>> reporter: a few feet but an unbridgeable divide when it's a matter of father versus son. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." we'll see you again monday at i'm natalie morales. thank you for watching. lie mora. thank you for watching i'm marley hall with breaking news. nbc has confirmed a u.s. operation in syria targeted the leader of isis. abu bakir al baghdadi. he is presumed to be killed. testing has been done to test that. the president will make an announcement at 9:00 a.m. for now, back to our regular programing. i'm craig melvin. >> and i'm natalie morales there and this is "dateline." "datelin.

she is and will always be my sister. i don't know what happened to her. i don't get to say good-bye. it's so awful. it makes your whole world fall apar apart. if you took her. please, just let her come home. >> it was news nationwide when she vanished. >> she had a new job. she was going out of state. >> it was all so overwhelmingly horrible. >> where is she at? >> police worked the clues. her car abandoned. >> i was scared to death. >> a mysterious caller captured on camera. >> why would this person call from a pay phone in the middle of the night. >> then came the secret. >> she was married. >> rumors apt her being pregnant. >> she truly believed she was his wife. >> anger, betrayal, we venge. >> a bomb exploded.

world war iii. >> this kidnapping, potential murder? >> this is heather's life we're talking about. >> when you see your parents hurting, you wish that you can take all their pain away. >> it's impossible. hello, welcome to "dateline." heathert alvis was eager to mak mark on the world. then one night she disappeared. investigators quickly found a love triangle and found they had near motive. there was still one question the family needed answers, where was heather? here's "the landing." minoritying beach, south carolina, vacation heaven, 66 miles of instagram-worthy sand

and surf and thrills at every turn. but leave the tourists behind and go inland a mere 20 minutes to the river, it's tranquil, the trees are draped in spanish moss. there the a boat landing here with pa fancy name, peachtree landing. >> it's a quiet spot that you can go think. you don't get a lost that in a small town. so when you find a spot, i mean you go all the time. >> what happened here to 20-year-old heather elvis in became an endushable mystery. >> i know there is no way heather would not come home if she could come home. no way interest you don't realize how much somebody's face means to you nul don't get to see it anymore. >> 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, he said, i hope she didn't suffer. i can't get that thought from my hea head. >> heather was born in 1993. the middle kid, sandwiched between elder brother chris and younger sister morgan. as morgan vividly remembered, heather would never let a label define her. >> she wasn't really a girly girl or a tomboy, she was somewhere in between. she would play volleyball and shoot paintball guns. and when she'd turn around and put on a dress and go you know look beautiful for photos. >> her parents debbie and terry say heather was driven by a

passion to create. she drew all the time, decorating the family house with her doosles. >> everywhere you -- doodles. >> everywhere you went in the house, there was some kind of doodle. >> her brain is working constantly? >> just a reminder, a small desk, it has a computer at it. it has all these sticky notes all over the top part of the desk. the one that sits right in front of my face in her handwrite, heather is amazing with a little heart. >> 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 cosmotology was hers. >> that i was not allowed to have it and i did it anyway. and that's kind of you know what sisters do. >> oh my gosh. >> don't tell me no, because i'm going to do it anyway. >> after graduation from high school in 2011, heather began

working at a local pub, the tilted kilt. she became a hostess. bree worked with her there. >> she'd walk them back to the table. have a conversation, same thing when therapy leaving. >> bree shared almost everything, even her apartment. when she confided she didn't always see eye-to-eye with her parents, 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. >> as for boyfriends, bree watched heather go throughs and downs. just recently, she emerged from a relationship with an older man. >> i know for a fact she had feelings for him. you don't fall out of love as much as that as sometimes we wish wed could. >> on december 17th, 2013,

everything was falling into place. she had a job with a makeup artist and got a new date with a guy. she learned to drive a pick-up truck. there she was in a picture she sent to her dad. >> she was proud of herself. it was a good day for her. >> you two must have been so proud of her that day. >> i think the picture, it was like i did it without you. but you couldn't help but be proud of it. >> and then, two days later, a knock at teb by and terry's door -- debbie and terry's door. a police officer with a odd question. are you missing a car? >> i looked in the driveway, nope, they're all there, not thinking about that he found a car somewhere. >> was heather's car registered in her name? >> it was still in our name. >> that's why he was at your doorstep. >> terry came up behind me and asked what was going on. he explained he found heather's

car at the landing. >> what was going on the heather's car was at the landing. then where was she? the search for heather turns up a lead that gives her family hope. coming up -- >> the hospital said they had a heather and had been release zpld fear creeped in. >> i felt something was wrong. >> he said look in the trunk. >> i was scared to death to open that trunk. >> when "dateline" continues. n s emerge restored, n s replenished, fortified. emerge everyday with emergen-c. packed with b vitamins, electrolytes, antioxidants, plus more vitamin c than 10 oranges. why not feel this good every day? emerge and see.

