MISTRIAL - Sidney Moorer on trial for the kidnapping of Heather Elvis #5

[stillwatersc]

At that point Heather knew that SM was & is a lying liar who lies. She wanted to be with him but suspected that he was just playing her again. I totally understand the tears. Even while denying it to Bri, she knew she would cave. For some reason that :snake: was irresistible to her.

 

[Gardenista]

Do we know how TM found out about Heather in the first place?

 

[Madeleine74]

My opinion is that what Heather was upset about was not that SM was (allegedly) leaving his wife, but that by contacting her at all, the scab on her heart was torn off. Then he tells her he misses her and wants to be with her and he says he's leaving (or has left) his wife. She had started the healing process in the prior month, but probably only just started. She still had feelings for the guy at that point, still was attracted to him, she still wanted him even though she had come to understand she could not be with him and he was off-limits because he was married.

Now here comes temptation in a major way--it's like her drug of choice is being offered to her after she's been working on sobriety. Her head said one thing, her heart said something else, and head and heart are suddenly at war with each other. That creates internal conflict and emotional pain. It's that pain that causes the crying and tears. Ultimately the drug of choice (Sidney in this case) wins out because it still has power over Heather's emotions and the rest is the chain of events to a tragedy.

 

[razzledazzle]

A couple of things stand out to me...
1) Per the expert witness testimony, Heather's phone had NEVER before pinged at PTL ???
2) Those calls to a NJ phone # from SM's phone??? (Noting that the phone may have been that of a local - so many transplants in the area)

I really wish SM and TM would have been tried together.

 

[razzledazzle]

Do we know how TM found out about Heather in the first place?

IIRC, There were rumors early on, but I think it all came from social media and would not be allowed to be discussed here.

 

[lisette]

What is the name of the apartments where Heather lived?

ETA: Nevermind I found it.

 

[magnolia]

This is just my opinion. I can totally relate to HE being upset and crying b/c she is torn between her heart and her head.
Yes, she probably still has feelings for SM. However, he had broken things off with her weeks before, and had not contacted her since.
Emotionally, she was probably still recovering from this - she was doing better because of distance from the situation.
if it were me, I would be hurt and still angry from being treated that way. If the person that had treated me that way called and said "I want to be with you and see you, I've left my wife", I would have all kinds of conflicting feelings.
The history of her relationship with him, being that he was married, had 3 kids with his wife, his wife found out about the relationship and was sending threatening texts, and whatever else was sent, was volatile.
If it were me, even though I really did want to be with him (heart), I can guarantee you that I would know that being with him was not in my best interest (head). That would upset me. Even if he had said he was leaving his wife, I would wonder if he would follow through considering past history of their relationship. Maybe SM had told HE that he was leaving TM, or wanted to leave TM at some other point in their relationship, i dunno.
So, for me, that is why I can totally believe HE's version of the conversation. I can relate to that feeling of being torn, and have felt it before. Again, this is just my opinion.

Conflicted feelings don't fit the 15 outgoing phone calls. Does not fit the extreme hysterical reaction either. IMO

This is nothing against Heather. The best of humans don't always tell the truth.

 

[rob]

I am thinking when SM called HE from the payphone and told her whatever he did (supposedly he was leaving TM to be with her) he probably told her meet me in an hour at Longbeards .. she left an hour after the payphone call .. then called the payphone back after reaching Longbeards, probably to let him know she was there, to see where he was, etc .. but she didn't know it was a payphone, assumed it was SM's new phone number .. I just don't understand why she left, got a ways down the street, then turns to go back .. maybe she thought he would eventually meet up if she kept calling?? I really wish she had just gone home after that and stayed put

OR- Heather asked him 'what number are you calling me from?' and SM said 'I'm at work at LB's, so I'm using their payphone'. Then after thinking about it for a while, HE decided to go there and talk to him in person. She gets there and he's not there, neither is his truck, so then she starts calling the phones trying to make contact again.
-theory only-

OR- if SM does maintenance at LB's, he would know if there were any security cameras outside or not. The arrangement may have been to meet there, and that is where HE was overcome, and from then on SM was driving HE's car and TM was in his truck, and for whatever reason, T went back to their home before meeting at PTL for the car drop off, so SM kept calling her using HE's phone.
More theory.

