horrible. >> she's missing, 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 about her being pregnant. >> she truly believed she was he was going to leave his wife. >> anger, betrayal, revenge. >> a bomb exploded. world war iii. >> this crazy love triangle, kidnapping, potential murder? >> this is heather's life we're talking about. >> terrifying. >> when you see your parents hurting, you wish that you can take all their pain away. it's impossible. >> reporter: myrtle beach, south carolina. vacation heaven. 60 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 a bend in the river. it's tranquil, the trees are draped in spanish moss. there's a boat landing here with a fancy name, peach tree 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 alvis in 2013 became an enduring mystery. >> i know there is no way heather would not come home if she could come home. no way. >> you don't realize how much somebody's face means to you until you can't 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 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 loved heels. she would never let you swap shoes with her, though. i mean, god forbid i borrowed a pair of shoes and i did not tell her. she was coming for me. she just loved them. but she also would drive four-wheelers and play volleyball and shoot paint ball guns. and then she'd turn around and put on a dress and go you know look beautiful for photos. >> her parents debbie and terry alvis say heather was driven by a passion to create. she drew all the time, decorating the family house with her doodles. >> everywhere you went in the house, there was some kind of writing or some kind of drawing or some kind of doodle. >> her brain is working overtime? >> constantly. >> just as a reminder a small desk in the house it has a computer on it. and it has sticky notes all over the top part of the desk. the one that sits right in front of my face in her handwriting, 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 cosmetology was hers. i was not allowed to have it, and i did it any way. that's kind of what sisters do. don't tell me no because i'm going to do it any way. >> she wanted to be a make-up artist and she wanted to do fashion and possibly weddings and things like that. she wanted to do something where she can be creative and design what she was doing. >> she had her license. she had just recently gotten it, so it was something she wanted to do so she pursued it. >> after graduation from high school in 2011, heather began working at a local pub called the tilted kilt where she became a hostess. brianna, known as bri, worked with her there. >> she'd walk them back to the table. she would already have them laughing, having a conversation, same thing when they were leaving. >> bri shared almost everything, even her apartment. when heather confided she didn't always see eye to eye with her parents, well, that was hardly unusual for a young woman determined to make their own way. >> they love each other dearly, it's just i think they knocked heads, because heather wanted to explore. >> as for boyfriends, bri watched heather go through ups and downs. just recently, she emerged from a difficult 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 sometimes we wish we could. >> on december 17th, 2013, everything was falling into place for heather. she got a new job with a makeup artist, had a date with a new guy. even learned how to drive a stick shift in her date's truck. there she is around 10:00 in a picture she texted 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 debbie and terry's door. a police officer with an odd question. were they missing a car? >> that was his exact words, 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 if heather's car was at the landing, then where was she? coming up -- a family holds onto hope. >> the hospital said they had a heather can come in on her own and had been released. >> but fear creeps in. >> i felt something was wrong. >> he said let's take a look in the trunk. i was scared to death to open that trunk. >> when "the landing" continues. k >> when "the landing" continues. ♪ and my clothes smell so much fresher than before ♪ try gain flings and you'll be a gainiac too! the only detergent with oxiboost and febreze. 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[echoing] get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ ♪ [text alert] ♪ son of a— —beth? if it's “i thought we said no gifts” season, it's walgreens season. nyquil severe gives you powerful relief for your worst cold and flu symptoms, if it's “i thought we said no gifts” season, on sunday night and every night. nyquil severe. the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, best sleep with a cold, medicine. xfinity rewards are our way of thanking you just for being with us. enjoy rewards like sing family fun nights! rent sing for $1 then belt out all your favorite tunes from the movie with sing karaoke. plus, see sing 2 in theaters with buy-one-get-one free fandango tickets. join over a million members by signing up for free on the xfinity app. our