A Fatal Attraction: The Case Of Heather Elvis

if Heather's watching this or anyone responsible is watching it the message is the same uh we miss you we want you back home we don't understand uh don't want to understand uh there's nothing to forgive there's no laws broken he if you see this and you can come home come home or at least call it's we don't understand picturesque Harry County in South Carolina is for many an idyllic place to live famous for its numerous beaches including the beautiful and popular Myrtle Beach it also boasts a diverse terrain of lush forests flowing rivers and Lively friendly [Music] townships 20 year-old Heather was the oldest daughter of South Carolina natives Terry and Debbie Elvis extremely close to her parents and younger sister her father later described the relationship saying we've always been a tight-knit family where everybody does for everyone else Heather had an especially close relationship with her father and she communicated with him daily via text message always fiercely independent when she graduated from St James high school in 2011 and wanted to move out of the family home to share an apartment with her best friend Brianna warlan Terry and Debbie supported the decision fully at the age of 20 Heather was working hard as a waitress in a Scottish themed restaurant named The Tilted Kilt in Myrtle Beach and was studying in cosmetology to achieve her lifelong dream of being a full-time mutian her younger sister Morgan said of her sister's life goals she loved makeup she wanted to be in front of the camera she didn't understand boundaries when it came to Dreaming as well as being known for her creativity and ambitious streak Heather was very popular and well-liked around town because of her warm carefree and positive nature when people talk about Heather they smile because she was so full of Personality a friend of Heather said another spoke lovingly of her saying I would describe Heather as outgoing free-spirited loving life she always wanted to live to the fullest by the early summer of 2013 Heather had been sharing an apartment with her best friend Brianna in Myrtle Beach for around a year and her studies and life were going great however this would all change when a chance meeting in the Tilted Kilt would ignite a chain of events that would end in tragedy on a warm day in June Heather was working the dayshift in the bustling restaurant she took orders bus tables and chatted with patrons as usual while bringing trays back into the kitchen Heather bumped into 37-year-old father of three Sydney MOA a local maintenance man who ran a small business fixing malfunctioning kitchen appliances in the Myrtle Beach area the pair got chatting and Heather was instantly smitten tweeting from her account moonchild Heather hinted at her new crush on the maintenance man saying I got to taste for men who were older by the end of July she had posted a number of sexually suggestive messages on social media directed it to the guy who builds things at my job Heather also often pointed out Sydney MOA to her friends and co-workers telling them that's the guy Sydney loved the attention from Heather and started to turn up at the restaurant more often to talk talk to her and the pair were often seen giggling together in the kitchen whenever Sydney was called in to work on the appliances by July the relationship may have gone from an innocent Crush to something more serious when Heather put out two status updates a minute apart on Twitter hinting at a possible Affair between her and Sydney baby did a bad thing she wrote and I'm in way too deep but watch me get deeper most of Heather's co-workers were by now well aware of the 20 old's affections for Sydney and rumors began to circulate about the pair's affair one of Heather's co-workers later said we all knew about it because people did make fun of Heather knowing that he was a married man Heather was made fun of a lot and she was called multiple names by girls we worked with one day two of the girls decided to call the Tilted Kilt and pretend to be Tammy Sydney's wife in August the rumors were seemingly substantiated when Sydney started hanging around the tilted kilt on his days off often bringing Heather coffee and bagels or waiting around the back of the restaurant in his vehicle for Heather to finish her shift the pair also began talking more openly with friends about the love affair with Sydney even going so far as telling acquaintances he was considering employing Heather as a full-time nanny for his children when he and his wife possibly move to Florida in the future Heather also mentioned to her friends that Sydney had asked her to be the nanny for his children which they all felt was strange considering they appear to be having a sexual relationship Heather and Sydney communicated Via mobile phone constantly and would often Drive their cars to remote and isolated locations to meet each other for sex it was a toxic roller coaster of emotions for Heather Sydney often told her he was unhappy with his wife and was planning on leaving her which he never did Heather's friends warned her that the older married man was stringing her along by mid-september of that year all of the secrecy and sneaking around had started to take its toll on her and on September the 21st it is believed that Heather attempted to bring an end to the affair or the relationship shut down somehow due to Heather tweeting Once Upon a Time an angel and a devil fell in love it did not end [Music] well things became even more toxic when Sydney's wife 34-year-old Tammy finally discovered the relationship and confronted Heather over the phone according to Heather's housemate Brianna who was present at the time of the phone call Tommy belittled Heather and said that Sydney had just used her as a booty call the enraged woman then made her husband speak to Heather on the phone Brianna would later tell investigators that Sydney had shouted down the phone at Heather you were nothing to me you were