True Crime Vault: The Devil's Triangle

Summary

Podcast Summary: 20/20 True Crime Vault – “The Devil’s Triangle”

Podcast: 20/20
Host: ABC News
Episode: True Crime Vault: The Devil's Triangle
Date: August 26, 2025

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Overview

This gripping episode of 20/20 True Crime Vault unpacks the disappearance of 20-year-old Heather Elvis from Horry County, South Carolina. Her case—one of love, obsession, and betrayal—unfolds against the seemingly idyllic backdrop of Myrtle Beach. The episode dives deep into the tangled relationships that led to her vanishing, the exhaustive investigation, and the sensational trials of Sidney and Tammy Moore, leaving listeners with haunting questions about justice and closure.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Heather Elvis’s Life and Disappearance

• Heather’s Background: Described as a vivacious, creative free spirit with ambitions in fashion and media.
  • “She always wanted to live life to the fullest. ...She didn't understand boundaries when it came to dreaming.” (Narrator/Host, 04:11)
• Night of Disappearance (Dec 18, 2013):
  • Heather went on a date with Steven Schiraldi, learned stick shift, shared joyful texts and selfies with her mom (11:00–12:10).
  • Later, her car was found abandoned at Peachtree Boat Landing—an ominous, isolated location. Her possessions were inside, but she was gone.
    • “There is no reason for a car to be there abandoned in the middle of the night.” (Narrator/Commentator, 01:17)
  • Heather’s family becomes frantic, noting her phone going straight to voicemail—very out of character (08:23).

2. The Secret Affair and the Triangle

• Heather’s New Love: Initially, everyone thought Steven was the main person in her life—but coworkers point investigators to another man: Sidney Moorer (13:17).
• Heather & Sidney’s Affair:
  • Sidney (37, married, three children) was a night maintenance man at Heather’s workplace, the Tilted Kilt.
  • Their relationship was passionate—and an “open secret.”
    • “Sydney and Heather were having sex all the time, anywhere that they could.” (Prosecutor/Legal Expert, 14:07)
• Obsession and Tensions:
  • Sidney’s wife, Tammy Moore, discovers the affair and becomes enraged, subjecting Heather to persistent threats and harassment, including repeated calls, texts, and explicit videos (21:17–22:18).
  • “Hey sweetie, you ready to meet the Mrs.?” (Tammy to Heather, via Narrator/Host, 21:34)
  • Both Heather and those around her sense real danger—her demeanor becomes fearful and paranoid (22:55).

3. Escalation and Threats

• The Moore Marriage: Tammy emerges as controlling; after previous infidelities, she exerts dominance over Sidney—chains him to bed, closely monitors his contacts, and forces a tattoo of her name on him (54:19).
• A Nasty Breakup:
  • After the affair’s exposure, Sidney distances himself from Heather and publically humiliates her in a call (“…you were just some girl that spread your legs.” [21:01])
  • Heather is heartbroken, frightened, but begins moving on, even seeing Steven on the night she disappeared (24:57).

4. The Payphone, The Timeline, and Early Suspicions

• Payphone Clue: Police quickly hone in on a string of early morning calls between Heather and a payphone (27:41).
  • Surveillance shows Sidney at the payphone; he denies involvement but is later contradicted by evidence and testimony (28:09–29:39).
  • Heather’s roommate recounts a 1:44am call where Heather claims Sidney begged to reunite and said he’d left his wife (30:00).

5. Evidence Mounts Against the Moores

• Tracking Movements: Phone and surveillance records place both Sidney and Tammy near Peachtree Landing during Heather’s disappearance window. Their black Ford F150 matches a vehicle seen coming and going from the area (33:39–35:27).
• Manipulating Evidence: The GPS in their truck was removed only on the night Heather vanished. Their home’s security system was conveniently replaced right after the events (36:45–37:33).
• Burning and Cleaning: Surveillance shows Sidney and Tammy meticulously cleaning and burning evidence from the truck (74:18–75:15).

6. The Trials and Legal Drama

• Circumstantial but Compelling: Despite lacking physical evidence or Heather’s body, prosecutors build a narrative based on circumstantial evidence, focusing on motive (possible pregnancy) and behavioral patterns (40:57–44:14).
• First Trial (Sidney): Ends in a mistrial (47:23), but Sidney is later convicted of obstruction of justice (48:42).
• Tammy’s Trial:
  • Prosecution highlights her domineering behavior and relentless pursuit of Heather.
  • “She even chains him to the bed at night. I’m not speaking figuratively to you right now. Literally chains him to the bed at night.” (Narrator/Investigator, 54:19)
  • Tammy testifies, remaining combative and denying all accusations. Deliberations yield a swift guilty verdict: 30 years in prison for conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping (68:29–69:10).
• Sidney’s Retrial:
  • Fresh evidence (surveillance video of cleaning/burning, witness testimony from Tammy’s cousin) tips the jury, leading to another 30-year sentence (80:08–80:33).

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• On Myrtle Beach’s Dark Underbelly:
  • “In these swamps, anything can happen, anything can disappear. Even a body.” (Narrator/Commentator, 01:45)
• On Loving and Losing Heather:
  • “We miss you, but we want you home. Tell me where you’re at.” (Debbie Elvis, 25:47)
• On Social Media’s Role:
  • “It was a social media war, a campaign of pure terror.” (Debbie Elvis, 32:33)
  • “Probably the first case where social media took on a life of its own.” (Narrator/Commentator, 38:47)
• On Tammy’s Domination:
  • “She has this way of being very, very intimidating. …I’m still thinking about it to this day.” (Witness/Testifier, 54:00)
  • “She even chains him to the bed at night. …Literally chains him to the bed at night.” (Narrator/Investigator, 54:19)
• On Heather’s Fate:
  • “I hold out hope that I'll turn around one day and she'll walk in. Do I really think that'll happen deep down? No, I don't. …I'll never give up.” (Debbie Elvis, 82:29)
• On Justice and Closure:
  • “The perfect solution would be to find Heather Elvis alive, but I don't believe that'll ever happen.” (Narrator/Investigator, 80:56)

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |-------------|------------------------------------------------------------| | 04:28–05:43 | Heather’s character, work at Tilted Kilt, her free spirit | | 13:17–14:51 | Introduction of Sidney Moore and the start of their affair | | 21:17–22:18 | Tammy’s threats escalate; explicit calls/texts | | 24:57 | Heather moving on; last night out with Steven | | 27:41–28:09 | Discovery of payphone calls, surveillance clues | | 33:39–36:10 | Surveillance: truck movements, cell phone, GPS removed | | 41:39–44:28 | Theories: Pregnancy motive, circumstantial case | | 47:23 | Sidney’s first trial ends in mistrial | | 48:42–49:03 | Sidney convicted of obstruction of justice | | 68:29–69:10 | Tammy Moore convicted, sentenced to 30 years | | 80:08–80:33 | Sidney Moore convicted, also sentenced to 30 years | | 82:29 | Debbie Elvis’ heartbreaking hope for closure |

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Conclusion

The Devil’s Triangle delivers a tragic exploration of a small-town mystery consumed by obsession, rage, and the search for justice. It’s a cautionary tale about the dark side of passionate relationships, the corrosive potential of jealousy, and the relentless demand for answers from those left behind. The episode’s original voices—painful, candid, and at times poetic—reveal the human cost of violence and uncertainty.

Heather Elvis’s body was never found, but the episode closes with her family’s tenacious hope for truth, a town forever changed, and a warning about the profound consequences of secrets kept in the shadows.

Transcript

[Narrator/Host]

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[Narrator/Commentator]

The swamps of Horry County, South Carolina.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Are like a black hole.

[Narrator/Commentator]

It is a place with some of the darkest, murkiest waters I've ever.

[Reporter/Investigator]

There's this boot sucking mud snakes, even alligators.

[Narrator/Investigator]

At 4 o' clock in the morning. Peachtree Boat Landing is a dark, desolate place.

[Reporter/Investigator]

The only reason you go to the Peachtree Boat Landing is to put a boat in the water.

[Narrator/Commentator]

There is no reason for a car to be there abandoned in the middle of the night.

[Narrator/Host]

I'm gonna do bad things.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Do it like it's not. Being bad has never felt so good.

[Narrator/Investigator]

The tires were not flat, the windows were not busted, the doors were locked. The car seemed in good working order. There was just nobody in it.

[Narrator/Commentator]

In these swamps, anything can happen, anything can disappear. Even a body. There is no way this story is going to end well.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Doing bad things to you.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Only a few miles from the dark swamps are these pristine beaches and the bustling boardwalks of the South Carolina coast.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Myrtle beach is about 75 miles of beach. White sandy beaches, very coastal, low lying areas. A lot of swamps and rivers and intercoastal waterway connected.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

We have everything you'd want in a vacation destination. We've got the beach, we've got activities, we've got shows, we've got a lot of golf and tennis.