thanks. your rewards. >> reporter: heather's mom, debbi, tried calling her daughter's cell phone. >> and it was goin' straight to voice mail. it wasn't ringing. >> reporter: while her dad terry, rode down with the officer to the landing. >> as we pull up to this direction you could see the car was sitting facing the water. >> reporter: he took us there, explaining what the officer showed him that night. >> he had shined the spotlight on the back of the car, and he checked the tag. >> reporter: it was his daughter's dodge intrepid. right away terry could see something was off. >> but instead of being this way the car was turned this way. basically taking up two, possibly three, parking spaces. >> i unlocked the car for him and he stopped and he put on gloves. he handed me a pair so that -- he says, "just to be on the safe side." >> reporter: terry elivs couldn't understand it. the last time he heard from heather was 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. >> well, that's weird. >> and a couple of other business cards and identification cards. but there were no keys. >> reporter: that's when the officer said something that made terry elvis' heart skip a beat. >> he said, "let's take a look in the trunk." and i went back, and i turned the key. and he said, "let me open it." i said, you know, "just let me lift it." >> reporter: he held his breath as the lid to his daughter's trunk popped open. >> were you worried about -- >> i was scared to death to open that trunk. and we both looked in, and it was -- it was fine. there was nothing there. >> reporter: there was plenty of clutter. no sign of foul play. by that point, bri, who'd been out of town for several days, had gotten word her best friend heather was missing. >> i called her dad, who was with the police at the time at peachtree. and he had asked when the last time i talked to heather was. >> reporter: bri told the two men that heather had called from their apartment a day earlier, around 1:30 a.m. tuesday. fresh from her date. >> she started saying, "well, you know, i had an amazing date. and i'm supposed to see him tomorrow when he gets off work." >> reporter: but bri said heather didn't want to chat about the new guy. she was upset about a call she'd gotten from that older man she once dated. his name was sidney. weeks earlier, he dumped heather. >> her exact words, "sidney called me." and i was like, "what?" and she was like, "yeah." and i was like, "well, what did he say?" she said, "he wanted to be with me and see me." >> reporter: bri told her friend not to do anything rash. >> and i was like, "you know what, you're right. i'm gonna get some sleep. i'm exhausted. and i love you," because we always say i love you when we hang up, and hung up. >> reporter: and that was it, bri 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 -- if she's been admitted somewhere. and when he called one of the local hospitals, they said that a heather elvis had been -- had come in on their own and had been released. >> reporter: he thought heather must be okay. eventually, the officer told terry to take heather's car and head home. but terry's relief was short-lived. when he told his wife the story about heather checking into a hospital, debbi didn't believe it. >> because she knows it's expensive to go to the emergency room. and 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?" >> reporter: 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 find out that the heather that was in the hospital is my cousin's daughter, named the same thing. we didn't have the middle name on it, it was just the first and the last. >> what are the odds that it's another -- >> at the same time. >> heather elvis at the same time going to the hospital? >> it was -- >> yeah. >> it was -- it was puzzling. >> reporter: so where was their heather? confusion was turning to fear. >> i felt like something was wrong. >> reporter: heather's sister, morgan, arrived home from a basketball game. >> had they told you at this point what was going on? >> they hadn't, and i just kinda' picked up what was going on through conversation. >> but heather -- >> was nowhere to be found. no one could get ahold of her, which to me was very surreal because you never think something like that can happen until it does. it's something you see on "dateline" specials. it's not something you see in real life, so your brain almost tells you it's not happening. >> reporter: that's when it dawned on them, they could retrace heather's steps by way of her cell phone. she was still on their family plan. >> ended up going online and going to our cell phone provider, 'cause you can look at the call records. and they pull up the information and they e-mailed it to us. >> reporter: they could see the most recent calls their daughter made and received. after her call to bri, heather dialed another number several times. >> these are the early morning calls? >> yeah. and -- and i'm like, "whose number is this?" >> reporter: 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. >> reporter: and they got a hit. the numbers heather