Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teen Girl Vanishes on Myrtle Beach Spring Break, Killer Sobs in Court

Episode Date: October 29, 2022

It's been more than a decade since a 17-year-old New York girl disappears during a spontaneous Spring Break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Now, Brittanee Drexel 's remains have been found and her killer has confessed.  Drexel was last seen on video after she walked out the Bar Harbor hotel near downtown. She texted her boyfriend that she was returning to her hotel and was never seen again.  Convicted sex offender Raymond Moody was first questioned about the girl's disappearance when Drexel when missing.  Police searched Moody's residence but found nothing to link him to the crime.  Technology advance in the years since rekindled suspicions that Moody was the killer and he has pleaded guilty to the charges of murder and first-degree sexual misconduct. He has been sentenced to life in prison.     Joining Nancy Grace Today: Dawn Drexel - Victim's Mother  Jarrett Ferentino - Pennsylvania Attorney/Homicide Prosecutor, Attorney to Dawn Drexel Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA www.angelaarnoldmd.com, Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women, Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University, Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital Sheryl McCollum - Forensic Expert & Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder, ColdCaseCrimes.org, Twitter: @ColdCaseTips  Dr. Michelle DuPre - Former Forensic Pathologist, Medical Examiner and Detective: Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Author: "Homicide Investigation Field Guide" & "Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide", Forensic Consultant DMichelleDupreMD.com  Nicole Boone - Special Events Anchor, WBTW (Myrtle Beach), Host and Producer: "Conversations with Nicole" podcast, www.wbtw.com, Facebook.com/Conversations.Nicole.Boone, Instagram: @nicoletvnews, Twitter: @WBTW_NicoleB, Youtube: "Conversations with Nicole"  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It is a story that has now become all too familiar. A beautiful young girl goes missing on spring break. In the last days, a stunning, stunning turn of events. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. First of all, take a listen. W-B-T-W in Myrtle Beach. Authorities now say Raymond Moody confessed to killing 17-year-old Brittany Drexel 13 years ago

and then led investigators to her body down in Georgetown County. Back in April of 2009, Drexel visited Myrtle Beach for a spring break. She was with friends from New York State. Investigators think that Moody kidnapped her, assaulted her, and then strangled her to death. Joining me, Nicole Boone, special events anchor, WBTW. Brittany's remains found where? Well, they were found in a wooded area near the Harmony Township subdivision. And it had been gone.

Investigators, police had gone to the site a few days before when they had gotten information, dug on this site in a remote area of Georgetown County. You know, a very wooded rural area, very remote, off the beaten path. And once they got this tip, I spoke with solicitor Jimmy Richardson, came about getting some really good information and went to this site and did the excavation and that's where her remains were found bare rural area of georgetown county south carolina along the coast but in inland in a remote area to special guests joining us this is don drexel this is britney's mother miss drexel, when did you learn that Brittany's remains had been found? I had spoken with the FBI.

They were pretty much updating me like every day. I knew when they were starting to search, but on Wednesday, probably about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, they had called me and told me that they had found human remains. When you were told that human remains had been found, what went through your mind? I was kind of, I mean, you know, with me, I mean, fighting for as long as I have for Brittany, I was really upset when they told me they had found her. But I can tell you that it was a huge relief to me because now I can bring Brittany home. Did you harbor over the years any secret belief that Brittany was still alive somewhere? set up for it. I think I just, you know, you go back to the numbness and everything from the beginning. Also with me, Jarrett Ferentino, Pennsylvania high profile lawyer, homicide prosecutor.

Jarrett, thank you for being with us. Pleasure to be with you, Nancy. Thank you for having us. Jarrett, I cannot even imagine what Brittany's mother has gone through and has dragged out for so long. I mean, that was years ago when I first learned that a girl named Brittany Drexel had disappeared on a Myrtle Beach vacation. And we were trying to find her. And we were sending out her picture and the tip line and just constantly trying to find Brittany. That was a long time ago in 2009, as I recall.

