Nearly four months after the body of missing South Carolina fitness enthusiast Elena Katherine Moore was discovered, authorities have concluded that the 39-year-old died from natural causes related to a preexisting heart condition, ending speculation about what happened after her disappearance.
Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said Friday that Moore died from complications of cardiac dysrhythmia with premature ventricular contractions, an abnormality affecting the heart’s rhythm.
The autopsy found no signs of trauma, including broken bones, strangulation or sexual assault, Fisher said. Toxicology testing showed alcohol in Moore’s system but found no other substances.
“We never saw anything that would indicate homicide. Nothing,” Fisher said. “We were able to follow her path. We were able to pull her medical history, her mental history. We knew that this was not a homicide.”
Elena Katherine Moore, 39, was found dead after she left a Planet Fitness gym in Lexington, South Carolina, on Thursday, June 11, 2026, according to the Lexington Police Department. (Lexington Police Department)
Fisher also pushed back against speculation involving Moore’s husband, Brannon Slice, emphasizing that he was never considered a suspect or person of interest.
Instead, Fisher credited Slice with repeatedly seeking help for Moore as she experienced a serious mental health crisis in the days leading up to her disappearance.
“The only person that really tried to help this girl to get her help through the system is her husband,” Fisher said. “He reached out. He tried many times to get her help.”
Moore was found dead June 17, six days after she disappeared following her release from a mental health facility.
Elena Moore was found dead about a week after she went missing. (Facebook/Elena Moore)
News Outlet previously obtained an incident report showing that Slice reported Moore missing June 12. He told Lexington police that she had been released from an undisclosed facility the previous afternoon.
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Fisher confirmed Friday that Moore had been involuntarily committed June 5 after suffering what the coroner described as a severe mental health crisis.
Moore stayed at the facility until June 11, when she was discharged and placed in a taxi, Fisher said. Although Slice had offered to pick her up, the facility arranged for her transportation.
Elena Moore and her husband, Brannon Slice. (Facebook/Elena Moore)
The taxi took Moore to a CVS on Sunset Boulevard in Lexington, where she had previously worked. Fisher said Moore went inside and told a manager that the driver was stalking her and trying to harm her.
The manager called Lexington police, but Moore had left before officers arrived. The taxi driver also entered the store to look for her after she failed to return to the vehicle.
General view of the scene in Lexington, So. Carolina, June 19, 2026 where the body of Elena Katherine Moore was found. The personal trainer was last seen alive on June 11. (Kat Ramirez for News Outlet)
According to an incident report previously obtained by News Outlet, Slice later told investigators that Moore checked into a Planet Fitness at 6:38 p.m. that evening. Surveillance footage later showed her walking through a Publix parking lot on Old Cherokee Road.
Investigators reviewed medical records spanning several years, Fisher said. Those records indicated that Moore had experienced an irregular heartbeat since age 14, along with more recent diagnoses of cardiac arrhythmia, sinus tachycardia and hypertension.
At Friday’s news conference, Fisher questioned why Moore had been released from the mental health facility despite what she called a documented psychiatric crisis.
“This whole situation would be different if somebody at that mental health facility … they all saw her medical, her mental crisis,” Fisher said. “But yet she was released.”
