'Disappeared in the Darkness: An ID Mystery': Heather Elvis' disappearance in 2013 still remains a mystery
In 2013, 20-year-old Heather Elvis's disappearance and presumed death made headlines and took the national media by storm. Over six years later, the Myrtle Beach, South Carolina resident's death is still a frequent topic of conversation about abductions, but what happened to her remains a mystery since her body has never been recovered.
The aftermath of her disappearance and investigation into what could have been her possible murder is now the subject of Investigation Discovery's new true-crime show. 'Disappeared in the Darkness: An ID Mystery' will document the case of Heather Elvis in a two-hour special from the beginning, until the present day progress in investigations, trying to find answers to the questions that persist.
Who was Heather Elvis?
Elvis was a native of Horry County and was studying to be a cosmetologist at the time of her disappearance. She lived in her own apartment, that she shared with a roommate who was from out of state.
Affair with an older married man
In June 2013, Elvis took notice of 38-year-old Sidney Moorer, who repaired the kitchen equipment at one of the restaurants where she worked. He was a married man but she had no qualms about getting herself involved with him at the time and often wrote about him on her social media. Her roommate, who was also her co-worker, recalled Elvis pointed Moorer out to her at work and even expressed sexual interest in him.
An affair ensued between the two, and Elvis' friends also recalled her talking to them about her relationship. Moorer would often come to the restaurant that she worked at with coffee and bagels in hand when he wasn't on the clock. He even asked Elvis if she'd like to work as his children's nanny when he and his wife moved to Florida, which they had been planning on doing. Moorer said his affair with Elvis only lasted through September 2013 and she even wrote a cryptic message on her twitter, "Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love. It did not end well", hinting at the end of their affair.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
Shortly after, Moorer's wife Tammy got wind of their affair, which infuriated her. Elvis' roommate said Tammy even made Moorer call Elvis to end the affair, belittled her and made her feel horrible about herself. Tammy began sending the younger woman texts and pictures of herself having sex with Sidney, and became over-possessive of her husband to the point that she would shackle him to the bed every night, changed his phone password to something only she knew and even had him tattoo her name above his crotch.
Despite that, Tammy continued to contact Elvis through texts saying "Hey sweetie, ready to meet the MRS?" or threatening her well-being or saying things about killing her husband as well. To this, Elvis replied by writing she was "no one you need to worry about anymore".
Tammy repeatedly called Elvis' workplace and tried to get her fired and said that her husband wouldn't come by to fix the kitchen equipment if she was still working there. Elvis reportedly last saw Moorer on November 5, and that very day, she also retweeted a joke by comedian Daniel Tosh that seemed like a discrete reference to the affair: "hey married fellas, you can either cheat on your wife OR murder her. never both. that's when you get caught." That was the end of any communication between Elvis and the Moorers.
Disappearance
The moorers had gone to Disneyland for vacation on November 19 and returned on December 11, during which Elvis, according to her friends, was recuperating from the affair. She also reportedly had a pregnancy scare, but the test came back as an 'error'. On the night of December 17, Elvis went out on a date with another man at about 10 pm, who drove her around in his car and they enjoyed the Christmas lights strewn across the residential street. It seemed like she had genuinely enjoyed her time, and even sent photos from the date to her father and her roommates. The young man dropped her off at her Carolina Forest apartment around 1.15 am, being the last person to have seen her.
According to her phone records, Elvis received a call from a payphone some 20 minutes later, and the call lasted five minutes. Then Elvis called her roommate who was back in her hometown visiting her family for the holiday. Elvis told her that prior to this phone call, Moorer had called and told her he was planning on leaving his wife and asked he to meet him. Her roommate said Elvis had been hysterical during the conversation, and she had advised Elvis not to meet him. The two ladies hung up after two minutes and Elvis' whereabouts have not been traced since 1:45 am on December 18.
Investigation and conviction
On the evening of December 2019, Elvis' car was found abandoned at a boat landing near Socastee (which is where the Moorers lived), about eight miles from her apartment. It was found locked, and when cops opened the car, they couldn't find her keys, purse, or phone. The calls to her phone went unanswered and she wasn't at her apartment, neither was she at her any of her workplaces. Police organized extensive searches around the area and only retrieved a set of bones that were later found to belong to a deceased male.
However, police recovered security footage of Sidney Moorer, and linked him to Elvis' activities in the early hours of December 18, based on her phone records. Evidence from a local Walmart showed him enter the store and exit with cigars and a pregnancy test. Footage from a Kangaroo gas station showed him making that phone call that Elvis received from the payphone.
Investigators also reviewed security footage from cameras along the street between the Moorers' residence and the boat landing where Elvis' car was found. It showed a dark Ford F-150 pickup truck passing in the direction of the landing around 3.30 am, then going back after 15 minutes. The license plate wasn't visible at the time but an enhancement of the video by the South Carolina Highway Patrol's accident investigation and the FBI discovered that the car indeed belonged to Moorer and was subsequently searched.
The Moorers were arrested after 11 hours of searching their residence thoroughly and were charged with murder, kidnapping, obstruction of justice, and two counts of indecent exposure in February 2014. The latter charge was based on the sexually explicit images that were found on both their phones which they took of themselves in public places. The obstruction of justice charge was against Sidney who repeatedly denied the use of the payphone and only retracted his statement when confronted with video evidence from the security cameras.
In October 2018, Tammy Moorer was convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap Heather Elvis after an 11-day trial and less than four hours of deliberation. She was sentenced to thirty years in prison. Sidney Moorer is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for obstruction of justice in the case following a trial in 2017.
'Disappeared in the Darkness: An ID Mystery', premiers 27 May at 9 pm on Investigation Discovery.