Private investigator gives update on mysterious death of South Carolina personal trainer Elena Moore

nypost.com

The South Carolina personal trainer who was mysteriously found dead in the woods kept her marriage “private,” said a friend of her husband — who didn’t rule out the couple was having marital problems.

Henry Dukes, a private investigator and pal of Brannon Slice, said Slice is “grieving” over the shocking death of Elena Katherine Moore, whose body was found June 17 days after she was last seen leaving a Lexington Planet Fitness.

“Him and Ms. Moore have been together for a number of years; they built a life together. He planned on spending the rest of his life with her,” Dukes told NewsNation.

Slice reported Moore, 39, missing on June 12 after she was last seen leaving a Lexington Planet Fitness the night before and heading toward a wooded area behind a nearby Lowe’s Home Improvement store, according to police. He is not considered a suspect in the case.

Her body was found June 17 near Lakeside Middle School, about two miles from the gym.

Elena Moore and her husband Brannon Slice wearing baseball caps.

Brannon Slice reported his wife, Elena Katherine Moore, missing on June 12 after she was last seen leaving a Lexington Planet Fitness the night before. Facebook/Elena Moore

Slice has described his wife’s disappearance as “very out of character.”

Dukes didn’t outright deny claims that Slice, 48, and Moore may have had marital problems — as one of Moore’s friends has alleged.

“I’m not saying there might not have been something going on — I’m saying that’s private,” he said. “If it rose to the level of someone’s life being in danger, I think it would have been dealt with.”

Moore’s friend Sondra Campbell told Fox Digital that her pal was acting “very different” the last time they were together on May 31.

“I think my friend was struggling for her life,” she said, adding, “I think she was literally afraid for her life.”

Asked to elaborate on why she was so scared, Moore replied, “I can’t talk to you right now. There’s too many people around,” she recalled. “She’s like, ‘But we’ve got to talk one-on-one.”

Campbell told NewsNation that Moore and her husband were having marital issues and planned to separate. She said the circumstances surrounding her friend’s disappearance raised “red flags” and suggested possible foul play. 

Elena Moore and her husband Brannon Slice posing on a beach.

Slice, who described his wife’s disappearance as “very out of character,” is now mourning her loss. Instagram/@moorefit_pt

But Dukes noted Campbell hasn’t even been interviewed by police. 

“If she was such a close friend, law enforcement would have already talked to her,” Dukes said. 

Headshot of Elena Moore, a South Carolina personal trainer.

Elena Moore’s body was found on June 17 in a wooded area about two miles from a Planet Fitness gym she was seen leaving on security footage a few days earlier. Facebook/Elena Moore

“She has no factual information to provide, and at the end of the day, I think she needs to do what everybody else is doing and stay in her lane.”

Neighbors said the 39-year-old trainer appeared “confused” in a pair of strange interactions a week before she went missing on June 11. 

Elena Moore and Brannon Slice kissing.

A close friend of Moore’s claimed that she and her husband were having marital troubles and planned to separate, suggesting there may have been foul play. Facebook/Elena Moore

Elena Moore sitting on a large tire in a gym.

Private investigator Henry Dukes argued not only that he disagrees with Moore’s friend but that she doesn’t know the facts of the case.  Facebook/Elena Moore

Elena Moore posing for a selfie with her husband, Brannon Slice, who has a cigar in his mouth.

Dukes said the couple were private people who kept details of their relationship to themselves.  Instagram/@moorefit_pt

A preliminary autopsy of Moore’s remains found no conclusive cause of death.