Skip to main content

tv   Dateline  MSNBC  July 28, 2024 12:00am-1:00am PDT

12:00 am
but it's under siege from big out-of-state media companies and hedge funds. now, california legislators are considering a bill that could make things even worse by subsidizing national and global media corporations while reducing the web traffic local papers rely on. so tell lawmakers, support local journalism, not well connected media companies. oppose ab 886. paid for by ccia. oppose ab 886. [music playing] hmorgan elvis: she is and, will always be my sister. i don't know what happened to her.
12:01 am
i don't get to say goodbye. it was awful. makes your whole world fall apart. debbie elvis: if you took her please, just let her come home. andrea canning: her name is heather elvis. it was news nationwide when she vanished. morgan elvis: she had a new job. she was going on a first date. debbie elvis: just all so overwhelmingly horrible. she's missing. where is she at? andrea canning: police work the clues. her car abandoned. terry elvis: i was scared to death to open that trunk. andrea canning: a mysterious caller captured on camera. why would this person call from a payphone in the middle of the night? andrea canning: then, came the secret. he was married. rumors about her being pregnant. she truly did believe that he was going to leave his wife. andrea canning: anger, betrayal, revenge. a bomb exploded. it was world war iii. andrea canning: this crazy love triangle, kidnapping, potential murder? yeah. this is heather's life we're talking about. terrifying.
12:02 am
when you see your parents hurting, you wish that you could take all their pain away. and something like this, it's impossible. hello, and welcome to "dateline." heather elvis was charging headlong into her future. an independent, young woman eager to make her mark on the world. then, one night she disappeared. investigators would quickly discover a love triangle and thought they had their motive. but there was a big question the elvis family still needed answered, where was heather? here's "the landing." myrtle beach, south carolina, vacation heaven. 60 miles of instagram-worthy sand and surf and thrills at every turn.
12:03 am
but leave the tourists behind and go inland a mere 20 minutes to a bend in the waccamaw river, it's tranquil. the trees are draped in spanish moss. there's a boat landing here with a fancy name, peachtree landing. morgan elvis: it's a quiet spot that you can go think. you don't get a lot of that in a small town. so when you find a spot, i mean, you go all the time. andrea canning: what happened here to 20-year-old heather elvis one december night in 2013 became an enduring mystery. debbie elvis: i know that there is no way that heather would not come home if she could come home. no way. morgan elvis: you don't realize how much somebody's face means to you until you can't see it anymore. andrea canning: a family anguished, clinging to hope, searching for answers. a journey that would consume them for years. one of my best friends came to the house. he looked at me and he said--
12:04 am
he said, i hope she didn't suffer. i can't get that thought out of my head. andrea canning: heather was born in 1993. the middle kid sandwiched between elder brother, chris, and younger sister, morgan. as morgan vividly remembers, heather would never let a label define her. morgan elvis: she wasn't really a girly girl or a tomboy. she was somewhere in between. she would drive 4-wheelers and play volleyball and shoot paintball guns. and then she'd turn around and put on a dress and go look beautiful for photos. andrea canning: her parents, debbie and terry elvis, say heather was driven by a passion to create. she drew all the time, decorating the family house with her doodles.
12:05 am
debbie elvis: everywhere you went in the house, there was some kind of writing or some kind of drawing or some kind of doodle. so her brain's working overtime. constantly. and just as a reminder, a small desk in the house that i sit at has a computer at it. and these little sticky notes all over the top part of the desk and the one that sits right in front of my face just says, in her handwriting, "heather is amazing" with a little heart on it. andrea canning: and heather was amazing when it came to cosmetology, the art of makeup, in a way that only siblings can. she sparked morgan's interest in it, too. she said cosmetology was hers. she was-- i was not allowed to have it. and i did it, anyway. [laughing] and that's kind of what sisters do is-- andrea canning: oh, my gosh, tell me about it. --don't tell me no because i'm going to do it anyway. [laughing] andrea canning: after graduation from high school in 2011, heather began working at a local pub called the tilted kilt where she became a hostess. brianna warrelmann, known as bri, worked with her there.
