The Deadly Love Triangle

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.

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AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to an Oh No Media podcast.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Payton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. All right, Garrett, we are ready for your 10seconds.

So I recently went and watched Dune: Part Two, 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. Payton didn't go with me, I went with my brother. We both are Dune 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'd probably drag Payton to watch it because I think I would actually watch it again. Yeah, that's kind of all I got, go seeDune, 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 Payton that you're dragging to go see it? Youare. I mean, I can find another girl Payton if you like, but I just don't thinkthat's acceptable. Why does it have to be a girl, Payton? There's guy Paytontoo. I can find Peyton Manning, might come with me. I went to the first Dune,got dragged to the first Dune, said that was awful. Oh, the second one's betterthan the first one. I was so excited for the first one, I was like, she was init for two seconds. Oh, she and Timothy are in the entire movie together. Thesecond one, I'm gonna drag you to it tomorrow. I'm not, I'm not going, Irefuse. Excited, if you see a kidnap Payton, you know why.

All right, our sources for this episode are "Missingand Presumed Dead" by Michael Fleeman, "Post and Courier","Investigation Discovery", "ABC7","Interesting.com", "NBC News", "WMBF News","Crime Watchers", "ABC News", "The New YorkPost", "Distractify", and "WBTW.com".

So, sometimes all you have to do is tug at one tiny lie tounravel 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, becauselying to the police can lead to a pretty serious felony charge known asobstruction 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, thelaws surrounding it are vague, and it rarely sees convictions. One study foundamongst 160 obstruction of justice cases, only seven resulted in guiltyverdicts, hardly enough to spend valuable time and resources on. I feel likeit's similar to defamation in a sense, where a lot of people do it, but it'shard to take to court and to prove, right, which is frustrating. But, and a lotof times the police just won't even charge it, even if you lied to them, 'causeeventually it's hard to prove, again. So, like I said, it's hardly enough tospend valuable time and resources on, unless this charge is the only chance youhave at putting a dangerous criminal behind bars. Okay, so that is what's goingto happen in our story today.

For today's case, we're traveling to the East Coast to apopular Seaside tourist destination called Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Now,every year close to 14 million visitors swarm the area looking to escape themonotony of their everyday lives for a bit of fun in the sun. Whether that'sspending the night out dancing and drinking at one of the many clubs in MyrtleBeach or hitting the beach to cool down in the waves or choosing from a varietyof pro or mini-golf courses along the highway, there's something for everyonein Myrtle Beach. But when the fall and winter months roll around and thetourists pack it up for the season, there's close to 37,000 residents thatactually permanently call Myrtle Beach home.

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, shegraduated from high school with dreams of becoming a makeup artist. And insteadof setting off for college like some of her former classmates, Heather decidedto 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 MyrtleBeach called The Tilted Kilt. Now, imagine if Hooters was Irish-themed, that'sthe kind of spot The Tilted Kilt is. The female staff would sport low-cut plaiduniforms and never seemed to mind the attention she got in the tiny littleoutfit. And do they have kilts on too? Like if you were in... She's just graduatedand now she's working here, right? In these cute little uniforms, she feltconfident in her own skin and over time, The Tilted Kilt actually felt like hersecond home, especially when things weren't going so well under her ownparents' roof.

It wasn't unheard of for Heather to show up to work only totell her colleagues that she'd been kicked out of the house again. She and herparents just did not see eye to eye when it came to many of her life choices,especially as she's now graduated and is kind of growing up. Heather oftenfound herself sleeping in her car for a few days at a time until she found thecourage to walk back into her parents' house again and smooth things over. Andwhile Heather's friends were never totally sure what she and her parentsthought about, some of them believed her choice in men may have played a rolein it, okay? Because shortly after graduating high school, Heather met a guywho became emotionally abusive and very controlling. It wasn't unusual for herto show up to work with a bruise or an injury of some kind. At one point thatsummer, Heather was spotted wearing a scarf in scorching hot weather, and itturns out she was just using it to hide a black and blue bruise that was aroundher neck. And despite this, by December of 2013, things were actually lookingup for Heather.