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. heather elvis' parents doesn'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 and just found heather's car at peachtree landing abandoned. >> the officer said do you have extra key force car? i said, yes. he said, grab those, let's take a look at it. >> she was calling debbie's cell phone. >> it wasn't ringing. >> her dad followed the officer to the landing. >> as we pulled up, we could see the car was facing the water. >> he took us there explaining what the officer showed him that night. >> he sheened a spotlight on the back of the car. checked the tag. >> it was his daughter's dodge

intrepid. right then terry could see something was off. >> instead of being this way the car was turned this way, basically taking it two, possibly three parking spaces. >> he stopped and he put on gloves. he handed me a pair and said just to be on the safe side. >> he couldn't understand it. the last time he heard from heather is 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. >> on the center console, her driver's license was there. >> that's weird. >> and a couple other business cards and identification cards. though there were no keys. >> that's when the officer said something that made his heart skip a beat. >> he said, let's take a look in the trunk and i looked back and i turned the key. he said, let me open it.

i said, let me lift it. >> he held his breath as the lid to his daughter's trunk popped opened. >> were you worried about -- >> i was scared to death to open that trunk. we both looked in, it was fine, there was nothing there. >> there was plenty of clutter, no sign of foul play. by that point, bree, who had been out of up to for several days had gotten word her best friend letter was missing. >> i called her dad who was with police at the time that -- at peachtree and he had asked, when the last time i had talked to heather was. >> bree told the two men heather had called from their apartment a day earlier around 1:30 a.m. tuesday, fresh from her date. >> she said, i had an amazing day. i'm supposed so see him tomorrow when he gets off work. >> bree said heather didn't want to chat about the new guy. she was upset about a call she had gotten from that older man she once dated. his name was sydney. weeks earlier, he dumped

heather. >> her exact word, sidney called me. i was like, what, she was like, yeah. i said, what did he say? . she said he wanted to see me. >> bree told her friend not to do anything rash. she was like, you know what, you are right. i need some sleep, i'm exhausted and i love you. we always say i love you when we hang up and hung up. >> and that was it, bree 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. >> the officer starts calling hospitals to check and see if she had been admitted somewhere. when he called one of the local hospitals, they said a heather elvis had come in on her own and had been released. >> he thought, heather must be okay. eventually the officer told terry to take heather's car and head home. terry's relief was short lived when he told his wife about

heather checking into a hospital. debbie didn't believe it. >> she knows it's expensive to go to the emergency room. she wouldn't want that kind of expense. so she would have called me and said, hey, this is what's wrong. what do i do? >> so the couple did what they could, calling family and friends, no one had heard from heather. eventually, though, one relative cleared up that hospital mystery. >> we found out the heather that was in the hospital is my cousin's daughter named the same thing. we didn't have the middle name, only first and last. >> what are the odds that it's another -- >> at the same time. >> -- elvis at the same time going to the hospital there it was puzzling. >> so where was their heather? confusion was turning to fear. >> it felt like something was wrong. >> heather's sister morgan arrived home from a basketball game. >> had they told you at this point who was going on? >> i kind of picked up what was going on through conversation. >> that heather --

