The Murder of Brittanee Drexel UPDATED

Who was Brittanee?

Brittanee Marie Drexel was born on October 7th, 1991 to Dawn Drexel and John Kahyaoglu. Dawn’s pregnancy was unexpected, and both she and John were young when Brittanee was born. When Brittanee was two years old, John and Dawn ended their relationship and unfortunately lost touch. Not long after splitting with John, Dawn met Chad Drexel. The two married and Chad didn’t hesitate in his decision to adopt Brittanee. She considered Chad to be her father. 

Chad and Dawn had two children, a girl named Myrissa, and a boy named Cam. Myrissa was about six years younger than Brittanee and Cam was 12 years younger than his oldest sister. Despite their age differences, the three siblings were close, and Brittanee was especially fond of her little brother. Myrissa said that Brittanee was very caring, that she was always their protector. 

The Drexel family lived in Rochester, New York, specifically in the suburb of Chili (pronounced Chai-lie). Brittanee was a junior at Gate Chili High School, where she was a star on the soccer team. Despite being only 5’0 tall and just over 100 pounds, Brittanee moved FAST up and down the field. She played right winger on the team and her soccer coach marveled at how strong she was. She scored 26 goals in one year, showing everyone that though she was little, she was mighty!

Brittanee was often described by those who knew her as a spitfire. She had a warm, welcoming personality that people often gravitated towards. Growing up, she was vibrant and loved being the center of attention. She was always singing or dancing or being silly. Brittanee had a strong personality and spirit, and she didn’t back down from a fight. If she wanted something, she went out, worked hard, and got it. She was absolutely a force to be reckoned with.

When Brittanee was 16 years old, her biological father, John, came back into her life. This was a huge moment for her, and thankfully, Brittanee was so incredibly happy to have John around. When they began getting to know each other, John couldn’t believe how talented Brittanee was on the soccer field. He used to play soccer and felt that she might have inherited some of her talent from him. When he looked at her, he felt like he was looking at himself. John was in awe of how beautiful, funny, and talented his daughter had become, and was so excited and grateful to be back in her life.

In 2009, Dawn and her husband, Chad, began the process of separating. It was a very difficult time for Brittanee and her siblings. She was very close with Chad, the father who’d raised her. Despite struggling with this, friends said you could never tell that something was wrong by looking at Brittanee, she hid things well. However, her distress began to show in other ways. 

She didn’t want to go to school, and she started hanging out with a new crowd of friends. Brittanee started to go a bit wild with partying. Her new group of friends were older, some of them already out of high school. They were described as the popular rich kids, people who were always out partying at clubs. It seemed like Brittanee was doing what she could to keep her parents’ divorce far from her mind. One of the people who Brittanee counted on was her boyfriend, John Greco. She and John had been dating on and off for about two years. The two always seemed to gravitate back towards each other, despite the occasional breakup.

The Disappearance

In April of 2009, Brittanee, like many 17-year-olds, was excited about Spring Break. She was even more excited that her older friends invited her to go on vacation with them. They were planning a trip down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Myrtle Beach is a party destination, with a main strip lined with hotels, motels, bars, and shops, just a few steps away from the beach itself. Unfortunately, the beach was about 14 hours away from Brittanee’s home in Rochester. 

When Brittanee asked Dawn if she could join her friends, Dawn immediately said absolutely not. She explained her decision, telling Brittanee that there wasn’t going to be any parental supervision and that she didn’t know any of the people that were going. Dawn felt something bad would happen and didn’t want Brittanee being that far away. Brittanee, like most teenagers would be, was super upset with her mother. The two got into a big argument before Brittanee left the house and headed to hang out with a friend. 

Dawn was relieved when Brittanee came to her later and asked if she could stay with one of her friends in Rochester over the break. Dawn said that she needed to speak to one of the friend’s parents, so Brittanee got them on the phone. Dawn felt comfortable and agreed that Brittanee could stay with them.

On April 22nd, Brittanee traveled down to Myrtle Beach with her friends, her mother believing that she was still in Rochester. The group arrived at Myrtle Beach on the morning of Thursday, April 23rd, excited to party and spend time at the beach.

Though Brittanee had asked her boyfriend, John, several times to come with her down to the beach, he couldn’t take off work. Throughout the entire drive down and first days at the beach, Brittanee was glued to her cell phone, constantly texting John. On April 25th, just a few days after arriving, Brittanee told John that the vacation just wasn’t what she’d expected. She’d gotten into an argument with the girls that she’d driven down with, and was just feeling really left out and alone. She’d found another friend from Rochester who was in Myrtle Beach for spring break and had hung out with him and his friends a few times, and was having fun with them.