She now had her own apartment, which she shared with herfriend Brianna. She'd landed a part-time job working at a local salon as amakeup artist. Plus, she just called it quits on another toxic relationship shehad been in over the summer. So she was maturing, she was getting her life ontrack, she was hitting the restart button, until that old flame showed back upin her life.

Let me rewind a bit to July 2013, so this is about 6 monthsbefore Heather had really gotten her life together. That month in the summer of2013, Heather, Brianna, and a few of their friends from The Tilted Kilt went toa minor league baseball game. After Brianna dropped Heather back off at therestaurant 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 therestaurant needed repairs. His name was Sydney Moore. Immediately, Heather wassmitten with Sydney, needing to know more about him. She and her friends wavedhim over to the table and introduced themselves, but a quick introductionturned to hours of conversation between Heather and Sydney, who ended upstaying at the restaurant long past closing time. But remember, she works here,and kind of technically so does he.

Over the next few weeks, Sydney and Heather grew closer. Hisjob required him to be at the restaurant in the early hours before it opened tothe public, which meant some days Heather would get there for her opening shiftonly to find that Sydney had brought her bagels or coffee. Those sweet gesturesbecame intimate conversations around the host stand, then constant textmessages back and forth, which would have been harmless enough had Sydney notbeen married at the time, with three kids.

And you said he's 37, correct? Yes, and she's 18, 19, justout of high school. Yeah, just maybe about to turn 20. Okay, so the fact thathe's 37 and married with his own family is something that young Heather is wellaware of. And she's 19 or 20, right? Um, and we know this because it's July10th, and might I say that, you know, July 10th, 2013, Twitter is twittering.Like, this was the social media place for everyone to be. It was definitelybigger than Instagram at this point. I feel like everything was happening onTwitter. So she gets on her Twitter and she tweets, saying, "Baby did abad bad thing. I'm in too deep, but watch me get deeper."

So she is full-blown into this affair. She knows she's theother woman, but she loves Sydney. So the fact that Sydney was married with afamily was pretty common knowledge, particularly within the local restaurantindustry in Myrtle Beach, because Sydney and his wife, Tammy, ran thismaintenance company together, and they didn't just work for The Tilted Kilt;they had contracts with all different restaurants in the area, working onwhatever repairs they needed at the time. Messy, messy man, yeah.

So the couple was doing pretty well for themselves, evendriving 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 wasworking as a waitress at the time at a Hard Rock Cafe in the late '90s whenSydney came in and swept her off her feet. Less than a year into theirrelationship, the two were married, and a year later, their first son was onthe way, followed by a daughter in 2001, and then another son in 2005. But everyonewho knew Tammy and Sydney was also aware Tammy definitely wore the pants inthis relationship. She allegedly told Sydney where he could work, what he coulddo, who he could speak with, and Sydney always defaulted to her, seemingly kindof terrified of his wife. This is just according to everyone who knew them.

At one point, his wife Tammy even demanded that he get hername tattooed on him. So did the Moors have a happy marriage? It didn't exactlyseem that way, but maybe this was just their dynamic. Either way, this isn't anexcuse for the eventual infidelity that Sydney is going to have with a veryyoung 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 hotelroom after work. The affair was moving full speed ahead between the two, and itwas an open secret amongst many of Heather's co-workers. I was going to say,I'm surprised that the wife doesn't know yet. Well, all of her friends who arealso younger, they're the waitresses at the Tilted Kilt, they're like,"Oh, she's hooking up with the married maintenance man." This is verycommon knowledge, and it wasn't necessarily accepted either. Like, it got tothe point where Heather was actually getting harassed by some of the girls atwork. Not only were they making snide remarks behind her back, they'd leavemessages on the office bulletin board reading things like, "Hey, ladies,stop effing the maintenance man, he's married."