The suffering her family has been through is really unimaginable. No one can know unless you go through it yourself. Absolutely, Nancy. First of all, thank you for the coverage you've provided and the attention you brought to Brittany's case. Certainly, that has inspired people to continue her search and the quest for answers in the case. In addition to the 13 years, the investigation itself had taken some twists and turns. In 2016, there were suspects named. There were certainly rumors and information

that came out of what may have happened to Brittany. So Don has been so up and down on this rollercoaster of an investigation. But the past several weeks, as we came to learn that things were coming to an end in this phase. Dawn Drexel is with me. This is Brittany's mother. You know, Dawn, we have been looking for Brittany for so long, and I've got to tell you, when I learned that her remains had been found, I felt like I got punched in the stomach.

I guess somewhere deep inside, I had always hoped that somehow someone had taken her and she had, I don't know what I was thinking in my head maybe, she was afraid to leave or she had been uh stockholm syndrome she had been brainwashed and she she wouldn't tell anybody i always come up with these scenarios in the back of my mind and then the finality of saying we found her remains i'm just trying to imagine you in that moment where were you when they told? I was actually at home when they had called. We had met with the FBI probably two weeks prior.

And, you know, at that point, things were moving pretty fast. And so I knew they were, you you know they were searching for Brittany but it's just I don't know at that moment when they when they um had recovered um or you know or had found the human remains I just it was like I don't know I I was just in it's kind of like in disbelief. Like I never knew that we were going to get there. Like 13 years is a long time. I never thought that Brittany was going to be found.

Take a listen to our cut eight. This is from WHAM. Brittany was 17, a junior at Gates Chilai, when she left without her mom's permission for spring break in Myrtle Beach. She was last seen alone leaving a motel on the strip. In 2010, 13 Wham had this exclusive video of the site along a river in South Carolina where Brittany's body was believed to have been left. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. To Cheryl McCollum joining me, forensic expert, founder and director of the Cold Case Research Institute, a hotel security camera actually captured one of the last known images of teen girl Brittany Drexel.

It was just before 9 p.m. And she was leaving a friend's room, a friend girl's room at the, I think it was the Blue Water Resort. We see her later walking through the lobby. I don't know how many times you've looked at that video, Cheryl McCollum. I have studied it. I've slow-mo'd it. I have looked at it screen by screen to see if I saw anybody watching her in the background. You know the case of Kelsey Smith who went to a Target to pick out her boyfriend an anniversary gift. And when you look back at the video at Target, she doesn't see this guy. But in every still, you see a white male not far from her. He may be on the aisle

behind her, you know, looking over. He could be at the end of the aisle looking around at her. He's always right around her, but he never speaks to her. And as Kelsey heads to the checkout at Target, you see him walk past her and and leave only to ambush her and kidnap her in the garage of the Target. I remember slow mowing Brittany's video and just seeing who was walking by. What can I see? What can I notice? And nothing was really revealed in that video except the time and the date stamp. Right. Which was crucial because it gave us a location, a date, a time and what she was wearing and the direction she went. So when she left Bar Harbor Hotel headed to Blue Water, then, you know, we knew you only got a mile and a half and she should have been there. And she texted her boyfriend, hey, I'm walking back to my hotel.

So she should have been back there within a half hour. And it was that critical moment, a half an hour, you know, a half an hour. And the whole world changed to Jarrett Fiorentino joining as high profile lawyer out of Pennsylvania, who is Don Drexel's lawyer, a half an hour. I remember Carly Bruscia in Florida, and I'm sure you remember her as well. She had to spend the night with a friend girl and was walking home the following morning. I think it was a Saturday or Sunday morning. And she cut catty-cornered instead of following the street.

And in the 15 minutes it would have taken her to walk, she encountered her killer. In 15 minutes, the world turned upside down for Carly's family. And in Brittany Drexel's case, in that 30-minute segment that Cheryl McCollum just identified, Brittany was taken, walking from one hotel to the next. And Nancy, that examination of that time frame, the surgical precision that the investigators laser beam focus analysis is really what had to be done, what had to be done in the Bruchia case.