12:06 am
bri warrelmann: she would walk them back to the table. she'd already have them laughing, having a conversation. same thing when they were leaving. andrea canning: bri shared almost everything with heather, including her apartment. and when heather confided that she didn't always see eye to eye with her parents, well that was hardly unusual for a young woman determined to make her own way. they love each other dearly. it's just, i think, they knocked heads because heather wanted to explore. andrea canning: as for boyfriends, bri watched heather go through ups and downs. just recently, she'd emerged from a difficult relationship with an older man. bri warrelmann: i know for a fact, she still had feelings for him. you don't just fall out of love [snap] like that, as much as sometimes we wish we could. andrea canning: but on december 17, 2013, everything was falling into place for heather elvis. she got a new job as a makeup artist. had a date with a new guy. even learned how to drive a stick
12:07 am
shift in her date's truck. there she is around 10:00 in a picture she texted her dad. debbie elvis: she was proud of herself. it was a good day for her. andrea canning: and you two must have been so proud of her that day. yeah, i think the picture, it was like, i did it without you, you know. but you couldn't help, but be proud of it. andrea canning: and then two days later, a knock at debbie and terry's door. a police officer with an odd question, were they missing a car? that was his exact words, "are you missing a car?" and i looked in the driveway and nope, they're are there. not thinking about-- that he found a car somewhere. was heather's car registered in her name? no, it was still in our name. so that's why he's at your doorstep. so terry came up right behind me and asked what was going on. and he explained that he found heather's car at the landing. andrea canning: what was going on? if heather's car was at the landing, then where was she?
12:08 am
the search for heather turns up a lead that gives her family hope. coming up-- terry elvis: one of the local hospitals said that a heather elvis had come in on their own and had been released. andrea canning: --but fear creeps in-- i felt like something was wrong. he said, let's take a look in the trunk. i was scared to death to open that trunk. andrea canning: --when "dateline" continues. if you have wet amd, you never want to lose sight of the things you love. some things should stand the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye.
12:09 am
an increase in eye pressure has been seen. there's an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots. the most common side effects were blurred vision, cataract, corneal injury, and eye floaters. and there's still so much to see. if you are on eylea or a similar type of treatment, ask your retina specialist about eylea hd today, for the potential for fewer injections. introducing new advil targeted relief. the only topical pain reliever with 4 powerful pain-fighting ingredients that start working on contact to target tough pain at the source. for up to 8 hours of powerful relief. new advil targeted relief. you are bountiful. your hair can grow 590 miles over your lifetime. it's in your nature to grow. grow thicker fuller hair with one capsule a day of advanced hair complex. nature's bounty. it's in your nature.
12:10 am
your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel. nothing beats it. i recommend pronamel active shield because it actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a game changer for my patients. it really works. it takes healthy joints to be a costar,
12:11 am
coworker, and trusty copilot. for all your dog does for your family, give them cosequin a daily joint supplement that supports healthy joints and cartilage for dogs of all ages and sizes. it's the number one veterinarian recommended retail joint health brand. for your dog, your co-everything choose cosequin and other nutramax laboratories brand products.
12:12 am
andrea canning: heather elvis' parents didn't know what to think. two days earlier, their daughter had been all smiles out on a date. now, a policeman was at their door. he just found heather's car at peachtree landing abandoned. terry elvis: the officer said do you have extra keys or spare keys to the car? i said yes. he said, well, grab those and let's go take a look at it. andrea canning: heather's mom, debbie, tried calling her daughter's cell phone-- and it was just going straight to voicemail. it wasn't ringing. andrea canning: --while her dad terry rode down with the officer to the landing. terry elvis: well, as we pull up to this direction, we could see that the car was sitting facing the water. andrea canning: he took us there, explaining what the officer showed him that night. he had shined the spotlight on the back of the car. and he checked the tag. andrea canning: it was his daughter's dodge intrepid. right away, terry could see something was off. but instead of being this way, the car was turned this way.
12:13 am
basically, taking up two, possibly three, parking spaces. i unlocked the car for him. and he stopped and he put on gloves. he handed me a pair. he said, "just to be on the safe side." andrea canning: terry elvis couldn't understand it. the last time he heard from heather was when she sent that photo from her date. she was fine. now, she was nowhere to be found. and he was searching her abandoned car. terry elvis: on the center console, her driver's license was there. that's weird. and a couple of other business cards and identification cards. but there were no keys. andrea canning: that's when the officer said something that made terry elvis' heart skip a beat. he said, "let's take a look in the trunk." and i went back and i turned the key. and he said let me open it. and i said, just let me lift it. andrea canning: he held his breath as the lid to his daughter's trunk popped open.
12:14 am
were you worried about-- i was scared to death to open that trunk. and we both looked in and it was fine. there was nothing there. andrea canning: there was plenty of clutter. no sign of foul play. by that point, bri, who'd been out of town for several days, had gotten word her best friend heather was missing. bri warrelmann: i called her dad, who was with police at the time at peachtree tree. and he had asked when the last time i talked to heather was. andrea canning: bri told the two men that heather had called from their apartment a day earlier, around 1:30 am tuesday, fresh from her date. bri warrelmann: and she started saying, well, i had an amazing date and i'm supposed to see him tomorrow when he gets off work. andrea canning: but bri said heather didn't want to chat about the new guy. she was upset about a call she'd gotten from that older man she once dated. his name was sidney. weeks earlier, he dumped heather. her exact words, "sidney called me." and i was like, "what?" and she was like, "yeah." and i was like "well, what did he say?"
