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 of natural causes related to a preexisting heart condition, bringing an end to the uncertainty surrounding her disappearance.
Lexington County Coroner Margaret Fisher said Friday that Moore died from complications tied to cardiac dysrhythmia and premature ventricular contractions—an abnormality that disrupts the heart’s normal rhythm.
The autopsy revealed no signs of trauma, including fractures, strangulation or sexual assault, Fisher said. Toxicology tests found alcohol in Moore’s system but 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 on speculation involving Moore’s husband, Brannon Slice, emphasizing that investigators never identified him as a suspect or person of interest.
Instead, the coroner praised Slice for repeatedly seeking assistance for his wife 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’s body was found June 17, six days after she vanished following her release from a mental health facility.
Elena Moore was found dead about a week after she went missing. (Facebook/Elena Moore)
An incident report previously obtained by News Media said Slice reported Moore missing June 12. He told Lexington police that she had been released from an undisclosed facility the afternoon before.
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Fisher confirmed Friday that Moore had been involuntarily committed June 5 after what the coroner characterized as a severe mental health crisis.
Moore stayed at the facility until June 11, when she was discharged and sent away by taxi, Fisher said. Although Slice had offered to collect her, the facility arranged the ride instead.
Elena Moore and her husband, Brannon Slice. (Facebook/Elena Moore)
The taxi dropped Moore at a CVS on Sunset Boulevard in Lexington, where she had once worked. According to Fisher, Moore entered the store and told a manager that the driver was stalking her and intended to harm her.
The manager called Lexington police, but Moore had left before officers arrived. The taxi driver entered the store as well, looking 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 Media)
Slice later told investigators that Moore entered a Planet Fitness at 6:38 p.m. that day, according to an incident report obtained earlier by News Media. Surveillance footage later captured her walking through a Publix parking lot on Old Cherokee Road.
Investigators reviewed years of Moore’s medical records, Fisher said. Those records showed she had experienced an irregular heartbeat since age 14, while more recent documentation cited 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 described as 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.”