For 13 years, Brittanee Drexel's family searched for answers.
What happened to their teenage daughter? Why did she disappear?
Finally, this year, the family learned the tragic truth. And on Wednesday, the 17-year-old's killer was sentenced to life in prison.
Raymond Moody, 62, pleaded guilty to the murder, rape and kidnapping of Drexel, the New York teenager who went missing while on vacation in Myrtle Beach in 2009.
“I was a monster,” Moody said as he addressed the courtroom. “I was a monster then and I was a monster when I took Brittanee Drexel’s life.”
Drexel’s remains were discovered in May in a wooded area of Georgetown County. 15th Circuit Chief Deputy Solicitor Scott Hixson told the courtroom that Moody led law enforcement to where he had left the teen's body after raping and strangling her.
Drexel’s adoptive father Chad Drexel, along with her mother Dawn Pleckan, her younger brother, Camdyn Drexel, and her grandmother, Carol Wagner, all spoke at the hearing.
Wagner read a statement written by Brittanee Drexel’s younger sister, Myrissa Drexel.
“I hope you are haunted by what you did to her,” Pleckan said. “You are a serial rapist and a child predator. You should be ashamed of your actions … my daughter was feisty, she fought for her life. We now know that she scratched the hell out of your head, face and neck. You will forever carry the scars of what my daughter did to you.”
Moody told law enforcement that Drexel got into his vehicle willingly after he approached her asking if she wanted to “party,” Hixon said. There is no evidence to support nor reject Moody’s version of events.
“Mr. Moody says he did not form the intent to hurt her,” Hixson said. “Mr. Moody did say that he hoped that during the course of the use of marijuana that maybe some voluntary sexual activity may occur. … Mr. Moody recalls that he compelled her to remove all of her clothing and then sexually assaulted her with force and threats of violence at that point in time.
“Once the act was completed, he realized that he was most likely going back to prison for his conduct and manually strangled her. He relays to us at that point in time once she is deceased, he puts her in a blanket and puts her in some bushes outside the area.”
Drexel was last seen on video surveillance leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard on April 25, 2009, at about 8:48 p.m. and her cell phone’s last ping off of a cell tower was at 11:58 p.m., Hixson said.
Moody served time in prison for the 1983 kidnapping and rape of an 8-year-old girl in California. He was sentenced to 42 years but only served half of it and was released in 2004, according to the New York Post.
“You gave up a lot of people’s long-term happiness for your immediate pleasure,” Judge Ferrell Cothran said before announcing Moody’s sentence.
Moody could be seen using crutches as he entered the courtroom and Sheriff Carter Weaver of the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office said during a post-hearing news conference that he could not provide information on Moody's health.
“He came into the Georgetown County Detention Center with an ailment in relation to his leg or his ankle area,” he said. “He is not better or worse than when he came into the facility.”
It is unclear what prison Moody will serve his time in.
After the hearing, Chad Drexel said he felt like he needed to “decompress.”
“Like a father who has been through a storm,” he said. “I’m strong because I need to be for Brittanee’s siblings.”
Chad Drexel said he was worried that Moody would not plead guilty and was relieved to hear that Moody stuck with his guilty plea.
“All you could do is have hope just like I did for the 13 years,” Chad Drexel said. “Closure began when I stood at her burial site. Now, Myrissa, she’s between Brittanee and Camdyn in age, it has affected her the most.”
Myrissa and Brittanee were six years apart and Chad Drexel said the two would often compete with one another, but they both supported each other and “that’s all a father could hope for,” he said.
Chad Drexel said he clung to his faith after his daughter disappeared.
“Like I said in the courtroom, I went from a Catholic to a Christian really fast because I got answers from God,” he said. “I was racking my mind about what happened to her and how it happened to her in the beginning and all I had was God.”
Camdyn Drexel, 19, said he will forever cherish the memories of his older sister.
“Even though I was only like 5 years old, I still remember her,” he said. “I always used to go to her home soccer games and I would sit on the sidelines with her and her team. I was like their team mascot.”
Susan Ferensic, a special agent in charge with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Columbia, released a statement after the conclusion of the hearing saying, “Today marks the ending of a long, dark chapter for Brittanee Drexel’s family and friends, the Myrtle Beach and Georgetown County communities, and all others who poured their heart and soul into finding the truth about what happened to Brittanee. The truth is she was kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and killed in a horrific and incomprehensible way.”
The release goes on to state, “The recovery of Brittanee’s remains in May, and now the guilty plea and sentencing is the culmination, in part, of the law enforcement efforts from the local, state, and federal level, as well as the countless other entities and individuals who played a role in bringing this case to this point.
“The service of justice through this sentencing will never completely alleviate the grief of losing Brittanee, but it is our hope it can help the family continue their healing and focus on cherished memories she left behind.”
The family of Timothy Da’Shaun Taylor, a man who was accused of killing Brittanee Drexel before Moody came forward, addressed the media after the hearing.
“Just as quickly and as haphazardly as the Taylor name came into this case, it has now gone out, but the damage has been done,” said Joan Taylor, Timothy’s mother.
Joan Taylor said that her family received death threats and continuous slander since her son became a person of interest in 2016 after the FBI released information from prison informants saying that Timothy had killed Brittanee Drexel, according to WPDE.
At a news conference put on by the Taylor family in May 2022 after Brittanee Drexel’s remains were found, Joan Taylor described her son as a “disabled Black youth.” She explained that her son had lost his arm as a child, causing him to “fight for his life.”
One of the Taylor family’s attorneys said after the hearing that the “Taylor family calls on Attorney General Merrick Garland to publicly exonerate Timothy with the same zeal and fervor with which the FBI accused him.”
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