12:15 am
she said he wanted to be with me and see me. andrea canning: bri told her friend not to do anything rash. bri warrelmann: and she was like, you know what, you're right. i'm going to get some sleep. i'm exhausted, and i love you-- because we always say i love you when we hang up-- and hung up. andrea canning: and that was it, bri said, the last time she spoke with heather. it was news to terry. he'd never heard of a sidney before. then, the officer had an idea. terry elvis: the officer starts calling hospitals to check and see if she's been admitted somewhere. and when he called one of the local hospitals, they said that a heather elvis had come in on their own and had been released. andrea canning: he thought heather must be ok. eventually, the officer told terry to take heather's car and head home. but terry's relief was short lived. when he told his wife the story about heather checking into a hospital, debbie didn't believe it. debbie elvis: because she knows it's expensive to go to the emergency room and she wouldn't want that kind of expense.
12:16 am
so she would have called me and said, hey, this is what's wrong. what do i do? andrea canning: so the couple did what they could, calling family and friends. no one had heard from heather. eventually, though-- - hello. andrea canning: --one relative cleared up that hospital mystery. terry elvis: we found out that the heather that was in a hospital is my cousin's daughter named the same thing. we didn't have the middle name on it, just the first and last. what are the odds that it's another-- at the same. --heather elvis at the same time going to the hospital? it was-- it was puzzling. andrea canning: so where was there heather? confusion was turning to fear. i felt like something was wrong. andrea canning: heather's sister, morgan, arrived home from a basketball game. had they told you at this point, what was going on? they hadn't, and i just kind of picked up what was going on through conversation. that heather-- was nowhere to be found. andrea canning: that's when it dawned on them. they could retrace heather's steps by way of her cell phone.
12:17 am
she was still on their family plan. terry elvis: i ended up going online and going to our cell phone provider because you can look at the call records. and they pull up the information and they emailed it to us. andrea canning: they could see the most recent calls their daughter made and received. after her call to bri, heather dialed another number several times. these are the early morning calls. yeah and i'm like, whose number is this? andrea canning: the worried parents suddenly found themselves playing detective in the very real case of their missing daughter. debbie elvis: we googled the numbers trying to figure out what they went to. andrea canning: and they got a hit. the numbers heather dialed belonged to a man named sidney moorer. they figured that had to be the ex-boyfriend bri had mentioned earlier. and terry's like, i'm going to call him. i'm just going to call him. andrea canning: wow. i said, terry, you can't call somebody in the middle of the night. andrea canning: he did, anyway. on the other end, a man answered. the way terry recalls it, the man was not happy.
12:18 am
i said, "you don't know me," i said, "but i'm heather's father, heather elvis." and before i could get the next word out, i'm getting-- i'm getting cussed out left and right. like cussing about what? nothing, just cussing. just like, "don't call me." "i don't know what you're talking about." "i don't know this person." ok, that's a very odd reaction. but it's just-- that's what i thought. --it's just cursing after cursing after cursing. andrea canning: the man who had dated their daughter was hotly denying he'd ever heard of her. as the hours ticked by, terry and debbie grew more anxious. they knew calling family and friends wasn't enough. they needed a new plan to find their missing daughter coming up, two new on-camera clues. someone at a payphone. it appears that this is someone she knows. right, exactly. andrea canning: then, someone in a pickup-- marissa tansino: you can see a dark pickup truck go by. soon after that, her phone goes dead
12:19 am
and nobody ever heard from her again. andrea canning: --when "dateline" continues.
12:20 am
i'm trevor and i lost 132 pounds on golo. at 26 years old my doctor wanted to put me on medication and i wasn't having that. i tried other diets and they just didn't work didn't last. release worked fast. after a week i had more energy, mental clarity, and my cravings were gone. i've lost 132 pounds
12:21 am
and i will never, ever, gain that weight back. thanks to golo. when we're young, we're told anything is possible... ...but only a few of us go out and prove it. witness the greatness of anna hall on a connection worthy of gold: xfinity mobile. only xfinity gives you the most powerful mobile wifi network, with speeds up to a gig in millions of locations. and right now, get up to $800 off the new galaxy z flip6 and z fold6 when you trade in your current phone. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity.
12:22 am
her parents couldn't get in touch with her, police couldn't find her, and then all of myrtle beach was searching for her, heather elvis, a missing person. woman: volunteers keep searching for the 20-year-old.
12:23 am
andrea canning: heather's desperate parents called on everyone to scour the area. they printed out flyers. there wasn't a store front in myrtle beach that didn't have one or two flyers in it. and then they were in georgia and tennessee and florida. andrea canning: they posted pleas online for information. they turned to the news media, local-- is heather alive? my heart tells me that my daughter's alive. andrea canning: --and national, including "dateline's" "missing in america" digital series. the elvis's let our cameras into those agonizing early days. it's this hole that we all, the family, just feel. andrea canning: and bearing silent witness to their anguish was another daughter, morgan. [sniffling] i can probably count on one hand, how many times i've seen my dad cry.