>> was nowhere to be found. >> that's within it donned on them, they could retrace heather's steps by way of their cell phone. she was still on their family plan. >> and ended up going into our cell phone provider, because you can look at the call records and they pull up the information and they e-mailed it to us. >> they could see the most recent calls their daughter made and received. after her call to bree. heather dialed another number, several times. >> these are the early morning calls? >> and then i'm like, who's number is this? >> the worried parents suddenly found themselves playing detective in the very real case of their missing daughter. >> we googled the numbers trying to figure out what they went to. >> and they got a hit. the numbers heather dialed belonged to a man named sydney moore. they figured that had to be the ex-boyfriend bree had mentioned earlier. >> terry is like, i'm going to call, i'm just going call him i said terry you can't call

somebody in the middle of the night. >> he did, anyway, on the other end, a man answered. the way terry recalls it, the man was not happy. >> i said, you don't know me, but i'm heather's father, heather elvis. and before he could get the next word out, i'm getting cussed out, left and right. >> like cussing about what? >> nothing, just cussing. don't [ bleep ] call me. i don't know what you are talking about. i don't know this person. >> okay. that's a very odd reaction. >> that's what i thought. >> it's just cursing after cursing after cursing. >> the man who dated their daughter was hotly denying he'd ever heard of her. >> as the hours ticked by, they grew 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 pay phone. it appears this is someone she

knows. >> right, exactly there then someone in a pickup. >> you can see a dark pickup truck go by. soon after that her phone goes dead and we never hear from her again. >> when "dateline" continues. "ds i bet you lunch you can't make it in there. i'm thinkin' sushi. alexa, ask buick to start my suv. you can do that? you can do that? you can do that? yeah, with a buick. what? at the heart of every buick suv... is you. or current eligible non-gm owners get 14 to 20 percent below msrp on most of these buick models. goldi knows to never compromise.

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. her parents couldn't get in touch with her. police couldn't find her. and then, all of mirle beach was searching for her. heather elvis a missing person. >> volunteers keep looking for the 20-year-old. >> heather's 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 and then they were in georgia, in tennessee and florida. >> they posted pleas online for information. they turned to the news media, local. >> is heather alive?

>> my heart tells me that my daughter is alive. >> and national, including "dateline's" missing in america series. the cameras led us into thosing a uniteding days. >> it's just that hole that we all in the family just feel. >> and bearing sight and witness is another daughter, morgan. >> i can probably count on one hand how many times i've seep my dad cry. and to see something like that makes your whole world fall apart. >> police quickly turn their attention to heather's new guy, the man who had been with her on a date that night. his alibi, they dropped heather at her apartment, dropped home. checked out. >> the date in question, he cooperated with law enforcement, he is not listed as a person of

interest or a suspect. >> but what about the old boyfriend, sydney? police wanted to know more about his relationship with heather. her best friend bree. >> he flirted with her just as much if not more than she flirted with him. he was mutual. >> bree said the two had met that spring at the tilted kilt. the pub where heather had been a hostess. she said he took care of maintenance there. >> you can tell he did care about heather when he would come in see her, the little things, the texts or the calls to check up on her at work. >> but there was a big problem. sydney 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. >> bree knew that would never happen. sure enough, in okay, 2013, sydney's wife got wind of the

affair. he broke things off with heather. >> it hurt her. it hurt me to see her go through that. >> sydney told police he was home with night heather disappeared, but he did say that heather called him. police went back to her phone records where they saw that call to sydney. they also found a mysterious number that had never called heather before. investigators traced it to a pay phone at a gas station. a security camera was pointed right at it. >> this random pay phone number called heather's phone, called it once. it lasted about four minutes. and then she actually tried to call that number back multiple times. >> marissa from nbc affiliate wmb-tv covered the case. it appears this is won she knows she had a conversation that long and is repeatedly calling back. >> right, exactly. >> was it sydney? they pulled the video footage.

>> you see somebody walk up to the pay phone and place that call to heather. >> police wondered if that somebody was sydney. they asked him to come in for another round of questioning. if highway had been home, what was he doing at a pay phone calling heather? he finally 'fessed up. >> sydney moore told them in an interview with police, i made that phone call to heather. >> investigators began to build a time line from heather's phone at 1:35 a.m., sydney called heather from the pay phone. nine minutes later at 1:44, heather calls her friend bree between 2:2009 and 3:05 she called the pay phone and no one answered. it did connect to sydney for four minutes at 3:17 a.m. and then from 3:25 to 3:37, the phone was in her car on the way to peachtree landing?

where was police at that time? police didn't know. that was until a woman who lived near the landing, said she had a security camera. perhaps she thought it covered something around the disappearance. >> around 3:30 in the morning you can see a dark pickup truck go by her home. >> police believed it was sydney's truck. it was a huge break. police thought they could now place heather in her car and sydney moore in his truck heading for peachtree landing at the same time. >> and soon after that her phone goes dead and nobody ever heard from her again. >> it was 3:42 in the morning. police now had a theory, somehow, heather had become a problem for sydney so he lured heather to the landing and killed her. and there was more. investigators believe sydney 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 heter? >> the fire, the jealousy explodes into other rage. >> when "dateline" continues. zblmpblthsdz > zblmpblthsdz zblrnlgs. zblrnlgs 90% of women have a skincare routine. but what about a lip care routine?

