he met Heather, and she had an answer about the handcuffs, too. Did you ever handcuff him to the bed and leave with the keys so he couldn't get loose? No, I have not. Sidney's a strong man. He could get out of anything. And Tammy had her own explanation for that so-called kidnapping kit. Sydney needed the concrete for work. The cleaning fluid was for their dirty camper. And the shotgun shell?

Probably just a spent casing from a turkey hunt. Did you kidnap Heather Elks? No, I did not. Do you know who kidnapped her? I do not. Are you glad that you're able to tell people what happened and what you did do and didn't do? that she wants to find Heather. She actually liked Heather. She didn't do this.

And yet she goes on Facebook calling her a psycho whore. Which is it? You know, I can't really, you know, explain everything that Tammy said or felt. I think it was a huge mistake to call her names and do that sort of thing. He said if Tammy had kidnapped Heather, why would she be writing nasty Facebook posts about her? The Elvises listened to Tammy's testimony about Heather with disgust.

She deserves to be found. It was so offensive to hear her name come out of that woman's mouth. You sat there so quietly in that courtroom. Did you just want to... Scream. It was infuriating, some of the things that she said. The trial was far from over. It was the prosecutor's turn to question Tammy, and the prosecutor wasn't going to pull any punches.

Coming up, fireworks in the courtroom. This is a story about jealousy and deceit. They don't have one fiber, one teardrop, one piece of a shoelace. High stakes in the jury room. The jury has reached a verdict. So help me God. When Tammy Moore took the stand in her own defense, she sailed through her direct testimony. But then came Prosecut prosecutor Nancy Livesay.

Ms. Morrow, do you know who I am? I do. Okay, and who am I? Nancy Livesay. You've made my life miserable. But Nancy Livesay was just getting started. The prosecutor's mission? To show the jury that Tammy was hardly the tolerant wife she claimed to be. When it came to Heather Elvis, the prosecutor argued Tammy was angry, vengeful, and Tammy's text to Heather proved it. You texted her, you can tell me who you are right now or I will find out another way. That way won't have a great turnout for you. Yes. And at the time,

how old were you? I think I was 41 or 42. I'm not sure. The prosecutor suggested Tammy behaved like a stalker. Isn't that what you said? If it's on there. Okay. Here's my question to you. How many times had you gone up there and looked her to believe that she was in hiding? Because it certainly leaves the impression.

Never. Never. Then what makes you think the bitch is in hiding? I was just being a jerk at the time, I guess, Nancy. That's all I can say. Have we ever met outside of this courtroom? I don't think so. She didn't know when we got on a first-name basis.

After 10 days and more than 40 witnesses, each side wrapped up. This is a story about jealousy and deceit. And this story has been around for a long, long time. The prosecution driving home its case that Tammy had motive to kidnap Heather Elvis. They don't have one fiber, one teardrop, one piece of salt, one piece of a shoelace at the boat landing. The defense arguing there was not a scrap of evidence to prove it. What would the jury do? Ladies and gentlemen, I understand that the jury has reached a verdict.

It took jurors less than four hours to reach a verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant, Tammy Kaysen Moore, guilty of kidnapping. It took jurors less than four hours to reach a verdict. Guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap, two counts. In court, Tammy took it stoically. Later, she was emotional. I told my kids if a verdict came in, I was going away, because I knew that's what it would be. The Elvises got the verdict they wanted, but it wasn't going to bring Heather back. It didn't change anything. People say it didn't change the big picture. It didn't change the little picture.

You expect it to feel good, to be a victory, but it doesn't feel like that at all. Heather's sister Morgan looked across to the Moors. The only thing I saw was another family getting torn apart. Those children sitting behind their mom. Yeah. I have lived firsthand a family getting torn apart and I wouldn't wish on anybody. Tammy Moore was sentenced to 30 years per count to be served concurrently. As for her husband Sidney, he too sat in prison, having been tried and convicted of obstructing justice by lying to police during the investigation. His sentence, 10 years. But the solicitor's office wasn't done with Sidney Moore just yet. Emboldened by the verdict in Tammy Moore's trial, it decided to retry Sidney Moore for the same two crimes,

kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. His trial began one year after Tammy was convicted. Sidney Moore and his wife Tammy Moore conspired, planned, and executed that plan to kidnap Heather Elvis on December 18th of 2013. This time, the prosecution stuck to its winning playbook. They took her from her community, from her friends, and from her family. Calling many of the same witnesses as they did during Tammy's trial. Was there a question about whether or not she was pregnant? Yes. The defense countered, arguing that the

state's case was thin and that the police rushed to judgment. They've now come to you and asked that you believe that they've met their burden to beyond a reasonable doubt. And in so doing, they're saying that they've excluded all other reasonable possibilities. But folks, they can't do that. The evidence just doesn't fit. The jury didn't agree. It deliberated less than two hours. The verdict? Guilty. At sentencing, the Elvis family told the judge finding Heather was more important to them than punishing the defendant. At this point, you can give him a day.

If you would just tell us where she's at. Then it was Sidney Moore's turn to respond. There's just nothing I can give him. They're opposed to it. I know they suffer. Nothing I can give them. I'm sorry, but I can't. Like his wife before him, Sidney received 30 years for each count to run concurrently.

As for Debbie and Terry, they're in the same place they've been since 2013, living with a hope that one day they'll get answers about what happened to Heather, the young woman who had so many years ahead of her. And what would you say to Heather? I'm going to bring you home somehow, some way. I'm bringing you home. We're not giving up. Never going to give up.

That's all for now. I'm Lester Holt. Thanks for joining us.