[Narrator/Host]

We get 20 million tourists a year. We get a lot of transplants from the New York area, New Jersey, and then we have locals as well who have been born and raised here. The actual permanent population of Myrtle beach is more like around 30,000. So this is still a really small town, Conway.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

I think it catches a lot of people off guard. I think they think Myrtle beach is kind of all that's here. I call it small Town usa. It's a nice little three block downtown. Everything's kind of that red brick that you picture when you drive in. It's just got a slower feel than Myrtle Beach.

[Reporter/Investigator]

When I first came down to Myrtle beach to report on this story. One of the things that I noticed first was this great divide between the tourists who live on the coast and the locals who. Who live west of the Intracoastal inland. And it was there that In December of 2013, a young woman, just 20 years old, Heather Elvis, disappears.

[Narrator/Host]

When people talk about Heather, they smile because she was so full of personality. She lit up a room when she walked in. She's precious. She had a wonderful life. She had some beautiful life. She lived it the way she wanted. She made her choices the way she wanted.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

We've always been a tight knit family. Everybody does for everybody else.

[Narrator/Host]

I would describe Heather as outgoing, free spirit, you know, loving life. She always wanted to live life to the fullest. She loved makeup. She wanted to be in front of the camera and behind the camera and design everything that she wore in front of the camera. She didn't understand boundaries when it came to dreaming.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Heather Elvis worked at a restaurant, a sports bar here called the Tilted Kilt.

[Witness/Testifier]

Tilted Kilt is an Irish Scottish version of Hooters. So the girls wear kilts. It's like a sports bar. So they have TVs everywhere. They have a whole bunch of different beers on tap.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Heather was a hostess at Tilted Kilt, where I was a manager. She was friendly to everybody. She's always smiling. She had a contagious laugh that I would love to hear again.

[Narrator/Host]

Heather and I worked at Tilted Kilt together. I actually helped her get that job. I talked to the managers and said they should bring her on, that she's a really great young woman and that she definitely. She'd be a great addition to the team. It wasn't the most appropriate of uniforms, but at that age, you do what you can to rebel against your parents. Heather really didn't give a crap what anybody thought about her. She was a very free spirit and she expressed herself how she wanted to. And she might have come off abrasive to some people, but she was just. She was very real.

[Reporter/Investigator]

It's funny because she looks like such a kid in those pictures.

[Narrator/Host]

She looked like such a young. She was tiny.

[Reporter/Investigator]

She was tiny. She was just 20 years old.

[Narrator/Host]

I feel like I'm a short woman, but she made me feel tall.

[Reporter/Investigator]

She was very tiny, and yet there was a big personality.

[Narrator/Host]

Very big personality. When you're young in Myrtle beach, you don't think that bad things are gonna happen.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It came out of the blue. No one expected this to happen.

[Reporter/Investigator]

But at about 4, at 4am on December 18, that early morning, an Horry county police officer was on a routine patrol when he noticed that empty car in the parking lot.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

He got out because he was suspicious that there's a car there. This time of night, there's no lights, there's nobody around. He gets out, he checks the vehicle. There doesn't appear to be anything out of the normal. So he then gets back and continues patrolling.

[Narrator/Investigator]

The next day, someone reported that car as a suspicious vehicle because of the length of time it had been sitting.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

At Peach Reboot Landing at that time. Officer Canterbury goes down and sees the car runs the tag. When he runs the tag, he finds it belonged to Terry Elvis.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

I think I was sitting in the living room and had a knock at the door. And Debbie went to the door. And I saw through the window that it was a county police officer. And he was asking if we were missing a car. And I remember both of us looking in the driveway. No, he says, a green Dodge Intrepid. Oh, yeah, that's Heather's car. And then he goes on to explain that it's been found at Peachtree Landing, apparently abandoned. He asked if had keys to it, and I said, yeah. He said, let's ride down and take a look. By the time we got there, it was dark. And he pulled in, had his lights on the back of the car, shine his spotlight on it. He says, is that it? I said, yeah. So we got out to go take a look.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Mr. Elvis immediately suspected something was wrong. He knew that that was his daughter's only mode of transportation. It had no business being at that landing. She never went to that landing.

[Narrator/Host]

I was just sitting there, twiddling my thumbs and waiting. Calling Heather's phone. It was going straight to voicemail, which is way out of character with Heather.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

I thought the car might have been stolen. Cause of the way it was parked. Maybe somebody took it and left it there. It really didn't hit me. Where's Heather? Until he started looking through things.

[Witness/Testifier]

Clothes, art, shoes, purses, makeup, you name it was in her car.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

But they don't find her phone, they don't find her wallet, they don't find a pocketbook.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

I could see the worry on his face. That's when I got worried. After we looked inside the car, he says, let's look in the trunk. I think even though I still thought the car was stolen, I could feel my heart just drop.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Lowe's tonight, near 40 inland. Will be in the mid-40s, right along the immediate coast.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

First I thought the car was stolen, and now we're opening the trunk.

[Narrator/Host]

Well, I was panicking and pacing the floor while he was at the landing.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

So I put the key in, I turn it and open the trunk, and I look away.

[Narrator/Host]

Heather's phone is an extension of herself, and it was always in her hand or very close by. And for her not to answer the phone wasn't right.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

He said, it's just stuck and it wasn't. We closed the trunk back and.

[Narrator/Host]

He.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Looks around the perimeter of the landing. He walks around the edge, just looking into the woods and along the edge to see if there's anything out of place. And everything looked normal.

[Narrator/Investigator]

When they got back to Mr. Elvis's house, he knew how to access the phone records for the family. While Heather lived on her own, she was still very dependent on her father. She was on his phone plan still. She still drove his vehicle. So he had access to these things. He was able to produce those records for Officer Canterbury.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

My panic had really set in because it's totally out of the ordinary. Heather's never done anything like this before. Something's wrong. What's wrong?

[Narrator/Commentator]

That's when police began piecing together the last known movements of Heather on the night she disappeared.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

So December 17, Heather went on a date with Steve schiraldi.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Like Heather, 21 year old Steven Schiraldi was active on social media, posting selfies and chatting with friends. It was actually on Instagram that he connected with Heather.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Steven and Heather had gone to high school together, and I believe Steven asked her out on a date and she agreed to go. She was looking forward to that date very much.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Stephen says they went to dinner at a place called Bandidos. After dinner, they went to an abandoned parking lot at a shopping mall where Steven taught Heather Howe to drive a stick shift truck.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

We were watching TV and I got a text and it was a picture of Heather driving a small pickup truck, big smile on her face.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

It was a picture of her driving Steve's truck.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Below it, she had written, learn to drive a stick. Ha ha ha. Because it was a sore point. I tried to teach her how to drive a stick shift. You're proud and aggravated at the same time. But it was.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Heather went to Steven's house briefly to watch a movie. His mother corroborates that. And then Steven took her home.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

He said he took her back to the apartment, dropped her off and went home and said that they'd either text or talked, you know, after that a couple of times for a few minutes.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Police across the country know that in any missing person's case, the first 48 hours are absolutely critical right now. They're leaving no stone unturned. And as part of this initial investigation, they send an officer over to the Tilted Kilt to see if Heather had missed work. One of the first things that investigators hear from Heather's co workers is that there is a different man who they should be talking to other than the man Heather went on a date with the night before.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

The manager said, she's not working until tomorrow, but you really need to call Sydney Moore. There had been a relationship between the two of them.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Sidney Moore, back in 2013, was a night maintenance man at various miscellaneous restaurants along the Grand Strand, one of which being the Tilted Kilt, which is where he met Heather Elvis.

[Narrator/Host]

Heather and Sydney started talking. They noticed each other when he would start doing little things around Tilted Kilt. She noticed that, you know, he was good looking, he had a good attitude, and she went for it.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Now, he may have been good looking, but he was 37, which made him 17 years older than Heather Elvis.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Sydney and Heather's relationship was certainly sexual in nature. I think that was a big driving force in that relationship.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Sydney and Heather were having sex all the time, anywhere that they could.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

There were allegations that there was sex in the restaurant nearby during work hours.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Everything else that did not make me happy whatsoever. So I did ask her about it. I confronted her about it.

[Reporter/Investigator]

What was the actual nature of their relationship?

[Narrator/Host]

I mean, most people would call it a sexual relationship, but from my opinion of talking to her, they were in love.

[Reporter/Investigator]

How long was it before that everybody knew that they were an item?

[Narrator/Host]

I want to say it was probably like the end of summer, early August maybe. Having known Heather since we were little, it was a little surprising. But Heather was always a risk taker.

