With coroner yet to identify found body, friends describe Elena Moore as “always smiling” and “well-loved”
LEXINGTON, SC (WOLO) — The Lexington Police Department confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that a body has been found matching the description of missing 39-year-old Elena Moore.
While the body has not yet been identified by the Lexington County Coroner’s Office, it was confirmed that the clothing description matched what Moore was reportedly wearing when she was last seen.
“Absolutely devastating…things like this don’t happen a lot in Lexington…And I know for me and the entire town of Lexington — absolutely devastating,” says Moore’s longtime friend Mendy Miller.
ABC Columbia’s Lee Williams spoke with Miller above the ravine near the intersection of Old Cherokee Road and North Lake Drive — where the Lexington Police Department located the body matching Moore’s description.
Miller described her friend as “always smiling,” adding, “To know her was to love her. Again, I go back to she was bubbly, she was smiley, she was happy, she went from this young little girl at 18 to the woman she became today — in fitness and health and wellness — and she really created a place for herself in this world.”
Moore was a personal trainer at Wolf’s Fitness Center nearby. Williams was told that because she was so well-known and well-loved, she frequented Planet Fitness to focus on her own workouts.
“You know you see people like princess Diana or Michael Jackson, these celebrities, and in my heart she was a little celebrity of Lexington in her own right, in her own way, and I felt the need to show love,” says Miller, having left flowers on the bridge’s guardrail just above the ravine.
Photos captured Elena on a nearby ring doorbell camera a week before she went missing — and she was also seen walking through the nearby Publix parking lot after leaving Planet Fitness last Thursday.
On Wednesday afternoon, law enforcement continued their search near Lakeside Middle School — eventually receiving a tip she had been seen near the intersection.
ABC Columbia’s Lee Williams also spoke with a verifiable anonymous source who believes Moore may have been experiencing a mental health crisis, and had been in and out of treatment at a Lexington facility.
Lexington Police Chief Terrence Green was unable to confirm further details at Wednesday’s press conference, saying, “We asked SLED to investigate this death investigation. Again this is an active investigation.”
Moore was described as always kind, and always professional when it came to her job as a personal trainer.
“And even though she kept a tight little social circle, everybody knew her, and this has effected this town tremendously. We’ve got to keep her legacy alive,” says Miller.
