Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and assault. Reader discretion is advised.
Raymond Moody, a registered sex offender, confessed to Brittanee Drexel’s rape and murder a decade after she went missing. On April 25, 2009, Drexel, 17, was on a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach when she went missing. Authorities previously investigated Moody as a person of interest but failed to find concrete proof to link him to the case.
More than a decade later, investigators used advanced cell tracking technology to link Moody to Drexel’s case, reported WBTW. In May 2022, he confessed to kidnapping, raping, and murdering the 17-year-old and also led authorities to the site where he buried the teen’s body.
The confessed murderer pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct in October 2022. He received a life sentence in prison without the possibility of parole with two additional consecutive 30-year prison sentences.
According to the South Carolina Department of Corrections, Raymond Moody is now serving his sentence in the Lieber Correctional Institution.
On Sunday, February 25, 2024, Dateline NBC revisited Brittanee Drexel’s murder case in an episode titled “The Last Walk.”
Did Raymond Moody confess to Brittanee Drexel’s murder?
In May 2022, more than a decade after Brittanee Drexel went missing, Raymond Moody confessed to her murder. According to the Democrat & Chronicle and WBTW, the confession came after investigators used advances in technology to link Moody to Drexel’s disappearance.
The sources confirmed that authorities had investigated Moody as a suspect during the initial stages. They considered him a person of interest after he was stopped by police for a traffic violation in a beach town near Myrtle Beach one day after the teen disappeared. However, they cleared him after failing to find concrete evidence.
Eventually, in 2022, investigators used advanced technology to pinpoint the exact time Drexel disappeared. She was reportedly walking along the street near Myrtle Beach before vanishing. Using surveillance footage, they learned that Drexel got into a vehicle with Moody and his then-girlfriend, Angel Vause.
Investigators then built a case against Vause, which later led them to details from the night Brittanee Drexel went missing. Authorities convinced Vause to wear a wire while talking to Moody and eventually acquired a detailed confession from the latter.
The Democrat & Chronicle stated that as per Raymond Moody’s confession, he and Vause had driven to Myrtle Beach on the night of April 25, 2009. They spotted 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel walking alone and allegedly invited her to party with them. He claimed that she voluntarily got into the vehicle.
Moody said that the three drove to a campsite in Georgetown County, where they smoked marijuana. He also admitted to investigators that he hoped to have a sexual encounter with Drexel after she consumed marijuana.
Hence, after Vause left the campsite, Moody claimed he tried to advance the situation, but Drexel resisted. The New York Post reported via Myrtle Beach Online that he then seized the teenager and forced her to remove her clothing and to have sex through threats of violence.
In his confession, Moody claimed that he strangled Drexel over the fear of going back to prison after raping her. Democrat & Chronicle stated that he then wrapped her body in a blanket and hid the body in the nearby bushes. When Vause returned, Moody told her that Drexel had left with some friends. The two left the campsite, but Moody said that he returned in the middle of the night and moved Drexel’s body to another location. There, he buried the body in the woods.
After confessing to Brittanee Drexel’s murder, Raymond Moody led investigators to the site where he buried her body, per CNN. WBTB reported that authorities found Drexel’s remains on May 11, 2022.
In October of that same year, Moody pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping, murder, and first-degree criminal sexual assault stemming from Drexel’s case. A judge then sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder count. He also received two additional terms of 30 years in prison on the remaining charges.
As previously mentioned, Raymond Moody is now serving his sentence in the Lieber Correctional Institution. He will not become eligible for parole, per prison records.
