Missing Spring Breaker Brittanee Drexel Found Dead After 13 Years

Brittanee Drexel was 17 when she vanished whereas on a spring break journey to Myrtle Seashore, South Carolina, in 2009.

Myrtle Seashore Police Division by way of AP

The stays of a 17-year-old upstate New York lady who vanished 13 years in the past whereas celebrating spring break in Myrtle Seashore, South Carolina, have been discovered and a neighborhood man has been arrested on homicide, kidnapping and rape fees.

Brittanee Drexel’s physique was recovered Wednesday in Georgetown County, roughly 35 miles from the place she was final seen alive on the oceanside resort in April 2009, authorities mentioned. Dental data and DNA proof confirmed the identification, county Sheriff Carter Weaver mentioned at a information convention Monday.

Raymond Douglas Moody, 62, of Georgetown, who had an “in depth intercourse offender felony historical past” on the time of Brittanee’s disappearance, was charged with homicide, kidnapping and felony sexual conduct within the first diploma. He strangled Brittanee, in keeping with an arrest warrant cited by ABC 4 Information, and buried the physique a day later, Weaver mentioned.

Daybreak Drexel, the mom of Britanee Drexel, is seen throughout a information convention in 2016. The teenager's mom known as the restoration of her daughter's physique "bittersweet."

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Brittanee’s mom, Daybreak Drexel, known as the developments “bittersweet” after holding out hope for years that her daughter should still be alive.

“That is actually a mom’s worst nightmare,” mentioned Drexel, who nonetheless lives in Rochester, the place Brittanee grew up. “I'm mourning my lovely daughter, Brittanee, as I've been for 13 years, however right now it’s bittersweet. Right now marks the start of a brand new chapter. The seek for Brittanee is now a pursuit of Brittanee’s justice.”

Investigators didn’t say how they situated Brittanee’s physique. Moody didn't have a lawyer listed for him in jailhouse data.

Raymond Douglas Moody has been charged with homicide, kidnapping and felony sexual conduct within the Brittanee Drexel case.

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Police named Moody an individual of curiosity within the investigation in 2011. On the time of Brittanee’s disappearance, he was residing in a motel lower than three miles from the place her stays had been discovered.

The motel room the place Moody had been staying was searched by regulation enforcement again then, however authorities mentioned they didn’t discover sufficient proof to call him a suspect, native station ABC 4 Information reported.

The yearslong seek for Brittanee had taken wild twists and turns, together with claims that the teenager was held in a “stash home” earlier than being murdered and dumped in an alligator pit.

Brittanee’s mom mentioned in 2016 that an FBI agent instructed her a jailhouse informant had offered this info.