[Witness/Testifier]

She was pretty rebellious. She was one of those people when you told her no, it only wanted to make her do it more.

[Narrator/Host]

She always wanted what made her happy. So I guess Sydney just made her happy when they were together.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And like so many other people Heather's age, she shared her thoughts and her musings on social media, whether she was happy or sad. And, and she did so pretty frequently.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

I think for any 20 year old, there's a strong social media presence and used it for everything. And that's their main form of communication. They're on Twitter, they're on Facebook, and there's not a great filter there.

[Witness/Testifier]

Heather did enjoy social media and I think that that was one place where she could express herself openly and wouldn't be judged for it.

[Narrator/Host]

There's no telling what would come out of that girl's mouth. She posted a lot of off the wall things. You know, at random times of the day.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Sydney would sometimes come to bring her coffee and bagels. Not to do a job, but literally just to bring her something.

[Narrator/Host]

Yes.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Did you find that charming?

[Narrator/Host]

It was cute. Even though we all thought that it was wrong on so many levels. I knew that she was talking to a boy named Sydney, that he was sweet and she was smitten. Had no idea he was married.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I'm your nightmare while you're fast.

[Witness/Testifier]

Heather received a phone call and it was Tammy on the other end. And she said, I know you're with.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

My husband and revenge has never felt so sweet.

[Narrator/Host]

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[Narrator/Investigator]

At this point, Heather was missing and they don't really know where she's at. However, they do know that she was having an affair with a married man who also worked at the Tilted Kilt by the name of Sydney Moore.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Being by has never felt so good.

[Narrator/Host]

We learned all about it in just that first little short period of time because everybody who wanted to help told us everything. More than we wanted to know really. When you're in love, you're in love. When you're 20, you don't always necessarily think through all of those things doing.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Bad things to you.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Sidney Moore was 37 years old. He had three kids and he was married to a 40 year old woman named Tammy. She was nearly twice Heather's age.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Tammy and Sidney Moore were married over 15 years when I got involved in this case. They had a son that was around 15, a daughter that was around 13, and another son that was around 10 or 11.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Tammy Moore was definitely the more domineering part of that couple. She told Sydney where to work, when to work, what to do. If I would classify Sydney as anything in that relationship, it would be utterly submissive.

[Narrator/Commentator]

They both had jobs at night or they worked at night. They would sleep during the day. They were homeschooling their children, so literally you could live in Myrtle beach and never even run across these people.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Prior to this affair, Sidney did have another previous affair. I think Tammy, being the domineering person she was, always was suspicious of Sydney, especially after the first affair he got caught having.

[Witness/Testifier]

It wasn't a secret to those that worked at the kill. You know, we all knew about it.

[Narrator/Investigator]

The affair between Sidney Moore and Heather Elvis was the worst kept secret in Horry County.

[Reporter/Investigator]

By now, Heather's relationship with Sydney had been going on for about three months. And there were lots of folks who worked at the Tilted Kilt with her who felt that this relationship had just crossed the line.

[Witness/Testifier]

There were definitely people that we worked with at the Tilted Kilt that did not agree with Sydney and Heather's relationship. One day, two of the girls decided to call the Tilted Kilt and pretend to be Tammy, Sydney's wife.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I don't know if they were jealous, if they were upset that she was dating a married man. They decided to make a pregnant phone call and said, this is Tammy Moore. I know about you and my husband. I need you to stop right now. And when Heather got that phone call, she totally freaked out.

[Reporter/Investigator]

After that prank call, co workers say that they didn't see Sydney coming around Heather anymore. Then by the end of October 2013, Sydney and Heather's relationship completely unraveled when Tammy found out for real this time about their affair. And it's at this point that Tammy confronted Heather.

[Witness/Testifier]

Heather received a phone call, and it was Tammy on the other end. And she said, I know you're with my husband. Essentially like, I know you've been sleeping with my husband. Sydney got on the phone and said, you were just some girl that spread your legs. He pretty much belittled Heather and made it seem like it was nothing and that he just used her for booty call.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Call it.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Heather was crying because they broke up and she was very upset about it.

[Narrator/Investigator]

After Tammy found out about the affair, she was absolutely livid. She did call Heather a lot, text Heather a lot.

[Narrator/Host]

Someone's about to get their beat down.

[Narrator/Investigator]

She was posting a lot of disparaging comments on social media, and Heather was legitimately terrified.

[Narrator/Host]

You can tell Me who you are right now or I will find out another way. Nobody you need to worry about anymore.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And what did they say? Do you remember?

[Narrator/Host]

Oh, she was threatening her. Hey sweetie, you ready to meet the Mrs. Basically just letting her know that she was there and she knew.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And what did she say? Are you ready to meet the Mrs. That doesn't sound that bad.

[Narrator/Host]

Well, she did mention something about Sydney taking his last breath. Your B is about to take his last breath. Breath.

[Witness/Testifier]

And Tammy was relentless. She would call her nonstop for hours and hours and hours. She would call off Sydney's phone.

[Narrator/Host]

The breakup between the two of them was nasty. It didn't go down well. It ended with threats. I'm giving you one last chance to answer before we meet in person. Only one?

[Witness/Testifier]

She was sending pictures of her and Sydney performing sexual acts. Videos of, you know, the two of them together. I guess kind of to taunt Heather.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Heather didn't shy away from responding.

[Narrator/Host]

I think you're a little obsessed with me. Nah, it was a bore.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

She, I don't want to say pushed Tammy's buttons, but certainly didn't just brush it off.

[Narrator/Host]

Really? So that's why you're still childishly texting me from your cheating husband's phone? Your skank needs to leave me alone.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Were you concerned for Heather? And was Heather concerned after those text messages came in?

[Narrator/Host]

Heather was definitely freaked out. I think she was terrified of Herc. I mean her demeanor completely changed over the next few weeks. Like she was. She was very paranoid.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Heather was genuinely scared, like she didn't want to ever see Tammy.

[Witness/Testifier]

In September 2013, Heather wrote on her Twitter page, once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love and it did not end well. She probably was referring to her and Sydney. Heather just kept saying, leave me alone, leave me alone. I don't want anything to do with this. And the calls did stop. Finally, they did stop.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Once Tammy finds out about this affair, the Moorers take a road trip all the way out to California. But this is after purchasing a brand new black F150.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

It was a three week trip, so it was a lot of time together. They drove all the way to California and drove back.

[Narrator/Investigator]

According to the Moore's, the purpose of the trip was to reconcile their marriage.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Heather was heartbroken. It took a few weeks for Heather to kind of come back around to become that bubbly type person.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Heather started coming back to her normal self. Always joking, always laughing, giggling, pulling pranks on people. The Heather that we've always known and loved.

[Witness/Testifier]

Before October, by the Beginning of December, there was no communication between Heather and the Moores.

[Narrator/Host]

Heather was really looking forward to her future after putting everything to rest with Sidney.

[Reporter/Investigator]

By all accounts, Heather had moved on. She was dating again. In fact, on the night she disappeared, she was out on a date with someone new. But now Heather was gone and gone without a trace. And police went to the Tilted Kilt and that's where they were tipped off about Heather's affair with Sidney Moore.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

So the police immediately go to Sydney's house. They talk with him in December 20th, early morning, I'd say 2am When's the last? Either last night or night before, I can't remember.

[Narrator/Host]

What's your relationship with her?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

There is no relationship. There was a relationship.

[Narrator/Investigator]

I broke it off.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

So he was trying to give the police this idea of look, I'm over her. Haven't reached out to her. I don't know where she is. I've had zero contact with her.

[Narrator/Commentator]

At any point.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Did you go down around the Peach Tree Landing area?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

No.

[Narrator/Host]

So there's nothing that's going to show.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Show up.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Is there anything you want to say if she happens to be watching right now?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Heather, if you're watching this, if you can see it, if you can hear it, we miss you, but we want you home. Tell me where you're at.

[Narrator/Host]

Oh, come.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Doesn't matter where, doesn't matter when, doesn't matter why. Just tell us where you're at.

[Narrator/Host]

We begin tonight with a developing story in Horre county as a 20 year old socastee woman is missing. I'm Allison Floyd.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And I'm Tim McGinnis. Tonight police are investigating her disappearance. WPDE News Channel 15's Kayla Direnzo joins us live from Peachtree Landing in Saucasee where the woman's car was found. And Kayla, what's been going on out there all day?

[Narrator/Host]

Tim and Allison. According to the Horry County Police Department, Heather Elvis's car was found in this county parking lot here at Peachtree Landing on Thursday. But she hasn't been seen in nearly three days. And today crews were out here searching for any signs that may point to exactly where she is.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Originally this case was just assigned out as a missing person. We did not know or have any reason to believe a crime had been committed. In the beginning the car showed no sign of a struggle. There was no blood, no broken glass. Nothing to believe that a crime had been committed.