That's the kind of investigation, what can be gleaned from the Bar Harbor Hotel to the Blue Water that we can learn. We knew when, we knew what Brittany was wearing, We knew what direction she was heading. So the investigators over the past 13 years and very recently had to examine that footage, that time frame, and the technological advances that have been made in the interim certainly aided in their investigation as time went on. Take a listen to our cut five, our friends at WCIV. Officials say the teenager was on spring break in April 2009. Surveillance video shows her leaving the Blue Water Resort in Myrtle Beach. And for the first time, officials are giving details of what happened next. We believe she traveled to this area around McClellanville and the North Charleston,

South Georgetown area. And we believe she was killed after that. And we do know that Brittany was in this community for several days. We think she was held here against her will, at least for a portion of the time that she was here. The FBI also announced today it's now offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. So by being here for several days, other people came in contact with her, saw her, know that she was here. So by being here for several days other people came in contact with her saw her know that she was here so we know there is information in the community here. We think we're at a point where one or two small pieces of information could put us over the edge. They say if you do know information and you don't call police you could be subject even to federal

charges at a later time. You know why were they so convinced that she was held against her will in that area for several days, Jarrett Ferentino? Nancy, that's a great question. They were convinced that she was definitely in that area based on some cell phone technology where her phone was pinging from in the remote area some 50 miles away from the Myrtle Beach area. So whether or not she was being held against her will, that was a little bit of conjecture on the part of investigators. And certainly some information that came out later may have suggested that, but I'm not sure why at that point they felt she was being held against her will for an extended period of time. What about it, Cheryl McCollum? I have no idea why they would say it. I have no idea why they would bring up even the gator pit. There were several

things said in that first, you know, press conference that Dawn and I talked about that I thought was just way over the top and almost sensationalized. And I thought maybe they were trying to beat the bushes to bring other people out to say, hey, that's not what happened. You're making it worse. That's what I believe they were doing, was trying to look for other witnesses to come forward. Or maybe they just had it bass-ackwards.

Now, you brought up my next topic, and that was how in the world did a gator slither into this fact scenario who had nothing. It had nothing to do with this disappearance. And yet somehow that became the centerpiece of so much of the coverage of Britney's disappearance. Cheryl McCollum. Well, Nancy, I remember years ago you and I were investigating the case and we had to go talk to some nair the whales. And you said to me, swans don't swim in a sewer. In other words, who do you think I've got to go to to find out about this criminal? Other criminals.

So they were getting information from jailhouse informants. Criminals. Liars. So they have to run that down. If they get information, if they get a tip, they've got to run with it and make sure this is either credible or not credible. But either way, they've got to work that tip. Well, you know, another thing, as tough as it is to believe, I have actually had a case where a child was killed and left in a swamp

infested with gators. So it has happened. But in this case, it just seems so far-fetched, the scenario that was being asserted to you, Dawn Drexel, Brittany's mother. Can you believe it's 2022 and we are just solving the mystery? Yes. I know. This case, I can tell you, I believe this case should have been solved a long time ago. But, you know, that's for another day. Well, you're absolutely right about that. To Nicole Boone joining me from WBTW. Nicole,

again, thank you for being with us. Could you please describe the area where Brittany's remains were found? And how far away is that from where she went missing at the Blue Water Resort in Myrtle Beach? Yes, Nancy, it was a very remote area, a wooded area along Old Town Avenue and Harmony Township in Georgetown County. Georgetown County is along South Carolina's coast and Georgetown itself, the city would be about 54 miles from Myrtle Beach. If you the drive time from Myrtle Beach, immediately once the cell phone started ringing, ping from the cell phone towers, she ended up more in that remote area of Georgetown County. And to the fact about the talk of an alligator pit and all of that that was brought up years after she went missing, it's very much an alligator infested area. And some of

those things start to come up that may not have merit. But when I spoke with solicitor Jimmy Richardson, he told me there were so many tentacles in this investigation. You have to keep checking things out. And to the point that when it came up out of speaking with people that were actually jailhouse snitches, you are dealing with criminals themselves. So a lot of tentacles in this investigation. But the area where Brittany's remains were found very remote in Georgetown County, 40 miles or so from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, up the coast where she went missing along the boulevard. Then the search focuses there at Georgetown County, about 50 miles away from where she was last seen alive. Now take a listen to our cut three, our friends at WHAM. A hotel security camera captured one of the last known images of Brittany. It was just before 9 p.m. She was leaving a friend's room at the Blue Water Resort

