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