[Narrator/Host]

Detectives are continuing to investigate the situation.

[Reporter/Investigator]

So while crews were searching for any physical trace of Heather at Peachtree Landing, police were combing through her phone records. And almost immediately, they noticed an unusual number of calls to an unfamiliar number.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

They then found out the number belonged to a payphone and that the payphone had called her phone that very early hour of 1:35am and then she immediately is calling the payphone back.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Heather dials that payphone back nine times. Not eight, but nine times. The only reason she could possibly be calling that phone nine times that she's never heard of before is to get the other person that just talked to her back on the line.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

They find that the payphone has surveillance video. They pull the surveillance video. It was very grainy. You see an individual walk to the payphone. He's on the payphone over five minutes. Even though they didn't know who it was, they had evidence then that the payphone had been used. They call Sydney Moore back. They bring him into the police station for a more formal interview.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Horry county police begin questioning Sidney about his whereabouts on December 18. And he tells them that he and his wife Tammy were going around doing errands, and at one point, they stopped at a Walmart.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Was that Walmart actually in Myrtle Beach?

[Reporter/Investigator]

Myrtle Beach, Walmart.

[Narrator/Host]

Was your wife with you?

[Narrator/Investigator]

Yes. Yeah, she was with me the whole time.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

They asked him about the pay phone call.

[Narrator/Host]

Had you used any other phones that.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Night, your wife's phone?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

No.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Did you make any pay phone calls?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Nope.

[Narrator/Host]

I still have payphones.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Who makes a phone call today from a pay phone? Sydney Moore has a cell phone. Tammy Moore has a cell phone. And Tammy Moore used that cell phone to great length to harass and essentially stalk Heather.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Elvis.

[Narrator/Investigator]

They were calling from a pay phone to hide the call.

[Narrator/Host]

There was a phone call made to.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Heather that night from a pay phone.

[Narrator/Host]

At the gas station on 10th Avenue. But we have video that.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Okay.

[Narrator/Host]

Did you try calling her? Just a minute. A second. You sure?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Maybe.

[Narrator/Host]

How about we start again? I. I did.

[Narrator/Investigator]

I called her from.

[Narrator/Host]

Okay.

[Reporter/Investigator]

What did you say?

[Narrator/Investigator]

I asked her to please leave me alone.

[Reporter/Investigator]

It sounded like a very innocent explanation. But Heather's roommate, Brianna, tells police a very different account of that phone call.

[Witness/Testifier]

At 1:44 in the morning, she called me. I was on winter break from college in Florida. She was hysterically crying, and she said, sydney called me. My heart dropped because I was like. I thought we were past this. I said, why'd you answer? And she said, because it wasn't his number. She told me that he said he left his wife and that he was sorry and that he wanted to see her and be with her. And I Told her, don't do it. Why don't you go to sleep, sleep on this and we'll talk about it first thing in the morning. When Heather and I hung up that night, by the end of the phone call, I was under the assumption that she wasn't gonna meet Sydney.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

That's when everything starts moving in a very different direction.

[Reporter/Investigator]

After interviewing Heather's roommate Brianna about that conversation that Sydney and Heather had on the payphone, police begin by reconstructing the movements of Tammy and Sydney that night. They begin by pulling security video from that Walmart in Myrtle Beach.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Sydney spent approximately nine minutes inside that Walmart, then went got back in the truck where Tammy was waiting outside. After that they drove directly to the payphone where you see Sydney make the call to Heather Elvis.

[Narrator/Host]

Day 20 in the search for missing 20 year old Heather Elvis. Dozens of cars and horse trailers line the heavily wooded area.

[Reporter/Investigator]

While teams of volunteers continue to search for any trace of Heather, Police are now squarely putting the focus of their investigation on Sidney and Tammy. But rather than lend a hand in the search, Sidney and Tammy unleash an online tirade against the missing 20 year old.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

The Moore's big push was to basically discourage anybody that was looking for Heather Elvis. They had a lot of negative things to say about the victim. Tammy and Sidney Moore were vicious at times on social media. I mean, Tammy Moore put out a Facebook post shortly after she went missing calling her a whore, saying these terrible things.

[Narrator/Commentator]

We've all heard the term a woman scorned, right? And that's Tammy Moore was. But when you see these posts and you see the way she's behaving as an adult woman, a mother with three kids, the way she's hounding this 20 year old kid, it's disturbing her.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

It was a social media war, a campaign of pure terror.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

This case was the perfect storm for two families that were very outspoken, very motivated and they weren't going to give up either side.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Using Heather's phone records and her Gmail account, investigators began to piece together her movements after that phone call from Sydney. At 1:35am Heather ends up calling his cell phone several times between 3:17am and 3:21am finally he picks up and the two have a conversation for about four minutes. And it's at that point that Heather gets in her car and begins driving.

[Narrator/Investigator]

We trace Heather's phone all the way to Peachtree Motel landing.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

And once she gets to the landing, she's again calling Sydney Moore. 337, 338, 339, 340, it was your four phone calls right in a row.

[Reporter/Investigator]

This is why this is important. Because while Heather was making those phone calls, video surveillance cameras along the route to Peachtree Landing also show a black pickup headed in the same direction. Right there is the camera that CAUGHT what the FBI and the prosecutors say is that Ford F150 going south towards.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Peachtree Landing at 3:41am is when Heather's cell phone goes down.

[Narrator/Investigator]

There's nothing else at the end of that road but Peachtree Landing and Heather Elvis. I think anytime you have a missing person, the pressure on law enforcement is immense. Not so much from the community, but you have a family that's missing a daughter and they wanted to find her.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

We had the pay phone call, which still wasn't enough. Then we kind of had to chase down was it anymore and told the police to find out what was true and what wasn't true. During this time frame, we also started beginning looking for surveillance footage along 8:14 and Mill Pond Road.

[Reporter/Investigator]

When you look at a map, it's immediately clear that driving Highway 814 and Mill Pond Road is the quickest way connecting Peachtree Landing and Tammy and Sydney Moore's house. In fact, they're only four miles apart. So right up here is a surveillance camera that captured the image of a truck that looked very much like the one owned by Sydney and Tammy Moore driving towards Peachtree Landing.

[Narrator/Investigator]

There's nothing else at the end of that road but Peachtree Boat Landing and Heather Elvis.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Heather's phone dies, and then you see the truck immediately coming back across the same two cameras heading back to the Moore's residence.

[Reporter/Investigator]

So assuming that whoever was doing this was roughly driving the speed limit, they only had about 60 seconds at peaches Tree Landing to do whatever they were going to do and get back on this road in time to be captured by those surveillance cameras at 3:45am at.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

The time, Sydney Moore and Tammy Moore owned a 2014 Ford 150 truck. Horry County Police Department found there was only one, and it was Sidney Moore who also happened to be the only person that lived that close to the landing on that truck.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Once investigators discovered that apparent link between Heather's disappearance and Tammy and Sydney Moore, they pay a visit to their house.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Originally, when the officer showed up at Tammy and Sidney Moore's house on December 20th of 2013, they noticed that there were cameras up outside the house.

[Narrator/Investigator]

The goal after they saw that security system was to get a search warrant.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

However, once they went back, they found out that the surveillance system in there was a new system and it had not recorded anything. On December 18th of 2013, they had.

[Narrator/Investigator]

No idea what was on the new system, but they knew that they, out of an abundance of caution, they needed to seize that system.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Investigators also scoured the Moore's black pickup truck looking for clues. And they made an important discovery.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It was a brand new F150, fully loaded, had all the bells and whistles. In this truck was a GPS navigation system. We learned that it was possible to disengage this system and that's exactly what they did.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

It's like a camera SIM card. You push down, it'll pop out.

[Narrator/Investigator]

When you take it out, warnings will.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Show up all over your vehicle. So it could not have been a mistake.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

It had only been taken out once and that was the night she went missing.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Two months later, the police arrested Sidney Moore and Tammy Moore. They told us that morning that they were going to do it. Actually had officers come and sit with us at home to make sure that we were there, we were protected and we knew what was going on.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Sydney Moore and Tammy Moore were the.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Two people that were taken into custody earlier this morning.

[Narrator/Host]

The breakthrough in the case came from a discovery made by Elvis's first father, he says after he looked up her cell phone records. That number, the parents telling ABC News, belonged to 38 year old Sidney Moore.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

It was a relief to know that something was getting started.

[Narrator/Investigator]

We're going to begin with a break.