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news, isis leader abu bakir al baghdadi is believed dead in a u.s. operation in syria. the operation was conducted by u.s. special forces from the air and later on the ground. confirmation of the operation came shortly after the white house announced that president trump would be making a major announcement at 9:00 a.m. eastern time. you can watch those remarks live on msnbc. for now, back to our regular programing. our regular programing welcome back to ""dateline." "i'm natalie morales. what happened to heather elvis? the 20-year-old vanished in the

middle of the night. investigators believe that heather's ex-boyfriend sydney moore had arranged to meet her at a secluded spot. they thought he may have had help. as police methodically continue to put together the puzlet. heather's family was grappling with a new reality. once again, here's andrea caning with "the landing." >> terry elvis isn't exactly sure when he realized his daughter probably wasn't coming home. maybe it was the afternoon, long after heather disappeared when he was standing at his mailbox talking to his pest friend. >> one of my best friends came to the house. he looked at me and he said, he says, i hope she didn't suffer. and i can't get that thought from my head. >> the not knowing made it worse. and then, stunning news. >> new developments tonight in

the heather elvis case. >> two months after heather's disappearance, sydney moore heath heather's ex .friend was arrested. he didn't go to jail alone. he was joined by his wife, tammy moore. both were charged with tammy's kidnapping and her murder. >> did this surprise people, that i have three children, now they're involved in this crazy love triangle kidnapping performer murder? >> it's something that you see on a "dateline" episode. it's not a story line that match itself up with two people who have three children and are supposed to be happily married. >> in an interview with "dateline" she told us she was a happy one. >> we were a normal family. it was about us. our kids came home before anything. >> tammy home schooled the kids, sydney worked at local restaurants. they enjoyed cookouts and family vacations.

>> i always loved sydney but i hated the things he had done. >> tammy told us she found the affair upsetting, quickly got over it. she said within a day or two, she had a nice conversation with heather on the phone. >> i said i'm not mad at you. she said, well, and then she told me the stuff that they had done and what had happened. >> 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. >> how'd that feel when they told you about that in. >> 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. >> but it wasn't over yet. it was only just beginning. both sydney and tammy still faced kidnapping charges. sid? i was up first. his trial dependant in the summer of 2016. he pleaded fought guilty. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. >> the prosecution's case was purely circumstantial.

there was no physical evidence. but they argue those surveillance videos and phone records prove the last person to talk and meet one heather was sydney. however, the jury deadlocked. >> a mistrial has been declared in this case ae begins sydney moore. >> the prosecution didn't give up. when it came time for tammy's trial, they came one a bold new strategy. they argued that tammy had not only been sydney's partner in crime, she had been the mastermind calming all the shots. >> they believe that she was the ultimate brains behind this whole plan. >> prosecutors said it all boiled down to this far from being the understanding wife who had accepted sydney's affair, she had been consumed by it. >> a fire of jealousy was lit in the defendant. she was livid. she was angry. >> an anger that became more when tammy heard a rumor around

town, heather might be pregnant with sydney's baby. >> when this gets out and becomes common knowledge, the fire, the gel outy that is in tammy moore explodes into utter rage. >> 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 sydney afterwards. >> she said she beat the held out of him. >> this witness said sydney had a tattoo of tammy's name across his and. she made him get it. >> the state's theory is that was terry's way of saying you're mine and you will never be anyone else's. >> the prosecutor said tammy chained sydney to the bed with handcuffs. >> i'm not speaking figuratively. literally chained him to the bed at night. >> as angry as she was for him cheating, prosecutors say she was furious with heather. she sent her several texts.

the prosecution said some were threats. >> heather was really afraid of tammy. >> she was, her friends played a prank at her one time at work, where they pretended to be tammy calling heather's phone, she was absolutely terrified. >> 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. >> she could have said, oh, i'm so sorry this girl's missing and i hope you found her and left it alone. no, she goes on the attack. >> tammy is the one with the motive. sheff is the hunter. >> and it was a hunt. the prosecution said the investigator told the jury he used cell phone data to track the moore's movements. in the days before the disappearance, they showed up near heather's workplace. some of the bars she liked, even her home. the prosecution suggested the couple was stalking her.

