Murder With My Husband - 207. The Deadly Love Triangle

Episode Date: March 11, 2024

In this episode, Payton and Garrett dive into the case of Heather Elvis. A young woman entangled in an affair, whose situation takes a fatal turn when the betrayed wife discovers her husband's infidelity. Socials and more: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: “Missing… and Presumed Dead” by Michael Fleeman PostAndCourier.com - https://www.postandcourier.com/myrtle-beach/news/heather-elvis-remembered-at-socastee-vigil/article_afd2578e-9e3b-11ee-a3f4-db68453bd461.html InvestigationDiscovery.com - https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/mystery/where-is-heather-elvis-woman-vanishes-after-breaking-off-affair-with-married-man ABC7.com - https://abc7.com/heather-elvis-case-abc-2020-tammy-moorer/10394818/ AllThatsInteresting.com - https://allthatsinteresting.com/heather-elvis NBCNews.com - https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/missing-in-america/murder-charges-dropped-against-sidney-tammy-moorer-heather-elvis-case-n536571 WMBFNews.com -  https://www.wmbfnews.com/2023/06/07/sidney-tammy-moorer-lose-appeals-overturn-kidnapping-convictions-heather-elvis-case/ CrimeWatchers.com - https://www.crimewatchers.net/threads/heather-elvis-missing-from-myrtle-beach-sc-18-december-2013-age-20.483/ ABCNews.go.com - https://abcnews.go.com/US/south-carolina-love-triangle-womans-affair-married-man/story?id=76209188 The NY Post - https://nypost.com/2018/10/09/the-disappearance-of-heather-elvis-explosive-love-triangle-escalates-to-kidnapping-trial/ Distractify.com - https://www.distractify.com/p/what-happened-to-heather-elvis WBTW.com - https://www.wbtw.com/news/new-evidence-released-in-heather-elvis-disappearance/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey, everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morland and I'm Garrett Morland and he's the husband. I'm the husband. All right, Gary, we are ready for your 10 seconds. All right, everybody. So I recently went and watched Dune part or Dune 2, whatever you want to call it.

And I think it might be the best movie I've ever seen. Oh, my. It is amazing. If you haven't seen it, you need to go see it. If you've seen it and you don't like it, then I don't know, you need to go see somebody else. Yeah, it's amazing. It's such a good movie.

Peyton didn't go with me. I went with my brother. We both are doing fans, I guess you could say he's read the books. I haven't. So I'm kind of a fake fan. But the first movie was great. And the second movie was it was so good. It was so entertaining. All the actors did great. Actresses did great. I probably dragged Peyton to watch it because I think I would actually watch it again. Yeah, that's kind of all I got. Go see Dune.

Really good movie. I feel like they should be sponsoring me for saying how good it is. But I just like the movie. And on that note, let's hop into today's case. Wait, am I the Peyton that you're dragging to go see it? You are. I mean, I can find another girl Peyton if you like, but I just don't think that's acceptable. Why did it have to be a girl Peyton?

There's guy Peyton too. I can find a Peyton Manning might come with me. I went to the first dune, got dragged to the first dune, said that was awful. The second one's better than the first one. I was so excited for the first one. I was like, sendeia. She was in it for two seconds. Her and Timothy are in the entire movie together.

In the second one. But I'm gonna drag you to it tomorrow. I'm not going, I refuse. Excited, if you see a kidnapped Peyton, you know why. All right, our sources for this episode are missing and presumed dead by Michael Fleeman, Post and Courier.com, InvestigationDiscovery.com, ABC7.com, AllIt'sInteresting.com, NBCNews.com,

WMBFNews.com, CrimeWatchers.com, ABCNews.com, TheNewYorkPost, Distractify.com, and WBTW.com. So sometimes all you have to do is tug at one tiny lie to unravel a tapestry of falsehoods. When it comes to the justice system, however, you don't want the police to be the ones pulling at those threads, because lying to the police can lead to a pretty serious felony charge known as obstruction of justice. And in some cases, it's resulting in years behind bars. The thing is, authorities rarely go after this charge. It's hard to prove. The laws surrounding it are vague and it rarely sees convictions. One study found amongst 160 obstruction of justice cases, only seven resulted in guilty verdicts. Hardly enough to spend valuable time and resources on. I feel like it's similar to defamation in a sense where a lot of people do it,

but it is hard to take the court and to prove, which is frustrating. And a lot of times the police just won't even charge it, even if you lie to them, because eventually you get the truth. Because it's hard to prove again. So, like I said, it's hardly enough to spend valuable time and resources on. Unless, unless this charge is the only chance you have at putting a dangerous criminal behind bars. So that is what's going to happen in our story today.

