Elena Moore Update: Husband Brannon Slice Not a Person of Interest as Authorities Await Autopsy Results
South Carolina authorities confirmed Friday that the body found earlier this week near the intersection of Old Cherokee Road and Northlake Drive in Lexington is that of missing personal trainer Elena Moore, 39. The Lexington County Coroner’s Office said the discovery was made on Wednesday, nearly a week after Moore vanished following a visit to a local gym.
Lexington Police Department Inspector Missy Silcox has said Moore’s husband, Brannon Slice, is not considered a person of interest “at the current moment,” and said there was no indication of foul play.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has now taken the lead role in the death investigation, with an autopsy scheduled for Saturday and further details on the cause and manner of death expected Monday.
Where the Body Was Found
Moore’s body was found on Wednesday afternoon near the gym she was seen leaving on June 11, in Lexington, a city of roughly 23,000 located west of Columbia. Police had begun a multijurisdictional search around 1:30 p.m. that day in the area of Lakeside Middle School at 455 Old Cherokee Road, with the road itself closed between North Lake Drive and Berkshire Drive during the operation.
Investigators had expanded the search to that wooded area near Lakeside Middle School after a tipster reported seeing Moore walking there. Police had earlier focused efforts on woods, trails and farmland behind the Planet Fitness where Moore was last seen, with officials stressing the operation was not a recovery effort but an attempt to eliminate one possible location.
Person of Interest Update
Lexington Police Department Inspector Missy Silcox told Newsweek that Slice, Moore’s husband, was not being eyed as a person of interest, saying, “Mr. Slice is not a person of interest at the current moment.”
However, Aston Jeffcoat, a close friend of Moore’s, shared a Facebook Messenger screenshot with Fox News, in which Moore said she wanted to move out and leave her husband.
Autopsy and Cause of Death
An autopsy was scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. According to the coroner’s office, additional information regarding the cause and manner of death is expected to be released on Monday, June 22. The coroner’s office cautioned that determining a final cause and manner of death is a thorough process that may take several days or weeks to complete, and said no further information would be released until then.
The cause and manner of death for Moore had not been immediately available as of Friday. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division has assumed the lead role in the ongoing death investigation.
Timeline of the Disappearance
Police said Moore frequented the Planet Fitness at 560 Whiteford Way and that records showed she signed in there on June 11 at 6:40 p.m. Camera footage obtained by the Lexington Police Department showed Moore walking through the Publix parking lot at 100 Old Cherokee Road later that evening, at 9:17 p.m., wearing an olive-green zip-up hoodie with black athletic pants. The footage captured her walking in the direction of Old Cherokee Road.
Moore was reported missing on Friday, June 12. She was described by authorities as 5 feet 7 inches tall and 120 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.
A doorbell camera video that came to light on June 16 showed Moore, about a week before she was reported missing, appearing confused and attempting to enter a home following a food delivery. Henry Dukes, the private investigator who worked the case, said the surveillance footage was helpful but didn’t provide a complete picture of her movements on the night she disappeared.