12:24 am
and to see something like that makes your whole world fall apart. andrea canning: police quickly turned their attention to heather's new guy, the man who had been with her on a date that night. his alibi-- that he dropped heather at her apartment and returned home-- checked out. marissa tansino: the date has been questioned. he has cooperated with law enforcement. and he is no-- he is not listed as a person of interest or a suspect. andrea canning: but what about the old boyfriend, sidney? police wanted to know more about his relationship with heather. her best friend, bri, was just the person to tell them about it. he flirted with her just as much, if not more, than she flirted with him. it was mutual. andrea canning: bri said that the two had met that spring at the tilted kilt, the pub where heather had been a hostess. sidney took care of maintenance there. bri warrelmann: you could tell that he really did care about heather when he would come in and see her or just, the little things. the texts or the calls to check up on her at work.
12:25 am
andrea canning: but there was a big problem. sidney was married, although heather didn't seem to mind. heather had it in her head that he was going to leave his wife. she swore up and down that he was going to leave. andrea canning: bri knew that would never happen. sure enough, in october 2013, sidney's wife got wind of the affair. he broke things off with heather. it hurt her. it-- it hurt me to see her go through that. andrea canning: sidney told police he was home the night heather disappeared. but he did say that heather called him. police went back to her phone records where they saw that call to sidney. and they also found a mysterious number that had never called heather before. investigators traced it to a payphone at a gas station. a security camera was pointed right at it. this random payphone number called heather's phone, called it once. it lasted about four minutes.
12:26 am
and then she actually tried to call that number back multiple times. andrea canning: marissa tansino, from nbc affiliate wmbf-tv, covered the case. it appears that this is someone she knows if she's having a conversation that's lasting that long and she's repeatedly calling back. right, exactly. andrea canning: was it sidney? they pulled the security footage from the gas station. you can see somebody walk up to the payphone and place that call to heather elvis. andrea canning: police wondered if that somebody was sidney. they asked him to come in for another round of questioning. if he'd been home, what was he doing at a payphone calling heather? he finally fessed up. marissa tansino: sidney moorer told them in an interview with police, i made that phone call to heather. andrea canning: investigators began to build a timeline from heather's phone. at 1:35 am, sidney called heather from the payphone. nine minutes later, at 1:44, heather called her friend bri.
12:27 am
between 2:29 and 3:05, heather called the payphone nine times, but no one answered. her phone did connect to sidney's cell phone at 3:17 am for four minutes. then from 3:25 to 3:37, her phone was in her car on the way to peachtree landing. but where was sidney around that time? police didn't know. that is until a woman who lived near the landing here told police her home had a security camera. perhaps, she thought, it captured something around the time of heather's disappearance. around 3:30 in the morning, on december 18, you can see a dark truck-- pickup truck-- go by her home. andrea canning: police believed it was sidney's truck. it was a huge break. police thought they could now place heather elvis in her car and sidney moorer in his truck heading for peachtree landing at the same time. and then soon after that, her phone goes dead and nobody ever heard from her again.
12:28 am
andrea canning: it was 3:42 in the morning. police now had a theory. somehow, heather had become a problem for sidney so he lured heather to the landing and killed her. and there was more. investigators believed sidney and heather weren't alone. someone else was at the landing. coming up, who was that mystery person at the landing? and why would anyone want to harm heather? the fire, the jealousy explodes into utter rage. andrea canning: when "dateline" continues. ♪♪ stay ahead of your moderate-to-severe eczema. and show off clearer skin and less itch with dupixent, the #1 prescribed biologic by dermatologists and allergists, that helps heal your skin from within. serious allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. tell your doctor about new or worsening eye problems such as eye pain or vision changes
12:29 am
including blurred vision, joint aches and pain, or a parasitic infection. don't change or stop asthma medicines without talking to your doctor. ask your eczema specialist about dupixent. choose advil liqui-gels for faster, stronger and longer-lasting relief than tylenol rapid release gels. because advil targets pain at the source of inflammation. so for faster pain relief, advil the pain away.
12:30 am
12:31 am
hi, i'm jessica layton with a news update. israeli airstrikes it as school used by displaced people in central gaza saturday. at least 30 people who were sheltering at that school were taken to the hospital and they
12:32 am
were pronounced dead. a rocket attack at a soccer field in israeli controlled golan heights killing at least 11 people and hurting several others. israel blamed hezbollah for the strike but the group denied any will. israel claims they struck military base in the area in retaliation for israeli attacks on lebanon villages. i'm andrea canning. what happened to heather elvis? the 20-year-old vanished in the middle of the night. investigators believe that heather's ex-boyfriend, sidney moorer, had arranged to meet her at a secluded spot. and they thought he may have had help. as police continue to methodically piece together the puzzle, heather's family was grappling with their new reality. once again, here's "the landing." andrea canning: terry elvis isn't exactly sure when he realized his daughter probably wasn't coming home.