dialed belonged to a man named sidney moorer. they figured that had to be the ex-boyfriend bri had mentioned earlier. >> and terry was like, "i'm gonna call. i'm just gonna call him." >> wow. >> i said, "terry, you can't call somebody in the middle of the night." >> reporter: he did anyway. on the other end, a man answered. the way terry recalls it, the man was not happy. >> i said, "you know, you don't know me." i said, "but i'm heather's father, heather elvis." and before i could get the next word out, i'm gettin' -- i'm gettin' cussed out left and right. >> like cussing about what? >> nothing. just -- just cussing. he's just -- you know, "don't [ bleep ] call me," you know? "i don't know what you're talkin' about. i don't know this person." >> okay, that's a -- >> but -- >> -- very odd reaction. >> but it's -- but it's -- but it's just -- >> that's what i thought. >> it's just cursing after cursing after cursing. >> reporter: the man who had dated their daughter was hotly denying he'd ever heard of her. as the hours ticked by, terry and debbi grew more 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 that this is someone she knows. >> right, exactly. >> reporter: then someone in a pickup. >> you can see a dark pickup truck go by. soon after that her phone goes dead and nobody ever heard from her again. >> when "the landing" continues. . o man, that's a whole lot of wrinkly at least my shoes look good! looking good start with bounce wrinkleguard, the megasheet designed to prevent wrinkles in the dryer. there's a different way to treat hiv. it's once-monthly injectable cabenuva. cabenuva is the only once-a-month, complete hiv treatment for adults who are undetectable. cabenuva helps keep me undetectable. it's two injections, given by a healthcare provider once a month. hiv pills aren't on my mind. i love being able to pick up and go. don't receive cabenuva if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking certain medicines, which may interact with cabenuva. serious side effects include allergic reactions post-injection reactions, liver problems,...and depression. if you have a rash and other allergic reaction symptoms, stop cabenuva and get medical help right away. tell your doctor if you have liver problems or mental health concerns, and if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or considering pregnancy. some of the most common side effects include injection site reactions, fever, and tiredness. if you switch to cabenuva, attend all treatment appointments. with once-a-month cabenuva, i'm good to go. ask your doctor about once-monthly cabenuva. (burke) this is why you want farmers claim forgiveness... with once-a-month cabenuva, i'm good to go. [echoing] claim forgiveness-ness, your home premium won't go up just because of this. (woman) wow, that's something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [echoing] get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ new vicks vapostick. strong soothing vapors... help comfort your loved ones. for chest, neck, and back. it goes on clear. no mess just soothing comfort. try new vicks vapostick. her parents couldn't get in touch with her. police couldn't find her. and then all of myrtle beach was searching for her, heather elvis, a missing person. >> volunteers keep searching for the 20-year-old. >> heather's desperate parents called on everyone to scour the area. they printed out fliers. >> there wasn't a storefront in myrtle beach that didn't have one or two flyers in it. then they were in georgia, and tennessee, florida. >> they posted pleas online for information. they turned to the news media. local. >> is heather alive? >> my heart tells me my daughter's alive. >> and national including dateline's "missing in america digital series." the elvises let our cameras into those agonizing early days. >> it's a hole that we all in the family just feel. >> and bearing silent witness to their anguish was another daughter, morgan. >> i can probably count on one hand how many times i've seen my dad cry. and to see something like that makes your whole world fall apart. >> police quickly turned their attention to heather's new guy, the man who had been with her on a date that night. his alibi that he dropped heather at her apartment and returned home, checked out. >> the date has been questioned. he has cooperated with law he is not listed as a person of interest or a suspect. >> but what about the old boyfriend sidney. police wanted to know more about his relationship with heather. her best friend, bri, was just the person to tell them about it. >> he flirted with her just as much if not more than she flirted with him. it was mutual. >> bri said the two had met that spring at the tilted kilt -- the pub where heather had been a hostess. sidney took care of maintenance there. >> you could tell that he really did care about heather, when he would come in and see her or just the little things. the texts or the calls to check up on her at work. >> but there was a big problem. sidney was married. although heather didn't seem to mind. >> heather had it in her head