On one occasion, Heather received a call at the restaurantfrom a woman claiming to be Sydney's wife, threatening her, saying she knewabout the affair. Only the call wasn't from Tammy at all; it was a prank fromtwo of the servers who worked with Heather. Okay, so the girls are not beingvery nice to her at work for doing what she's doing. I mean, you know what I'msaying. I do know what you're saying. Not saying be mean to people, but alsodon't sleep with a married man with kids. Okay, it's just, it's a hard dynamic.It's wrong on both sides. It's 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 justher co-workers pranking her, at least for now. See, all the rumors alongsideher declining reputation didn't stop Heather from seeing Sydney. They continueddating 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, has his owncompany, has kids, is mature. I mean, that's why we talk about grooming all thetime, and that's why we talk about age differences because, well, I mean, thathappens. And then there's just another layer to this exact case because in hisrelationship, it seems like he's kind of the doormat, like he's the submissiveone in his relationship at home, but he's probably the more dominant one in hisrelationship with the younger girl. Totally. So now it just gets even moreconfusing, right?

Okay, so they continue dating, and in September 2013,Heather even tweets again, saying, "Once Upon a Time an angel and a devilfell in love, and it did not end well." My gosh. Now, this was a bit offoreshadowing, and also, if this seems weird, Twitter was your journal back inthe day, okay? People were sub-tweeting, they were still kind of weird, but Ifeel like people are a little more direct now. Back in the day, it was a lotmore 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 offoreshadowing, especially because by that October, Tammy Moore finally becomesaware of her husband's infidelity, and she knows exactly who it was with.

All of this finally catches up to them when Tammy finds outthat month. Heather received a text from Tammy, and this time it wasn't a hoax;it wasn't her co-workers pretending to be Tammy. It was a photo of Tammyreceiving oral sex from Sydney. Oh, so it's not like a "Hey, stop messingwith my husband"; it's like a "Hey, stop messing with myhusband," and she sent that to Heather. Yes, wow, all right.

So from there, Tammy also did begin calling Heatherregularly to threaten her about the affair. But at this point, Heather startedto realize the relationship was just not worth the risk. I mean, yeah, what didSydney say to Heather after this? What is that? That's nuts. So Heather andSydney called it off, and Sydney said he was going to work on repairing hismarriage with Tammy.

Heather was obviously heartbroken, but she would still texthim from time to time to check in, which obviously pisses Tammy off more. Andthen come November, it appeared Tammy had confiscated Sydney's phone. So shetakes her husband's phone, you're right, so it does seem like she is thedominant one, I guess, in the relationship. So she texts Heather from Sydney'sphone and says, "You're skank, ah, needs to leave me alone and stoptalking to me, you crazy effing [ ]."All right, this was followed with more pornographic images and videos taken byher. Oh my gosh, this is like we're watching, it's like we're listening to areality TV show. So, I mean, love, especially a love triangle, is messy, and itmakes people do things that they wouldn't normally do. The housewives of MyrtleBeach, right?

So this all gets to the point where Heather expressed to herco-workers that she was genuinely terrified of Tammy and felt like she wasbeing a little harassed. I mean, maybe she should stop texting him, but alsothe behavior from Tammy isn't necessarily correct either. However, bymid-November, things kind of calmed down a bit. The Moors left on a 3-weekvacation while Heather got that new cosmetology job that she was lookingforward to.

So for the next month, all was quiet between Heather and theMoors, 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-oldSteven Scaly, who she knew from high school. So this guy is more her age; shehad gone to high school with him. She finally gets her cosmetology job; thingsare looking up for her. So that evening, December 17th, Steven picked Heatherup from her apartment at around 7:00 p.m. The two went to a beachfront Mexicanrestaurant for dinner, then they went for a drive, cruising around the MyrtleBeach area for the next hour and a half before ending up in an empty parkinglot where Steven then taught Heather how to drive stick shift. Heather was so proudof herself that she even sent a photo to her dad at around 10:45 p.m. thatnight.