12:33 am
maybe it was the afternoon, long after heather disappeared, when he was standing at his mailbox talking to his best friend. terry elvis: one of my best friends came to the house. he looked at me and he said-- he said, "i hope she didn't suffer." i can't get that thought out of my head. andrea canning: the not knowing made it worse. and then, stunning news. [music playing] woman: new developments tonight in the heather elvis case. andrea canning: two months after heather's disappearance, sidney moorer, heather's ex-boyfriend, was arrested. and he didn't go to jail alone. he was joined by his wife, tammy moorer. both were charged with heather's kidnapping and murder. was this surprising to people? tammy and sidney moorer are parents. they have three children. and then now, they're involved in this crazy love triangle, kidnapping, potential murder?
12:34 am
yeah, it's something that you see in a "dateline" episode. it's not a story line that matches up with two people who have three children, who are supposed to be happily married. andrea canning: in an interview with "dateline," tammy told us her marriage was a happy one. we were a normal family. it was about our children. our kids always came first before anything. andrea canning: tammy homeschooled the kids and sidney worked at local restaurants. they enjoyed cookouts together and family vacations. i've always loved sidney, but i hated the things he'd done. andrea canning: tammy told us she'd found the affair upsetting, but quickly got over it. she said within a day or two, she'd had a nice conversation with heather on the phone. tammy moorer: i said, i'm not mad at you. and she said, well-- and then she told me the stuff that they had done and what had happened. andrea canning: prosecutors didn't buy tammy's story for one minute, but they had to drop the murder charges. after all, they didn't have a body.
12:35 am
how did that feel when they told you about that? like there is some tiny bit of justice in the world for a brief moment. and then, all of a sudden, it's like it never happened. andrea canning: but it wasn't over, yet. it was only just beginning. both sidney and tammy still faced kidnapping charges. sidney was up first. his trial began in the summer of 2016. he pleaded not guilty. good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. andrea canning: the prosecution's case was purely circumstantial. there was no physical evidence. but they argued, those surveillance videos and phone records proved the last person to talk and meet up with heather was sidney. however, the jury deadlocked. a mistrial has been declared in this case against sidney moorer. andrea canning: the prosecution didn't give up. when it came time for tammy's trial, they came up with a bold new strategy. they argued that tammy had not only
12:36 am
been sidney's partner in crime, she'd been the mastermind calling all the shots. they believe that she was the ultimate brains behind this whole plan. andrea canning: prosecutors said it all boiled down to this, far from being the understanding wife who had accepted sidney's affair, tammy had been consumed by it. a fire of jealousy was lit in the defendant. she was livid. she was angry. andrea canning: an anger that became something more sinister when tammy heard a rumor around town. heather might be pregnant with sidney's baby. when this gets out it becomes common knowledge, the fire, the jealousy that is in tammy moorer explodes into utter rage. andrea canning: prosecutors said that rage wouldn't be satisfied until heather was out of the way. they said it was obvious, how much the affair had upset tammy by the way she had treated sidney afterwards. she said she beat the hell out of him.
12:37 am
andrea canning: this witness said sidney had a tattoo of tammy's name across his abdomen. his understanding was that tammy made sidney get it. marissa tansino: the state's theory that was tammy's way of saying you're mine and you're never going to be anyone else's. andrea canning: the prosecutor said tammy had even chained sidney to the bed with handcuffs. i'm not speaking figuratively to you right now. literally chains him to the bed at night. andrea canning: but as angry as she was at sidney for cheating, the prosecutor said tammy was furious with heather. she'd sent her several texts. the prosecution said some of them were threats. heather was really afraid of tammy. marissa tansino: she was. her friends had played a prank on her one time at work where they pretended to be tammy calling heather's phone, and she was absolutely terrified. andrea canning: and the prosecution said if there was any doubt about the way tammy felt, just look at this nasty facebook post tammy had written after heather disappeared, calling her a "psycho whore."
12:38 am
she could have said, oh, i'm so sorry this girl's missing and i hope you find her and left it alone. but no, she goes on the attack. tammy is the one with the motive. she is the hunter. andrea canning: and it was a hunt, the prosecution said. the investigator told the jury, he used cell phone data to track the moorer's movements. in the days before the disappearance, they showed up near heather's work place, some of the bars she liked, even her home. the prosecution suggested the couple was stalking her. then in the early hours of december 18, 2013, with heather's roommate out of town, the prosecutor said the couple struck. it began here. the prosecutor showed the jury surveillance video of sidney walking into a walmart and purchasing a pregnancy test for heather. soon as they leave from walmart, they go and call her. why? because the test is for her.