that he was gonna leave his wife. she swore up and down that he was going to leave. >> bri knew that would never happen. sure enough in october, 2013, sidney's wife got wind of the affair. he broke things off with heather. >> it hurt her. it -- it hurt me to see her go through that. >> sidney told police he was home the night heather disappeared. but he did say that heather called him. police went back to her phone records where they saw that call to sidney. and 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 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 tansino from nbc affiliate wmbf-tv covered the case. >> it appears that this is someone she knows. if she's having a conversation that's lasting that long and she's repeatedly calling back. >> right, exactly. >> was it sidney? they pulled the security footage from the gas station. >> you can see somebody walk up to the pay phone and place that call to heather elvis. police wondered if that somebody was sidney. they asked him to come in for another round of questioning. if he'd been home, what was he doing at a pay phone, calling heather? he finally 'fessed up. >> sidney moorer told them in an interview with police, "i made that phone call to heather." >> investigators began to build a timeline from heather's phone and at 1:35 a.m., sidney called heather from the pay phone. nine minutes later, at 1:44, heather called her friend bri. between 2:29 and 3:05, heather called the pay phone nine times. but no one answered. her phone did connect to sidney's cell phone at 3:17 a.m. for four minutes then from 3:25 to 3:37 her phone was in her car on the way to peachtree landing. but where was sidney around that time? police didn't know. that is until a woman, who lived near the landing here told police her home had a security camera. perhaps, she thought, it captured something around the time of heather's disappearance. >> around 3:30 in the morning on december 18th, you can see a dark truck, pickup truck go by her home. police believe it was sidney's truck. it was a huge break. police thought they could now place heather elvis in her car and sidney moorer in his truck heading for peachtree landing at the same time. >> and then 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 sidney. so he lured heather to the landing and killed her. and there was more. investigators believed sidney and heather weren't alone. someone else was at the landing. coming up -- >> they believed that she was the ultimate brains behind this whole plan. >> who was that mystery person at the landing, and why would anyone want to harm heather? >> the fire, the jealousy explodes into utter rage. >> when "the landing" continues. e >> when "the landing" continues. - oh...oh. - what's going on? - oh, darn! - let me help. lift and push and push! there... it's up there. hey joshie... wrinkles send the wrong message. help prevent them with downy wrinkleguard. feel the difference with downy. ♪3, 4♪ ♪ ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪ [text alert] ♪ son of a— —beth? if it's “i thought we said no gifts” season, it's walgreens season. i may have moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. i or psoriatic arthritis.d no gifts” season, but we are so much more. we're team players and artists. designers and do-it-yourselfers. parents and friends. if joint pain is getting in the way of who you are, it's time to talk to your doctor about enbrel. enbrel helps relieve joint pain, and helps stop permanent joint damage. plus enbrel helps skin get clearer in psoriatic arthritis. ask your doctor about enbrel, so you can get back to your true self. play ball! enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders and allergic reactions have occurred. tell your doctor if you've been someplace where fungal infections are common. or if you're prone to infections, have cuts or sores, have had hepatitis b, have been treated for heart failure, or if you have persistent fever, bruising, bleeding or paleness. don't start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. visit enbrel.com to see how your joint damage could progress. enbrel. eligible patients may pay as little as $5 per month. new vicks vapostick. strong soothing vapors... help comfort your loved ones. for chest, neck, and back. it goes on clear. no mess just soothing comfort. try new vicks vapostick. i'm dara brown. here's what's happening. the u.s. has surpassed 52 million covid-19 cases as of saturday morning according to an nbc news tally. evidence suggests for most people at least those up-to-date on their vaccines covid can include a cough, fatigue, congestion and a runny nose. a member on immunization practices says these symptoms are based on early reports of omicron cases not scientific studies. now back to "dateline." why do you think there's such a fascination with heather's disappearance? >> i think because no one truly knows what happened to her. her body has yet to be found. she was well-liked by a lot of people, and i think that the fact that a 20-year-old can just vanish so quickly into thin air and never be