Brittanee Drexel, a New York native, was just like any other teenager, adventurous, thrill-seeking and, for the most part, not compliant to parental curfews.
What happened to Brittanee Drexel?
On the spring of 2009, the teenager went behind her mother’s back and travelled with a group of friends to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It was a Wednesday and Drexel, as well as her mates, had planned on staying for the entirety of the Spring Break celebrations in the coastal city.
All went well until Saturday 25 April 2009 when friends struggled to reach Drexel on her phone. That night, the 17-year-old had left her mates at the Bar Harbour Hotel, where they stayed, to meet a friend about 2.4km away at the Blue Water Resort.
Shortly before heading back to her friends, Drexel texted her boyfriend, informing him she was on the way out of the Blue Water Resort and this CCTV footage captured before 21:00 that evening, shows the last time the teen was seen alive.
Search efforts that were launched that weekend dragged on for years, with Myrtle Beach authorities clutching at straws in trying to piece together the moments leading up to the teen’s disappearance.
After 13 years, the teen’s remains were found in a wooded area in Georgetown County, SC, more than 56km away from Myrtle Beach, where she was last seen alive.
Drexel’s cause of death has yet to be formally revealed. However, reports suggest she may have died from strangulation.
Raymond Moody exposes faults in US justice system
The suspect in the murder of Drexel is a convicted sex deviant named Raymond Moody. The teen’s body was found in an area near where Moody stayed at the time of her disappearance.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver confirmed, during a press briefing held on Monday that the 62-year-old has been charged with murder, kidnapping and first degree criminal sexual misconduct.
Moody had already been held on $100 000 (est. R1.6 million) bail when the discovery of Drexel’s remains was made.
“In the coming months, we will move to seek justice for Brittanee and we’ll be talking about arraignments and indictments and hearings. We’re going to do our very best to see that Raymond Moody pays for what he’s done, but that is not going to replace Brittanee,” Weaver told reporters.
It’s unclear, at this stage, what evidence investigators have on Moody but, one thing is for sure, the death of Drexel may fall on the hands of the US justice system.
According to a timeline of events provided by ABC News, it’s said that in 1983, Moody was sentenced to 40 years in prison for a string of sex crimes he committed against young girls.
He was only due for release in 2023, but for some reason, good behaviour, perhaps, Moody was welcomed back to society in 2004, after doing half of his term.
Moody, a degenerate with an untreated sex addiction, was thrown back into the streets with no rehabilitative measures taken to re-acclimate him back to society,
For years, he lived below the radar, staying in run-down motels, and sure enough, Moody caught the attention of authorities in 2008 when he was charged with indecent exposure.
Georgetown police later reduced this charge to public disorderly conduct and, once again, Moody was sent on his way, with no measures taken to address his clear problem.
A year later, he was fined a measly $250 (est. R4 030 in 2022) for failing to register as a sex offender. As fate would have it, Moody was allowed free passage and would cross paths with Drexel on Saturday 25 April 2009.
Moody has maintained his innocence, vehemently refuting claims he had anything to do with Drexel’s murder. Her mother, Dawn Drexel described the developments around her daughter’s case as a step “closer to the peace that I have been desperately hoping for.”
“The search for Brittanee is now a pursuit of Brittanee’s justice,’ she said.