 

[rob]

At that point Heather knew that SM was & is a lying liar who lies. She wanted to be with him but suspected that he was just playing her again. I totally understand the tears. Even while denying it to Bri, she knew she would cave. For some reason that :snake: was irresistible to her.

Because she was a <modsnip> kid who hadn't grown up yet. Still not able to see that people are not all good, even if you care about them and they say they care about you. After that call, she probably started thinking all her dreams might be coming true.
It's not just her, it's most of them. Been there, done that.
Glad to be in my 50's and generally don't believe anything anyone says.
MOO

 

[magnolia]

At that point Heather knew that SM was & is a lying liar who lies. She wanted to be with him but suspected that he was just playing her again. I totally understand the tears. Even while denying it to Bri, she knew she would cave. For some reason that :snake: was irresistible to her.

I totally understand your point stillwatersc. However, it was more than tears. Bri testified that Heather was upset to the point of being hysterical. Twenty yr. olds sometimes tend to live in the moment. They don't consider consequences. Just like Heather was living in the moment when she pursued SM. You used the magic word (irresistible). I don't believe Heather was conflicted at all.

 

[Surfside]

A couple of things stand out to me...
1) Per the expert witness testimony, Heather's phone had NEVER before pinged at PTL ???
2) Those calls to a NJ phone # from SM's phone??? (Noting that the phone may have been that of a local - so many transplants in the area)

I really wish SM and TM would have been tried together.

BBM: Phones these days are not meant to last more than a couple years. Could it be that her current phone never pinged there, but previous phones of hers may have? I don't know how that works. Is that data tied to the device or the phone number? Or the account?

 

[Madeleine74]

BBM: Phones these days are not meant to last more than a couple years. Could it be that her current phone never pinged there, but previous phones of hers may have? I don't know how that works. Is that data tied to the device or the phone number? Or the account?

It's tied to the device itself, though a cell carrier would have detailed records that go back more than 2 years which would be able to be used to determine if any phone she had during that time that was on her account had pinged in that area (this assumes her cell provider maintains records for the typical minimum number of years).

However, in the time she met and knew SM (which covered about a 6 month period) her phone showed no prior activity of being at/near the PTL tower. And there is no evidence she switched out phones during those 6 months.

 

[jillycat]

That pay phone conversation has more content than we know about, and perhaps that BW knows about. Seriously, if HE reported to BW that SM had asked specifically in the pay phone call to see her that morning, and had given her a meeting place, it would have served the state's lure claim to have that brought up in testimony.

BW's testimony was largely about who HE was, their friendship, HE's lifestyle and family conflicts, her residence transitions, and her affair dynamics and escalations with the SM/TM triangle. The testimony about the critical phone call was minimal and provided little insight into the evolution of the call, why SM decided to announce his wife-leaving at that hour, and how he and HE ended the call and where they left things. I find this rather remarkable.

 

[cujenn81]

Do we know how TM found out about Heather in the first place?

I don't think we know for certain but I kind of assumed that TM saw a missed call from Heather late at night. I figured that's what the
"WTF would you call me at 11 o'clock at night and then not answer your phone when I call you back" texts to Heather were all about.

I think that could be when it all "hit the fan" as SM put it. TM likely saw a missed call from Heather at 11 pm (but remember, her number was saved in his phone as a business and no one would be calling him from there at that time of night). So, TM called the number back to see who called him and probably got an automated voicemail recording. So then she tries texting the number as if she were SM hoping for a response but doesn't get one right away. Heather finally responds saying something like "what the hell man... I got slammed at work and my phone died but you've got some explaining to do (meaning he needs to explain why he's being so rude to her). TM still has SMs phone to see if the number ever responds and then launches into her "who is this" and "I'll give you one more chance to tell me" and "you ready to meet the MRS" text message BS.

 

[Unykorn&Reignbeaus]

Here are some screen shots from Google maps. It's next to Highway 31 but trees obscure most of the view and you can't see it from River Oaks Drive. Basically, you wouldn't know it was back there if you didn't know exactly what you were looking for.

The two below are views of Carolina Forest Blvd in each direction from directly in front of and facing the restaurant.