So for today's case, we're traveling to the East Coast to a popular seaside tourist destination called Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Now every year, close to 14 million visitors swarm the area looking to escape the monotony of their everyday lives for a bit of fun in the sun. Whether that's spending the night out dancing and drinking at one of the many clubs in Myrtle Beach or hitting the beach to cool down in the waves or choosing from a variety of pro or mini golf courses along the highway, there's something for everyone in Myrtle Beach. But when the fall and winter months roll around and the tourists pack it up for the season, there's close to 37,000 residents that actually permanently call Myrtle Beach home. And amongst them was a 21 year old woman named Heather Elvis.

Now Heather had spent most of her life in the Myrtle Beach area. In 2011, she graduated from high school with dreams of becoming a makeup artist. And instead of setting off for college like some of her former classmates, Heather decided to stay in town and get a job and save up enough money to pursue that dream, which is how she landed a part-time job working at a chain restaurant in Myrtle Beach called The Tilted Kilt.

Now, imagine if Hooters was Irish themed. That's the kind of spot the Tilted Kilt was. The female staff, you know, would sport low cut plaid uniforms and Heather never seemed to mind the attention she got in the tiny little outfit. And they like kilts on too? Like if you were in- She's just graduated and now she's working here right in these cute little uniforms. She felt confident in her own skin and over time the tilted kill actually felt like her second home, especially when things weren't going so well under her own parents roof. It

wasn't unheard of for Heather to show up to work, only to tell her colleagues that she'd been kicked out of the house again. She and her parents just did not see eye to eye when it came to many of her life choices, especially as she's now graduated is kind of growing up. Heather often found herself sleeping in her car for a few days at a time until she found the courage to walk back into her parents' house again and smooth things over.

And while Heather's friends were never totally sure what she and her parents thought about, some of them believed her choice in men may have played a role in it. Because shortly after graduating high school, Heather met a guy who became emotionally abusive and very controlling. It wasn't unusual for her to show up to work with a bruise or an injury of some kind. At one point that summer, Heather was spotted wearing a scarf

in scorching hot weather. And it turns out she was just using it to hide a black and blue bruise that was around her neck. And despite this, by December of 2013, things were actually looking up for Heather. She now had her own apartment, which she shared with her friend Brianna. She'd landed a part-time job working at a local salon as a makeup artist. Plus, she just called it quits on another toxic relationship she had been in over the summer. So she was maturing. She was getting her life on track. She was hitting the restart button until that old flame showed back up in her life. So let me rewind a bit to July 2013. So this is about six months before Heather had really gotten her life together.

So that month in the summer of 2013, Heather, Brianna and a few of their friends from the tilted Kilt went to a minor league baseball game Heather, Brianna and a few of their friends from the Tilted Kilt went to a minor league baseball game and after Brianna dropped Heather back off at the restaurant to get her car. While out on the patio having a soda and fries, Heather locked eyes with someone she'd never seen before. The 37-year-old brown-haired blue-eyed maintenance guy who only came around when the restaurant needed repairs. And his name was Sydney Moore.

Immediately, Heather was smitten with Sydney, needing to know more about him. She and her friends waved him over to the table and introduced themselves. But a quick introduction turned to hours of conversation between Heather and Sydney, who ended up staying at the restaurant long past closing time. But remember, she works here and kind of technically so does he. So over the next few weeks, Sydney and Heather grow closer. His job required him to be at the restaurant in the early hours before open to the public, which meant some days, Heather would get there for her opening shift only to find that Sydney had brought her bagels or coffee. Those sweet gestures became intimate conversations around the host stand, then constant text messages back and forth,

which would have been harmless enough had Sydney not been married at the time with three kids. Okay. And you said he's 37, correct? And she's 18, 19? Just out of high school? Yeah, just maybe about to turn 20. So the fact that he's 37 and married with his own family is something that young Heather is well aware of. And she's 19 or 20? Right.

And we know this because it's July 10th. And I say that July 10th, 2013, Twitter is Twittering. Like this was the social media place for everyone to be. It was definitely bigger than Instagram at this point. I feel like everything was happening on Twitter. So she gets on her Twitter and she tweets saying, quote, baby did a bad, bad thing. I'm in too deep, but watch me get deeper.

