Key facts
- Name: Heather Elvis
- Born: June 30, 1993, South Carolina
- Age at disappearance: 20
- Last seen: December 18, 2013, ~1:15 a.m. (phone activity ended ~3–6 a.m.)
- Location: Carolina Forest apartment; car found at Peachtree Landing boat launch, Socastee, South Carolina
- Height / build: 5’1″, ~110 lbs, brown hair, brown eyes
- Status: Still missing — Horry County Police open investigation; two convicted of kidnapping, body never found
- Investigating agency: Horry County Police Department — tip line (843) 915-TIPS
The payphone call
Heather Elvis had been trying to move on. On the night of December 17, 2013, the 20-year-old hostess went on a first date with a man named Steven Schiraldi — Christmas lights, a mall parking lot where he taught her to drive a stick shift, a smiling selfie she sent to her dad and her roommate. It would be the last photo anyone ever took of her. He dropped her at her Carolina Forest apartment at 1:15 in the morning.
At 1:44 a.m., Heather called her roommate Brianna Warrelmann, who was out of town for the holidays. They talked for about ten minutes. Then Heather mentioned the other call — the one that had come in on a payphone. Sidney Moorer, the married repairman she’d had an affair with, the one whose wife had been tormenting her for months. He said he missed her. He said he was going to leave Tammy. He wanted to meet.
Brianna told her not to go. Not to do anything rash. To get some sleep.
Heather’s phone went silent in the early-morning hours. She was never heard from again.
On the evening of December 19, her green Dodge Intrepid was found parked crooked — perpendicular across the spaces — at the Peachtree Landing boat launch on the Waccamaw River in Socastee, eight miles from her apartment. Locked. Her phone, her keys, her purse: gone.
Who Heather was
Heather Elvis was 20, working as a hostess at the Tilted Kilt restaurant in Myrtle Beach, living with her best friend, saving toward an independent life. She’d fallen for Sidney Moorer, a 38-year-old repairman at the restaurant — not knowing, at first, that he was married. When his wife Tammy found out in September 2013, the affair ended and the harassment began: confrontational texts, racy photos of the couple sent to Heather’s phone, a campaign of intimidation that friends watched wear her down.
By December, Heather was rebuilding — she’d started work at a beauty parlor, gone on a date with someone new. The payphone call pulled her back for one night. Whatever happened after she left that apartment, her roommate’s warning is the last human voice in the record.
The investigation
Horry County police moved fast once the car was found. Divers from Coastal Carolina University searched the riverbed down to Winyah Bay. Nothing. Bones found nearby around New Year’s belonged to a man.
Phone records told the story the Moorers wouldn’t. Sidney’s and Heather’s phones had called each other several times in the early hours of December 18. Surveillance footage showed a man using a gas station payphone around the time Heather got the call — and between 3:36 and 3:46 a.m., traffic cameras captured a black pickup truck, the same model and color as Sidney’s, driving to and from the boat landing.
Sidney’s explanations collapsed in stages. First he denied talking to Heather that night. Then, confronted with the footage, he said he and Tammy had been out buying a pregnancy test at Walmart and stopped at the gas station to call her — to ask her to leave them alone, he claimed — and that afterward it would have been “impossible” for him to leave the house again because he was handcuffed to his bed. Police didn’t buy it.
In February 2014, both Moorers were arrested and charged with murder, kidnapping, obstruction of justice, and indecent exposure. The murder charges were eventually dropped for lack of a body, but the kidnapping case ground forward: Sidney’s first trial ended in a hung jury; he was convicted on retrial. Tammy was convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy in October 2018. Both were sentenced to 30 years. Sidney’s appeal was denied by the South Carolina Supreme Court in May 2022.
Two people are in prison for taking Heather Elvis. Her body has never been found. Her family still doesn’t know where she is.
Theories: what might have happened
Lured and killed by the Moorers. This is the prosecution’s case and the jury’s verdict: Heather was lured to Peachtree Landing — a remote boat ramp at night — and killed, her body hidden where 13 years of searching hasn’t found it. The convictions rest on the phone records, the surveillance footage, and the timeline. What remains unknown: where she is.
The body is in the Waccamaw. The landing sits on a tidal river system running to Winyah Bay. Divers searched extensively and found nothing, but rivers keep secrets. If she went into the water that night, recovery may be impossible.
She was moved and buried inland. The truck footage shows a vehicle going to and from the landing — consistent with a body being transported, not necessarily disposed of at the ramp. Searches have covered ground; the Lowcountry is vast.
Have information?
Contact the Horry County Police Department tip line: (843) 915-TIPS (843-915-8477). In an emergency, dial 911.
Timeline
- June 30, 1993 — Heather Elvis is born.
- 2013 — Working as a hostess, Heather begins an affair with married repairman Sidney Moorer.
- September 2013 — Tammy Moorer discovers the affair; harassment of Heather begins; the affair ends.
- December 17, 2013 (evening) — First date with Steven Schiraldi.
- December 18, 2013, 1:15 a.m. — Dropped at her Carolina Forest apartment.
- December 18, 2013, 1:44 a.m. — Calls roommate Brianna; mentions Sidney’s payphone call asking to meet.
- December 18, 2013, ~3:36–3:46 a.m. — Truck matching Sidney’s captured on camera going to/from Peachtree Landing. Phone activity ends.
- December 19, 2013 (evening) — Her Dodge Intrepid found at Peachtree Landing; phone, keys, purse missing.
- February 2014 — Sidney and Tammy Moorer arrested; charged with murder, kidnapping, obstruction.
- 2016–2019 — Murder charges dropped; both convicted of kidnapping (and conspiracy); sentenced to 30 years.
- May 2022 — SC Supreme Court denies Sidney’s appeal.
- May 2025 — Dateline airs “Return of the Landing.”
- Today — Still missing.
FAQ
Is Heather Elvis still missing?
Yes. As of October 2026, Heather Elvis has been missing for nearly 13 years. Her body has never been found.
Were Sidney and Tammy Moorer convicted of killing Heather Elvis?
They were convicted of kidnapping (and conspiracy) and sentenced to 30 years each. Murder charges were dropped because her body was never recovered. Both remain in prison — Sidney at Lee Correctional Institution, Tammy at Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution.
What was the payphone call?
In the early hours of December 18, 2013, Heather received a call from a payphone — later traced to Sidney Moorer — asking her to meet him. She told her roommate about it at 1:44 a.m. It was the last anyone heard from her.
Where was Heather Elvis’s car found?
Her green Dodge Intrepid was found on December 19, 2013, parked perpendicular across spaces at the Peachtree Landing boat launch on the Waccamaw River in Socastee — about eight miles from her apartment. It was locked; her phone, keys, and purse were missing.
How old would Heather Elvis be today?
Born June 30, 1993, she would be 33 in 2026.
How can I help?
Share this case file. Anyone with information about where Heather is should contact the Horry County Police tip line at (843) 915-TIPS.
Sources
- Official / law enforcement: Horry County Police Department, tip line (843) 915-TIPS; SC Judicial Branch court records (State v. Moorer).
- News: WMBF News; WPDE; ABC News; The Sun News; The Charlotte Observer; Oxygen, “Snapped: What Happened to Heather Elvis” (2026).
- Reference: Wikipedia, “Disappearance of Heather Elvis” (retrieved Oct 2026).
- Media: Dateline NBC, “Return of the Landing” (May 31, 2025); Crime Stories with Nancy Grace; documentary Vanished: The Heather Elvis Case.
Found an error? Tell us via the About page and we will fix it promptly and note the change here. Last verified October 2026.