Suddenly, Brittanee stopped responding to John’s texts mid-conversation. Her last text was sent at 8:58PM. John quickly grew worried. It was very out of character for Brittanee to ignore his texts, especially in the middle of a conversation. He texted her several more times, called her, but she didn’t respond.

John later said that he had an instinct that something was wrong when she stopped responding. He didn’t wait long before calling Dawn. He told her that Brittanee was actually in Myrtle Beach and they couldn’t find her. Dawn was in complete shock. She later told the Sun News, “…my heart just dropped. I’m like, ‘What do you mean she’s in Myrtle Beach and they can’t find her?’”

The Search

Dawn sprang into action. This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted Brittanee to go to Myrtle Beach. Something was wrong, and Dawn was over 800 miles away. She called Brittanee’s biological father John, who was in Tampa, Florida. Tampa was far from South Carolina, but not as far as Rochester. Dawn just wanted an adult to get there ASAP and find Brittanee.

John began his drive to Myrtle Beach, hoping and praying that Brittanee was just being irresponsible, that maybe she’d lost her phone. There had to be a simple explanation and Brittanee had to be okay. 

Dawn continued calling her daughter’s cell phone, but she wasn’t getting any answer or response. She decided to call a family friend who lived at a Marine base in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. She asked him if he could make the almost three hour drive to Myrtle Beach and go to a local police station to report Brittanee missing. The friend, whose name is ALSO John, immediately started to head towards the beach. (I’m so sorry that everyone in this story is named John)

Once John, the family friend, arrived in Myrtle Beach, he immediately went to the hotel that Brittanee was staying at, the Bar Harbor Hotel. He quickly learned that none of the girls that Brittanee had traveled down with were at the hotel at the moment, probably still out partying. He called 911 and a police officer from the Myrtle Beach Police Department responded to the hotel. The officer initially told him that he couldn’t file a missing persons report since Brittanee had just been gone for a few hours. Even though she was just 17. John persisted though, explaining the situation and how incredibly strange it was for Brittanee to be away from her cell phone. The officer agreed to take the report.

John made the decision to park across from the hotel to wait for the girls to return. He knew that they had to check out by 11AM, so they’d have to return at some point. At about 10:45AM, they finally returned to the Bar Harbor Hotel. He called police, who responded and interviewed the girls. They had no idea where Brittanee was, and there was no reason to detain them.

Dawn and Brittanee’s biological father were still on their way to Myrtle Beach, both of them frantically continuing to call their daughter’s cell phone. They’d talked to all of her friends, who also had no idea where she was. Brittanee wasn’t answering any of her friends’ calls either. What could’ve happened to her? Brittanee had made an attempt to harm herself once before by taking several of her mom’s pills after a bad fight with her boyfriend. Brittanee was fine, and Dawn felt that she really just wanted to get her boyfriend’s attention. She seemed more so like she was being a rebellious teen rather than someone who would run away or hurt herself. 

When Dawn arrived in Myrtle Beach, she found that all of her daughter’s luggage was still in her hotel room. This told her for sure that something was wrong. Brittanee wouldn’t have willingly left without her belongings. They began walking the main strip in Myrtle Beach, talking to anyone who would listen, showing them pictures of Brittanee, but no one knew anything.

Police and Brittanee’s loved ones were quick to put together Brittanee’s last movements leading up to when she stopped responding to her boyfriend. The group had arrived on Thursday, then on Friday evening, Brittanee was walking down the main strip alone. Because she wasn’t getting along with the girls that she’d come down with, Brittanee was heading to meet another friend from Rochester who was vacationing at the beach, Peter. Peter and his friends were staying at the BlueWater Resort, which was about 1.4 miles down the strip from Brittanee’s hotel. It wasn’t dark yet, still early evening when Brittanee first made the trek to the resort.

Not long after Brittanee arrived at the BlueWater Resort, she was interrupted by a text from one of the girls. While in the hotel room with Peter and her friends, Brittanee told them that the girl was angry that she’d worn her shorts to the hotel that night and told her that she needed to bring them back because SHE wanted to wear them out that night. Reluctantly, Brittanee agreed. 

Surveillance footage from the BlueWater Resort showed Brittanee walking out of the hotel just before 9:00PM. She was alone, but nothing appeared out of the ordinary. She texted her boyfriend to tell him about the situation, and continued to text him until she stopped suddenly.