then in the early hours of december 18th, 2013, with heather's roommate out of town, the prosecutor said the couple struck. it began here. the prosecutor shows the jerry surveillance video of sydney walking into a walmart and purchasing a pregnancy test for heather. >> as soon as they leave for walmart, that i go to call her. why? because they want to meet her. >> the prosecution's theory is sydney called to take the test and meet up later at the landing. they said what she didn't know was that tammy would be there, too. >> there is no doubt sydney is the bait in this husband. he's the bait. >> 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 moore's property. >> there is a shell casing.

there is a back of concrete mix here and off to the side up here is some type of a bolt of a cleaning solution. >> the prosecution suggested it was nothing less than a kidnapping kit. what the moore'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. but i went because when you see your parents hurting, you wish that you could take all the their pain away f. until 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. >> 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. >> did you kidnap heather elvis? >> no, i did not. >> tammy moore on the stand and on the offensive. >> tammy was just indignant. >> there's answers to this mystery and they refuse to solve it. >> when "dateline" continues. saturdays happen. pain happens. aleve it.

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. welcome back. sydney moore'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 sopouse 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 present a very different story. here again is andrea caning with "the landing." tammy moore said her kids should have been tackling homework and hanging with friends. instead, they were sitting in a courtroom watching her be acues oddf a terrible crime. >> tim is the one with the motive. she is the hunt er. >> i just want to be home with my children and take care of them. >> tammy believed she was

victimized by a relentless prosecutor. >> she is not getting justice putting an innocent person in jail. she never will. >> i think from the beginning tammy was indignant she was even charged with this. >> tammy's defense attorney. >> they cannot prove to you that anybody named moore ever went to the boat landing at the end of teachtree road. >> 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 of the vehicle. >> the police officer who processed heather's car testified he couldn't find any evidence of a struggle. investigators found no trace of a crime inside the moore's house or truck either. speaking or their truck, the defense said they couldn't tell whether it was actually sydney and tammy's truck headed towards peachtree land zplg you have low

resolution, low video, our point is you cannot draw any conclusion beyond the fact that may be a certain make and modem. >> this video did not pass the smell test to you? >> this video didn't even give off an odor. >> another piece of flawed everyday was a cell phone that da that seemed to suggest tammy and sydney had been stalking heather. >> i'd say you could compare their phone activity to anybody else's who lived and worked in the area. those where where the nightclubs are, restaurants there. it would appear i were stalking her as well, if you look at where my phone went. >> the defense said 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. >> did tammy's children stay in the house there with you or your mother? >> yes. >> tammy's sister ashley told

the court she was babysitting tammy's kids on the night of december 17th, 2013. she said tammy and sydney went out together in the hours leading up to heather's disappearance. ashley remembered when her sister came home. >> she texted me that night saying she was home. >> do you know what time it was? >> it was beginning of 3:00 in the morning, i believe it was 3:10. >> for the defense, it was a time stamp, proving tammy was home well before heather went missing. >> that wasn't all he said, both sydney and tammy's phones were on and penging from their house, not from the landing when heather was there. it was all so hard for morgan to listen to. 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. i do look like heather. >> hmm. >> 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. >> 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. >> and she was a wife who found out her husband was cheating on her. initially tammy said she texted the other woman's upon the number to find out who she was. >> the messages were never directed towards heather elvis. they were directed toward the mystery person. i wanted to know who it was. >> at the end of the day, she says the only reason she was angry with sydney is he wasn't forthcoming at his affair. in their marriage, they had an arrangement. >> i think it's a good idea to have an open marriage for a little bit and see if we're meant to be together. the only thing is i want you to be honest with me. that's why i got angry with sid

in i. >> she says when he went missing, they were working on their marriage. she was hoping to get pregnant. >> that test he bought was for her, not heather. also, she denied she made sydney get a tattoo as punishment. she said he had gotten it long before he met heather and a question for handcuffs, too. >> did you ever handcuff him to the bed with the keys? >> no, i did not. sydney is a strong man. >> tammy had her own explanation for that so-called kidnapping kit. sydney needed the concrete for work. the cleaning fluid was for their dirty catcher and the shotgun shell, probably a spent casing from a turkey hunt. >> did you kidnap heather elvis? >> no, i did not. >> do you know who kidnapped her? >> i do not. >> are you glad that you are able to tell people what happened, what you did do and didn't do? >> i want people to know the truth and i too want heather