Afterwards, she and Steven went to his place, watched amovie, and then Steven drove her back to her apartment. Okay, so a normal, fundate. It was between 1:00 and 2:00 a.m. It's now the 18th when Heather finallygets home. Heather told Steven she had a great time. She wanted to see himagain, and he said he was free after work tomorrow. Heather went inside herplace, and the two texted again a little bit before Steven went to bed thatevening. So, it seemed like the perfect first date, definitely a step up fromthe 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 policeofficer was doing his nightly rounds at about 4:00 a.m. that morning. That's acoincidence. He was driving past the Peach Tree Boat Landing when he noticed adark-colored Dodge parked at a strange angle facing the water. Now, I shouldprobably 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 andfound that the car wasn't reported stolen, so he drove off without filing areport or calling it into the station. He knew people left their vehiclesparked at the landing all the time, usually when they take their boats out onthe water and maybe sail to another port along the coast. But another full daypasses.

December 18th becomes December 19th. And remember, her datewas on December 17th into the morning of the 18th. And that's when one of thedock workers called the police to say the Dodge was still sitting in the samespot. So after learning that the car belonged to Terry Elvis, this is Heather'sdad, police drove down to the family's house only to learn that Terry'sdaughter, Heather, was the sole driver of this vehicle, and the family hadn'theard from her since Tuesday the 17th after her date. When she learned to drivestick shift, Terry gave the police a spare set of keys to the car, which theysearched that evening. Inside, there was no sign of Heather's wallet, purse, orcell phone. Plus, there were no hints of a struggle having happened inside thecar. There was no broken windows, no blood. So, at this point, Terry's like,"Why is my daughter's car been sitting here for 2 days?" So he'sfrantically calling Heather's cell phone, his daughter, and it repeatedly isjust going to voicemail. And so, put two and two together, they haven't heardfrom her since the 17th.

The car was then parked here in the early morning hours ofthe 17th. It's now the 19th. Everyone knows something might be wrong. My brainis thinking, trying to figure out who might have killed her, right? Becauseit's a little suspicious that she goes on this date. Yeah, but I don't think itwas him. You can keep going. I'll just tell you who I think it is now, and thenwe'll keep going on with the case. I think it was the wife. Okay, let's keepgoing. This is a concern. Heather missing that escalated further when Heatherfailed to show up for her shift at the Tilted Kilt on the 20th. Remember shehas this part-time cosmetology, but she's still working at Tilted Kilt. Hermanager said Heather was a hard worker who always got her shift covered if sheneeded off, so she would never leave them hanging or just no show like this. Itwas completely out of character.

So that same day, police also searched Heather's apartment,trying to do a wellness check. And again, there were no signs of a struggle, noblood, no drugs left behind. All of her clothes, her computer, toothbrush, andmakeup were still there, all things that someone would probably have taken ifthey planned to run away.

Meanwhile, another team met with the last person to havesupposedly seen Heather, and that was her date, Steven. He laid out step bystep 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 hadto speak with him for 20 minutes to know he was telling the truth. Steven wasimmediately ruled out as a person of interest.

By that evening, there was a full-on search operation tofind the missing Heather Elvis. I have to give the local county and SouthCarolina State Police credit here because they were working fast on this case.They had boats combing the waterways, helicopters scanning the swampy wetlandsfrom a bird's eye view. But the police were also focusing their attention on anew person of interest, someone that they learned about once they began talkingto everyone in Heather's life, especially Heather's boss at the Tilted Kilt,and that was 37-year-old Sydney Mor, her old lover.

I guess I said the wife and not him because, like we kind oftalked about earlier, it seemed like she was the one that was angry. But Imean, he did cheat on her, so of course, she's going to be angry. So whenpolice tracked Sydney down, they're like, "Hey, your old flame who almostbroke up your marriage, Heather, hasn't been seen." And he says,"Well, I haven't seen Heather since October. They'd called it quits, andthat was that." So investigators want to know what was Sydney doing on thenight 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 sincetheir November vacation. At around 9:30 p.m. on the 17th, they had a few drinkstogether at home, and then they went to a nightclub. But when they noticed thecrowd was lame that night, they decided to abort the plan and went back totheir 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 fewthings, including a pregnancy test for Tammy, since they were trying to nowhave a fourth kid. Okay, then he said they went home, and around 4:00 a.m., hegot a call on his cell phone. It was Heather.