[Reporter/Investigator]

In the case of a young woman who simply vanished.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Two people have been taken into custody.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Both Sydney and Tammy Moore are being held here at the J. Rubin Long Detention center immediately.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

In this case, the defendants, the victims, everyone went to social media. It was like wildfire. It spread exponentially in a matter of hours.

[Reporter/Investigator]

What began as a case dividing two families who lived just five miles apart quickly consumed the entire town. At this point, it seemed like everyone had an opinion. It seemed the whole town took sides.

[Narrator/Commentator]

This was probably the first case where.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

The social media took on a life of its own.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I don't think anybody had seen anything like this case.

[Narrator/Commentator]

I never experienced anything like it. Where there were so many so called facts that came from somewhere but did not come from a police investigation.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

The state asked for and the judge.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Granted them a gag order.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

The order prohibits all parties, including defendants.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, from speaking to the media. And because of the severity of the alleged crime, Tammy and Sydney Moore were denied bail and sent to jail for almost 12 months.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

We then had another bond hearing in February of 2015. At that time, Judge Dennis decided to allow them to be out on an ankle monitor.

[Narrator/Host]

It was just a very traumatic time. So we were in a fog.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Prosecutors decided to try Sydney and Tammy separately. So Sidney goes on trial first in 2016 for the kidnapping of Heather Elvis. Now, prosecutors are not required to show motive when they try a case, but they do understand that motive often helps juries understand the background and what's really going on. And in this particular case, prosecutors were not going to disappoint that jury.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

In the weeks before Heather Elvis goes missing, she puts on noticeable ladies fellow co worker at the Tilted Kilt, which provides the uniforms to the employees, mentions that her bra size goes up.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

She went from an A cup bra to a B cup bra, then a.

[Reporter/Investigator]

B to a C. I mean that's the kind of thing that typically happens when someone is pregnant.

[Narrator/Host]

Yes, definitely.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And remember that errand that Sydney ran at the Walmart the night Heather disappeared? He made two purchases and he paid in cash.

[Narrator/Investigator]

The motive was absolutely that Heather was pregnant. I think she was carrying his child and she wanted to be with him.

[Narrator/Commentator]

If she is pregnant with Sydney's child, that changes everything.

[Narrator/Host]

To you.

[Narrator/Investigator]

At 4 o' clock in the morning, Peachtree boat landing is a dark, desolate place.

[Narrator/Commentator]

There is no reason for a car to be there abandoned in the middle of the night.

[Narrator/Host]

We begin tonight with a developing story in Horry county as a 20 year old Socastee woman is missing.

[Reporter/Investigator]

A 20 year old woman in an affair with a 37 year old man.

[Narrator/Host]

She was smitten. I had no idea he was married.

[Witness/Testifier]

Heather wrote on her Twitter page, once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. And it did not end well.

[Reporter/Investigator]

His wife sent text after text, just threats after threats.

[Narrator/Host]

It wasn't pretty.

[Narrator/Investigator]

After Tammy found out about this affair, they literally stalked Heather Ellis.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

They were chasing her.

[Narrator/Investigator]

We are here because she can't be.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Then a second look at images from a security camera.

[Narrator/Commentator]

That is when prosecutors dropped a bombshell that nobody saw coming.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

There was a gasp in the room.

[Witness/Testifier]

I was just like, holy crap, this is it.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Why would a defendant defy a court order just hours before, before she's set to testify?

[Narrator/Investigator]

She is so narcissistic. I don't think she could help it.

[Reporter/Investigator]

A missing daughter, a love affair and a dark road that for her only went one way.

[Witness/Testifier]

Everyone at the Tilted Kilt knew about Sydney and Heather's relationship. It wasn't a secret. At least to any of us it wasn't.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

So in the weeks before Heather Elvis goes missing, she puts on noticeable weight.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

The uniform is a bra, a shrug, and a skirt. So there's three separate pieces that you can move up in sizes. She went from an A cup bra to a B cup bra, then a B to a C, and then the skirt went from a medium skirt to a large skirt.

[Witness/Testifier]

Heather had taken a pregnancy test while at work. I want to say it was the beginning of November, and she wasn't sleeping with anyone else other than Sydney.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

When she took the test, it came up error.

[Witness/Testifier]

I didn't really know if she was pregnant or not. I think it was kind of up in the air.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

If she's pregnant and it's Sydney's child, that certainly throws a new wrinkle into this story.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I think it was in the beginning hard to imagine that two people like Tammy Moore and Sydney Moore would take the life of a young girl. So you felt like there had to be something Moore. And we believed that it was because Tammy Moore thought she was pregnant.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

So initially, when the Moores were arrested, they were charged with murder in addition to kidnapping.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Kidnapping in South Carolina means to decoy, inveigle, or take another individual. So even the phone call from the payphone that Sidney made to decoy her out was kidnapped.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

That murder charge was later dropped. I assume, given the lack of physical evidence in this case, no body, no blood, no murder weapon, that it would have been hard to prove for the state.

[Narrator/Host]

The trial of the man accused of kidnapping Heather Elvis is now underway. I sat in that room and I thought that by the end of the week, if things went the way that we wanted them to, it would be like this release.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Thank you, your honor. This time, the state calls Jessica Cook.

[Narrator/Investigator]

One of the first witnesses we actually called to the stand was Jessica Cook. Jessica was one of the managers at the Tilted Kilt where Heather worked.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Do you ever notice any changes in her physical appearance? Yes.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Remember that video of Sydney at the Walmart the night of Heather's disappearance? Prosecutors think they know why he was there.

[Narrator/Host]

On that video, it shows Sydney Moore in his truck, F150, driving to a handicapped parking spot, exit his vehicle, walk into the Walmart. Receipt showed that he had purchased a pregnancy test and a cigar type cigarette and he paid cash.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

The conjecture is that they're going to take it to Heather and make her take a pregnancy pregnancy test.

[Witness/Testifier]

I think that if she was pregnant, I think that would be another reason why Tammy would want Heather out of the picture.

[Reporter/Investigator]

According to Sydney, the reason he went to that Walmart was to buy a pregnancy test for his Wife Tammy. He insisted that they were trying to have another baby.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

There was no hard evidence of guilt to me. There was a bunch of bad character.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Evidence and there was a tremendous amount of circumstantial evidence.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Tell this story about how old you are.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Prosecutors built what they believed was a very convincing case, knowing that asking a jury to convict based solely on circumstantial evidence is always a steep hill to climb.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I think the surveillance footage was absolutely key. And that goes from the Walmart to the payphone to the truck going down and coming back because it created a timeline that showed everything. All attention was on Tammy Moore and Sydney Moore and everything they did was very deliberate towards Heather Elvis. No questions, Rob.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Very well, thank you.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

When the state rested, I felt pretty good about it. If the jury required proof beyond a reasonable doubt, we were in good shape.

[Narrator/Investigator]

So we did not put up a defense at that point.

[Narrator/Host]

The whole thing is traumatizing. The most traumatizing thing about all this is not knowing where our child is.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Everybody was just kind of waiting. I think most people thought it'd be several hours for a verdict.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

We're like, this is a slam dunk. But it wasn't.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Jury is still deadlocked and will be.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Unable to resolve it.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Therefore, I'll declare a mistrial. This case will have to be tried again.

[Narrator/Host]

To say that I was shocked that Sidney Moore got off on a hung jury would be putting it mildly.

[Witness/Testifier]

I think all of us were wondering, what now? What do we do from here?

[Narrator/Commentator]

The hung jury was a painful blow to the prosecutors and the Elvis family. And prosecutors were convinced that Tammy and Sidney were responsible. But getting answers about what happened to Heather remained the priority.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Investigators felt sure that the Moore's knew more than they were telling. And they thought that maybe if they pressured them hard enough, long enough, one of them would begin cooperating with authorities.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Sidney Moore then is charged with obstruction of justice for lying to police during the investigation. It's over the payphone call where he's on video denying it and then, yeah, we all know he made that phone call.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I know that Sidney Moore misled the police from the very get go. And we felt like this is a missing girl. And the first 48 hours are so important. So that's why we decided to move forward with the trial.

[Reporter/Investigator]

It only took the jury 50 minutes to decide.

[Narrator/Host]

On the charge of obstruction of justice. Guilty.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

He's found guilty of obstruction of justice and sentenced 10 years in prison.

[Reporter/Investigator]

The Elvis family says today's verdict is the beginning, not the end.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

I think it'll be like Domino's. I think the first one fell. I think the rest will fall into place. You can't hide it forever.

[Reporter/Investigator]

While prosecutors fell short in their bid for a guilty verdict in Sidney's trial, they learned an important lesson. They needed more evidence.

[Narrator/Commentator]

With Tammy's trial on the horizon, prosecutors felt very confident that a conviction in that case would bode very well for the retrial of Sydney.

