Tammy Moorer is a South Carolina woman convicted in October 2018 of kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap Heather Elvis, a 20-year-old Myrtle Beach hostess who vanished in December 2013 and has never been found. She is serving a 30-year sentence at the Women’s Correctional Center in Columbia, with a projected release date of May 9, 2043.1WMBF News. South Carolina Supreme Court Denies Final Appeal of Woman Convicted in Heather Elvis Case Born around 1981, she was roughly 32 at the time of the disappearance and 37 when a jury found her guilty. In October 2025, with her direct appeals exhausted, she filed for post-conviction relief seeking a new trial.
Her Connection to Heather Elvis
Tammy Moorer was married to Sidney Moorer, a maintenance worker and father of three. In mid-2013, Sidney began an affair with Heather Elvis that lasted about three months.2ABC News. South Carolina Love Triangle: Woman’s Affair With Married Man The relationship ended in late October or early November 2013 after Tammy confronted Elvis by phone.3WMBF News. Sidney, Tammy Moorer Lose Appeals to Overturn Kidnapping Convictions
Prosecutors described Tammy as “livid” and “the more domineering part” of the couple after learning of the affair.2ABC News. South Carolina Love Triangle: Woman’s Affair With Married Man Trial testimony described her sending nonstop calls, texts, and sexually explicit photos and videos of herself and Sidney to taunt Elvis. Witnesses said she exerted extreme control over her husband, at times taking his phone, dictating where he could work, and reportedly handcuffing him to their bed.
A possible pregnancy became central to the state’s theory of motive. Elvis had taken an inconclusive pregnancy test at work in early November 2013. Surveillance footage showed Sidney buying a pregnancy test at Walmart at 1:15 a.m. on December 18, 2013, and an empty test box was later found at Elvis’s apartment.4FindLaw. State v. Moorer Prosecutors argued Sidney acted to “appease Tammy’s anger about the affair and avoid any negative consequences of Victim’s possible pregnancy.”3WMBF News. Sidney, Tammy Moorer Lose Appeals to Overturn Kidnapping Convictions
The Night Elvis Disappeared
Elvis’s father dropped her off at her apartment around 2 a.m. on December 18, 2013, after a first date with someone new.5WMBF News. Timeline of Events in the Heather Elvis Case Her final phone call, at 3:41 a.m., went to Sidney Moorer’s iPhone from the area of Peachtree Boat Landing near Socastee in Horry County.4FindLaw. State v. Moorer Her phone went dark after that. On December 19, her car was found locked and abandoned at Peachtree Landing, purse and phone missing.
Investigators concluded the Moorers had stalked Elvis for weeks, tracking her routines. On the morning of December 18, Sidney used a payphone to call her, which investigators described as a “decoy” to lure her to the landing.6ABC11. Heather Elvis Case
The Evidence Against Her
Tammy and Sidney Moorer were arrested on February 21, 2014.7ABC News. Charged in Heather Elvis Disappearance Kidnapping charges came two days later, and murder charges the day after that. On March 10, 2016, prosecutors dropped the murder charges against both Moorers along with an obstruction charge against Tammy, but the kidnapping counts remained.8WPDE. Murder Charges Dismissed Against Tammy and Sidney Moorer
Her trial opened in October 2018 before Judge Benjamin Culbertson.9WBTW. Tammy Moorer Trial Set for October She pleaded not guilty. Assistant Solicitor Chris Helms conceded the case was circumstantial, telling jurors it amounted to “a heck of a lot of circumstances.”10Myrtle Beach Online. Tammy Moorer Trial
Several pieces of evidence pointed directly at Tammy:
- Phone records showed she had controlled Sidney’s iPhone from November 2, 2013, until the early morning of December 18, when she returned it to him immediately after Elvis disappeared. Jurors heard threatening messages she sent Elvis, including one that read, “I’m giving you one last chance to answer before we meet in person, only one.”4FindLaw. State v. Moorer
- Two surveillance cameras captured a dark pickup traveling between the Moorers’ home and Peachtree Landing between 3:35 a.m. and 3:46 a.m. the night Elvis vanished. Forensic video analyst Grant Fredericks used reverse projection photogrammetry and headlight spread pattern analysis to identify the truck as the Moorers’ black Ford F-150.
- Tammy’s cousin Donald Demarino testified that Sidney later showed him a photo on a burner phone of a woman who appeared unable to move or talk, and that the photo seemed intended for Tammy.
- Police recovered a bag of cement, a spent shotgun shell, and a bottle of cleaning fluid near the Moorers’ camper. The couple had also destroyed their home surveillance footage and removed an SD card from their truck’s navigation system after Elvis disappeared.
Defense attorneys Greg McCollum and Casey Brown argued no evidence placed Tammy face-to-face with Elvis and denied any conspiracy.10Myrtle Beach Online. Tammy Moorer Trial On October 23, 2018, the jury found her guilty of kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Judge Culbertson sentenced her to 30 years on each count, to be served concurrently.5WMBF News. Timeline of Events in the Heather Elvis Case
Appeals Denied
Moorer challenged the conviction on direct appeal, focusing in part on the admission of Fredericks’ headlight testimony. The South Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the trial court, finding Fredericks had followed a “universally accepted” forensic methodology and that questions about his conclusions were for the jury.11South Carolina Courts. State v. Moorer, Court of Appeals Opinion The appeals court denied her appeal in December 2021. The South Carolina Supreme Court declined to hear the case on October 3, 2024, ending her direct appeals.1WMBF News. South Carolina Supreme Court Denies Final Appeal of Woman Convicted in Heather Elvis Case
The 2025 Bid for a New Trial
On October 2, 2025, Moorer filed an application for post-conviction relief seeking a new trial. Represented by attorney Drew Carroll, she alleged her original attorneys, McCollum and Brown, provided ineffective assistance of counsel.12The Post and Courier. Tammy Moorer Asks for New Trial in Heather Elvis Kidnapping Case The filing raises several specific complaints:
- Her lawyers failed to properly prepare and subpoena key witnesses, including a tattoo artist she says could have contradicted Fredericks’ headlight analysis.
- They failed to suppress or redact sexually explicit and drug-related text messages shown to the jury.
- One attorney asked her to sign a contract granting him book publishing rights related to her case, which she argues left the legal team “ethically and professionally compromised.”
Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson called such filings a routine part of the post-conviction process, noting that most are not granted because there is “no guarantee of a perfect trial.”13WMBF News. Woman Convicted of Kidnapping Heather Elvis Requests New Trial
Where Things Stand
Heather Elvis’s remains have never been recovered. As of mid-2024, Richardson described the odds of finding her as a “needle in a haystack,” saying investigators have “searched everywhere we’ve had any sort of clue.”14WBTW. Horry County Solicitor on Heather Elvis Body Ever Being Found He said the best remaining hope was that someone with knowledge might come forward, or that the Moorers themselves might “come clean” now that their appeals are exhausted. Tammy Moorer remains at the Women’s Correctional Center in Columbia pending resolution of her post-conviction petition.