So she is full blown into this affair. She knows she's the other woman, but she loves Sydney. So the fact that Sydney was married with a family was pretty common knowledge, particularly within the local restaurant industry in Myrtle Beach, because Sydney and his wife Tammy ran this maintenance company together and they didn't just work for the tilted Kilt. They had contracts with all different restaurants in the area working on whatever repairs they needed at the time.

Messy, messy, man. Yeah. So the couple was doing pretty well for themselves, even driving their three kids down to Orlando to visit Disney World on the regular. In fact, Sydney and Tammy met through the restaurant industry. So Tammy was working as a waitress at the time at a hard rock cafe in the late 90s when Sydney came in and swept her off her feet.

Less than a year into their relationship, the two were married and a year later, their first son was on the way, followed by a daughter in 2001 and then another son in 2005. But everyone who knew Tammy and Sydney was also aware. Tammy definitely wore the pants in this relationship. She allegedly told Sydney where he could work,

what he could do, who he could speak with, and Sydney always defaulted to her, seemingly kind of terrified of his wife. This is just according to everyone who knew them. At one point, his wife Tammy even demanded that he get her name tattooed on him. So did the Morris have a happy marriage? It didn't exactly seem that way,

but maybe this was just their dynamic. Either way, this isn't an excuse for the eventual infidelity that Sydney is going to have with a very young girl, which was exactly what was happening between Sydney and Heather, they'd sneak off to her car in the parking lot or in some cases book a hotel room after work. The affair was moving full speed ahead between the two

and it was an open secret amongst many of Heather's coworkers. I was gonna say, I'm surprised that the wife doesn't know yet. Well, all of her friends who are also younger, they're the waitresses at the tilted kilt, they're like, oh, she's hooking up with the married maintenance man. This is very common knowledge. And it wasn't necessarily accepted either.

Like it got to the point where Heather was actually getting harassed by some of the girls at work. Not only were they making snide remarks behind her back, they'd leave messages on the office bulletin board reading things like, hey ladies, stop effing the maintenance man, he's married. So on one occasion, Heather received a call at the restaurant from a woman claiming to be Sydney's wife,

threatening her saying she knew about the affair. Only the call wasn't from Tammy at all, it was a prank from two of the servers who worked with Heather. Okay. So the girls are not being very nice to her at work for doing what she's doing. I mean, I mean, you know what I'm saying? I do know what you're saying. Not saying, not saying we be mean to people, but also don't sleep with a married

man with kids. Yeah. Okay. It's just it's a hard It's it's it's wrong on both sides. Not anybody's fault. There's no win here. Yep So this is what's happening Tammy doesn't actually know about the affair. It was just her her co-workers pranking her at least for now See all the rumors alongside her declining reputation didn't stop Heather from seeing Sydney They continued dating for the next three months. It's also hard because, sorry to interrupt, but it's kind of a power dynamic, right? He's 37 years old as his own company, as kids is mature.

I mean, that's what we talk about grooming all the time. And that's what we talk about age differences because, I mean, that happens. And then there's just another layer to this exact case because in his relationship, it seems like he's kind of the doormat. Like he's the submissive one in his relationship at home. Interesting, okay. But he's probably the more dominant one

in his relationship with the younger girl. Totally, so now it just gets even more confusing. Right. So they continue dating and in September, 2013, Heather even tweets again, saying, once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and it did not end well. This was a bit foreshadowing. And also, if this seems weird, Twitter was your journal back in the day. Okay, people were sub tweeting.

They were still kind of it. It's still kind of weird. But I feel like people are a little more direct now. Back in the day, it was a lot more mysterious. People would just kind of tweet things and you'd be like, Oh, what's the drama here? So this actually ends up being a bit of foreshadowing, especially because by that October, Tammy Moore finally becomes aware of her husband's infidelity. And she knows exactly who it was with. So all of this finally catches up to them when Tammy finds out.

That month, Heather received a text from Tammy and this time it wasn't a hoax. It wasn't her coworkers pretending to be Tammy. It was a photo of Tammy receiving oral sex from Sydney. Oh, what a story. So it's not like a, hey, stop messing with my husband. It's like a, hey, stop messing with my husband. It's like a, Hey, stop messing with my husband. And she sent that to Heather.

