‘Needle in a haystack’: Horry County solicitor on Heather Elvis’ body ever being found

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Just days after Angel Vause admitted to lying to investigators in the Brittanee Drexel case, Horry County’s top prosecutor shared his thoughts about another one of the county’s most high-profile cases — the Heather Elvis case, and whether or not he thinks her body will be found.

Heather Elvis, then 20, went missing in 2013 but hasn’t been found. Her car was found abandoned at Peachtree Boat Landing in Socastee. Sidney and Tammy Moorer were convicted in her kidnapping.

Sidney Moorer was first found guilty of obstruction of justice in September 2017 in connection with Elvis’ disappearance. He was then found guilty in a re-trial in 2019 on the kidnapping charge.

Moorer’s wife, Tammy, is also serving a 30-year sentence after being convicted of kidnapping in October 2018. Both had their conviction appeals denied last summer.

News13 asked 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson on Friday if he thinks Elvis’ body will ever be found.

“I think it’s more likely than not, no,” Richardson said. “As much as I hope, I’ve got to be truthful about it. Certainly, generally, what happened with Brittanee Drexel is uncommon. But we hold out hope.”

“The way it will happen, if it happens, is somebody will get charged with drugs or another charge, and they very well could say ‘look, I need help on my drug charges. I don’t want to go to jail for 15 or 20 years. And I’ve got information on where this body is,'” Richardson said. “That’s what usually breaks these cases. That’s the hope that I hold out.”

“We’re getting somewhere around 10,000 felony warrants a year, just in Horry, and we get about 2,000 in Georgetown,” Richardson continued. “So, any one of those people could have unexpected information that they’re holding onto and will not release. There’s another opportunity now that the appellant part is over for the Moorers, that once the post-conviction relief of the appeals gets over, that one of them would come clean.”

“But, I would expect that if there is information out there, it is just picking out the right person that says ‘I can help . . . ‘” he said. “Certainly, there would be help from anybody who had information, but we’re going to have to find the body and be able to deliver the body to the family.”

“That’s the way it would happen, but it’s a needle in a haystack. We have searched everywhere we’ve had any sort of clue. We, the police, everybody’s looked.”

In the Brittanee Drexel case, Raymond Moody was sentenced to life in prison for her killing. Her remains were found in Georgetown County about 13 years after her death.

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Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here .

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