12:39 am
andrea canning: the prosecution's theory was that sidney had called heather to come and get the test, take it, and then meet up with him later at the landing. they said what she didn't know was that tammy would be there, too. nancy livesay: there's no doubt, sidney is the bait in this hunting. he's the bait. andrea canning: prosecutors admitted they couldn't say what happened to heather at the landing, but they asked the jury to use their common sense. an investigator showed the jury a photo of several items found on the moorer's property. man: there is a spent shotgun shell casing. there is a bag of concrete mix here. and off to the side up here is some type of a bottle of a cleaning solution. andrea canning: the prosecution suggested, it was nothing less than a kidnapping kit. what the moorer's might have needed to kill heather and dispose of her body. how hard was it for you being in that courtroom every day, hearing these details, having to see tammy? most days when i woke up, i didn't want to come to the trial.
12:40 am
but i went because when you see your parents hurting, you wish that you could take all their pain away. [sniffling] and something like this, i mean, it's an impossible task for me to do. but you can do small things. you can sit with them. and you can hold their hands when they need it. andrea canning: after seven days of testimony, the prosecution rested. and the defense announced tammy was going to testify in her defense. as hard as it might be to listen to her, that was something morgan didn't want to miss. coming up-- man: did you kidnap heather elvis? no, i did not. andrea canning: --tammy moorer on the stand and on the offensive-- greg mccollum: tammy was just indignant. there's answers to this mystery, and they refuse to solve it. andrea canning: --when "dateline" continues.
12:41 am
type 2 diabetes? discover the ozempic® tri-zone. ♪ ♪ i got the power of 3. i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. i'm under 7. ozempic® lowers the risk of major cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults also with known heart disease. i'm lowering my risk. adults lost up to 14 pounds. i lost some weight. ozempic® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't share needles or pens, or reuse needles. don't take ozempic® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop ozempic® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. gallbladder problems may occur. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking ozempic® with a sulfonylurea or insulin may increase low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. living with type 2 diabetes? ask about the power of 3 with ozempic®.
12:42 am
introducing new advil targeted relief. the only topical pain reliever with 4 powerful pain-fighting ingredients that start working on contact to target tough pain at the source. for up to 8 hours of powerful relief. new advil targeted relief. huh. how long have you been tracking our car's value with carvana? for up to 8 hours just, like, 7 months. should we sell it? we hold... hold... silver vans are going for more right now, should we... hold... our low mileage is paying off. you think we should... hold... depreciation is really heating up you think... hoooold!!! hooold! hooold. hold! we just dipped 2.5%! hooooooold!!! now!!!! i'm on it. i'm, on it. already sold to carvana. go to carvana and track your car's value today.
12:43 am
if you have wet amd, you never want to lose sight of the things you love. some things should stand the test of time. long lasting eylea hd could significantly improve your vision and can help you go up to 4 months between treatments. if you have an eye infection, eye pain or redness, or allergies to eylea hd, don't use. eye injections like eyla hd may cause eye infection, separation of the retina, or rare but severe swelling of blood vessels in the eye. an increase in eye pressure has been seen. there's an uncommon risk of heart attack or stroke associated with blood clots. the most common side effects were blurred vision, cataract, corneal injury, and eye floaters. and there's still so much to see. if you are on eylea or a similar type of treatment, ask your retina specialist about eylea hd today, for the potential for fewer injections.
12:44 am
ask your retina specialist about eylea hd welcome back. sidney moorer's trial for the kidnapping of heather elvis ended with the jury deadlocked. now, his wife tammy was in court charged with the same crime. prosecutors painted tammy as a vindictive spouse who masterminded heather's disappearance after learning the 20-year-old was having an affair with her husband. tammy was about to take the stand and would present a very different story. here, again, is "the landing." andrea canning: tammy moorer said her kids should have been tackling homework and hanging with friends.
12:45 am
instead, they were sitting in a courtroom watching her be accused of a terrible crime. tammy is the one with the motive. she is the hunter. nobody deserves this. i just want to get home to my children and take care of them. andrea canning: tammy believes she was being victimized by a relentless prosecutor. heather is not getting justice by putting an innocent person in jail. she never will. i think that from the beginning, tammy was just indignant that she was even charged with this. andrea canning: greg mccollum was tammy's defense attorney. they cannot prove to you that anybody named moorer ever went to the boat landing at the end of peachtree road. andrea canning: the defense told the jury to look at the evidence, or lack of it, starting with heather's car. the vehicle did not indicate that anything occurred inside the vehicle. andrea canning: the police officer who processed heather's car testified he couldn't find any evidence of a struggle.