just someone who spread your legs they basically tore Heather apart as a human being and who she was as a person and made her feel horrible about herself Bri added Tammy and Sydney moa's marriage was seemingly an extremely abusive one with criminal prosecutor Chris Helms later telling reporters Tammy MOA was definitely the more domineering part of that couple she told Sydney where to work when to work what to do if I could classify Sydney as anything in that relationship it would be utterly submissive Chris Helms also stated that Tammy had been livered at the Betrayal and wasn't content to Simply end the young girl's relationship with her husband she wanted to destroy Heather's life it was also around this time that Tammy began handcuffing her husband to the bed at night to stop him from leaving while she slept she also changed the passcode on his phone to a combination only she knew and bullied him into getting her name tattooed across his lower stomach just above the crotch Sydney had agreed to all of these extreme demands in the hopes of saving his marriage and keeping his family together according to Brianna Tammy's attacks didn't end with that phone call but instead dead escalated into a full-on campaign of hate Tammy even going so far as to continuously call Heather's workplace in an attempt to get her fired Tommy was relentless she would call off of Sydney's phone she was sending pictures of her and Sydney performing sexual act videos of the two of them together Heather sent a text message to Sydney begging him to make his wife stop the harassment writing I lost hours today because they sent me home after she kept calling heartbroken even devastated by the way she had been treated by the man she had fallen in love with and terrified by the constant attacks and harassment from his wife Heather desperately tried to get her life back on track she even started attending church again with best friend Brianna when Tammy sent yet more aggressive and threatening messages to Heather in the beginning of November saying you can tell me where you are right now or I will find out another way that way won't have a great turnout for you I'm giving you one last chance to answer before we meet in person only W she also said I've been having Sydney followed since January 2012 it's best you call and speak to me save yourself hey sweetie you ready to meet the misses Heather by now mentally and physically exhausted by the ordeal simply replied I think you're a little obsessed with me I'm nobody you need to worry about anymore Heather couldn't understand why Tammy wouldn't just leave her alone the relationship with Sydney was over and she just wanted to forget about it all towards the end of November just over two weeks after the last threatening text messages from Tammy things finally started to look more positive for Heather Sydney and Tammy had taken their three children on a 3-we road trip across California with their newly purchased Ford F-150 truck with the moas gone Heather felt like she could momentarily relax and breathe again there would be a reprieve from Tammy's constant harassment that wasn't the only positive thing happening in Heather's life at that time too she had managed to secure her dream job in a beauty salon as a makeup artist and was scheduled to start work just before Christmas she was absolutely elated and couldn't stop talking about it with all of her friends and family Heather was also extremely worried about something that had potential to make the whole situation with the Moors much much worse at the beginning of November Heather as well as her co-workers at the Tilted Kilt had started to notice the 20-year-old gaining a significant amount of weight in a very short amount of time Heather was extremely concerned that she had become pregnant by Sydney worried sick and frightened she decided to take a pregnancy test at the restaurant with the help of her manager Jessica cook who later told police that Heather was terrified of Tammy MOA the pregnancy test came back as an error however and Heather remained unsure if she was carrying Sydney's baby or not Heather's best friend later said Heather had taken a pregnancy test while at work I want to say it was at the beginning of no November and she at that time wasn't sleeping with anyone else other than Sydney despite all of her worries by the winter of 2013 Heather ever The Optimist decided it was finally time to move on with her life and start again she hoped to find a new relationship a happier and healthier one and so she agreed to go on a first date with a man she had only been talking to for a short while but who she had a really good feeling about Steve geraldi on the evening of December 17th Heather and Steve met at around 1 p.m. and decided to drive around Myrtle Beach to check out the local Christmas illuminations in town a little while later they decided to head to a nearby parking lot where Steve Tau Heather how to drive his manual vehicle Heather excitedly sent a text message to her father and Brianna with a smiling photograph saying just learned to drive stick I'm a pro after Steve would later say that the pair had agreed to meet again for a second date and then he dropped Heather off at her apartment in Carolina a forest at around 1:15 a.m. at around 1:45 a.m. Brianna Heather's best friend received a worrying phone call from Heather she was hysterically crying and she said Sydney called me my heart dropped because I was like I thought we were P this I said why' you answer and she said because it wasn't his number she told me that he said he had left his wife and that he was sorry and that he wanted to see her and be with her and I got angry and said don't do it you're finally moving on with your life you're happy again you're yourself again why don't you sleep sleep on this and we'll talk about it first thing in the morning and with that the friends said their [Music] goodbyes the following day on the 19th of December local police were dispatched to