to walk back to the hotel where she was staying. We know that Brittany Drexel made it here to 11th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard. How do we know? Well, one of the few working cameras at the time captured this image of her. She was about halfway through that mile and a half walk back to her hotel when Brittany disappeared. The next clue appears 50 miles

away in Georgetown County where Brittany's cell phone gave off its last signal. That's about eight miles from the Sunset Lodge where Raymond Moody had moved in the day before. Moody was stopped for speeding in nearby Surfside the day after Brittany disappeared. To Dr. Angela Arnold joining me, psychiatrist, renowned psychiatrist out of the Atlanta jurisdiction. I don't know if you recall the name Timothy McVeigh. He's the Oklahoma City bomber that claimed the lives of so many, including children, that were in a daycare at the Alfred Murrah Federal Building that was bombed. He was pulled over because of a taillight, as I recall. And when his car was searched, there was evidence that he may have been involved in the bombing. In this case, Moody was stopped for speeding in Surfside the day after Brittany disappeared.

But I think that it's too far-fetched to expect the cops to put two and two together based on a speeding ticket. I can't fault them on that. Well, I do think, Nancy, that, I mean, let's face it, I think that these things have to be taken very seriously, just knowing. I think that we never can let our guard down. Well, I agree with that. I mean, Cheryl McCollum, you pull a guy over for speeding. It's the day after Brittany disappears. There were rumblings even then, where is Brittany Drexel? They don't run his rap sheet when they pull him over. I mean, when I get pulled over for anything, I sit there forever.

I don't know what they're running. But you've got a guy who has done hard jail time for raping a little girl in the vicinity where Brittany Drexel goes missing. Another reason that is so important, Nancy, is because when he's questioned later about Brittany, he says, oh, I was out of town. They got proof he was not out of town. He was eight miles away the day after she was kidnapped. To Dr. Michelle Dupree joining us, former forensic pathologist, medical examiner, detective, author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. Dr. Dupree, the moment the remains were found, police immediately identified it, identified them as human remains remains how could they do that immediately

upon sight most often it's with a skull because obviously you know humans have a very distinctive skull shape it can also be by other means other bones in the body can tell whether it's human or not don drexel is with me this is brit Brittany's mother who has been through pure hell since 2009. And I can remember the very first time we spoke, searching for Brittany. And you would beg and you would cry in commercial breaks when I was at HLN. And I could hear you.

And then somehow, when we came back on the air, you were crystal clear and razor focused on trying to find your daughter. Dawn, what a long, long road this has been. And I just, I hate it so much for you Raymond Moody is a sex offender okay and I don't I don't care what anybody thinks you cannot rehabilitate a sex offender you know what that's what I've been saying since day one. When I first started prosecuting, I do not believe child molesters, rapists, sex offenders in general can be rehabilitated. I agree. And Nancy, this is Dr. Arnold. This is not a matter of believing it or not.

That is the truth. They can be watched. And when I was working with sex offenders earlier in my career, we would keep an eye on them very closely. I can tell you about it sometime, but they cannot be rehabilitated. Dawn, I'm just thinking back on the very beginning. And I mean, you see a lot of crime shows on TV and in movies. Real life isn't like that. Cops are not tarot card readers or soothsayers. They can't look into a crystal ball. They can't figure out, oh, I stopped this guy speeding.

I wonder if he took Britney. But they had a bead on him from the beginning. Take a listen to our cut 13. This is the Georgetown County Sheriff. The why may never be known or understood, but today this task force can confidently and without hesitation answer the rest of those questions along with the who is responsible. The who is Raymond Douglas Moody, who lives at 5502 Rose Hill Road in Georgetown, South Carolina? His date of birth is May the 9th of 1960, and he is a white male with an extensive sex offender criminal history.

The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office charges against Mr. Raymond Moody are murder, kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. All of these charges occurring within the jurisdictional limits of Georgetown County, all of which occurred on April the 25th of 2009, and all of which detail, Brittany Drexel as the victim. Cheryl McCollum, weigh in. I agree with Dawn. They not only had a beat on him, they named him in 2012. As a person of interest, they certainly did. Yes.

And he has hurt six young women and children. And it is baffling to me that anybody can rape and harm six young people. And walk free. And walk free to be out there to take Brittany, put her through God knows what before he killed her. You're absolutely right. Take a listen to our cut six. Our friends from WHAM.

