Where is Raymond Moody now? Details explored ahead of Fatal Destination on ID

Raymond Moody, the sex offender who admitted to abducting and killing 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel in 2009, is still behind bars, and his whereabouts take center stage in the next installment of Fatal Destination. The episode Missing in Myrtle Beach premieres on Investigation Discovery at 10 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 17, revisiting the cold case that haunted Myrtle Beach for thirteen years.

Moody pleaded guilty in October 2022 to murder, kidnapping, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct after guiding detectives to Drexel’s shallow grave in Georgetown County, earning a life term plus sixty years.

As per The Sun News report dated February 24, 2025, Raymond Moody is presently housed at Kirkland Correctional Institution, a South Carolina facility used for inmates and medical evaluations. Earlier records showed a transfer from Lieber Correctional Institution to a hospital in South Carolina for treatment in March 2024, according to a WMBF News report dated March 29, 2024.

Fatal Destination will combine new interviews with law-enforcement officials and Drexel’s family to explain how investigators cornered Raymond Moody and what prison life looks like for him today.

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Raymond Moody’s crimes, confession, and current status in the Brittanee Drexel case

Raymond Moody first surfaced as a person of interest within days of Brittanee Drexel’s April 25, 2009, disappearance from Myrtle Beach. Investigators knew the convicted sex offender had driven a Ford Explorer along Ocean Boulevard that night, but the technology of the time could not tie him to the 17-year-old’s phone data.

That changed in 2019, when upgraded analytics matched Brittanee’s handset speed to Moody’s vehicle, narrowing the timeline to a single minute. Confronted with the findings in May 2022, Moody confessed, led officers to the teen’s shallow grave near Georgetown, and was charged with murder, kidnapping, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct.

At his October 19, 2022, plea hearing, Moody accepted responsibility for strangling Brittanee after a failed attempt at sexual assault. As per the Court TV report dated July 7, 2023, Raymond Moody stated,

“I was a monster. I was a monster then and I was a monster when I took Brittanee Drexel’s life,”

The judge imposed consecutive life terms plus 60 years. Moody, now 63, is housed in South Carolina’s Kirkland Correctional Institution and remains subject to a $700 million civil judgment entered in February 2025. His only public statements since sentencing appear in prison emails, where he laments the lawsuit’s impact yet acknowledges the finality of his conviction.

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Federal case against Angel Vause and investigative breakthroughs

Attention later turned to Moody’s longtime girlfriend, Angel Cooper Vause. Prosecutors said Vause helped lure Brittanee into the SUV, removed her phone, and withheld the truth for 13 years. She pleaded guilty in July 2024 to two counts of lying to the FBI. She was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in February 2025.

As per the Justice.gov report dated Feb. 13, 2025, Special Agent in Charge Steve Jensen remarked,

“This sentence underscores the gravity of lying during an investigation. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will always investigate the facts and hold accountable anyone who distorts the truth to obstruct justice.”

The Vause prosecution highlighted how false leads, such as a 2016 jailhouse tale of alligator-infested swamps, diverted manpower until digital forensics refocused the probe. Cell-site reconstruction, vehicle-camera correlation, and a refined timeline finally placed Brittanee in Moody’s custody within minutes of her last known sighting at the Blue Water Resort.

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The civil verdict and the Fatal Destination episode keep the case in view

While Moody serves his sentence, civil actions and media coverage continue to shape public memory. In February 2025, a Georgetown County jury ordered Raymond Moody to pay Brittanee’s estate $500 million in punitive damages and $200 million in actual damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Brittanee’s mother, Dawn Pleckan, welcomed the ruling but reminded observers that no award can replace her child. The crime now anchors an upcoming hour-long instalment of Fatal Destination titled Missing in Myrtle Beach, airing at 10 p.m. ET on June 17 on Investigation Discovery.

The program features new interviews with lead investigators Phil Hanna and Kin McKenzie, solicitor Jimmy Richardson, and Brittanee’s family, mapping the 13-year hunt that ended Moody’s freedom.

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Stay tuned for more updates.