To the right :

To the left:

I always got an eerie feeling when I drove on River Oaks just past Carolina Forest. If you look at the first map you can see a large retention pond extending from River Oaks to Village Center. It just always gave me a weird feeling...not sure why....

 

[cujenn81]

Disregard.

I gotta find a better way to upload the video because the compression process on Tapatalk made the picture super fuzzy.

 

[cujenn81]

Ok. Hope this works better.

Basically I filmed a drive by Longbeards and down to the apartments where Heather's phone turned around. Please disregard my nasty car, missing rearview mirror, poor videography skills, and the southern accent. [emoji53]

https://youtu.be/v1A3i1Wbx_g

 

[jellybeanz]

Exactly, if Heather was driving there from her apartment and back.. isn't that the way she would drive? I don't see why she would have gotten on that major highway that is on the map as it is a straight shot the way I went.

ETA.. I brought over the map and the road I went down apparently is not on this map. it pretty much is a straight line from the restaurant to her house the road I was on.

Thank you for that clarification as I was so very confused

I was looking at the earliest maps and the McDonalds receipt on the afternoon of the 17th was very near Longbeards.
Was there a reason for Heather moving around in that area? Out of the eyes of the MRS?

Its also interesting seeing where the Indecent Assault charge locations were. Were the times of these charges recorded?

 

[jellybeanz]

Now for some questions that any jury member might have:

- Why would a man tell police he called his ex-mistress at 1:35am to tell her to "stop calling him," yet there is no record of her calling him in the weeks before her disappearance, and he was away with his family for 3 weeks, and his cell phone was turned off for a chunk of that time. (So by the time police are asking questions, that's 4 weeks since he and the family had left town. Where is proof of these phone calls that he needed to have stopped?)

- Who is the man protecting from news that he had (past tense) an affair, that he needs to lie to police about a missing person? The wife already knows about the affair. The police wouldn't care if he was cheating on his wife or not. So why lie about it?

- Why did a man claim his wife was with him in his truck while he stopped at a Walmart in the early hours of Dec 18 2013, yet he took his remote/keys with him and locked the vehicle upon exiting and then unlocked the vehicle upon coming back to the vehicle?

- Why did a man purchase a pregnancy test then go to a pay phone 15 min later and call his ex-mistress, a young woman who allegedly had not talked to the man in 4 weeks or more? (and if they did talk in the weeks before, how did this occur? there are no call logs and the man was physically out of the area for 3 of those weeks).

- Why did a man claim to not be in the area of PTL, yet his truck is seen on security video twice, going towards and then coming back from the PTL area?

- Why did a man claim to be home in the early hours of Dec 18, yet his neighbor's security camera happened to film his black truck coming back home around 4am that same morning?

- Why did a man selectively turn on his cell phone in the early morning hours of Dec 18, and admit to speaking to the now-missing woman at 3:17am from his cell phone, to her cell phone, yet claim he had not been in touch with her except to tell her to stop calling him?

- Why did a man turn off the location feature on his cell phone in the week before his ex-mistress goes missing?

- Why did a young woman who always had her cell phone with her (and on) suddenly turn off or otherwise disable her cell phone a couple minutes after arriving at PTL? (No one could track her movements from her cell phone except for law enforcement.)

- Why did that young woman's cell phone never again connect to a cell tower after her phone showed she had arrived at PTL?

- Why was location/GPS data covering the period of Dec 18 2013 missing from the sync module of the man's new Ford F150 truck, which is coincidentally the same time his ex-mistress goes missing?

- Why was a security system (DVR/hard drive unit) from the man's home discarded and replaced 2 days after the man's ex-mistress goes missing?


So many questions...

To be fair, that is how you close an argument to the Jury.

I felt NL laboured on and on in her Closing, repeating herself and using cringey sound bites.
I can't remember his name, but I think the attorney that made the Opening Argument would have been better doing the Closing too, sticking to facts and leaving the jury with his analogy of the ripples from the rock.

 

[Gardenista]

Ok. Hope this works better.

Basically I filmed a drive by Longbeards and down to the apartments where Heather's phone turned around. Please disregard my nasty car, missing rearview mirror, poor videography skills, and the southern accent. [emoji53]

https://youtu.be/v1A3i1Wbx_g

Thank you! Watching right now.