To Heather. Yes. Wow. All right. So from there, Tammy also did begin calling Heather regularly to threaten her about the affair. But at this point, Heather started to realize the relationship was just not worth the risk. I mean, yeah, probably. What did Sydney say to Heather after this?

I don't know. What is, that's nuts. So Heather and Sydney called it off and Sydney said he was going to work on repairing his marriage with Tammy. Heather was obviously heartbroken, but she would still text him from time to time to check in, which only obviously pisses Tammy off more.

And then come November, it appeared Tammy had confiscated Sydney's phone. So she takes her husband's phone. You're right. So it does seem like she is the dominant one, I guess. Right. So she texts Heather from Sydney's phone and says, your skank ad needs to leave me alone and stop talking to me, you crazy effing whore.

All right. This was followed with more pornographic images and videos taken by her. Gosh, I think we're watching, it's like we're listening to a reality TV show. So, I mean, love, especially a love triangle is messy and it makes people do things that they wouldn't normally do. Housewives of Myrtle Beach. Right. So this all gets to the point where Heather expressed to her co-workers that she

was genuinely terrified of Tammy and felt like she was being a little harassed. I mean, maybe she should stop texting him, but also the behavior from Tammy isn't necessarily correct either. However, by mid-November, things kind of calmed down a bit. The Moors left on a three-week vacation while Heather got that new cosmetology job that she was looking forward to. So for the next month, all was quiet between Heather and the Moors and she hoped it would remain that way. And then on December 17th, 2013, Heather even went on a date with a new romantic interest. It was 21 year old Steven Scoraldi who she knew from high school. So this guy is more her age.

She went to high school with him. She finally gets her cosmetology job. Things are looking up for her. So that evening December 17th, Steven picked Heather up from her apartment at around 7 p.m. The two went to a beachfront Mexican restaurant for dinner. Then they went for a drive cruising around the Myrtle Beach area for the next hour and a half before ending up in an empty parking lot where Steven then taught Heather how to drive stick shift. Heather was so proud of herself that she even sent a photo to her dad at around 10.45 p.m. that night. And afterwards she and Steven went to his place, watched a movie, and then Steven drove her back to her apartment.

Okay. So a normal fun date. It was between one and two AM, it's now the 18th, when Heather finally gets home. Heather told Steven she had a great time, she wanted to see him again, and he said he was free after work tomorrow. Heather went inside her place, and the two texted again a little bit before Steven went to bed that evening.

So it seemed like the perfect first date, definitely a step up from the kind of guys that Heather was used to dating. It was a lot less toxic, everything was going well. But several miles away from Heather's apartment, a Horry County police officer was doing his nightly rounds at about 4 a.m. that morning. That's a coincidence.

He was driving past the peach tree boat landing when he noticed a dark colored dodge parked at a strange angle facing the water. Now I should probably clarify that Heather drove a dark colored dodge. The officer got out, shined a light inside the vehicle, but no one was inside. He ran the plates and found that the car wasn't reported stolen. So he drove off without filing a report or calling it into the station. He ran the plates and found that the car wasn't reported stolen, so he drove off without filing a report or calling it into the station. He knew people left their vehicles parked at the landing all the time, usually when they take their boats out on the water and maybe sail to another port along the coast. But another full day passes. December 18th becomes December 19th.

And remember, her date was on December 17th into the morning of the 18th. And that's when one of the dock workers called the police to say the dodge was still sitting in the same spot. So after learning that the car belonged to Terry Elvis, this is Heather's dad, police drove down to the family's house only to learn that Terry's daughter Heather was the sole driver of this vehicle.

And the family hadn't heard from her since Tuesday the 17th after her date when she learned to drive stick shift. Terry gave the police a spare set of keys to the car which they searched that evening inside there was no sign of Heather's wallet, purse or cell phone. Plus there were no hints of a struggle having happened inside the car there was no broken windows, no blood. So at this point, Terry's like, why is my daughter's car been sitting here for two days? So he's frantically calling Heather's cell phone, his daughter, and it

repeatedly is just going to voicemail. And so put two and two together. They haven't heard from her the 17th. The car was then parked here in the early morning hours of the 17th. It's now the 19th. Everyone knows something might be wrong. My brain is thinking, trying to figure out who might have killed her. Right.

Because it's a little suspicious that she goes on this date. Yeah. But I don't think it was him. You can keep going. I'll just tell you who I think it is now. And then we'll keep going on with the case. I think it was the wife. Okay.