heard from again, it leaves a lot of people uneasy. >> reporter: terri 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 best friend. >> one of my best friends came to the house. he looked at me and he said -- "i -- i hope she didn't suffer." i can't get that thought outta my head. >> reporter: the not knowing made it worse and then stunning news. >> new developments tonight in the heather elvis case. >> reporter: two months after heather's disappearance, sidney moorer, heather's ex-boyfriend was arrested. and he didn't go to jail alone. he was joined by his wife, tammy moorer. both were charged with heather's kidnapping and murder. >> was this surprising to people? tammy and sidney moorer are parents. they have three children. and then now they're involved in this crazy love triangle, kidnapping, potential murder? >> yeah. it's something that you see in a "dateline" episode. it's not a storyline that matches up with two people who have three children, are supposed to be happily married. >> reporter: in an interview with "dateline" tammy told us her marriage was a happy one. >> we were a normal family, you know? it was about our children. our kids always came first before anything. they enjoyed cook outs together and family vacations. tammy home schooled the kids and sidney worked at local restaurants. >> over time he'd learned about electricity and the tile work and all that, and practice made perfect. in my house was some of the practicings. >> reporter: tammy told us she found the affair upsetting but quickly got over it. >> i didn't hate sidney. i hated the pain he caused to the children. >> she said within a day or two she'd had a nice conversation with heather on the phone. >> i said, "i'm not mad at you." and she said, "well," and then she told me the stuff that they had done and what had happened. that's it. there was no cussing her out. i wasn't mean to her, nothing. >> reporter: 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 did that feel when they told you about that? >> 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. >> reporter: but it wasn't over yet. it was only just beginning. both sidney and tammy still faced kidnapping charges. sidney was up first. his trial began in the summer of 2016. he pleaded not guilty. >> good morning, ladies and gentlemen of the jury. >> reporter: the prosecution's case was purely circumstantial. there was no physical evidence. but they argued those surveillance videos and phone records proved the last person to talk and meet up with heather was sidney, however, the jury deadlocked. >> a mistrial has been declared in this case against sidney moorer. >> reporter: the prosecution didn't give up. when it came time for tammy's trial, they came up with a bold new strategy. they argued that tammy had not only been sidney's partner in crime, she'd been the mastermind calling all the shots. >> they believe she was the ultimate brains behind this whole plan. >> reporter: prosecutors said it all boiled down to this -- far from being the understanding wife who had accepted sidney's affair, tammy had been consumed by it. >> a fire of jealousy was lit in the defendant. she was livid. she was angry. >> reporter: an anger that became something more sinister when tammy heard a rumor around town. heather might be pregnant with sidney's baby. >> when this gets out and becomes common knowledge, the fire, the jealousy that is in tammy moorer explodes into utter rage. >> reporter: 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 sidney afterwards. >> she said she beat the hell out of him. >> reporter: this witness said sidney had a tattoo of tammy's name across his abdomen. his understanding was that tammy made sidney get it. >> the state theory was that was tammy's way to say you're mine and you're never going to be anyone else's. >> reporter: the prosecutor said tammy had even chained sidney to the bed with handcuffs. >> i'm not speaking figuratively to you right now. literally chains him to the bed at night. >> that played back into the state's theory that tammy was the controlling one in this relationship. she was the one who wore the pants in this relationship. >> reporter: but as angry as she was at sidney for cheating, prosecutors said, tammy was furious with heather. she'd sent her several texts. the prosecution said some of them were threats. heather was really afraid of tammy. >> she was. her friends had played a prank on her one time at work where they pretended to be tammy calling heather's phone and she was absolutely terrified. >> reporter: 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've said, "oh, i'm so sorry this girl's missing and hope you find her" and left it alone. but, no, she goes on the attack. >> tammy is the one with the motive. she is the hunter. >> reporter: and it was a hunt the prosecution said. the investigator told the jury he'd used cellphone data to track the moorers' 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 18, 2013, with heather's roommate out of town, the prosecutor said the couple struck. it began here. the prosecutor showed the jury surveillance video of sidney walking into a walmart and purchasing a pregnancy test for heather. >> soon as they leave from walmart, they go and call her. why? 