Almost four months after a missing fitness enthusiast from South Carolina was found deceased, authorities have concluded that 39-year-old Elena Katherine Moore passed away due to natural causes related to a heart condition. This news has, well, put an end to the speculation that had lingered since her disappearance.
Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher disclosed on Friday that the cause of death was complications from cardiac dysrhythmia, characterized by irregular heart rhythms. Notably, the autopsy revealed no signs of trauma or other causes of violent death, such as broken bones or signs of strangulation. While traces of alcohol were found in her system, no other substances were detected.
Fisher stated emphatically that there were no indications of homicide. “We didn’t see anything that would suggest homicide. Nothing at all,” she remarked. “We were able to retrace her movements and accessed her medical and mental health history, which confirmed this was not a homicide.”
The coroner also made it clear that Moore’s husband, Brannon Slice, was never seen as a suspect or a person of interest during the investigation.
In fact, Fisher went on to state that Slice had consistently sought help for his wife as she faced serious mental health challenges leading up to her disappearance. “The only one who really tried to assist her through the system was her husband,” Fisher noted. “He made several efforts to get her the help she needed.”
Moore was found dead on June 17, just six days after going missing post her release from a mental health facility.
I recall how Slice reported his wife missing on June 12, telling authorities she had just come out of an undisclosed treatment facility the previous day.
Fisher also confirmed that Moore had been committed involuntarily on June 5 after undergoing a severe mental health crisis. Moore spent several days in the facility before being released on June 11. While her husband offered to pick her up, the facility opted to send her home via taxi instead.
After being dropped off at a CVS where she previously worked, Moore reportedly expressed to a store manager that the taxi driver was pursuing her and may have intended to harm her. This led the manager to contact local police, but unfortunately, Moore had vanished by the time they arrived. The taxi driver, too, searched for her inside the store after she didn’t return.
Slice later shared that Moore had checked into a Planet Fitness at around 6:38 p.m. that evening and was also seen on surveillance video leaving a Publix parking lot shortly after.
Fisher pointed out that medical records showed Moore had struggled with irregular heartbeats since she was a teenager. More recent documentation indicated issues like cardiac arrhythmia, sinus tachycardia, and hypertension.
During the press briefing on Friday, Fisher raised concerns about why Moore was discharged from the mental health facility despite apparent evidence of a psychiatric crisis. “This situation would have played out very differently if someone at the facility had taken her mental health condition seriously,” she stated. “They had all her records.”