Let's keep going. Okay. So this is a concern Heather missing that escalated further when Heather failed to show up for her shift at the tilted kilt on the 20th. Remember she has this part-time cosmetology but she's still working at the tilted kilt. Her manager said Heather was a hard worker

who always got her shift covered if she needed off. So she would never leave them hanging or just no show like this. It was completely out of character. So that same day police also searched Heather's apartment trying to do a wellness check and again there was no signs of a struggle, no blood, no drugs left behind, all of her clothes, her computer, toothbrush and makeup were still there. All things that someone would probably have taken if they planned to run away. Meanwhile, another team met with the last person to have supposedly seen Heather, and that was her date, Steven. He laid out step by step what had happened on their date that night. He was cooperative, sincere, and insisted

he had nothing to do with Heather's disappearance. Police only had to speak with him for 20 minutes to know he was telling the truth. Steven was immediately ruled out as a person of interest. By that evening, there was a full on search operation to find the missing Heather Elvis. And I have to give the Horry County and South Carolina State Police credit here because they were working fast on this case. They had boats combing the waterways,

helicopters scanning the swampy wetlands from a bird's eye view. But the police were also focusing their attention on a new person of interest, someone that they learned about once they began talking to everyone in Heather's life, especially Heather's boss at the Tilted Kilt. And that was 37 year old Sydney Moorer, her old lover.

I guess I said the wife and not him because like, we kind of talked about earlier, it seemed like she was the one that was angry. But I mean, he did cheat on her. So of course she's going to be angry. Yeah. So when police tracked Sydney down, they're like, hey, your old flame who almost broke up your marriage,

Heather hasn't been seen. And he says, well, I haven't seen Heather since October. They'd called it quits and that was that. So investigators want to know what was Sydney doing on the night of the 17th and the morning of the 18th? Does he even have an alibi? Well, Sydney claims things had been a lot better between him and his wife since their November vacation at around 930 p.m. on the 17th. They had a few drinks together at home and then they went to a nightclub But when they noticed the crowd was lame that night They decided to abort the plan and went back to their truck instead where he says the two of them had sex in the parking lot

Afterwards Sydney claimed they got gas and stopped by a Walmart to get a few things including a pregnancy test for Tammy Since they were trying to now have a fourth kid Then he said they went home and around 4 a.m. he got a call on his cell phone. It was Heather. Sydney took the call, claiming Heather was begging him to meet up, but he told her no.

Things were going well between him and his wife and he wasn't about to risk that. Then after he hung up, Sydney said Heather called him several more times, but he didn't answer. And after that, Sydney says he doesn't hear from her again. So the night she goes missing, she's calling him on his cell phone multiple times,

begging for him back. And Sydney says he's the one who answers the call, but doesn't answer the rest of them. But police felt like there was something Sydney was hiding. They had already dug up Heather's cell phone records and found that she'd received and made nine calls back and forth to a pay phone that morning. A pay phone right down the street

from where Sidney claimed to get gas in the early morning hours of the 18th. They for sure were seeing each other still. Well, so detectives see if Sidney will admit to it. They bait the hook asking, did you use any other phones that night to speak with Heather? Maybe your wife's phone or even a pay phone. And Sydney's reply is open and shy.

He's like, nope, followed by they still have pay phones. Now it's a tiny little lie, but it's one that Sydney Moore will come to regret deeply when he realizes the police have him exactly where they want him. Because after that, they go on to tell Sidney a little lie of their own, that they actually have footage of a man using the pay phone in the hours before Heather disappeared.

And it was a man who they say fits the description of Sidney pretty well. Again, this is just a lie. So they ask him again, so do you wanna change your story? Did you try calling her? Even if it was just for a minute, maybe from that pay phone. That's crazy.

It's kind of crazy they can just lie to you like that. It makes me realize if I ever get arrested for something, I can't believe a word they say. So Sydney pretends to think and then he gives an answer. He says, maybe. And then he finally says an answer. He says, maybe. And then he finally says, I did actually. Yeah, I think I did call her from a pay phone. That's whole, after he just said they still have those?

Yeah. That's so, what a loser. But he claims he was only asking her to leave him alone. What stranger is, this call allegedly happened while Sydney was out that evening having a date with his wife. Like she's supposedly here during all of this. So police wanna know where was Tammy while you were at the pay phone?

And this is where Sydney starts to dig himself in even deeper. He makes the story even more confusing for himself and the police, he says Tammy was in the truck using his cell phone when he said he was going to run into a store real quick. Is Tammy in on all this? Is she agreeing with Alibi here? They haven't talked to her yet. Okay.