'cause the test is for her. >> reporter: the prosecution's theory was that sidney had called heather to come and get the test. take it and then meet up with him later at the landing. they said what she didn't know was that tammy would be there too. >> there's no doubt sidney is the bait in this hunting. he's the bait. >> reporter: 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 moorers' property. >> there is a spent shotgun shell here, there is a bag of concrete mix here and off to the side up here is some kind of a bottle of a cleaning solution. >> reporter: the prosecution suggested it was nothing less than a "kidnapping kit." what the moorers 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 their pain away. i mean with something like this, i mean, 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. >> reporter: 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. >> do you know who kidnapped her? >> i do not. >> reporter: tammy moorer on the stand and on the defensive. >> tammy was just indignant. >> there's answers to this mystery, and they refuse to solve it. >> when "the landing" continues. >> when "the landing" continues. first time the other day... and forgot where she was. you can always spot a first time gain flings user. ♪ ♪ (vo) reflect on the past, celebrate the future. season's greetings from audi. 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[woof] i'm telling y'all there's no place like wayfair to make your home totally you. ooh! i want that. >> reporter: tammy moorer said her kids should have been tackling homework and hanging with friends. instead they were sitting in a courtroom watching her be accused of a terrible crime. >> tammy is the one with the motive. she is the hunter. >> nobody deserves this. i just wanna get home to my children and take care of them. >> reporter: tammy believed she was being victimized by a relentless prosecutor. >> none of this should have ever happened. the state should be looking to see what really happened to heather. heather's not getting justice by putting an innocent person in jail. she never will. there's answers to this mystery and they refuse to solve it. >> i think that from the beginning, tammy was just indignant that she was even charged with this. >> reporter: greg mccollum was tammy's defense attorney. >> they cannot prove to you that anybody named moorer ever went to the boat landing at the end of peachtree road. >> reporter: 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 the vehicle. >> reporter: 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 moorers' house or truck either, and speaking of their truck, the defense said you couldn't tell whether it actually was sidney and tammy's truck caught on camera heading towards peach tree landing. >> you have low image, low resolution surveillance video. our position is that you absolutely cannot draw any conclusion beyond the fact that that may be a certain make and model. >> this video did not pass the smell test for you? >> this video didn't even give off an odor. okay? >> reporter: another piece of flawed evidence, according to the defense was the cell phone data that seemed to suggest tammy and sidney had been stalking heather. >> i would say you could compare their phone activity to anybody else's who lived and worked in the area. those are where the nightclubs are. there are restaurants there. it would appear that i were stalking her as well if you just looked at where my phone went. >> reporter: the defense said that 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 with you where your mother polly lives? >> yes. >> reporter: tammy's sister ashley told the court she was baby-sitting tammy's kids on the night of december 17, 2013. she said tammy and sidney went out together in the hours leading up to heather's disappearance. but ashley remembered when her sister came home. >> she texted me that night saying that she was home. >> do you know about what time that was? >> it was the beginning of 3:00 in the morning. i believe it was 3:10. >> reporter: for the defense it was a timestamp, proving tammy was home well before heather went missing. that wasn't all, he said. both sidney and tammy's phones were on and pinging 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 gonna testify, i really wanted to be there because i do look like heather, 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. >> reporter: but 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. >> reporter: and she was a wife who'd found out her husband was cheating on her. initially, tammy said she texted the other woman's phone number to find out who she was. >> the messages were never directed towards heather elvis. they were directed to the mystery person. i just wanted to know who it was. >> reporter: at the end of the day, tammy said the only reason she was angry with sidney was because he wasn't forthcoming about his affair. in their marriage