The murder of Brittanee Drexel
Myrtle Beach, Horry County, South Carolina · 2009
Overview
Brittanee Drexel, 17, from the Rochester, New York, area, went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on spring break in April 2009 after her mother told her she could not go. She was last seen on April 25, 2009, in front of the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard. Her phone last pinged near the North Santee River, 46 miles away, and searches over the next decade found nothing. Raymond Moody, a registered sex offender who received a traffic ticket in Surfside Beach the next day, was named a person of interest in 2012 but was not charged. In 2016 the FBI offered a reward and described a different theory, built on jailhouse informants, that produced no charges. The break came in April 2022, when investigators interviewed Moody's girlfriend and she said she still had her phone from 2009. A search of the home followed, and Moody's lawyer contacted authorities the same day. On May 4, 2022, Moody was taken into custody on an obstruction charge, confessed, and led investigators to a shallow grave in Georgetown County. Remains recovered on May 11 were identified as Brittanee's by dental records, with DNA analysis corroborating. On October 19, 2022, Moody pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to life in prison plus two consecutive 30-year terms.
How it was solved
No fingerprint or DNA match identified Moody. Investigators had already looked at him: he was a registered sex offender who lived in Georgetown County, received a traffic ticket in Surfside Beach the day after Brittanee was last seen, and was named a person of interest in 2012. The case then ran through other theories, including a 2016 FBI account based on jailhouse informants, and no one was charged. According to a Georgetown County Sheriff's Office timeline, the turn came on April 27, 2022, when investigators brought Moody's girlfriend back for a second interview, her first having been eleven years earlier. In a nearly three-hour session she mentioned that she still had her phone from the time Brittanee disappeared. That led to a search warrant for their home. An affidavit said the phone had been confirmed to be in the same area where Brittanee's property was last known to have been. Prosecutors told the court that investigators also persuaded her to wear a wire; the sheriff's office timeline dates her agreement to do so to May 11, so the sources disagree on when. Agents searched the home on April 29 and found phones, drives and a camera with nothing of significance on them, but Moody's lawyer called the authorities that day to arrange an interview. The assistant solicitor said he believed the search was a wake-up call. On May 4, Moody went to his lawyer's office and was taken into custody on an obstruction of justice charge that the solicitor called a placeholder. The sheriff's office said he confessed and led investigators to a shallow grave, and on May 5 he gave a fuller interview. Prosecutors described his account as self-serving but said investigators confirmed enough of it to charge him. Remains found in Harmony Township were identified by dental records, and the State Law Enforcement Division's DNA analysis corroborated the identification. DNA confirmed who she was; it did not find him. Moody pleaded guilty on October 19, 2022.
Sources
- Man pleads guilty to 2009 murder, kidnapping and rape of Brittanee Drexel (October 19, 2022)
“Moody was sentenced to life in prison for the murder and 30 years each for the kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct charges.”
- Man pleads guilty to kidnapping, rape, murder of Brittanee Drexel; teen disappeared on spring break (October 19, 2022)
“The investigation led authorities to a site where they believe Moody buried her body a day after she went missing. Authorities said Moody kidnapped and strangled the teen the same day she disappeared.”
- Confession of Brittanee Drexel's killer revealed: 'I was a monster' (October 19, 2022)
“Prosecutors have said that after confessing, Moody led them to the location where he claimed to have buried Drexel. Authorities found remains there, and dental records and DNA analysis confirmed it was Drexel.”
- Brittanee Drexel timeline: Search for cellphone from 2009 eventually led to killer’s confession (November 3, 2022)
“During the nearly 3-hour interview, she mentioned that she still had her phone from when the teen disappeared. This led to a search warrant for their home on Rose Hill Road in Georgetown.”
- TIMELINE: A look back on the major developments in the Brittanee Drexel case (May 16 to October 19, 2022)
“Her last text was sent to her boyfriend in New York. He called Drexel’s mother after his responding text went unanswered. She then called police.”
- ‘I was a monster’: Man pleads guilty to the kidnapping, rape, murder of Brittanee Drexel (October 19, 2022)
“Between May 11 and 12, authorities found remains in the Harmony Township area where Moody said they would be. Dental records and DNA analysis confirmed the remains found were Drexel’s.”
- Deputies: Man confessed to strangling, killing Brittanee Drexel (May 16, 2022)
“Sheriff’s office spokesman Jason Lesley confirmed that Raymond Moody admitted rape, kidnapping and murder of the New York teen.”
- Brittanee Drexel’s accused killer faces death-penalty eligible charges, solicitor says (May 17, 2022)
“Richardson also clarified the initial charge Moody faced, obstruction of justice, was a placeholder.”
- Brittanee Drexel case back in the news, but investigators stay silent (May 13, 2022)
“Capt. David Knipes, the spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department, said Moody received a traffic ticket in Surfside Beach on April 26, 2009, just one day after Drexel went missing.”
- Timeline: The disappearance of Brittanee Drexel (May 16, 2022)
“Agents say they now believe Brittanee is dead, a victim of sex trafficking who was kidnapped, held at a so-called stash house in McClellanville then murdered.”
- New York Teenager Had 'Her Mind Set' on Myrtle Beach Spring Break (April 2009)
“Her mom didn't want her to go, but the strong-willed 17-year-old from Rochester, N.Y., went anyway.”
- Sheriff's Office says convicted sex offender confessed to murder of Brittanee Drexel (May 2022)
“Investigators say after revisiting the evidence, they were drawn back to this ex-con, who was living in Georgetown at the time of Brittanee's disappearance.”