Despite there being footage of Brittanee leaving the hotel alone, suspicion quickly fell on her friend Peter. Even stranger, he and his friends checked out suddenly around 2 or 3AM that morning, even leaving some of their belongings behind. This was later explained to law enforcement that one of the boys had exams the following day and he needed to get back to study. While Peter fell under a lot of fire throughout the search and investigation, he had an alibi and was cleared by police.

On April 30th, Brittanee had officially been missing for five days. Reports of sightings were being reported to the Myrtle Beach Police Department, but none of them panned out. With the amount of motels and businesses lining the street that Brittanee was last believed to be walking down, investigators felt sure that there had to be footage of her walking. Unfortunately, most of the businesses’ cameras were focused towards the door or inside on the clerks and guests. 

They had luck with one camera that had been pointed at the road. They were able to see Brittanee walking down the main road towards the Bar Harbor hotel around 8:15PM. She had her head down and was holding her phone like she was texting. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. This was the last confirmed sighting of Brittanee.

The Cell Phone Data

Investigators didn’t waste time in their search for Brittanee. While her family and friends helped, investigators began scouring the area, looking for any signs of Brittanee or any witnesses. They were also quick to obtain Brittanee’s cell phone data for analysis. The data showed that her phone had been moving south, while Peter and his friends’ phone were heading west. This was just another confirmation for investigators that they hadn’t been involved with Brittanee’s disappearance. 

The last text coming from her phone was at 8:58PM and was to her boyfriend. The initial ping was coming from the south end of Myrtle Beach. A short time after she stopped responding, the phone pinged 15 miles south of where it had been, showing that Brittanee’s phone was in a vehicle and was moving fast. 

The last ping was off of a tower near the north Santee River in McClellanville, South Carolina. This was about 50 miles south of where Brittanee was last seen in Myrtle Beach. Her phone finally died at 11:57PM, just three hours after she sent her last text message. The area was a very rural, low-country swampy area. It was full of alligators, snakes, wild boar, and mosquitoes. It was not somewhere that most 17-year-old girls would willingly be. It was at this time that it really set in for everyone that something bad had happened to Brittanee. 

Investigators made the decision to expand the scope of their search. They knew that if Brittanee was in McClellanville, it wasn’t by choice. They searched the areas on horseback, with searchers armed with guns to keep the wild boar away. The search continued to expand, but they found no signs of Brittanee.

After searching extensively for almost three months, Brittanee was still missing and her family had to return home without her. Police continued the search for her though, knocking on doors throughout the town of McClellanville and talking to anyone that they could. 

On the one year anniversary of Brittanee’s disappearance, her family organized a march for her in Myrtle Beach. They walked down the main road with banners and signs with Brittanee’s name and face front and center. Dawn later said that during the first year, she held onto hope, but after that, she began to lose faith that her daughter would be found alive and well.

The Investigation

Investigators searched the local sex offender registries and found one name that caught their attention. Raymond Moody was a convicted sex offender living in Georgetown, South Carolina, not far from where Brittanee’s phone had last pinged. They found that on the day after Brittanee went missing, on April 26th, Moody had been pulled over for speeding in the area of Myrtle Beach.

A search warrant was obtained for Moody’s residence. At the time of Brittanee’s disappearance, he’d been living at the Sunset Lodge Motel. Again, this wasn’t far at all from where Brittanee’s phone had last pinged. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) served the warrant and searched the room that Moody had been staying in. It had been over two years since Brittanee had disappeared, but they were hopeful that they’d find something.

Law enforcement tore the room apart, pulling wallpaper off walls, cutting open the mattress, and searching every inch, but they found no signs connecting the room to Brittanee. It was just another dead end.

In June of 2016, the FBI held a press conference in McClellanville. They made the announcement that they believed Brittanee had been taken from the Myrtle Beach area to McClellanville, and that she’d been killed afterwards. They didn’t explain what led them to that conclusion and there were no arrests being made. People found it incredibly strange that the FBI had made such a strong statement without officially charging anyone. The FBI also offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible. 

Dawn continued to beg the public to come forward with information so that she could bring her daughter home and lay her to rest. Law enforcement told Dawn that they believed her daughter had been gang raped, beaten, shot, and fed to alligators. When Dawn heard this, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t speak. She couldn’t understand why someone would do this, and she had no idea what had led investigators to this conclusion.

About two months later, the public learned exactly what the information was that led to law enforcement’s announcement. Federal court documents revealed that an inmate told investigators that Brittanee had been assaulted before being murdered and dumped in a swamp near McClellanville. The informant was serving a 25 year sentence and said that he’d been present at the stash house in McClellanville where Brittanee had been taken to before her murder. He claimed she’d been being assaulted, resisted, then was shot. 