12:46 am
investigators found no trace of a crime inside the moorer's house or truck, either. and speaking of their truck, the defense said you couldn't tell whether it actually was sidney and tammy's truck caught on camera heading towards peachtree landing. you have low image, low resolution surveillance video. our position is that you absolutely cannot draw any conclusion beyond the fact that, that may be a certain make and model. this video did not pass the smell test for you. this video didn't even give off an odor, ok? andrea canning: another piece of flawed evidence, according to the defense, was the cell phone data that seemed to suggest tammy and sidney had been stalking heather. i would say could compare their phone activity to anybody else's who lived and worked in the area. those are where the nightclubs are. there are restaurants there. it would appear that i were stalking her, as well, if you just looked at where my phone went. andrea canning: the defense said
12:47 am
that what the jury really needed to understand was a simple fact. no piece of evidence put tammy at the landing. if anything, her alibi placed her miles away. man: did tammy's children stay in the house there with you where your mother holly lives? yes. andrea canning: tammy's sister ashley told the court she was babysitting tammy's kids on the night of december 17, 2013. she said tammy and sidney went out together in the hours leading up to heather's disappearance. but ashley remembered when her sister came home. she texted me that night saying that she was home. man: do you know about what time that was? ashley caison: it was the beginning of 3:00 in the morning. i believe it was 3:10. andrea canning: for the defense, it was a timestamp proving tammy was home well before heather went missing. that wasn't all, he said. both sidney and tammy's phones were on and pinging from their house, not from the landing when heather was there. it was all so hard for morgan to listen to.
12:48 am
some days, she wished she hadn't come to court. but that all changed during a crucial moment in the trial. when i found out that tammy was going to testify, i really wanted to be there. because i do look like heather. and she ran into me in the hallway and it was the first time she had ever really made eye contact and been up close and personal with me. and i could hear her audibly gasp. andrea canning: but when tammy took the stand, she seemed confident. ready to tell her story. she told the jury she wasn't a ruthless kidnapper. she was a mom. my youngest is on the far left over there. andrea canning: and she was a wife who'd found out her husband was cheating on her. initially, tammy said she texted the other woman's phone number to find out who she was. the messages were never directed towards heather elvis. they were directed to the mystery person. i just wanted to know who it was. andrea canning: at the end of the day, tammy said the only reason she was angry with sidney
12:49 am
was because he wasn't forthcoming about his affair. in their marriage, they had an arrangement. i said, i think it's a good idea to have an open marriage for a little bit and just see if we're meant to be together. but the only thing i ask of you is to be honest with me. sidney wasn't honest with me, and that's why i got angry with sidney. andrea canning: she said when heather went missing, she and sidney were working on their marriage, even hoping to get pregnant. that test sidney bought at walmart, she said, was for her, not heather. also, she denied that she made sidney get a tattoo as punishment. she said he had gotten it long before he met heather. and she had an answer about the handcuffs, too. man: did you ever handcuff him to the bed and leave with the keys so he couldn't get loose? no, i have not. sidney's a strong man. he could get out of anything. andrea canning: and tammy had her own explanation for that so-called kidnapping kit. sidney needed the concrete for work. the cleaning fluid was for their dirty camper. and the shotgun shell?
12:50 am
probably just a spent casing from a turkey hunt. man: did you kidnap heather elvis? no, i did not. man: do you know who kidnapped her? i do not. man: are you glad that you're able to tell people what happened and what you did do and didn't do? i want people to know the truth. and i, too, want heather found. andrea canning: tammy has said that she wants to find heather. she actually liked heather. she didn't do this. and yet, she goes on facebook calling her a psycho whore. which is it? you know, i can't really explain everything that tammy said or felt. i think it was a huge mistake to call her names and do that sort of thing. andrea canning: he said if tammy had kidnapped heather, why would she be writing nasty facebook posts about her? the elvis's listen to tammy's testimony about heather with disgust.
12:51 am
she deserves to be found. terry elvis: it was-- and i think they botched her case. terry elvis: --so offensive to hear her name come out of that woman's mouth. andrea canning: you sat there so quietly in that courtroom. did you just want to-- scream? ugh. it was infuriating, some of the things that she said. andrea canning: the trial was far from over. it was the prosecutor's turn to question tammy. and the prosecutor wasn't going to pull any punches. woman: yes. woman: ok. andrea canning: coming up, fireworks in the courtroom-- this is a story about jealousy and deceit. they don't have one fiber, one teardrop, one piece of a shoelace. andrea canning: --high stakes in the jury room-- the jury has reached a verdict. andrea canning: --when "dateline" continues. if you have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis
12:52 am
or crohn's disease... put it in check with rinvoq... a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief and reduced fatigue with rinvoq. check! when flares kept trying to slow me down i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check! and when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. check! for both uc and crohn's: rapid symptom relief lasting steroid-free remission. and visibly reduced damage. check. check. and check! rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal, cancers, including lymphoma and skin, heart attack, stroke, and gi tears occurred. people 50 and older with a heart disease risk factor have an increased risk of death. serious allergic reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc and crohn's in check ...and keep them there with rinvoq. ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq and learn how abbvie can help you save. an alternative to pills, voltaren is
12:53 am
a clinically proven arthritis pain relief gel, which penetrates deep to target the source of pain with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine directly at the source. voltaren, the joy of movement. (vo) you've had thyroid eye disease for a long time. and you've lived with the damage it caused. but even after all these years, restoration is still possible. learn how at tedhelp.com.