Sydney took the call, claiming Heather was begging him tomeet 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 Heathercalled him several more times, but he didn't answer. And after that, Sydneysays he doesn't hear from her again.

So the night she goes missing, she's calling him on his cellphone multiple times, begging for him back, and Sydney says he's the one whoanswers the call but doesn't answer the rest of them. But police felt likethere was something Sydney was hiding. They had already dug up Heather's cellphone records and found that she'd received and made nine calls back and forthto a pay phone that morning, wow, a pay phone right down the street from whereSydney claimed to get gas in the early morning hours of the 18th.

They for sure were seeing each other still. So, detectivessee if Sydney will admit to it. They bait the hook asking, "Did you useany other phones that night to speak with Heather? Maybe your wife's phone oreven a pay phone?" And Sydney's reply is open and shut. 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 regretdeeply when he realizes the police have him exactly where they want him.Because after that, they go on to tell Sydney a little lie of their own, thatthey actually have footage of a man using the pay phone in the hours beforeHeather disappeared, and it was a man who they say fits the description ofSydney pretty well. Again, this is just a lie. So they ask him again, "So,do you want to change your story? Did you try calling her, even if it was justfor a minute, maybe from that pay phone?" That's crazy. It's kind of crazythey can just lie to you like that. Yeah, it makes me realize if I ever getarrested for something, I can't believe a word they say. Yeah.

So, Sydney pretends to think, and then he gives them ananswer. He says, "Maybe." And then he finally says, "I did,actually. Yeah. I think I did call her from a pay phone." That's after hejust said they still have those. Yeah, that's so... What a loser. But he claimshe was only asking her to leave him alone. What's stranger is this callallegedly happened while Sydney was out that evening having a date with hiswife. True. Like she's supposedly here during all of this. So, police want toknow, where was Tammy while you were at the pay phone?

And this is where Sydney starts to dig himself in evendeeper. He makes the story even more confusing for himself and the police. Hesays Tammy was in the truck using his cell phone when he said he was going torun into a store real quick. Is Tammy in on all this? Is she agreeing with thealibi here? They haven't talked to her yet. Okay. Then he claims he ran acrossthe street to use the pay phone at the Kangaroo Express gas station after hehad just filled up at another gas station down the street. So he leaves Tammythere, chatting with a friend on his phone, while he darts across a busy streetto call Heather, his ex-lover, to tell her to leave him alone.

Now, this account is bizarre for a lot of reasons. Thebiggest red flag is, why did he call Heather out of the blue from a pay phoneto say, "Stop bugging me," if she hadn't reached out to him? Why didhe so desperately feel the need to threaten her at that moment and say,"Leave me alone?" Heather hadn't been in contact with Sydney forweeks at this point, according to her phone records. There hadn't been anyrecent attempts to reach him, as far as we're aware. So why did Sydney feel theneed 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 addingup.

But Sydney makes another confession during this interview.He says he's been trying desperately to regain the trust of his wife after shelearned about the affair. So that's the reason he was kind of sneaking aroundand calling her from the pay phone. He even says that Tammy's been handcuffinghim to the bed at night to make sure that he doesn't slip out and go seeHeather. Okay, this was an agreement they had made together. So, red flags aregoing off left and right when it comes to the Moors, and police realize theyneed to cooperate or debunk as much of their account as possible.

