Monica Day Moynan

• Missing Since 04/07/2019
• Missing From Holly Springs, North Carolina
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Age 22 years old
• Height and Weight 5'0 - 5'2, 110 pounds
• Medical Conditions Moynan was pregnant at the time of her disappearance.
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Brown hair, brown eyes. Moynan's hair was dyed green at the time of her disappearance; she has been known to dye it different colors. She has the following tattoos: a sun on her left middle finger, a shamrock behind her right ear, a watercolor image of a fox on the back of her left shoulder, a Celtic symbol on her left arm, a tree on her right thigh, a princess crown between her right thumb and index finger, and a warrior princess on her left calf. Moynan's ears are pierced and her nose may be pierced. Her nickname is Moni.

Details of Disappearance

Moynan was last seen in Holly Springs, North Carolina on April 7, 2019. She was working as a waitress at the Fuquay-Varina restaurant, had a side business making and selling elderberry syrup, and was raising two daughters, a three-year-old and an infant. She had just begun training to become a doula.

She lived an hour away from her mother, Melanie Tucker, and would sometimes go weeks without seeing or speaking to her, but they kept in frequent touch by text messaging. The last time the two women actually spoke to each other was in March 2019. Between early April and late July, Tucker repeatedly texted Moynan asking to see her, but Moynan would always text back with an excuse as to why they could not meet. They continued to have conversations by text.

In late July, Tucker spoke to the manager of Moynan's apartment, who said she hadn't seen her since late March. This conversation prompted Tucker to report her daughter missing.

Police subsequently learned that Moynan had not used her credit cards, been to work at her waitressing job, or been seen by anyone at all since April 7. They determined Brian Sluss, her former boyfriend and the father of her children, had been driving her car, using her cellular phone, and impersonating her in texts to Moynan's friends and posts on Moynan's Instagram account, and had been staying at her apartment even though the building management had a trespass order against him.

Brian gave multiple, conflicting statements to police about Monica's disappearance. In July, he told investigators that Moynan had become addicted to heroin and had run away in late June, after he tried "home rehab" to break her of the drug habit, and that he didn't know how to tell her family, so he just pretended to be her. During the months before Moynan was reported missing, he told other people that she was in a drug treatment facility. In August, Brian admitted to the police that Moynan was not, in fact, addicted to heroin and said she was depressed.

Moynan had met Brian when she was seventeen and he was thirty-two and married with two children. He lied to her about his age at first. When she turned eighteen, she moved in with him, against the wishes of her parents, who didn't approve of the relationship and wouldn't let Brian visit their home.

Moynan's relationship with Brian had been abusive. A coworker of hers at the restaurant saw Brian physically drag her out of the restaurant on more than one occasion, and had seen bruises on her. She took out a domestic violence protective order against him in May 2016. The court concluded there was "danger of serious and immediate injury" to both Monica and her child from Brian.

According to Moynan's loved ones, after she took out the protective order, she and Brian broke up, but he continued to stalk her and text her incessantly, which resulted in his arrest for domestic violence and violating the protective order. In January 2019, Brian pleaded guilty to assault on a female in connection with a 2017 domestic violence incident in which Moynan called police and said he had choked her. Around that same time there was another domestic violence incident; Moynan told police that Brian had pushed her down to the floor and punched her in the head with his fist.

The constant texting from Brian to Moynan stopped after her April 7 disappearance. A couple of days later, one of Moynan's neighbors noticed Brian going in and out of her apartment with a large black trash bag at 3:00 a.m.

A friend of Moynan's said Moynan believed she was pregnant at the time of her disappearance, and a police search of Moynan's apartment on Timber Springs Court turned up a positive pregnancy test. Police also seized the traps from all the sinks, the drain from the washing machine, a set of curtains, a toy play mat, two silver latches, a journal and other items from the apartment. They found traces of blood on the tiles of the kitchen floor, and indications that someone had tried to clean up with bleach.

Authorities also searched Brian's home and the home of his ex-wife, Jarlyn Lisbeth Sluss. Brian had called Jarlyn on April 7 and after that, until their arrests, they were in regular communication, which they hadn't been before Moynan disappeared. Police found blood in the cracks between the kitchen tiles in one of the three residences they searched, and it was later identified as Moynan's.

In May 2020, Brian was arrested and charged with Moynan's murder. He was charged under the provisions of Britny's Law, which allows first-degree murder charges to be filed against a defendant if the victim was their significant other and if the defendant had a previous conviction for domestic violence against this victim.

Jarlyn was charged with accessory after the fact to murder and obstruction of justice in the case involving Moynan. Photos of both of them are posted with this case summary. Investigators believe Jarlyn helped Brian cover up Moynan's disappearance by impersonating her in a call to Moynan's apartment manager.

Brian was convicted of Moynan's murder in April 2022; it was the first time in Wake County history that a person was convicted of murder without the victim's body being found.

Foul play is suspected in Moynan's case due to the circumstances involved.