[Reporter/Investigator]

If getting answers about Heather was paramount, investigators understood that first they had to figure out who the mastermind was.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

If I had to pick a ring later, it was definitely Tammy Moore.

[Narrator/Investigator]

She had the motive, he had the means and opportunity. If it wasn't for Tammy Moore, Heather Elvis would be here.

[Reporter/Investigator]

It's not often that a defendant in a felony case sits down to tell their side of the story without an attorney present. On the night before, they're expected to testify, not to mention violating a gag order on them. But that's exactly what happened. Put it out dead center about right there, Scott. As you probably expect, we're gonna go through a lot of stuff, right. I'm also going to ask you tough questions, which I'm sure you're bracing yourself for.

[Narrator/Host]

I haven't braced at all. I'm Ashley Graham, and as a parent.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I know the back to school transition.

[Narrator/Host]

Can be a lot when it comes to wellness. Ollie supports me and my family through it all. Kids multi is big in my house. It supports their immune system and they love to take it. A win, win for everyone. Shop these [e-mail] or retailers nationwide. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

[Reporter/Investigator]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. It's Brad Milke, host of ABC's Daily News podcast. Start here. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.

[Witness/Testifier]

When a family member or friend goes missing, it's like a part of you goes missing with them.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Well, it's been nearly five years since Heather Elvis Disney disappeared.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Today, the trial for one of the suspects, Tammy Moore, started and you knew.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

There was a part to.

[Narrator/Investigator]

In October 2018, Tammy Moore went to trial for conspiracy to kidnap Heather Elvis and kidnapping Heather Elvis. We are here because she can't be. And she can't be here because she decided she can't Be here.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Prosecutors have never before made a clear link between Elvis and Tammy Moore. And her attorney says there is no link that can be made because Tammy.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Moore didn't kidnap anyone. She didn't conspire to kidnap me.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Tammy Moore's case was definitely more difficult than Sydney's case. We didn't have her on video at Walmart. We didn't have her making a payphone call.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Even that evidence hadn't been enough to convict Sydney. So for Tammy's trial, prosecutors realized they had to essentially redo their presentation of the case.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I knew we could do better. When you collate evidence, police normally focus on that very tight time that she goes missing at. But we started looking at a much larger time frame.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Prosecutors tracked Sidney and Tammy's movements all over town before, during, and after Heather's disappearance. And what they found was. Damn.

[Narrator/Investigator]

After Tammy found out about this affair, they literally stalked Heather Ellis.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

They were chasing her, basically watching her to find out when she may be the most vulnerable.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And based on this analysis, prosecutors were able to secure a second indictment for conspiracy to kidnap on top of the kidnapping charges they already had.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

We really decided. We are showing these jurors everything we've got. This time, the state calls Jody Davenport. The key witnesses really were those individuals that knew that she was dating Sydney Moore. And at the time, she thought she was pregnant. Do you know who she was having sex with?

[Narrator/Host]

Sydney. Who was. She stared at Tammy.

[Witness/Testifier]

I had never been face to face with Tammy up until that point.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Who's in this picture?

[Witness/Testifier]

That's Heather. You know, I'm giving my testimony, and I'm speaking and being questioned.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

And how did she feel about Sydney? She loved him.

[Witness/Testifier]

And she's staring into my eyes, and she. She has this way of being very, very intimidating. I. I mean, I get. But I'm still thinking about it to this day.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Tammy Moore was an extremely dominant, controlling person.

[Narrator/Investigator]

She takes his phone. He can't work at the Tilted Kilt any longer. She even chains him to the bed at night. I'm not speaking figuratively to you right now. Literally chains him to the bed at night.

[Reporter/Investigator]

The prosecution also alleges that Tammy forced the Sydney to get a tattoo of her name on his body. And they brought to the stand a friend of their sons to testify about what he heard Tammy tell Sydney.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

If you wouldn't have messed with that girl, this wouldn't have been happening.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

And she was referring to what, the tattoo?

[Narrator/Host]

Yes.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Okay. And where was it located?

[Reporter/Investigator]

On.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Sit down on his lower front waist.

[Reporter/Investigator]

While the defense didn't deny the existence of the tattoo. They insisted that Sydney had gotten it long before he had met Heather. In fact, they presented photos of the tattoo in process during trial.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

The whole idea behind the tattoos and the handcuffing is to show Tammy's control over Sidney. The whole prosecution theory is that she grew so jealous over Heather that the two of them conspired to kidnap her.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Eventually, Heather and her friends come to the realization she might be pregnant. When this gets out and becomes common knowledge, the fire, the jealousy that is in Tammy Moore explodes into utter rage. This is where the plan starts. This is where the conspiracy is born.

[Reporter/Investigator]

But while there seemed to be plenty of motive, what the case lacked was the kind of direct evidence that juries often rely on.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Testimony and evidence will show that Tammy and the missing woman were never together.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Everything we had was circumstantial, but the circumstantial evidence we had, I don't think could be contradicted. Time to say calls Mike Melson to the stand.

[Reporter/Investigator]

We provide software that analyzes cell phone records during investigations.

[Narrator/Investigator]

We were able to visually show the jury where they were based on the phone records.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

So we can see how the phone uses different towers over time.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

So you use it basically to show the phone's movement?

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Yes, ma'.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Am.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Okay. Tammy and Sydney, both of their phones, began following around Heather Elvis's phone after November 2nd.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

So that place is Heather's phone up there that even also on that same evening, we have Tammy's phone on the Sprint Network.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

But now also Sydney Moore said in that area.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Sydney Moore's phone is up there as well. Yes.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And on the night of December 18, both Sydney and Tammy's cell phone pinged on the same tower near the payphone, proving they were together that night.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

And it's Tammy and Sydney's phone in the area of this pay phone at 1:30?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Yes, they are.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Immediately after that phone call, she calls her roommate.

[Witness/Testifier]

My exact words were, do not call Sydney back. Don't do anything rash.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Go to sleep, and we'll talk about it tomorrow. When is the next time that you heard from her?

[Narrator/Host]

I haven't. In a week like this, it's almost like you're just drowning. So when you have moments like that, you have to reach out and hold on to other people because it's hard. The world kind of swallows you up.

[Narrator/Commentator]

When prosecutors presented video surveillance footage showing that Ford F150 driving back and forth from Peachtree Landing just before and just after Heather disappears, they were actually able to call a person who teaches forensic video analysis At Quantico, the work that.

[Reporter/Investigator]

We do includes help with questions. Primary of identification.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

He looked at the Morris truck and looked at the video, analyzed all sorts of headlights, testified about different types of trucks and the way their headlights work.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Is it your opinion today, after looking at everything you look at that indeed it was the same truck as the known truck, which belonged to Tammy?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Yes.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

When the state rested, they excused the jury. It was pretty clear Tammy wanted to say something.

[Narrator/Investigator]

She is so narcissistic. I don't think she could help it.

[Narrator/Host]

All right.

[Narrator/Investigator]

And do you wish to testify to this case?

[Narrator/Host]

I do.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

When she said, yes, I want to testify, there was a gap.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

There's no doubt. Tammy Moore thought, I can convince this jury that I've done nothing wrong, so help me God.

[Narrator/Host]

Thank you. Thanks for Facebook posts. Triple cooperation. School's all done.

[Reporter/Investigator]

So it looks like you are putting together a timeline.

[Narrator/Host]

It starts with early in the night at 1:47. My sister texts me. 3:10, I pull into the driveway. I text her I got the ad and then I'm home. 3:58, I make another post. And this is conversations that me and Sydney had that night. So I just. I want to make sure that everything that I did was accounted for, that it's looking normal, just. Just like any other day in my life.

[Reporter/Investigator]

I was surprised when Tammy Moore decided to sit down with me for an interview in violation of a court imposed gag order on her the night before. She was expected to take the stand in her own defense. And without her attorney present.

[Narrator/Host]

What we got accused of, neither one of us would ever do. Which part? The kidnapping. And it first. It was murder as well. And that's not. We're not those kind of people. I've never even had a speeding ticket. I didn't even have sex Till I was 18 years old.

[Reporter/Investigator]

There are people who say that you wore the pants in the family, that you were really the powerhouse here.

[Narrator/Host]

The man that makes the money is the one that's running the house. I paid the bills.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And the wife who gets her name tattooed on her husband's stomach right above the belt.

[Narrator/Host]

That was his idea.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Seems to be the one who makes the rules.

[Narrator/Host]

But that's making it sound like he got a tattoo. Because I forced him to and I didn't.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Okay, so since we're on that subject, after he had the affair with Heather, did you actually handcuff him to the bed?

[Narrator/Host]

Never.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Never.