12:54 am
team usa is back!
12:55 am
let's see that enhanced 4k from xfinity. wow. everything you'd want is right here when you say... “olympics” so, what if your favorite athlete is... "grant hollowa”" nice. or you can't get enough... “swimming” definitely adding that to favorites. now let's check... “medal coun”" and when is gymnastics on? “olympic schedule” it's that easy. find it, see it, count on it with the best seat in the house. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. welcome back. tammy moorer's defense argued there was nothing linking her to the kidnapping of heather elvis. in fact, she seemed to have an alibi placing her miles away from the alleged crime scene. tammy told her story on the stand. now, it was the prosecution's turn to question her. and they came armed with more of tammy's text messages. sparks were about to fly. now, the conclusion of "the landing."
12:56 am
so help me god. andrea canning: when tammy moorer took the stand in her own defense, she sailed through her direct testimony. but then came prosecutor nancy livesay. ms. moorer, do you know who i am? tammy moorer: i do. ok. and who am i? tammy moorer: nancy livesay. you've made my life miserable. andrea canning: but nancy livesay was just getting started. the prosecutor's mission, to show the jury that tammy was hardly the tolerant wife she claimed to be. when it came to heather elvis, the prosecutor argued, tammy was angry, vengeful. and tammy's text to heather proved it. nancy livesay: you texted her, "you can tell me who you are right now or i will find out another way. that way won't have a great turnout for you." tammy moorer: yes. and at the time, how old were you? tammy moorer: i think i was 41 or 42, i'm not sure. nancy livesay: ok, so do you know now when you sent her that tape, she was a 20-year-old girl? tammy moorer: i know now. i didn't know then. andrea canning: the prosecutor suggested
12:57 am
tammy behaved like a stalker. nancy livesay: and you said an 11/11, "i think the bitch is in hiding." isn't that what you said? if it's on there. nancy livesay: ok. here's my question to you. how many times had you gone up there and looked her to believe that she was in hiding? because it certainly leaves the impression. never. nancy livesay: never. now, what makes you think the bitch it in hiding. i was just being a jerk at the time, i guess, nancy. it's all i can say. nancy livesay: have we ever met outside of this courtroom? i don't think so. nancy livesay: ok. i just didn't know when we got on a first name basis. andrea canning: after 10 days and more than 40 witnesses, each side wrapped up. this is a story about jealousy and deceit. and this story has been around for a long, long time. andrea canning: the prosecution driving
12:58 am
home its case that tammy had motive to kidnap heather elvis. they don't have one fiber, one teardrop, one piece of salt, one piece of a shoelace at the boat landing. andrea canning: the defense arguing, there was not a scrap of evidence to prove it. what would the jury do? all right, ladies and gentlemen, i understand that the jury has reached a verdict. andrea canning: it took jurors less than four hours to reach a verdict. we, the jury, find the defendant tammy caison moorer guilty of kidnapping. andrea canning: guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap, two counts. in court, tammy took it stoically. later, she was emotional. i told my kids if a verdict came in, then i was going away. because i knew that's what it would be. andrea canning: the elvis' got the verdict they wanted, but it wasn't going to bring heather back. it didn't change anything.
12:59 am
people say it didn't change the big picture. it didn't change the little picture. you expect it to feel good-- no. --to be a victory, but it doesn't feel like that at all. andrea canning: heather's sister, morgan, looked across to the moorer's. morgan elvis: the only thing i saw was another family getting torn apart. those children sitting behind their mom. yeah. andrea canning: i'm sorry. morgan elvis: and i have lived firsthand, a family getting torn apart, and i wouldn't wish on anybody. man: thank you very much. andrea canning: tammy moorer was sentenced to 30 years. her husband, sidney, was jailed in 2017, convicted of obstruction of justice for lying to police during the investigation. and the state wasn't done with sidney moorer. in september 2019, prosecutors retried him on those kidnapping charges. this time, he was convicted and like tammy, received a 30-year term. as for debbie and terry, they're in the same place they've been since the day their daughter went missing, living with the hope that one day they'll get answers about what happened to heather. the young woman who had so many years ahead of her.
1:00 am
and what would you say to heather? if i could talk to her right now? if that little sliver of hope is still out there. i'm going to bring you home. somehow, some way, i'm bringing you home. we've said it every time. we're not giving up. never going to give up. it doesn't matter what it takes. everything else takes a backseat. it really does. life does not go on. people around you, life goes on. but you're still stuck. you're holding on to the hope. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. hello, i am andrea canning, and this is dateline. >> i know my sister would have

25 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on