Brittanee Drexel’s killer sentenced to life in prison. She went missing in 2009

A man was sentenced to life in prison without parole after pleading guilty Wednesday morning to the murder of 17-year old Brittanee Drexel, who went missing from Myrtle beach in 2009.

Raymond Moody, 62, was charged with murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in connection to Brittanee Drexel’s death. He pleaded guilty in front of a Georgetown County judge to all three charges.

Dawn Drexel, Brittanee Drexel’s mom, said Tuesday “today, nobody wins,” after hearing about her daughter’s last moments.

“For 13 years, I have searched for Brittanee, and for 13 years, I suffered the loss of a child,” she added during impact statements.

Chad Drexel, Brittanee Drexel’s dad, tearfully spoke of the 17-year-old’s loving nature and how she stepped up to be a big sister to her two younger siblings.

“She became a leader not only with her friends, but she developed that with her family,” he recalled.

Brittanee Drexel went missing in April 2009, while visiting the area with some of her friends. Her remains were found this May in Georgetown County after Moody admitted to killing her and led investigators to where he dumped her body.

The 17-year-old’s remains were examined by a forensic anthropologist and odontologist at the Charleston County Coroner’s Office. They confirmed the remains were that of the Rochester, N.Y. native through dental records and testing DNA testing.

Here’s what happened

Brittanee Drexel was last seen alone leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard the night of April 25, according to previous reporting.

Investigators relied on advancements to technology to pinpoint the location of Brittanee Drexel’s phone as it traveled around Georgetown County, Assistant Solicitor Scott Hixson said during the hearing.

Hixson said agencies were able to determine when she was no longer walking alone but traveling by vehicle because her phone was moving about 60 miles per hour.

They also figured out which vehicle Brittanee Drexel had been in and showed the court during the hearing. The vehicle identified was a 1998 Ford Explorer, a car that was linked to Moody, Hixson said.

Moody told investigators that him and his girlfriend at the time, Angel Voss, had went to Myrtle Beach to party when they saw Brittanee Drexel walking by herself down the street on that April night, according to Hixson.

Moody alleges Brittanee Drexel willingly got in the car with them to smoke marijuana, and that’s when they headed to Moody’s campground in Georgetown, Hixson said.

He added that’s where Moody said he had hoped under the influence of marijuana, Brittanee Drexel would have consensual sex with him.

But, when that didn’t happen, he forced her to take off her clothes and proceeded to rape her before strangling her and wrapping up her body in a blanket. Voss had supposedly left for a family matter and wasn’t around when the crimes were committed, Hixson said.

Moody told officers that he explained to Voss that Brittanee Drexel’s friends had picked her up, according to Hixson.

He later came back to the site, where he disposed of her body, and buried it in a wooded area.

Brittanee Drexel’s cause of death has been assigned undetermined, according to the Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway.

Because of the state of the remains, manual strangulation could not be confirmed.

“Unfortunately, we will never know what happened,” Hixson said, adding that only the teen would’ve been able to accurately say what occurred that night.

Moody told his account to investigators May 5. He had initially been arrested on obstruction of justice charges. But that charge was dropped.

Moody has seven prior convictions from 1983 for kidnapping and raping a minor. He served a little over 20 years, but he was sentenced to 40 years.

Dawn Drexel pointed out how her daughter had to pay for the justice system’s mistake of allowing Moody to get out early for his past crimes.

If Moody served his full time, he would’ve been locked up until 2023.

“Forgiveness is not a part of the narrative today,” the grieving mother said.

Moody addressed the court Tuesday and said he had originally thought he had served enough time for his past convictions, but clearly that wasn’t true.

“I was a monster,” Moody said in his final statement to the court. “I was a monster then, and I was a monster when I took Brittanee Drexel’s life.”