[Reporter/Investigator]

It sounds like you're trying to hide or cover up something that seems completely natural, which is anger resulting from your husband cheating on You.

[Narrator/Host]

I'm mad at her. I am pissed at him because he's not being honest with me yet.

[Reporter/Investigator]

The prosecution essentially alleged in the beginning that you were angry enough that your husband cheated on you that you were ready to kill.

[Narrator/Host]

That's what they say, and they're wrong.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Were you angry enough that your husband cheated on you that you were ready to kidnap?

[Narrator/Host]

Absolutely not.

[Reporter/Investigator]

It seems that the prosecution to some degree thinks that you are the linchpin here, not Sydney.

[Narrator/Host]

They change it according to what they need to say.

[Reporter/Investigator]

It seems like everybody is lying here except you.

[Narrator/Host]

And that's why I am terrified of tomorrow. Because I feel like this town is going to crucify me because of all the lies and all of the that's happened.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

What happened to Heather Elvis?

[Narrator/Host]

After more than a week, the state has rested its case.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Today, Tammy Moore took the stand in her own defense.

[Narrator/Host]

Your Honor, at this time, the defense.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Calls tanning this Rachel right here.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

There's no doubt. Tammy Moore, when she took the stand, thought, I'm gonna be running this courtroom.

[Narrator/Host]

While I'm up here just to help you, God. So help me God.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

I had never heard her voice in person before.

[Narrator/Host]

Did you learn who he was having the affair with? Not until the girl called me back and told me who she was. I had no idea. So the messages were never directed towards Heather Ellis?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Every time that woman used my daughter's name, it was like stabbing me with an ice pick.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Did you feel like you had a.

[Narrator/Host]

Right to know who it was? I did. I didn't go about it the right way, and I'm sorry for that. It looks bad, but I just wanted to know who it was. That's all. You've been known.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Use some pretty salty language, have you?

[Narrator/Host]

Right?

[Witness/Testifier]

She sat there and smiled the entire time. She batted her eyelashes, and it just seemed like she was an actress putting on a play.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Tammy thinks, in my opinion, that no matter where she's at, she's the smartest person in the room.

[Reporter/Investigator]

You know what time 0800 is?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

You had to worry, was the jury really going to buy this?

[Narrator/Commentator]

Did you kidnap Heather Ellis?

[Narrator/Host]

No, I did not.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Do you know who kidnapped her?

[Narrator/Host]

I do not.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Do you know if she's been kidnapped?

[Narrator/Host]

I do not.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

When Tammy first took the stand, she came across very credible. But I think we through already knew that there was a different side of Tammy Moore.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Almost immediately, it got contentious between Nancy Lysay and Tammy Moore.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Ms. Moore, do you know who I am?

[Narrator/Host]

I do. Okay.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

And who am I?

[Narrator/Host]

Nancy Livesay. You've Made my life miserable.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

She came off the cuff and was saying I had ruined her life. So I knew for her it was very personal.

[Narrator/Host]

I think she was. The next day she called. It was a nice conversation. She was a nice girl. She wasn't mean to me. I wasn't mean to her.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

It took very little to push her buttons. And you said on 11 11. I think the bitch is in Hyde. Isn't that what you said?

[Narrator/Host]

It's on there.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Okay, then what makes you think the bitch is in high?

[Narrator/Host]

I was just being a jerk at the time, I guess, Nancy. That's all I can say.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Have we ever met outside of this courtroom?

[Narrator/Host]

I don't think so.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Okay. Just didn't know when we got on a first name basis that had to be the first defendant that had called me by my first name. I felt like that was a almost power play on her part. Me and you are equal and I'm gonna be controlling the temperament of these questions and answers. Ms. Moore, would you agree that the testimony has been that the truck went down there on 814 and Milton?

[Narrator/Host]

A truck, not my truck.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

But have you been in here for the testimony of the time of the video?

[Narrator/Host]

People lie, Nancy.

[Narrator/Investigator]

I think Tammy Moore is filled with such anger, rage and arrogance that she couldn't help herself.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Tammy's text and social media posts could account for every single minute, except for what seemed to be most critical. The time around 3:41am When Heather's cell phone went off the grid.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Is there anything you have called on your phone, texted on your phone or posted on Facebook at 3:35?

[Narrator/Host]

I don't think so. How about at 3:40 there's. I don't think so about 3:40. I don't know.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

She ain't on the phone at 3:35 or 3:40 or 350 or 355. She can't be. The only documentation you have shows before the truck goes down and after the truck comes down. Correct.

[Narrator/Host]

If that's what you're saying to people. I don't, I don't know what time a truck went there.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

The one person in this room that knows what happened to Heather, Elvis already told you from the stand she said Heather was a nice girl. She already knows something that I don't know that this family is uncertain about. I'm asking the 12 of you to look at the evidence and give this young woman and this family the ending that they deserve.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It was such a contentious trial. I didn't know what the jury was going to do.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

The jury was out a very short amount of time. Prosecutors feel like that's never good for us.

[Reporter/Investigator]

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[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

One, it's $15 a month.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Two, seriously, it's $15 a month. Three, no big contracts.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Four, I use it.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Five, my mom uses it. Are you, Are you playing me off?

[Narrator/Host]

That's what's happening, right?

[Reporter/Investigator]

Okay, give it a [e-mail] Sweet upfront.

[Narrator/Host]

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[Reporter/Investigator]

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[Narrator/Investigator]

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[Reporter/Investigator]

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[Narrator/Host]

Thousands of you watched online for the past two weeks as the state laid out its case against Tammy Moore.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

Today, the jury returned a verdict.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I think the moments leading up to the verdict probably took five years of my life. I feel like it was very stressful.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Deliberations lasted for four hours. But when we found out that we had a verdict anxiety, I was nervous. Ladies and gentlemen, we have jury has reached the verdict.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Is that correct?

[Narrator/Host]

Yes, sir.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

I just closed my eyes and kept them closed. I was almost afraid to open them.

[Narrator/Host]

Did the jury find the defendant, Tammy Kayson Moore, guilty of consciracy? Kidnapped.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

There you see it. Tammy Moore hugging her family minutes before.

[Reporter/Investigator]

The judge sentenced her to 30 years in prison. Short Shortly after, officers escorted her to J. Ruben Log detention center.

[Witness/Testifier]

I felt so relieved. But I just felt like it wasn't enough because the way that Tammy has this smile and this look on her face made me realize that I don't think she will ever say what she did to Heather that night.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

They've shown no remorse. They won't. They won't tell us anything we want to know. It's always somebody else's fault.

[Narrator/Host]

Even though Tammy Moore's trial is over, the Elvis family have to still go through the trial of Sidney Moore.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

The retrial there is still pending. So, you know, we've got to wrap our heads around that.

[Narrator/Investigator]

After Tammy was convicted in the October of 2018. We retried Sidney in September of 2019 for the same thing.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

We can't give justice to Heather Elvis.

[Reporter/Investigator]

By giving an injustice to another citizen like Sidney Moore.

[Narrator/Investigator]

We're going to show you that this man right here, Sidney Moore and his wife Tammy Moore, conspired, planned and exited that plan to kidnap Heather Elvis on December 18th of 2013.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

You can't abduct somebody. You can't do all the things they're saying they're doing and not leave some trace of physical evidence.

[Narrator/Investigator]

I had to make sure the jury understood that circumstantial evidence was just as effective, just as telling, as a confession would be. The defense very well may dwell on the fact that this is a circumstantial kind of case. Most cases, cases in criminal law, ladies and gentlemen of this jury, are circumstantial evidence. I think there were a lot of pieces of evidence that pointed to the direction of the Moores. But for me, the defining moment in this case was the testimony of Donald Di Marino.

[Narrator/Host]

The evidence you're about to give the court in this case will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth to help you guide. Thank you.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Donald Di Marino is Tammy Moore's cousin and he is a convicted criminal with a rap sheet. But he said back in 2014, Sidney showed him a very disturbing photo.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Did he show you anything?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Tell this jury who that picture was up.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

He told her he had seen a picture of Heather Elvis on the phone. She was clearly not alive and there was blood on her shirt and scratches on her face.

[Narrator/Investigator]

In that picture, did Heather look like she was under her own free will?

[Narrator/Host]

No.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

At that time, the judge would not have allowed us to get into the details of the photo because we were only trying them for kidnapping and not murder.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Let me ask you this. After seeing that picture of Heather back in 2014, do you expect this family to ever hear from her again?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

No.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Donald DiMarino, frankly, didn't have to testify. He didn't have to tell anybody what he saw. Tammy Moore was his cousin, and the last thing he wanted to do was go against family.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Still, it was damaging testimony. Despite the fact that he couldn't produce the photograph. The question is, would anybody believe him? And the defense team was going to make sure the jury knew about his criminal past.