They do confirm that around 1:15 a.m. on the morning of the18th, Sydney's Ford F-150 pulls into a Walmart parking lot. Again, this matchesup with his story. He says him and his wife went to Walmart. A man matchingSydney's description is seen on security cameras headed into the store, wherehe's assisted by a cashier in the pharmacy section. She gets an item from alocked case and cashes him out. Police later find a receipt that proves SydneyMoore did purchase a pregnancy test from the Walmart that night. Again, thisall matches his story. Yep.

Then at 1:21 a.m., the truck left the parking lot. About 4minutes later, at 1:25 a.m., Heather's phone records said she received thatcall from the pay phone at the Kangaroo Express gas station. Now, luckily forthe police, when they do inquire about surveillance footage pointed at the payphone, it actually does exist.

So they lied at first, and then they go and they findthere's actually a camera. That's hilarious. But when they pull the tape, it'sa little too blurry to make out exactly who would place the call. However, theycan tell that a man did use the phone booth at the exact time that Heather'scell phone received the call. Okay. But Heather's roommate, Briana, also speaksto police during all of this. And she says the conversation that Heather hadhad with Sydney that night from the pay phone went nothing like Sydney wasimplying. Briana, who was out of town visiting family the morning Heatherdisappeared, said she received a call from Heather around 1:45 a.m. This wouldbe right after she spoke to Sydney on that pay phone.

Briana said that Heather was in hysterics when she confessedan unknown number had called her, so she answered. And on the other end of theline was Sydney. According to Briana, he began telling Heather that he missedher, that he had finally left his controlling wife, and that he wanted to gettogether. So, knowing the history there, Briana was like, "Girl, do notlike, do not go talk to him. Stay out of it. This has been so much drama. Thishas been so toxic. Like, just leave it." So Heather tells Briana, herroommate, she's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right. Like, I know hejust called and tried to get me back, but I'm good. Like, I don't want to getinvolved in this anymore." But after that call, Heather's curiosity gotthe best of her.

Her phone records showed that at 2:29 a.m., she called thatpay 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. Only he seemingly had left the booth, obviously. So at 3:16a.m., Heather gave up on that number and dialed Sydney's cell phone. So she'sprobably dialing this because this is where he called her from. She doesn'trealize that it's a pay phone. When he doesn't answer nine times, she decidesto call his cell phone. And this time, someone does answer his cell and chatswith Heather for a little over 4 minutes. This is according to the cell phonerecords. But Heather wasn't making all of these calls from the comfort of herown couch.

After dialing the pay phone repeatedly, Heather actually gotin her car and went over to a spot called Long Beard's Bar and Grill, where shestayed out until at least 3:00 a.m. And once she finally got someone to answerSydney's cell phone, she presumably got in her car and drove over to the PeachTree Boat Landing. Her phone pinged a tower close by at around 3:37 a.m. andagain at 3:41 a.m., both were to Sydney's cell phone. So she's continuing tocall him while she's parked out at this boat landing, essentially. But afterthat, Heather's cell phone goes dead, and 20 minutes later, at around 4:00a.m., the Hy County police officer discovers her abandoned vehicle at theLanding; she's nowhere in sight.

So this all happens within 20 minutes. Like I say, happensvery 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 anddoesn't see her anywhere in sight. Okay, like he literally missed her by mereminutes. It seemed even more damning; video surveillance was pulled from acamera just a short distance away from the Peach Tree Landing, and at aroundthat same time, it recorded a black Ford F-150 headed towards the docks. Exactlylike the one Sydney drives. And there's no cameras on the docks. You wouldthink there'd be cameras on the docks showing if people are jumping, you know,something. No, just ones that can see the cars.