found. >> 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 >> you know, i can't really, you know, explain everything that --- that tammy said or felt. i think it was a huge mistake to call her names and do that sort of thing. >> reporter: he said if tammy had kidnapped heather, why would she be writing nasty facebook posts about her? the elvises listened to tammy's testimony about heather with disgust. >> she deserves to be found, and >> it was so offensive to hear her came come out of that woman's mouth. >> you sat there so quietly in that courtroom. did you just wanna -- >> scream. ugh. it was infuriating, some of the things that she said.

>> reporter: 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. >> 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. >> high stakes in the jury room. >> the jury has reached a verdict. when "dateline" continues. (dramatic music) and you're saving money, because you bundled home and auto. sarah, get in the house. we're all here for you. all: all day, all night. (dramatic music) great job speaking calmly and clearly everyone. that's how you put a customer at ease. hey, did anyone else hear weird voices while they were in the corn? no. no.

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welcome back. tammy moorer's defense said nothing linked her to the kidnapping of elvis. it placed 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. here's andrea canning's with the conclusion. >> so help me god. >> reporter: when tammy moorer took the stand in her own defense last month, she sailed through her direct testimony. but then came prosecutor nancy livesay. >> miss moorer, do you know who i am? >> i do. >> okay. and who am i? >> nancy livesay. you've made my life miserable. >> reporter: 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 texts to heather proved it. >> 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." >> yes. >> and at the time, how old were you? >> i think i was 41 or 42, i'm not sure. >> okay, and so do you know now, when you sent her that text, she was a 20-year-old girl? >> i know now. i didn't know then. >> reporter: the prosecutor suggested tammy behaved like a stalker. >> and you said on 11/11, "i think the bitch is hiding. isn't that what you said? >> if it's on there. >> okay. here's my question to you. how many times had you gone up there and looked her to believe that she was in hidin'? 'cause it certainly leaves the impression -- >> never. >> never? then -- >> never.

>> -- what makes you think "the bitch is in hiding? >> i was just bein' a jerk at the time, i guess, nancy, is all i can say. >> have we ever met outside of this courtroom? >> i don't think so. >> okay. just didn't know when we got on a first name basis. >> reporter: after ten 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. >> reporter: the prosecution driving 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. >> 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.

>> reporter: it took jurors less than four hours to reach a verdict. >> we the jury find the defendant, tammy caison moorer, guilty of kidnapping. >> reporter: 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 goin' away." because i knew that's what it would be. >> reporter: the elvises got the verdict they wanted, but it wasn't going to bring heather back. >> it didn't change anything. people say it didn't change the big picture. it didn't change the little picture. >> you expect it to feel good -- to be a victory, but it doesn't feel like that at all. >> reporter: heather's sister morgan looked across to the moorers. >> the only thing i saw was another family getting torn apart. >> reporter: yeah. well, those -- those children sitting behind their mom. >> yeah. >> reporter: i'm sorry. >> i have lived firsthand a family getting torn apart. and i wouldn't wish that on anybody. >> reporter: tammy moorer was

sentenced to 30 years. her husband sydney was convicted of obstruction of justice for lying to police. in 2019, prosecutors retried him on the 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 with so many years ahead of her. and what would you say to heather if that little sliver of -- >> if i could talk to her right now? >> reporter: -- if that little sliver of hope is still out there? >> i'm gonna bring you home. somehow, some way, i'm bringin' you home. >> we've said it every time. you know, we're not giving up. never gonna give up. >> doesn't matter what it takes. >> everything else takes a back seat. 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 natalie morales. thank you for watching. a very good morning to you. i'm richard liu in new york city. we're going to start with breaking news this hour. the most wanted terrorist believed to be dead. the latest on a u.s.-led raid. what this means for the future of isis. what did he say? a state department official talks to impeachment investigators about attacks made on the u.s. ambassador to ukraine. a new declaration about when the impeachment inquiry may go public. a word from the lead democrat. john kelly speaks out about his time in the white house and whether he could have prevented the