Then he claims he ran across the street to use the pay phone at the kangaroo express gas station after he had just filled up at another gas station down the street. So he leaves Tammy there chatting with a friend on his phone while he darts across a busy street to call Heather, his ex-lover, to tell her to leave him alone. Now this account is bizarre for a lot of reasons. The biggest red flag is why did he call Heather out of the blue from a pay phone to say stop bugging me if she hadn't reached out to him? Why did he so desperately feel the need to threaten her at that moment and say, leave me alone? Heather hadn't been in

contact with Sydney for weeks at this point, according to her phone records. There hadn't been any recent attempts to reach him as far as they were aware. So why did Sydney feel the need to pause his date with his wife, run across a busy road to a pay phone and make the call just to say, leave me alone. It's just not adding up. But Sidney makes another confession during this interview. He says he's been trying desperately to regain the trust of his wife after she learned about the affair. So that's the reason he was kind of sneaking around

and calling her from the pay phone. He even says that Tammy's been handcuffing him to the bed at night to make sure that he doesn't slip out and go see Heather. This was an agreement they had made together. So red flags are going off left and right when it comes to the morrers and police realize they need to cooperate or debunk as much of their account as possible. But here's what they do confirm that around 1 15 a.m. on the morning of the 18th,

Sydney's Ford F 150 pulls into a Walmart parking lot. Again, this matches up with his story. He says him and his wife went to Walmart. A man matching Sidney's description is seen on security cameras headed into the store where he's assisted by a cashier in the pharmacy section. She gets an item from a locked case and cashes him out. Police later find a receipt that proves Sidney Moore did purchase a pregnancy test from the Walmart that night. Again, this all matches his story.

Then at 1 21 a.m. the truck left the parking lot. About four minutes later at 1 25 a.m. Heather's phone records said she received that call from the payphone at the Kangaroo Express gas station. Now, luckily for the police, when they do inquire about surveillance footage pointed at the pay phone, it actually does exist. So they lie to first and then they go and they find there's actually cameras. Oh, that's hilarious. But when they pull the tape, it's a little too blurry to make out exactly who would place the call. However, they can tell that a man did use the phone booth at the exact time that

Heather's cell phone received the call. But Heather's roommate, Brianna, also speaks to police during all of this. And she says the conversation that Heather had had with Sydney that night from the payphone went nothing like Sydney was implying. Brianna, who was out of town visiting family the morning Heather disappeared, said she received a call from Heather around 1.45 AM. This would be right after she spoke to Sydney on that pay phone. Brianna said that Heather was in hysterics when she confessed an unknown number had called her. So she answered and on the other end of the line was Sydney.

According to Brianna, he began telling Heather that he missed her, that he had finally left his controlling wife and that he wanted to get together with Heather to talk things over. So knowing the history there, Brianna was like, girl, do not like, do not go talk to him. Stay out of it. This has been so much drama. This has been so toxic. Like just leave it. So Heather tells Brianna, her roommate, she's like, yeah, yeah, you're right. Like, I know he just called and tried to get me back, but I'm good.

Like, I don't want to get involved in this anymore. But after that call, Heather's curiosity got the best of her. Her phone records showed that at 2 29 a.m., she called that pay phone again and again and again, reaching a total of nine different times, hoping to get Sydney back on the line. Of course, no one's going to answer.

It's a pay phone. Yeah. Only he seemingly had left the booth, obviously. Yeah. So at 3 16 a.m. Heather gave up on that number and dialed Sydney's cell phone. So she's probably dialing this because this is where he called her from. She doesn't realize that it's a pay phone.

When he doesn't answer nine times, she decides to call his cell phone. And this time someone does answer his cell and chats with Heather for a little over four minutes. This is according to the cell phone records. But Heather wasn't making all of these calls from the comfort of her own couch. After dialing the pay phone repeatedly, Heather actually got in her car and went over to a spot called Longbeards Bar and Grill where she stayed out until at least 3 a.m. And once she finally got someone to answer Sydney's cell phone, she presumably got in her car and drove over to the peach tree boat landing.

Her phone pinged a tower close by at around 3.37 a.m. and again at 3.41 a.m. Both were to Sydney's cell phone. So she's continuing to call him while she's parked out at this boat landing essentially. But after that, Heather's cell phone goes dead. And 20 minutes later at around 4 a.m., the Horry County police officer discovers her abandoned vehicle at the landing, she's nowhere in sight.