But by February 21st, 2014, police had a warrant to searchthe Moore home. They're like, "Okay, obviously he's the last one to seeher, and then her car never moves from there. Something was going on thatnight; we need to search their home." Also, the lies that he told weren'tlittle white lies. Like, those were big lies. Yes, he actually, I mean, his carwas down there, so obviously he's like, "I haven't seen her sinceOctober." Yeah, turns out he's calling her that night, and his car is inthe same place her car was. Yeah, so police go search the home, and what theylearned was the Moores had installed a new security system around their homeright after the police first came to question them on December 20th, which issuspicious to say the least. But they also examined Sydney's F-150, and whilethey couldn't find a shred of evidence that Heather had been attacked, letalone gotten into the truck, they did discover that the GPS system had beendisengaged on one single occasion. Can you guess what occasion the GPS had beenunplugged in? That's insane. It's annoying because they can't really doanything with that now. They can't prove that the truck went there exactly, butI feel like just because someone did that, like, I don't know, you're guilty.It's, I mean, I guess that's circumstantial, right? It's, yeah.

So, his GPS in his Ford was unplugged the morning thatHeather Elvis went missing. Yes, with that revelation, Sydney and Tammy Moorewere taken into custody that afternoon. They're like, "This is just toomuch circumstantial evidence." And by the 23rd, they were facing severalcharges: obstruction of justice, two counts of indecent exposure for admittingto 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 eachother at this point, right? So I'm curious to see what happens.

They also put up the charges for conspiracy to kidnap andkidnapping charges, and last but certainly not least, murder. So they bringboth of them in. They are charging both of them with this, but there's onemajor problem with the last charge, the charge of murder: there's no body,there's no weapon. Yep, and try as they might, police can't help but find asingle shred of evidence around Peach Tree Landing or Heather's car to implyfoul play. Yeah, they wouldn't go to jail. I don't think there's enoughevidence.

The only thing that suggested Heather and Sydney even met upthat night was that vehicle that looked a lot like his caught driving towardthe boat landing. Like, that's literally the only solid evidence they have.However, the plates are unreadable. There simply wasn't enough to take thosemurder charges to court, which is why on March 10th, 2016, the prosecutor'soffice made the difficult decision to drop the murder charges against Sydneyand Tammy.

The indecent exposure charges against the couple had alsobeen dropped, but Tammy and Sydney would still stand separate trials forkidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap. So on June 20th, 2016, Sydney's trialbegan in earnest. Obviously, one of the biggest hurdles was proving that thisnobody case deserved such a serious charge, but the prosecution had a prettystrong motive up their sleeve, one even Sydney Moore probably wasn't expectingto hear. They get to court, and this is what they argue: they argue that thepregnancy test Sydney bought at Walmart that night wasn't for his wife; it wasmeant for Heather, which I... I thought that's what I kind of assumed.According to some of Heather's co-workers, she had taken a pregnancy test atwork back in November of 2013, just weeks after she and Sydney had called itquits. Only the test read inconclusive.

But there were other subtle changes in Heather that seemedto develop over the next several weeks. Her manager and good friend, JessicaCrook, said that Heather had been putting on weight and needed to get a largertop size for her uniform. And allegedly, police found a box to anotherpregnancy test in Heather's trash can when they searched her apartment. So thisis all leading to the fact that Heather probably thought she was with child,which means she most likely isn't okay with just calling quits on thisrelationship. The prosecution argued that perhaps Sydney and Tammy decided tobuy the pregnancy test for Heather, called her from that pay phone to demandshe take it, and then arranged that rendezvous for later that evening. ButSydney's defense offered another scenario, a curveball no one expected: hethrows Tammy, his wife, under the bus and says she was responsible all along.

See, I knew somebody was going to throw somebody under thebus. Sydney's lawyer argued that Tammy had plenty of reasons to be upset withHeather. While Sydney never showed any violence towards her throughout theirrelationship, they argued that Tammy had taken his cell phone from him, leadingto him using the pay phone that evening. She was keeping him handcuffed totheir bed at night, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility thatTammy was the one to lure Heather to the landing spot that night.