Raymond Moody was first named a person of interest in Brittany Drexel's disappearance in 2012, but was never charged. In the 1980s, Moody was charged with kidnapping and raping a child in California and is a registered sex offender. Joining me, Nicole Boone, special events anchor, WBTW in Myrtle Beach. Nicole, it was around 2011, I believe, just before Moody was named a POI person of interest. And one of WBTW's reporters questioned Moody. What happened? It was an interesting confrontation is how I would have described it. He was very much pushing back. Our reporter at the time, Mason Snyder, went to

speak with him. And this was after they had searched a hotel room where Moody had been living. And our reporter goes up to Raymond Moody, talks to him, said, what do you know about Brittany Drexel? Do you know anything about her? He said, I know nothing about this. Where were you the night, the day that she went missing? He doesn't answer. He just tells them, you need to get out of here. You need to leave.

And if you don't, I'm calling the police. Do you know anything about the missing teenager? No, I do not. Can you tell us where you were back in April of 2009? Here's former News 13 reporter Mason Snyder confronting now-confessed Brittany Drexel killer Raymond Moody August 1, 2011. Snyder and a photographer tracked Moody down at work. The same day, investigators searched Moody's Georgetown County apartment. Youody wasn't charged a decade ago because of a lack of evidence, but in the short time Snyder was in his grill, Snyder describes his presence as chilling.

The second I started peppering him with questions and the second he started getting frustrated with the fact that we were there and that we were asking him questions and that we essentially stormed him. You know, we didn't set up this interview ahead of time. It made me want to get out of there as quickly as possible. Well, that's a nerve for him to suggest he's going to call police. Exactly. Because he's having a problem. Very interesting. He was very, in my opinion, belligerent with our reporter and adamant that he leave and adamant that he knew nothing and for basically to leave or he was calling police.

You know, 13 years this guy has walked free after murdering a teen girl on spring break. Just beautiful girl, scrubbed in sunshine on the inside and the out. I want to go back to Jarrett Fiorentino, high-profile Pennsylvania lawyer that is working with Dawn Drexel, Brittany's mom. Jump in. Well, Nancy, I have to say, you talk about capturing Timothy McVeigh with a V as in stop. If you remember the son of Sam, he got captured with a parking ticket. Moody was a fish out of water.

He was 15 miles away from his home. He had rented an apartment in Myrtle Beach the day before April 25th when Brittany went missing. That was suspicious to the officers immediately as well. You have this individual with a record and these downright dangerous homicidal sexual proclivities in town when a young, beautiful girl disappears. He was on their radar. And the focus has since, as we discussed, gone on to him in great detail leading to these charges.

I mean, the coincidence that he shows up and then suddenly she goes missing. I mean, Sheryl McCollum, he just got there and suddenly a young girl is kidnapped. You said that there were six victims of his that we know of. Explain. That we know of, and that's the big question, Nancy. In the past 13 years, how many more are there? He hasn't just been sitting in that trailer. He hasn't just gone dormant. He's been out free to stalk, harass, harm, rape, kill. I would be on it comparing his MO and him to every single disappearance or rape or sex attack in the area and beyond another issue. Take a listen to our cut number nine from WPDE. Carrie Harding was only eight years old when she was abducted by Raymond Moody.

Just as I passed, he grabbed me from behind with his hand over my mouth and around my waist Carrie Harding was only eight years old when she was abducted by Raymond Moody. and take off your clothes. And when I said why, he said, because we're going to screw, which, you know, you don't tell an eight-year-old child that we don't even know what the hell that means. Moody served 21 years of a 40-year prison sentence after admitting to sexually assaulting Harding and six other girls. He relocated to Georgetown after his release from California State Prison in 2004. Nobody should get a second chance to hurt a child.

Police suspect Drexel was kidnapped as she walked along Ocean Boulevard and driven to Georgetown County. Her cell phone signal was last detected in a remote boat landing area near the South Santee River. It's roughly eight miles from the Sunset Lodge Apartments in Georgetown County. That's where Moody had been living at the time. crime stories with nancy grace 13 years this guy has walked free after murdering a teen girl on spring break. Just beautiful girl. I mean, the coincidence that he shows up and then suddenly she goes missing. Take a listen again to our friends at WBTW.