investigate a suspected abandoned vehicle a green Dodge in trepid parked haphazardly on an isolated and remote Riverside area named Peach Tree Landing approximately 8 mil away from Myrtle Beach and on the wakar river the stretch of Riverfront was used as a landing area for small boats and was located at the bottom of a long and lonely stretch of road that rarely saw traffic the car was locked but police ran the vehicle's number plate through their registration system and came back with the name of the owner the green Dodge in trepid was registered to Terry Elvis Heather's father Terry Elvis was relaxing at home and watching television on the living room sofa when police officers knocked on his door to notify him about the discovery of the dodging trepid confused and not being able to contact his daughter on her phone he agreed to accompany the officers to Peach Tree Landing to find out what was going on when he spotted Heather's car parked unusually in the isolated area he was shocked but not initially concerned he unlocked the vehicle with a spare key he had and allowed the officers to search it he recalled I thought the car might have have been stolen because of the way it was parked maybe somebody took it and left it there he said it didn't really hit me where's Heather until the officer started looking through things when the police couldn't locate Heather's purse keys or cell phone within the Dodge and treer her father began to worry he tried calling her again on her mobile phone which appeared to be switched off and then attempted to locate her at the Tilted Kilt but was told by staff that she wasn't there and wasn't scheduled to work until the next day Terry instantly knew that something was wrong this is totally out of the ordinary he said Heather's never done anything like this before something's wrong the Horry Police Department didn't think Peach Tree landing and the vehicle were crime scenes initially as there was no broken glass no signs of a struggle and no blood in the area however they did open a missing person's case immediately and officers and volunteers began searching the areas around Peach Tree Landing in while divers combed the river Heather Elvis's family and friends mounting a search across several counties again this morning teams of volunteers Fanning across South Carolina in the bitter cold searching by boat by ATV on foot and horseback no amount of attention no amount of law enforcement no amount of work effort that I do or anybody does is ever going to be enough until she's back home again the 20-year-old disappeared after a date in the early morning hours of December 18th there's no clear indication of why she left the apartment again after the date um there's there was no obvious signs of anything that occurred at the apartment earlier that night her date was teaching her how to drive a stick shift in this small parking lot she called a friend afterwards to say how well the date went her father says she sent him a text it was this picture of her driving the car that night for years I tried to teach her how to drive one and uh I just didn't have the patience to do it and now she was doing it on her own I'm very proud of it the next day when she failed to show up for work police found her abandoned car at a boat landing not far from her parents' home I think that everybody should take a moment to hold their family and tell them that they love them because sometimes it's not enough to just assume that they know just waiting for the right person to come forward and say I saw something or I heard something or I know something or I did something they've kept the Christmas tree up and her presents are waiting for her human remains were discovered in the proximity of the boat landing however analysis later showed that these bones belonged to a male with no physical evidence to go on detectives began tracing Heather's movements on the 17th and 18th of December Steve scaly the man who Heather had met on the night she was last seen was brought him for questioning but quickly cleared of all suspicion and released well Tim you mentioned community in one small community of Heathers is where she worked a place where co-workers say they still feel the pain of not having Heather by their side Heather um worked for us for over a year and her name we still keep her name on the schedule you know cuz you know she until there's peace for everyone her family the community our work family you know we're keeping her name there to the shock of Heather's family and friends who were putting out heartfelt and emotional pleas for information as well as rewards in the immediate aftermath of Heather's disappearance Tammy MOA immediately jumped on social media to continue her hate campaign publishing on Facebook a long di tribe that began while Sydney cheated on me in the months of September October with a psycho [ __ ] who was since went missing on December 20th after being tipped off about the volatile love affair between Sydney and Heather by Heather's roommate Briana as well as a number of employees at the Tilted Kilt police detectives brought Sydney in for questioning Sydney was evasive and standoffish from the onset of the interviews Sydney denied being anywhere near Peach Tree landing on the night of the 17th or the morning of the 18th he insisted he hadn't had any kind of contact with Heather at all and strangely insisted he was driving around in his truck with his wife Tammy at the time to have sexual relations in public which the pair had recorded on their phones the experienced detectives felt that he was lying they just needed the proof when they began to examine Heather's call history and phone records they got their first real breaks in the case and began piecing together her last known movements and how Sydney featured in those on the morning of the 18th just as Brianna had described Heather had received a telephone call from a number she didn't recognize she didn't recognize the number because it was placed from