This is either both of them together or he did it. Ithink... I don't know if at the beginning I did say I think she did it, yeah,but now I'm kind of changing my mind. I think it was probably done together.Well, you have to have to... you also have to keep in mind, you know, she'spregnant. That's insane too. Well, think of their history. Think of Tammy andHeather's history. She sent her threatening texts, the supposed physicalaltercation they once had, because according to Jessica Crook, Heather came towork shortly after her breakup with Sydney with a black eye. Yeah, at first shetold 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," andthey kind of think that it was Tammy. Also, around the same time, she'd receivedthe nasty black eye, Heather had gotten over 95 threatening texts in a row fromTammy. Holy crap. So she was showing people, like, "Look, this girl isharassing. This is nuts."

Okay, so after closing arguments, the jury deliberated forabout 80 hours, only to return to say that they couldn't reach a verdict. Tenof them said Sydney was guilty, while two believed he wasn't. They believedthat Tammy had done it. The judge declared a mistrial. Sydney would have toreturn to court for the kidnapping charges at a later date, which meant Sydney,a potentially dangerous criminal, was out there walking free for the timebeing. Okay, now the state was banking on any chance they could put him behindbars, no matter how big or small the charges. And this opportunity came inAugust of 2017, when Sydney was back in court, this time for those obstructionof justice charges.

Had Sydney told the truth about the pay phone from the verybeginning, he might have found himself in a very different circumstance. As Imentioned at the top of the episode, pursuing charges for obstruction ofjustice is rare and hardly ever pays off. But Sydney wasn't obstructing justiceover a speeding ticket or even a robbery. This was a nobody kidnapping case,and the prosecution felt this might be their best chance at serving Sydneyjustice considering the lack of evidence.

So, unlike the kidnapping, the evidence for this charge waspretty cut and dry. And after 50 minutes of deliberations, the jury came backwith a concrete verdict. Sydney Moore was guilty of obstructing justice, andnow he'd be spending the next 10 years in prison for lying to police. What'salso crazy though is that someone will kill someone and get like 5 years inprison, but then he's going to get 10 years for obstructing justice. Right, youknow what I'm saying? Everything's just so backwards. But also, what aboutTammy?

So, Tammy goes to trial and her jury believes that there'senough circumstantial evidence, and so they found Tammy guilty of conspiracy tokidnap and kidnapping, sentencing her to two 30-year terms to be servedsimultaneously. So she got more time than him. Well, because the charges aredifferent. She actually gets charged for kidnapping. Hers do end in a mistrial.Wow.

So finally, in September 2019, Sydney himself reappeared incourt, this time with new incriminating evidence. Remember how I mentioned theMoore’s had gotten a new security system after the police initially came totheir house in December of 2013? Well, that footage was not entirely gone.

Police ended up finding the tapes, which showed Sydney andTammy together, scrubbing their F-150 clean a few days after Heather'sdisappearance. I knew they were in on it together. Sydney was seen burning thetowels he used on the interior. By this point, these people are parents. Theyhave kids. I know.

By this point it had been nearly 6 years since Heather Elviswent missing. This had to be the fourth trial her family was going to sitthrough, and thankfully it would be the last for now. This time, after the jurydeliberated, they returned with a verdict. Sydney was guilty of kidnapping andconspiracy to kidnap. His punishment matched his wife's, with two concurrent30-year sentences.

In June 2023, both Tammy and Sydney lost their appeals tooverturn their convictions. Both remain behind bars for the kidnapping charges.Meanwhile, Heather Elvis's final resting place and what happened in those lastfew hours of her life remain a mystery because they won't say anything, onethat might only be solved if Sydney or Tammy Moore's conscience ever gets thebest of them.

And that is the story of Heather Elvis. Family lost theirdaughter because someone killed her for no reason, basically. Mhm. Um, parentsnow, those kids don't have parents because they're evil. They killed somebody.I don't know. That's insane. It's so sad. That's horrible. And maybe allbecause she was pregnant. Yeah, no, 100%, it's because she was pregnant. Theydidn't want to deal with it. And so yeah, that's so awful. She was so young.Yeah, so young.

All right, you guys, that is our case for this week. Anddon't forget about our tour. You can check out the details anywhere. Um, wewill see you next time with another episode.

I love it.

I hate it.

Goodbye.

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