Dawn later said that this was presented as fact to her, that this was unquestionably what had happened to Brittanee. The informant pointed a finger at another man who’d been a part of an armed robbery at McDonald’s. When investigators were reportedly able to corroborate some of the accused man’s cell phone data with Brittanee’s, he became the prime person of interest. It wasn’t long before he was recharged in federal court for the robbery, in hopes of putting pressure on him to provide information about Brittanee.

The man continued to deny involvement, even going on the Dr. Phil show to argue his innocence. He was unwavering and his story never changed. The FBI rebutted his denials, saying that there was information pointing to him being behind the murder. In December of 2019, the federal armed robbery case was resolved and he was sentenced to three years for the robbery. He was never charged for any crimes involving Brittanee.

Raymond Fucking Moody

In 2019, ten years after Brittanee disappeared, new FBI agents were assigned to her case. They started from square one and began examining everything from the beginning. This included all of the suspects that had at one time been considered to be possibly involved in Brittanee’s disappearance. One stuck out to them: Raymond Moody.

Raymond Moody had a very concerning past. In 1983, while living in Vallejo, California, he followed an 8 year old girl as she walked to the nearby park, then grabbed her, and pulled her into his car. He drove her a few miles up to a road and parked in an undeveloped housing area. He sexually assaulted her, but fortunately, the young girl was able to escape and get to safety.

It was found that Moody had assaulted at least seven girls between the ages of eight and nineteen. He was charged and pleaded guilty to multiple charges of sexual assault. Moody was sentenced to 40 years in the California penal system.

While in prison, Moody developed a relationship with another inmate, Ernie Merchant. Merchant later explained that Moody was very kind, nice, and polite. It was the late 1990’s, so there wasn’t any access in prison to the internet, and Ernie had no idea what Moody’s actual crimes were. Moody had told him that he was involved in a series of robberies. As Moody’s release neared, he gave Merchant his file, which explained why he was really in jail. Merchant was horrified, but because Moody took care of him and protected him while he was in prison, he felt like he owed him.

Moody was released in 2004 after serving only 20 years of his 40 year sentence. At the time, the law in California did not allow lengthier prison stays based on the charges. He returned to his hometown of Georgetown, South Carolina. When Merchant was released, he decided to move to Georgetown to live with Moody.

The small town was VERY concerned with a convicted sex offender living in the area, but Moody said he knew it was his responsibility to show his community that they could. Merchant said that the two of them built a nice, quiet life together, and for a while, everything was great. Unfortunately, things changed in 2007 when Moody’s parole ended. It was the first time in decades that he was truly a free man, and his attitude quickly changed.

Moody began having an affair with a woman named Angel, someone who was initially a friend of his and Merchant’s. Merchant felt incredibly betrayed, especially after he’d taken a chance and moved to Georgetown with him, despite his past. In April of 2009, Merchant ended things with Moodie, unable to deal with who had become (or who he actually was all along).

On April 27th, 2009, Merchant heard someone enter his home early in the morning while he was still asleep. He shouted from the bedroom, and the person responded. It was Moody. Merchant asked him what he wanted and Moody said that he just needed to borrow some tools. Despite being half asleep, Merchant noticed that Moodie’s face and neck had scratches and what looked like claw marks up and down it. His shaved head also had red marks across it. 

Merchant asked him what the hell were the scratches, and Moody told him that it had been a wild weekend and things had gotten out of control. It was later determined that when Moody was pulled over for a traffic stop on April 26th in the Myrtle Beach area, he’d had the same injuries.

In May of 2022, Raymond Moody was arrested for obstruction of justice dated back to evidence from April 25th of 2009. While he was being held at the Georgetown County Detention Center, the FBI put the finishing touches on their investigation and contacted Dawn to share the recent developments. 

Based on Moody’s cell phone data, they were able to place him at the same location at the same time as Brittanee. Security cameras caught a vehicle that matched Moody’s in the area at the time of Brittanee’s disappearance. The cell phone data couldn’t be disputed. Moody was with Brittanee on the night she disappeared and his phone pinged at the boatyard landing on the Santee River, the same place where Brittanee’s cell phone had pinged for the last time. 

It didn’t take long for Moody to confess while in custody. He admitted that he’d sexually assaulted Brittanee, then strangled her to death. Afterwards, he’d taken her body about three miles past the Sunset Lodge, where he’d been living, and buried her in a wooded area. If Moody’s information was correct, Brittanee was dead before her friends and family had even arrived in Myrtle Beach.

