Day 3 of testimony focuses on cellphone calls in Sidney Moorer’s trial

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) - The third day of testimony in Sidney Moorer’s kidnapping trial focused primarily on cellphone calls.

Moorer is charged in connection with the 2013 disappearance of Elvis. He previously went to trial for kidnapping in 2016, which ended with a hung jury.

On Thursday morning, the jury heard from Ryan Keep, who works with Sprint. He testified that Moorer first contacted Elvis via phone in March 2013.

On the night of her disappearance in December 2013, Elvis tried calling Moorer’s phone four times before finally getting through, according to Keep. He testified that one call lasted a little more than four minutes.

Defense attorneys argued the system Sprint uses doesn’t guarantee accuracy. That led the prosecution to again ask the witness if the company has used this system to find other missing persons. Keep said they had.

Also testifying Thursday was Jill Domogauer with the Horry County Police Department. She testified that she received consent from Elvis’ father, Terry Elvis, to search his daughter’s vehicle without the need for a search warrant.

Domogauer told the jury she also searched Elvis’ apartment and came across an empty pregnancy test box in the trash. The witness noted this hit close to home for her because she’d recently had a child herself, but it wasn’t needed because it’s not what investigators were looking for.

The prosecution asked Domogauer if she thought the pregnancy test box would currently have evidentiary value, to which she said yes.

Some of Elvis’ coworkers previously testified that she had taken a pregnancy test, which resulted in an error message.

Two other witnesses to take the stand Thursday broke down text messages sent to Heather Elvis’ phone from Moorer’s phone.

“You can tell me who you are right now or I can find out another way and that way won’t have a great turn out for you," a text message from Moorer’s cellphone to Elvis’ cellphone said.

The prosecution eluded that even though the messages were coming from Sidney’s phone, they believe it was his wife, Tammy Moorer, sending them to Heather.

An Horry County police officer who searched Moorer’s black F-150 was also called to the stand. He told jurors he searched the truck to look for any evidence that may have helped find Elvis.

Moorer’s attorneys questioned the condition of the truck and if it were clean inside. He said there was still trash and did not appear to have been cleaned.

And just as in the previous trial, the truck’s headlights were brought up. The financial manager with Beach Ford, where the truck was purchased, told the court the headlights on the truck are brighter than an average vehicle.

A woman with a surveillance camera was also called to the stand to talk about video of a truck her camera captured in the early morning hours of December 18.

“I reached out to them because I had went and looked and I noticed that I had the dates of December 18 and 19 on my DVR and I unplugged it and wanted to give it to them to see if there were any evidence that may help them find Heather,” Joyce Aland said.

Moorer’s defense team pointed out she could have altered the times her surveillance captured a truck driving by her home.

Moorer’s second trial comes almost a year after Tammy Moorer was found guilty in October 2018 of kidnapping Elvis and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Jail records showed that Tammy Moorer, who has been housed at the Lee Correctional Institution in Greenwood since her conviction, was booked into the J. Reuben Long Detention Center Wednesday afternoon. She is listed as still incarcerated Thursday afternoon.

It is not known if she will testify in her husband’s trial.