Georgetown County Sheriff In a South Carolina courtroom on Wednesday morning, the man accused of kidnapping and killing Brittanee Drexel on a 2009 spring break trip entered a plea of guilty and was given a life sentence. In connection with the murder of Drexel, 62-year-old Raymond Moody, a convicted sex offender and longtime person of interest, was charged with kidnapping, murder, and first-degree sexual misconduct. Moody, who had already given up his right to a bond hearing and arraignment, made his first court appearance.

In 2009, the 17-year-old Gates teen went missing while visiting Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for spring break. Authorities said that Drexel’s remains had been discovered in May, around 35 miles south of Myrtle Beach. Moody is said to have confessed to the crime and directed investigators to where Drexel’s body had been hidden.

While recognizing that some of Moody’s account was self-serving, the prosecution provided enough information to investigators to persuade them that Moody had actually committed the crime.

Additionally, they said that Moody showed them the location where Drexel’s body was found. Judge Ferrell Cothran Jr. gave him a life sentence for the murder charge and two concurrent terms of 30 years each for kidnapping and criminal sexual behavior.

The only information included in the arrest warrant was that the crimes took place in Georgetown County, which is roughly 35 miles south of Myrtle Beach, and that Moody abducted, attacked, and then killed Drexel by methods of physical strangulation. According to the warrant, every offense was committed “on or about April 25, 2009.”

Drexel was last spotted leaving a motel in Myrtle Beach on the same day. Technology advancements, according to the prosecution, have made it easier to determine exactly when Drexel vanished as she walked along a roadway in Myrtle Beach. This assisted them in finding security footage of a car they thought Drexel was in, which let them concentrate on Moody and his girlfriend, Angel Vause.

Moody claimed that he and Vause had been driving to Myrtle Beach when they saw Drexel wandering by himself. He asserts that Drexel got into the car voluntarily and that they invited her to join them for the party. The three of them used marijuana at a campsite in Georgetown County, according to Moody.

Moody claimed that he made the decision to proceed with the Drexel after his girlfriend departed the campsite. When Drexel protested, according to Moody, he allegedly grabbed her, forced her to take off her clothes, and threatened to use physical force if she did not have intercourse. Then, fearing that he could be returned to jail, he choked Drexel. He transported her to some nearby bushes after covering her body in a blanket.

According to Moody, he came back in the middle of the night and claimed to have taken Drexel’s body and buried her in a wooded area. In their victim impact statements, Drexel’s family members questioned Moody’s version of events, especially the notion that Drexel joined him voluntarily.

27 Year Old Woman Repeatedly Raped in Manhattan, New York by a Man Posing as a Delivery Driver