So this all happens within 20 minutes. Like- I was gonna say, it happens very quick. Her phone is making calls from that spot where her car is found. And then 20 minutes later, the cell phone is off and a cop drives by and doesn't see her anywhere in sight. Okay. Like he literally missed her by mere minutes.

Even more damning video surveillance was pulled from a camera, just a short distance away from the peach tree landing. And at around that same time, it a black Ford F-150 headed towards the docks exactly like the one Sydney drives. There's no cameras on the docks. You would think there'd be cameras on the docks showing if people are jumping in or you know something like that. No, just ones that can see the cars.

But by February 21st, 2014, police had a warrant to search the morer home. They're like, okay, obviously he's the last one to see her Like and then her car never moves from there. Something was going on that night. We need to search their home Also the lies that he told weren't little white lies like those are those are big lies. Yes He actually his I mean his car was down there So I haven't seen her since October. Yeah out he's calling her that night. And then, yeah. His car's in the same place her car was, yeah. So police go search the home.

And what they learned was the Morris had installed a new security system around their home right after the police first came to question them on December 20th, which is suspicious to say the least. But they also examined Sydney's F-150. And while they couldn't find a shred of evidence that Heather had been attacked, let alone gotten into the truck, they did discover that the GPS system had been disengaged on one single occasion. Can you guess what occasion the GPS had been unplugged?

That's insane. It's annoying because they can't really do anything with that. Now they can't prove that the truck went there. Exactly, but I feel like just because someone did that, like I don't know you're guilty. That's even, I mean, I guess that's circumstantial, right? It's, yeah. So his GPS and his Ford was unplugged the morning that Heather Elvis went missing.

With that revelation, Sydney and Tammy Moore were taken into custody that afternoon. They're like, this is just too much circumstantial evidence. With that revelation, Sydney and Tammy Moore were taken into custody that afternoon. They're like, this is just too much circumstantial evidence. And by the 23rd, they were facing several charges, obstruction of justice, two counts of indecent exposure for admitting to having sex in public, and for sending those sexual photos to Heather Elvis. You think that if they were both in on it, you think somebody would turn on each other

at this point. So I'm curious to see what happens. They also put up the charges for conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping charges and last but certainly not least murder. So they bring both of them in. They are charging both of them with this. But there's one major problem with the last charge,

the charge of murder. There's no body, there's no weapon. And tries they might, police can't help but find a single shred of evidence around peach tree landing or Heather's car to imply foul play. Yeah. No, they, they, they wouldn't go to jail. Right.

I don't think there's enough evidence. The only thing that suggested Heather and Sydney even met up that night was that vehicle that looked a lot like his caught driving toward the boat landing. Like that's literally the only solid evidence they have. However, the plates are unreadable. There simply wasn't enough to take those murder charges to court, which is why on March 10th, 2016, the prosecutor's office made the difficult decision

to drop their murder charges against Sydney and Tammy. The indecent exposure charges against the couple had also been dropped, but Tammy and Sydney would still stand separate trials for kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap. So on June 20th, 2016, Sydney's trial began in earnest. Obviously one of the biggest hurdles was proving that this no body case deserved such a serious charge, but the prosecution had a pretty strong motive

up their sleeve. One, even Sydney Moore probably wasn't expecting to hear him. They get to court and this is what they argue. They argue that the pregnancy test Sidney bought at Walmart that night wasn't for his wife. It was meant for Heather. Which I thought, that's what I kind of assumed. According to some of Heather's coworkers,

she had taken a pregnancy test at work back in November of 2013, just weeks after she and Sydney had called it quits. Only the test read inconclusive, but there were other subtle changes in Heather that seemed to develop over the next several weeks. Her manager and good friend, Jessica Crook, said that Heather had been putting on weight and needed to get a larger top size for her uniform. And allegedly police found a box to another pregnancy test in Heather's

trash can when they searched her apartment. So this is all leading to the fact that Heather probably thought she was pregnant with Sydney's child, which means she most likely isn't okay with just calling quits on this relationship. The prosecution argued that perhaps Sydney and Tammy decided to buy the pregnancy test for Heather, called her from that pay phone to demand she take it, and then arranged that rendezvous for later that evening. But Sydney's defense offered another scenario, a curveball no one expected.