Though the confession matched the cell phone data, investigators wanted more. They wanted Brittanee. Shortly after Moody’s confession, he directed them to the area where he’d buried her. On Monday, they began digging in the area, but came up empty handed. On Wednesday, when Dawn got into her car, a song by Lauren Daigle came on the radio titled “Rescue”.

The lyrics said, 

“I will send out an army to find you

In the middle of the darkest night

It’s true, I will rescue you

I will never stop marching to reach you

In the middle of the hardest fight

It’s true, I will rescue you”

Dawn knew that investigators were still digging in the area, so she called them and told them to listen to that song while they searched. The next day, they found human remains that were determined to belong to Brittanee Drexel. Dawn’s heart felt relieved that she was finally able to answer the questions that had plagued her for so long, and she was finally able to lay her daughter to rest. 

On May 16th, 2022, Brittanee was finally brought home to Rochester. Her family and friends didn’t think the day would ever come. 

Raymond Moody was charged with murder, kidnapping, and criminal sexual conduct. People wondered how, on a crowded Myrtle Beach street, no one saw anything strange that night. The prosecutor said that he believes that Brittanee had gotten into Moody’s vehicle willingly that night. Dawn said that her daughter would’ve hated having to walk the mile and a half again, right back to her hotel, and that she might have gotten into the car for a ride. When they passed her hotel without stopping is when Brittanee likely started to panic.

After the press conference announcing that Brittanee’s remains had been located, her family and friends were brought to the location where she’d been found. While it was incredibly difficult to be in the area where she’d been left alone and buried, it also helped bring closure.

Dawn felt that Brittanee had already been in the ground for too long, and she made the decision to cremate her so the people who loved her could have a piece of her.

In October of 2022, Raymond Moody pleaded guilty to his charges, after waiving his right to a bond hearing and arraignment. The judge sentenced him to a consecutive terms of 30 years on the charge of kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct, and a life sentence on the murder charge. He will not be eligible for parole. Ever. He is currently serving his sentence at the Lieber Correctional Institute in Ridgeville, South Carolina. 

After Brittanee’s case was closed, Dawn presented the FBI agents who ultimately found her a daughter, a pendant with a picture of Brittanee and on the back, an inscription that read, “thank you for finding me”. 

In September 2024, Moody’s girlfriend, 56-year-old Angel Vause pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of making false statements to a federal agent in regard to Brittanee’s murder. It has been stated by both Vause and Moody that Vause was actually in the vehicle with Moody when he picked Brittanee up in Myrtle Beach. Reportedly, Moody asked Brittanee if she wanted to smoke marijuana with them and party, and that she willingly got in the vehicle. Moody took Vause and Brittanee to a campsite in Georgetown County, where he ultimately assaulted Brittanee and murdered her. 

Vause said that she left the campsite prior to the assault and murder. She also said that Brittanee had her cell phone with her, though FBI agents believe that Vause took the cell phone and dumped it between Georgetown and Charleston counties. A date for Vause’s sentencing has not yet been set, but she could face up to 24 years in prison.

While it seems like we may never know exactly what led to Brittanee’s murder on the night of April 25th, we do know who was responsible for her death. We also know that if Raymond Moody had been held to serve his original entire sentence in California, Brittanee Drexel would very likely still be alive.

Dawn has made peace with the fact that they may never have all of the answers. After Vause’s hearing, Dawn told ABC 13, “I don’t think you ever get closure with losing a child. I think it’s a resolution to what happened, and she will pay dearly for what she did to my daughter.”

Brittanee’s case gained nationwide attention throughout the 13 years that it went unsolved. Her face and name became well-recognized throughout the country, and her smile was infectious, even through photographs. Those who knew her well say that Brittanee wouldn’t want people to forget about her and that she’d want to be remembered as what she was: a wonderfully kind, happy-go-lucky girl, who could brighten up anyone’s day when she walked in.

Girlfriend of Brittanee Drexel’s murderer pleads guilty to lying to FBI | Court TV

Prison messages between Drexel’s killer, longtime girlfriend discusses Dateline, lawsuit, their love

‘It’s been a long journey’: Girlfriend of Brittanee Drexel’s killer pleads guilty to federal charges

Brittanee Drexel Obituary | Apr 25, 2009 | Murrells Inlet, SC

Timeline: The disappearance of Brittanee Drexel

Final Moments of Missing NY Teen Examined More Than a Decade After Deadly Spring Break

Brittanee Drexel 2019: Her story told by friends, family | Myrtle Beach Sun News

Brittanee Drexel: FBI believes she’s dead, offers $25K reward

Newly released documents show Brittanee Drexel’s last text before disappearing