a public pay phone that telephone call lasted approximately 5 minutes and Heather had frantically attempted to call the number back numerous times starting from 1:35 in the morning Heather dials the pay phone back nine times the only reason she could possibly be calling that phone nine times that phone she's never heard of before is to get the other person that just talked back on the line an investigator would later say using Heather's phone records the investigators traced the number to a phone booth located outside a gas station in Myrtle Beach security cameras picked up the images of someone using the pay phone at the exact time the number called her the cell phone when asked if he was the person who had called her Sydney at first denied it did you try to call on her just a minute one second you sure how about we start again I I did I called her what did you say I asked her to please leave me alone tamy MOA was also taken in for questioning where she discussed her marriage and denied being involved in Heather's disappearance but you don't you guys don't understand I had boyfriends we had marriage that's okay I I could care less if he had sex with 100 people okay all right I mean that doesn't really it doesn't bother me so I mean this girl I can tell you just by as an outsider looking at the Twitter which I didn't know existed until all this went down she's not right she's not normal I was 20 I I parted with bands constantly I wasn't that kind of girl and believe me I had the friends to make me that kind of girl and I didn't do it following their suspicions detectives decided to check all available local surveillance cameras and quickly came upon further highly incriminating evidence a short time before making the telephone call Sydney was captured again on surveillance cameras purchasing a pregnancy test from a local Walmart when asked if the pregnancy test was for Heather he denied it and said it was for his wife even more damning evidence to come to light was video footage taken from cameras alongside the isolated stretch of road leading to Peach Tree Landing a dark Ford F-150 truck matching Sydney's had been captured heading towards the place Heather's car was discovered at 3:36 a.m. and then again recorded leaving the area at 3:46 a.m. experts later testified that the truck was a 100% identical match to Sydney's Sydney was the last person to speak to Heather and he was investigators believed the last person to see her in peach Tree Landing using her phone data investigators were also a able to create a timeline of her phone's last known recorded movements 2:30 a.m. Heather's phone again calls the phone booth that Sydney had called her from but receives no answer her phone then heads in the direction of long Beard's Bar and Grill in Carolina Forest near to her apartment where it remains for around 15 minutes to a location named Augusta Plantation Drive Heather's phone then returns to Long Beard's Bar and Grill where it remains for a further 15 minutes a call is made to Sydney's phone but goes unanswered her phone returns to her apartment where it stays for 5 minutes 3:25 a.m. another call is made to Sydney's phone which is answered and results in a 4-minute long conversation 3:37 a.m. Heather's phone makes its way to Peach Tree landing and one minute later three attempts are made to call Sydney's phone all calls go un answered 3:41 a.m. another unsuccessful attempt is made from Heather's phone to reach Sydney's 3:42 a.m. Heather's phone is apparently Switched Off the location data coinciding with the surveillance images captured of Sydney's truck heading towards Peach Tree landing were extremely incriminating even more incriminating evidence came to light after investigators has obtained a search warrant for the Moa home the mois had suspiciously disposed of their home surveillance system on the 20th of December and installed a new one on the 21st investigators unable to get their hands on the old system confiscated the newer system and received video footage of both Sydney and Tammy MOA thoroughly scrubbing the passenger side of the truck and then burning the rags they had used to clean the vehicle on the same day they had installed the new home surveillance cameras prayer vigil for Heather Elvis it was held last night at pet tree boat landing her car was found abandoned there in December 2013 her family continues to ask anyone with information to come forward we just have a feeling that there's people out there that know something that haven't come forward yet and we're just hoping that no matter how little they think it is or how much trouble they think they might get into or what people might think of them that all of those things they'll overcome that and just go ahead and come and tell what they know the Elvis family plans to hold a fundraiser next week to rebuild a community garden at the Landing they will spread rocks sold during that fundraiser in the garden on Heather's birthday which is June 30th proceeds will go to the queue Center for missing persons finally after several months in February 2014 the police were able to announce a break in the case a break that everyone had been waiting for and it came as little surprise to many people that Sydney and Tammy MOA had been placed under arrest in connection with The Disappearance of Heather Elvis they were soon charged with kidnap and despite there being no body they were charged with murder as well they needed to find Heather but the couple were saying nothing this morning Sydney and Tammy Mo are behind bars in connection with The Disappearance of 20-year-old Heather Elvis I want to feel happy about it but there's no joy in it um Heather's still not home and for over two months frustratingly slow progress until Friday's arrest where police also raided the couple's home anything that we release at this point it could do a lot more harm than it could do good the Breakthrough in the case coming from a discovery made by Elvis father he says he looked up her cell