they had an arrangement. >> i said, "i think it's a good idea to have an open marriage for a little bit and just see if we're meant to be together. "but the only thing i ask of you is to be honest with me." sidney wasn't honest with me, and that's why i got angry with sidney. >> reporter: she said when heather went missing, she and sidney were working on their marriage, even hoping to get pregnant. that test sidney bought at walmart she said was for her, not heather. >> reporter: also, she denied that she made sidney get a tattoo as punishment. she said he had gotten it long before he met heather, and she had an answer about the handcuffs, too. >> did you ever handcuff him to the bed and leave with the key so sidney couldn't get loose? >> no, i have not. sidney's a strong man. he could get out of anything. >> reporter: and tammy had her own explanation for that so-called kidnapping kit. sidney needed the concrete for work. the cleaning fluid was for their dirty camper. and the shotgun shell? probably just 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're able to tell people what happened and 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 whore. which is it? >> 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? >> if you were really that gifted in terms of carrying out the perfect crime, i think all these things are completely inconsistent -- >> unless you're a loose canon. >> exactly. but if you're a loose canon or harm somebody or kid nap somebody, it's completely consistent you would do it in a violent way, in a way that would leechb a mark or evidence. and we don't have that here. >> the elvises listened to tammy's testimony about heather with disgust. >> she deserves to be found, and i think they botched her case. >> it was so offensive to hear her came come out of that woman's mouth. when she said heather elvis this and heather elvis that and i want her found. >> as her parents it must have been so excruciating to hear that. >> to say she was an advocate for heather, i was so mad. i was livid. >> 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. and this story has been around for a long, long time. >> we don't have one fiber, one teardrop, one piece of a shoe lace. >> high stakes in the jury room. >> the jury has reached a verdict. verdict. l clean? what if your clothes could stay fresh for weeks? now they can. downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters keep your laundry smelling fresh waaaay longer than detergent alone. pour a cap of downy unstopables into your washing machine before each load. and enjoy fresher smelling laundry. if you want laundry to smell fresh for weeks make sure you have downy unstopables in-wash scent boosters. shop online for downy unstopables, including our new, lighter scent. (burke) this is why you want farmers claim forgiveness... [echoing] claim forgiveness-ness, your home premium won't go up just because of this. (woman) wow, that's something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [echoing] get a quote today. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ where's mom? she said she would be home in time for the show. don't worry, sweetie. she promised she'd be here for it. ooh! nice shot! thanks! glad we have xfinity, with wifi speed faster than a gig! me too! woah, look! mom is on tv! she's amazing! (cheers) xfinity brought us together, after all! power your whole home this holiday with wifi speeds faster than a gig. click, call, or visit a store today. sing 2 >> reporter: when tammy moorer took the stand in her own defense 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. >> if i i'd opened my eyes and my daughter had been standing in front of me and heather had been there, i wouldn't have cared what they did with anything or anybody after that point. but that's -- they didn't do that. 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. she is appealing. her husband sidney was jailed in 2017 convicted of obstruction of justice for lying to police during the investigation. and the state wasn't done with sidney moorer. in 2017 the state re-tried him on those prosecution charges. this time he was convicted. as for debbi and terry, they're in the same place they've been for the last five years. living with the hope that one day they'll get answers about what happened to heather, the young woman who had so many years ahead of her. and what would you say to heather? >> if i could talk to her right now? >> 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. i'm crying melvin. >> i'm natalie morales. >> and this is "dateline." ♪♪ it was one lie after another lie after another lie after another lie. it doesn't make any sense, does it? you took my father. you killed my father. somebody's going to pay for this. there are easier ways to die. >> i got a call from my cousin saying my dad was in the hospital. >> how did he look? >> horrible. >> he drank something sweet and deadly. >> he had those crystals, there was no question? >> no question. >> the real question, why would he do

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