The remains of a 17-year-old girl from Rochester, New York, who went missing 13 years ago were found this week in South Carolina, officials announced, adding later that a suspect in the case allegedly confessed to the teen’s murder and revealed where she was buried.
Brittanee Drexel was last seen on April 25, 2009, in Myrtle Beach and was reportedly on the way to meet friends when she went missing. Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver told reporters last week that her remains were discovered in the county, located south of Myrtle Beach.
“This is truly a mother’s nightmare,” Dawn Drexel said at a recent news conference. “I am mourning my beautiful daughter Brittanee as I have been for 13 years. But today it’s bittersweet. We are much closer to the closure and the peace that we have been desperately hoping for.”
During a press conference Tuesday, Fifteenth Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said that Raymond Moody allegedly confessed to Drexel’s slaying. While not going into details, Richardson said Moody has long been considered a suspect in the case and found more information leading to his arrest.
“We were able to make a lot of headway that we hadn’t made before. ... We had quite a bit of evidence that turned us on Moody,” he told reporters.
Investigators said Moody assaulted Drexel, who was in the area for Spring Break, before strangling her to death. Her body was buried the next day, Richardson said.
On May 11 of this year, Moody led investigators to her burial site, according to Richardson. He was arrested and charged with obstruction on May 4.
Moody is facing several counts, including murder, kidnapping, and criminal sexual misconduct, said Richardson. He could be eligible for the death sentence under South Carolina law.
“You take a confession and it’s great, but you also have to verify that confession,” Richardson said of what Moody told investigators. “You have to make sure it’s valid, especially in a case where you’ve had multiple people of interest.”
“We have a little more closure than we wanted,” he said. “Having faith and hope is what’s going to guide us through to the end result.”
Added FBI Special Agent Susan Ferensic in a news conference: “For 13 years we'd been hoping for a different outcome ... in the last week, we confirmed that Brittanee lost her life in a tragic way, at the hands of a horrible criminal who was walking our streets.”
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