phone records there were a lot of calls to one particular number in the last hours uh before the phone stopped working that number the parents telling ABC News belonged to 38-year-old cydney moer police say he and Elvis may have had a romantic relationship as the moris sat in custody the police continued to build their case despite everything they were confident they had they just didn't have enough to follow through with the murder charge against the pair Tammy and Sydney no longer face charges of murder in Heather's case but the kidnap charges remained Debbie said it was very disappointing that the murder charges had been dropped but she also felt a little relieved that she would not have to sit through a murder trial and listen to everything they thought could have happened to her daughter play out Heather's family also hoped that this might encourage people to come forward and talk as the murder charges had now been dropped the couple were able to post bail and go home as they awaited further developments and the pending trial for kidnap following their release and in spite of a gag order the pair took to social media to protest their innocence claim they had been framed and Sydney MOA even gave an emotional televised interview Sydney Mo says he's frustrated he can't talk about it he did talk about how it's hurting his family it's all a game everything's a game and it's it's not a game it never has been a game from the very beginning the meanness that I've seen come out of people it amazes me how you can be so mean to someone you don't nothing about about a subject you know nothing about about something that we did not do since being charged Sydney Mo says he's lost nearly everything he worked for in his life and can't get a job while the case goes through the legal system despite the costs Mo says he won't stop fighting the charges because if I confess to something I didn't do then there's a murderer or a kidnapper or whatever running around somewhere in this community and no one even knows that's the scary part Sydney's media appearances in Failure to comply with the gag order would eventually land him in hot water when he was jailed for 5 months for being in contempt and violating the order Tommy publicly stated I feel like this town's going to crucify me because of all the lies that's happened months became years and it was now 2017 Sydney Mo was found guilty of obstruction of justice and sentenced to 10 years in prison after this it was now time for Sydney and Tammy to go on trial for the kidnap of Heather Elvis and the media were out en forced to report on what was now a highly publicized case with a lot of interest it had now been 6 years since anyone last Saw Heather and after many witness testimonies all the evidence and hours of Court proceedings taking us to 2019 it was time for the verdicts with the jury found the defendant camey Moore guilty of kidnapping Sydney Moore will spend 30 years in prison now for kidnapping and conspiracy in the case the jury handed down that guilty verdict on Wednesday after less than two hours of deliberation I feel like I'm begging for my life for something that I didn't do that I didn't have anything to do with Moore was ultimately sentenced to 30 years in prison for each charge two sentences she'll serve at the same time Justice finally prevailed when Tammy and S MOA were both found guilty of the kidnap of Heather Elvis and sentenced to 30 years in prison Sydney continued to insist he was innocent telling the court that he couldn't give Heather's family closure if I could give them closure I would I have children of my own I get it there's just nothing I can give we get back in the back room and Terry put his hands on my shoulders and he said now what and I said exactly cuz this is over but we still haven't found he and it's like I was telling the judge there has to be something more there has to be something more that we could hold over their head to make them talk there's got to be some kind of an inent it was so hard to walk out of the courtroom knowing that that might be the last time we get to do anything in that way as of the writing of this episode Heather's body has never been found in an effort to ensure that people will always remember Heather and draw attention to her case and other missing people the Elvis family spends every June 30th Heather's birthday taping up missing persons Flyers around town they remain hopeful that at some point someone will talk and maybe the answers about where Heather is will finally come to light Debbie said persistence is key and she would would never give up her search for answers not just for her own daughter but for other missing people too she says she knows the pain all too well and wants to channel her energy into making sure those in her position don't ever feel alone the Heartbreak of not knowing where Heather is is best summed up by Debbie as a mother that child that was created in you that you carried in your arms and put Band-Aids on you you just ache to hold your child again and you think about what you could have done different what you could have said that would have changed anything but for our family and any other family that has a missing member this is horrible not knowing not being able to take care of your child in any capacity whatsoever they call it closure I hate that word but that's really what it is for Heather's heartbroken father Terry he continues to hope that one day she will be be found he said I hold out hope that I'll turn 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 but I'll never give [Music] up for those of you that like to listen on the go we now have our episodes in podcast form and you can now find this via the link in our description box or by 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Channel: Truly Criminal

Views: 799,800

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Id: ZURF0ipc5nc

Length: 33min 42sec (2022 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 21 2023