Authorities have found the body of a 17-year-old New York girl who disappeared while visiting Myrtle Beach, South Carolina during spring break that year, after 13 years, police announced Monday. A sex offender has been charged with murder, kidnapping and rape in connection with the case, authorities added.
Brittanee Drexel was last seen in April 2009 when she was walking between hotels in Myrtle Beach. Her boyfriend, who stayed home in Rochester, New York, worried about her when he stopped responding to texts.
Drexel was allegedly kidnapped that night by Raymond Douglas Moody, who allegedly raped and killed her before burying her body the next day in the woods, Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said at a news conference Monday.
Drexel’s body was found last Wednesday in Georgetown County, about 35 miles (56 kilometers) from where he disappeared. The finding came after a series of tips and investigations that included Moody’s arrest on May 4 on a charge of obstruction of justice.
Investigators kept quiet about the case until Monday, when Moody, 62, was charged. Jail records did not indicate if she had an attorney.
Sheriff Weaver said the defendant has an “extensive sex offender history” but did not provide details. Moody is on the South Carolina sex offender registry for 1983 convictions in California for forcible sodomy of a person under the age of 14 and kidnapping, according to State Law Enforcement Division Records.
The sheriff, the Myrtle Beach Police Chief, the South Carolina FBI agent in charge and the attorney said little Monday about what helped them solve the case. This after 13 years of wild rumors that included hiding the bodies of sexual abuse victims for alligators to feed on and rumors related to other missing women.
Arrest warrants say Drexel was strangled the night she disappeared.
Police said dental records backed by DNA evidence confirmed that Drexel’s remains had been found last week.
“It’s a good day to soberly remember Brittanee and all that she and her family have been through,” said attorney Jimmy Richardson.
Drexel’s parents made another trip to the Myrtle Beach area this week, but this one was unlike the other visits that included candlelight vigils, media interviews and updates from investigators with no answers.
“Today marks the beginning of a new chapter. Brittanee’s search is now Brittanee’s search for justice,” said Drexel’s mother, Dawn.
He thanked all the investigators who worked to find his daughter.
“This is truly a mother’s worst nightmare. I am mourning my beautiful daughter Brittanee as I have for the last 13 years,” she said.
Myrtle Beach Police Chief Amy Prock was working for the department when Drexel disappeared and said she never forgot the case as she rose through the ranks.
“It’s not the final chapter we were hoping for,” Prock said Monday. “Every police officer has that one case that haunts their every thought.”
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