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Brittanee Drexel, the 17-year-old resident of Chili, New York had been missing for nine years before there was a break in the case popularly known as the Myrtle Beach Mystery. Drexel was on a trip with her girlfriends to Myrtle Beach when she went missing on April 25, 2009.
As the investigation continued, information about a potential break in the case was first made public after nine years. A prison inmate provided information on Drexel after her disappearance. However, the story took a turn when the alleged perpetrator, Raymond Moody, turned himself in on an obstruction of justice charge.
The Final Moments episode 8 of season 2 titled Myrtle Beach Mystery based on Drexel's murder re-aired on November 27, 2023, on Oxygen. A brief synopsis of the episode read:
"A spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., is irresistible to teenager Brittanee Drexel, despite her mother's opposition. When she disappears from the beach town, it will take years for her family to learn the truth about what happened to her."
Who was Brittanee Drexel? Details explored
Brittanee Drexel was born in Rochester, New York, to unmarried teenagers John Kahyaoglu and Dawn Pleckan on October 7, 1991. Her mother married Chad Drexel and the family moved to Chili, a suburb of Rochester after Chad's military service ended. She was a student at the Gates Chili High School in Chili, New York, and dreamt of becoming a nurse or cosmetologist.
Brittanee Drexel was known for the distinguishable color of her eyes. Born with persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous in her right eye, she had surgeries in her eye and ultimately was rendered blind in an eye, as per Conan Daily. She wore contact lenses that gave her a unique color to her eyes.
In April 2009, Drexel made a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with her friends over spring break after an altercation with her mother. Dawn was reluctant to let her go as there were no adults accompanying the group.
Brittanee asked if she could stay at a friend's place for a day or two but instead left for Myrtle Beach on April 22, 2009, without Dawn's knowledge.
What happened to Brittanee Drexel?
On the night of April 25, 2009, multiple sources and surveillance videos from the area suggested that Drexel took a walk from the Bar Harbor Hotel to South Ocean Boulevard to meet a friend who was stopping by at the Blue Water Resort. Drexel and her boyfriend, John Grieco, had been messaging each other when her texts stopped around 9:15 pm local time.
According to police reports, Grieco then tried to get in touch with her friends at Myrtle Beach before he contacted Drexel's mother Dawn. Her mom then informed the Rochester police as Brittanee failed to answer calls and respond to texts.
When the investigation began, Brittanee's clothes and belongings were recovered from her hotel room. Her phone was tracked and found in a swampy area about 50 miles south of where she was staying, as per ABC News. A team of local police searched the area around Myrtle Beach, looking for clues about the missing teen's whereabouts.
In June 2016, the FBI held a press conference and mentioned that they believed Brittanee had been murdered in Georgetown, shortly after her abduction in Myrtle Beach. A reward of $25,000 was also announced for individuals with information leading to the resolution of the Brittanee Drexel murder case.
Between 2016 and 2022, Timothy Taylor became the primary suspect in the murder case as another inmate, Taquan Brown, provided information regarding Drexel's disappearance, assault, and murder. While the investigation in Taylor continued, another person of interest named Raymond Moody walked into the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office in early May 2022 and confessed to his crimes.
As per Oxygen, Moody and his girlfriend, Angel spotted the teen leaving her hotel and asked her if she wanted to smoke marijuana with them. They all then drove to the duo's campsite near Santee River and were "having a good time, smoking some pot and stuff," Moody told officials. He then admitted to r*ping and strangling Brittanee to death after Angel left. The next day, he buried her remains under a tree near a grove.
Raymond Moody provided officials with the exact location of Drexel's remains. He was then arrested for murder, kidnapping, and first-degree criminal s*xual misconduct. He was sentenced to life in prison with two additional consecutive terms of 30 years.
