A HEARTBROKEN family is still without answers eight years after a 20-year-old disappeared – as a married couple serves a 30-year prison sentence in the case.
Heather Elvis‘ whereabouts remain a mystery after her car was found abandoned at a boat landing in South Carolina in 2013.
Heather had been having a months-long affair with Sidney Moorer, who, along with his wife, is serving a 30-year sentence for her kidnapping.
Cops say that Heather met Sidney while working at the Tilted Kilt restaurant in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Heather and Sidney, who was married and had three children, didn’t hide their affair, according to ABC News.
“Heather was made fun of a lot, and she was called multiple names by girls we worked with,” her former roommate Brianna Kulzer said.
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In October of 2013, Heather received a prank phone call from two of her coworkers who were pretending to be Sidney’s wife, Tammy.
At that time, Heather and Sidney had been seeing each other for about three months.
Not long after Heather received that prank phone call, Tammy herself called.
Kulzer said that Tammy “belittled” Heather and claimed that Sidney had been using her as a “booty call.”
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Tammy allegedly continued to harass Heather after that initial call, posting “disparaging comments” on her social media, according to prosecutor Chris Helms.
“Tammy was relentless,” friend Kulzer said.
“She would call [Heather] nonstop for hours and hours and hours.
“She would call off of Sidney’s phone.
“She was sending pictures of her and Sidney performing sexual acts, videos of the two of them together. I guess, kind of, to taunt Heather.”
A ‘DOMINEERING’ WIFE
Jessica Cooke, who was Heather’s manager at work, said that the 20-year-old was “genuinely scared” of Tammy.
Others also reportedly picked up on Tammy’s demeanor.
Another prosecutor on the case, Nancy Livesay, called Tammy an “extremely dominant, controlling person.”
“Tammy Moorer was definitely the more domineering part of that couple,” Helms said.
“She told Sidney where to work, when to work, what to do.
“If I could classify Sidney as anything in that relationship, it would be ‘utterly submissive.’”
POSSIBLY PREGNANT
On the night that Heather disappeared, Sidney told investigators that he had gone to the store to buy a pregnancy test.
Prosecutor Livesay believes that Heather may have been pregnant with Sidney’s child when she disappeared.
Heather’s coworkers at the Tilted Kilt said they noticed that she had gained weight before she went missing.
“Heather had taken a pregnancy test while at work. I want to say it was the beginning of November,” her friend Kulzer said.
“And she, at the time, wasn’t sleeping with anyone else other than Sidney.”
Heather’s manager said that the pregnancy test showed an error and was inconclusive, so it is not known for sure whether she was expecting.
“I think it was kind of up in the air,” Cooke said.
‘PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE’
On the night that Heather vanished, Sidney reportedly called her from a payphone, telling her to “please leave me alone.”
Kulzer told ABC News that Heather called her in hysterics after hearing from Sidney.
“She was hysterically crying … and she said, ‘Sidney 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.’”
But Heather wound up driving to Peachtree Landing after 3am – her last known whereabouts.
A Ford truck belonging to Sidney was spotted driving toward Peachtree Landing at the same time, prosecutors said.
Heather’s car was found intact at the landing on December 19 – but her wallet, cell phone, and purse were missing.
More than eight years after the vehicle was located, Heather hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
COUPLE CHARGED
As the investigation into Heather’s disappearance continued, Sidney and Tammy were both named as responsible in the crime.
“Originally, this case was just assigned out as a missing person,” prosecutor Livesay said.
“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.”
On February 11, 2014, Sidney and his wife Tammy were arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping, obstruction of justice, and indecent exposure.
In June 2016, a jury trial was held to determine whether Sidney had anything to do with Heather’s disappearance.
On Friday, June 24, the judge declared a mistrial after the hung jury did not come to a decision.
On August 28, 2017, Sidney faced another jury to answer to charges regarding Heather’s missing person case.
The second trial led to his conviction for obstruction of justice.
On September 18, 2019, the criminal was convicted of Heather’s kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Sidney was sentenced to 30 years behind bars and is carrying out his jail time at South Carolina’s Lee Correctional Institution.
Tammy was also sentenced to 30 years for kidnapping.
HEARTBROKEN FAMILY
Even though her body has never been found, police assume Heather is dead.
“I wake up every morning and that’s the first thing I think of, and so my day starts with Heather not being there,” Debbi Elvis, Heather’s mother, said in December 2021.
As the case nears a solemn milestone, nine years since Heather’s disappearance, the pain has not gotten easier for her family.
“I despise when people say that it’s been so many years since Heather went missing, and that’s not accurate,” Morgan Elvis, Heather’s sister, said.
“It’s been so many years since Heather was taken from us.”
Heather’s case and Sidney and Tammy’s crimes against her were retold in an episode of ABC’s 20/20 with David Muir and Amy Robach on Friday.