[Narrator/Investigator]

What have you been convicted of in the past?

[Narrator/Host]

Sir, I have a verbally charged and a couple drugs charges.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

The drug is heroin?

[Narrator/Host]

Yes, sir.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Donald Di Marino is a lot of things. He's an Addict. You can call him a thief if you want to. One thing he's not is a liar.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Prosecutors confirmed there were no deals cut with DI Marino for his testimony. And it's impossible to know whether the jury believed him. And that's when prosecutors dropped the bombshell that nobody saw coming.

[Witness/Testifier]

There was a video presented during Sydney's kidnapping trial that none of us had seen before. Holy crap. This is it. This is the evidence that anybody that still had doubts needed to say, wow, they did this.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Well, testimony is now underway and the retrial of Sydney Moore.

[Narrator/Host]

Both sides are trying to make their mark on the jury that could close a six year investigation.

[Reporter/Investigator]

In September 2019, after a hung jury and a conviction for obstruction of justice, Sidney Moore thought that he might have a chance. But prosecutors had some surprises in store.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Sidney and Tammy Moore had had a homeless surveillance camera system in their house, which they tore out on the 20th and reinstalled a new one on the 21st.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Now remember, Heather disappeared early in the morning of December 18th and anything that would have appeared on the old surveillance system wasn't there anymore. But investigators confiscated this new system anyway.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Once the police finally got their surveillance footage they saw in Sydney with was washing the car and vacuuming the car out on December 22nd.

[Narrator/Host]

This DVD is a copy of the.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Video surveillance system that was in Nemora's house.

[Reporter/Investigator]

And what that security camera video shows is Sydney and Tammy spending hours cleaning their F150 pickup truck. And not just cleaning the truck, but focusing on the rear passenger side.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Originally we tried to use the video in the first trial and we were denied. The judge felt like, look, a lot of people wash their truck. It's a new truck. That's not going to be enough to get you there. I think that's mere suspicion. Once we went back and looked more at the footage and closer at the footage is when we found, look, there's more to this.

[Narrator/Investigator]

About 30 minutes into cleaning the truck, Sid starts a burn pile over in.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

The side yard and starts burning some of the rags that they're cleaning with and it continues throughout the whole time they're there.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

So that kind of pushed it forward and at that time the judge allowed us to play it and put it into evidence. Okay, once the rags were burned, could you have gotten any evidentiary back?

[Narrator/Investigator]

No, they were destroyed in the burn pile.

[Witness/Testifier]

But to me that just screws screams guilty.

[Reporter/Investigator]

The defense claimed that burning the trash is common in the Moore's neighborhood.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Honestly, after we saw what was on the tape, we would have never dreamed they would have done that. Knowing that that video surveillance camera was there. That was kind of. I felt like the biggest mistake they had made.

[Reporter/Investigator]

That wasn't the only piece of new evidence. Evidence the prosecutors put forward, other than.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Donald Di Marino's testimony. I think one of the big moments of this trial was when Ashley Cason took the stand. Who is Tammy Moore's sister?

[Reporter/Investigator]

Tammy's sister. Ashley was called by the defense to testify on Tammy's behalf. But who would she play better for, the defense or the prosecution? The prosecutors asked Ashley about video that they claimed showed Tammy looking for police listening devices.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

You were looking for bugs, weren't you? You and your sister Tammy? We're looking through. Yeah. To see if the police had left any. I'm assuming, devices. Y' all were looking all through the tree. No, I don't recall. Okay. I played this video, and you can refresh your memory. You want me to refresh your memory?

[Narrator/Host]

Sure.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

That's what we're following. Okay. You literally could see. See Tammy Moore with a mirror, looking under items in the house and in the yard, trying to find out if the police had put anything there.

[Narrator/Host]

It looks to me like she's pulling weeds up.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Okay, keep looking what she did all the time. Keep looking.

[Narrator/Host]

Okay.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Did you look like a mirror?

[Narrator/Host]

I can't tell.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Be honest.

[Narrator/Host]

It's too far away. Either it's too far away, or the.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Picture is not good enough.

[Narrator/Investigator]

The thing she said, you couldn't reconcile it with the evidence?

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Evidence.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Still, despite Ashley's testimony, prosecutors argued that Tammy's actions on video were yet another piece of damning evidence against the Moors.

[Narrator/Commentator]

Tammy Moore is a woman who's concerned about police surveillance because, number one, she hates losing control. And number two, she knows exactly what she did that night. She knows exactly where poor Heather Elvis is, and she doesn't want to get caught.

[Narrator/Investigator]

I need additional witness, Mr. Miller. Your Honor, the state has nothing further.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

All right, ladies and gentlemen, this would.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Include the evidentiary portion of this prostrate.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Even though there may be suspicious behavior, that we simply could not trust the circumstances enough to say that we're convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Like I told the jury in opening statements, this is absolutely a circumstantial evidence case for two reasons. One, Sydney and Tammy Moore are not cooperating. They don't have to. But more than that, they lied. They misled police, they deleted records, they destroyed evidence.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

And I am here to ask you at the end of this story to give justice to this family and this community. These people have been patient and persistent, and I'M asking you to give them the ending to this story that Heather Elvis deserves. I'm asking you for justice. Thank you.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Thank you.

[Narrator/Investigator]

It's been 2,093 days since Heather Elvis could wrap her arms around her father, Terry, could kiss her mother, Debbie, and tell her little sister Morgan that she loves her.

[Reporter/Investigator]

After six years, multiple trials, three convictions, and a lot of heartache, the Elvis family braced themselves for the verdict. As for the prosecutors, Nancy Livesay and Chris Helms, all they could do was wait and hope.

[Narrator/Investigator]

I understand the jury.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Here's we if he would pass the verdict wrong.

[Narrator/Investigator]

I was frankly more confident going into these deliberations than I was during Tammy's trial. I had confidence that these people would do the right thing.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I think the mastermind is Tammy Moore, but I don't for one minute think that she is any more guilty than Sydney Moore. I think they were equal participants.

[Narrator/Investigator]

The verdict came back after two hours of deliberation. This time, literally half the time, they deliberated for Tammy's trial.

[Narrator/Host]

I would ask.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Boy, please stand. You may publish the verdict.

[Narrator/Host]

We, the jury, by unanimous consent, find the defendant Sydney St Clair Moore, on the charge of kidnapping, guilty. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

[Narrator/Investigator]

Like Tammy, Sydney was also sentenced to 30 years on each charge to run concurrent.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Do I feel he's wrongfully convicted? I mean, I feel that.

[Reporter/Investigator]

I feel the jury got it wrong.

[Narrator/Investigator]

They tried to raise these reasonable doubt.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

And that was their job, to raise reasonable doubt.

[Narrator/Host]

But they didn't do that their job because I wasn't doubting.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

Were you?

[Narrator/Host]

No.

[Narrator/Investigator]

I know the right people are behind bars. I have no doubt about that. The perfect solution would be to find Heather Elvis alive, but I don't believe that'll ever happen.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

I think eventually one of them will turn. I think 30 years is a long time. I think. I think once they find out that their appeals are denied, I think then they will be looking to tell the truth.

[Narrator/Host]

After the verdict, I think the emotions that everyone felt were empty. There's no reprieve from the heaviness that's there because we don't know where Heather is.

[Legal Analyst/Commentator]

For six years now, they've met at Peachtree Landing in Socastee. This event brings other families who have.

[Reporter/Investigator]

Lost loved ones or are missing loved ones during a time of year when family really means the most.

[Narrator/Host]

If I could talk to Cindy, I would want to tell him that this has been just a really long nightmare for everybody, but he could make it better if he would tell the truth. So I'm hoping that Sydney sees this and he remembers what it's like to care for her. At some point, Sydney loved her or at least cared deeply for her.

[Debbie Elvis (Heather's mother)]

I hold out hope that I'll turn around around one day at the front door and she'll walk in. Do I really think that'll happen deep down? No, I don't. Wait. I'll never give up.

[Narrator/Host]

I think that at 20 years old, you're looking for someone to love you, that somebody out there wants to love you unconditionally and walk away from everything in the world for you. I know how happy she would have.

[Prosecutor/Legal Expert]

Been.

[Narrator/Host]

That somebody loved her and she had this fairy tale ending. But she didn't. She didn't have that fairy tale ending. Somebody stole that from her and they stole it from everybody else here too.

[Reporter/Investigator]

You've been listening to the 2020 True Crime Vault Friday nights at 9 on ABC. You can also find all new broadcast episodes of 2020. Thanks for listening. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. It's Brad Milke, host of ABC's Daily News podcast. Start here. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try [e-mail], progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states.