He throws Tammy, his wife, under the bus and says she was responsible all along. See, I knew somebody was going to throw somebody under the bus. So Sydney's lawyer argued that Tammy had plenty of reasons to be upset with Heather, while Sydney never showed any violence towards her throughout their relationship. They argued that Tammy had taken a cell phone from him, leading to him using the pay phone that evening. She was keeping him handcuffed to their bed at night. So it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that Tammy was the one to lure Heather to

the landing spot that night. This is either both on the gather or he did it, I think. I don't know. At the beginning, I did say I think she did it. But now I'm kind of changing my mind. I think it was probably done together. Well, you also have to keep in mind, you know. She's pregnant.

Like that's insane too. Well, think of their history. Think of Tammy and Heather's history. She sent her through any texts. The supposed physical altercation they once had because according to Jessica Crook, Heather came to work shortly after her breakup with Sydney with a black eye.

And first she told her boss, oh, you know, I just opened a door and hit myself. But later she says, oh, I'd gotten jumped in a parking lot. And they kind of think that it was Tammy. Also around the same time she'd received the nasty black eye, Heather had gotten over 95 threatening texts in a row. So she was showing people like, look, this girl is harassing me. So after closing arguments,

the jury deliberated for about 80 hours only to return to say that they couldn't reach a verdict. 10 of them said Sidney was guilty while two believed he wasn't. They believed that Tammy had done it. The judge declared a mistrial. Sidney would have to return to court for the kidnapping charges at a later date,

which meant Sidney, a potentially dangerous criminal, was out there walking free for the time being. Now the state was banking on any chance they could put him behind bars, no matter how big or small the charges. And this opportunity came in August of 2017 when Sydney was back in court this time for those obstruction of justice charges. Had Sydney told the truth about the pay phone from the very beginning, he might have found himself in a very different circumstance. As I mentioned at the top of the episode, pursuing charges

for obstruction of justice is rare and hardly ever pays off. But Sydney wasn't obstructing justice over a speeding ticket or even a robbery. This was a no body kidnapping case. And the prosecution felt this might be their best chance at serving Sydney justice considering the lack of evidence. So unlike the kidnapping, the evidence for this charge was pretty cut and dry. And after 50 minutes of deliberations, the jury came back with a concrete verdict. Sidney Moore was guilty of obstructing justice, and now he'd be spending the next 10 years in prison for lying to police. What's also crazy though is that someone will kill someone and get like five years in prison, but then he's going to get 10 years for obstructing justice. Right.

Everything's just so backwards. But also, what about Tammy? So Tammy goes to trial and her jury believes that there's enough circumstantial evidence. And so they found Tammy guilty of conspiracy to kidnapping, kidnapping, sentencing her to two 30 year terms to be served simultaneously.

Whoa. So she got more time than him. Well, because the charges are different. She actually gets charged for kidnapping. Hers doesn't end in a missed trial. So finally in September, 2019, Sydney himself reappeared in court this time with new incriminating evidence. Remember how I mentioned the Moors had gotten a new security system after the police initially came to their house in December of 2013.

Well, that footage was not entirely gone. Police ended up finding the tapes, which showed Sydney and Tammy together, scrubbing their F-150 clean a few days after Heather's disappearance. I knew they were in on it together. Sydney was seen burning the towels he used on the interior. By this point, By this point-

These people are parents. They have kids. I know. By this point, it had been nearly six years since Heather Elvis went missing. This had to be the fourth trial her family was going to sit through. And thankfully, it would be the last for now. This time, after the jury deliberated they returned with a verdict, Sydney was guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap.

His punishment matched his wife's with two concurrent 30 year sentences. In June 2023, both Tammy and Sydney lost their appeals to overturn their convictions. Both remain behind bars for the kidnapping charges. Meanwhile, Heather Elvis' final resting place and what happened in those last few hours of her life remains a mystery. Because they won't say anything. One that might only be solved if Sidney or Tammy Moore's conscience ever gets the best of them. And that is the story of Heather Elvis.

Family lost their daughter because someone killed her for no reason basically Parents now those kids don't have parents because they're evil right killed somebody. I don't know. That's insane It's so sad. That's horrible and maybe all because she was pregnant. Yeah, no 100% It's because she was pregnant. They didn't want they didn't want to deal with it. And so yeah, that's so awful And she was so young. Yeah, so young. All right, you guys, that is our case for this week. And don't forget about our tour. You can check out the details anywhere. We will see you next time with another episode.

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