The authorities now say Raymond Moody confessed to killing 17-year-old Brittany Drexel 13 years ago and then led investigators to her body down in Georgetown County. Back in April of 2009, Drexel visited Myrtle Beach for a spring break. She was with friends from New York State. Investigators think that Moody kidnapped her, assaulted her, and then strangled her to death. They had a bead on him from the beginning. And walk free. And walk free to be out there to take Brittany. How did we get here? The focus turned back to him because of improved cell phone tracking technology allowing investigators to narrow down Brittany Drexel's whereabouts that night, matching surveillance video with text and cell tower pings. They determined Drexel got in a car

and traveled south out of Myrtle Beach and into Georgetown County. Investigators also tracked down a one-minute window the night of Drexel's disappearance when she stopped walking on Ocean Boulevard and was instead in a car. Moody claims Drexel got in that car willingly. Prosecutors can't verify that's true,

but took his word for the conviction. The Drexel girl walking along the sidewalk, smoking pot. She noticed that, walked over through the door and said something about that. Smells like good weed. I said, yeah, you want some? Sure. Get in. She hopped right in the back.

What a problem. When she got in the vehicle, did you know it was for a bad purpose? No, not at all. That didn't even cross my mind. Don Drexel with me. This is Brittany's mother, and this has been a very long road for her. And she never gave up, ever, in her search for her daughter. You were telling me, Dawn, that it was early on that you believed that Brittany had been killed. What led you to believe or think or feel that? Well, shortly after Brittany

went missing, the Myrtle Beach Police Department had told us that they believed that they were dealing with a homicide investigation. At that point, from there, you know, and then what came out in 2016 with the FBI, I mean, we pretty much knew that, you know, it was 13 years. We pretty much knew that Brittany was most likely deceased. Listen. Things got out of hand. And I panicked and she panicked and I strangled her. Guys, take a listen to our Cut 15. This is Solicitor Richardson in Georgetown County. Justice is never going to be good enough. That's the fallacy in all of this, that somehow we're going to do our very best

to see that Raymond Moody pays for what he's done here. But that is not going to replace Brittany. But what we have been able to do is to return a body to Chad and Dawn and hopefully start the process of closure.

And again, closure is not nearly as good as justice and justice isn't nearly as good as just having it not happen. But that's all we have to offer. So again, to repeat, Raymond Moody is in custody, is being held. He does not have a bond. That original bond was on obstruction of justice charge. That's another charge that I failed to mention,

but he remains in custody. Moody confessed that he took her to a campsite in Georgetown County, raped her, killed her, and left her there. He said he choked her because he started to worry after he raped her. Raymond Moody, he sat through investigators or prosecutors, I should say, explaining the 13-year timeline that led up to today, and he also heard from Brittany Drexel's family. He walked in first without showing emotion, but that changed as the hearing went on. It was about an hour and 15 minutes long, and in that hearing, Moody confessed to the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Brittany Drexel, and he also did in a May 5th interview with investigators. The case against him stalled more than a decade ago after a search warrant didn't yield any results. He was named a person of interest, but was never charged.

I was sentenced to four years and four months. And I did 20 years and eight months. I thought that was enough, but it wasn't. I was a monster. I was a monster then. And I was a monster. I was a monster then. And I was a monster. And I took Brittany Drexel's life. I don't have the words to express how horrible I feel.

And I've felt, ever since that day, very, very sorry. To Dawn's Rex, this is Brittany's mother. I know it's hard to think about it right now because since 2009, your goal has been to bring Brittany home. Now Brittany has been found. Does this all seem so surreal to you? It does. It happens so fast. You know, it just, you kind of go back to like the numbness and, you know, like those surreal moments when she first went missing. I'll always remember Brittany's last words to me. Mom, I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. Listen.

Now, I know that you told your daughter, no, you cannot go to Myrtle Beach. So she went to Myrtle Beach. That's not the worst thing in the world. Many a 17-year-old has gone off on spring break without telling their parents. But she stayed in contact with you. She stayed in touch with you for many, many days. Until when? Until Saturday.

Saturday afternoon was the last time I spoke with Brittany. And take a listen to Cut To where we hear what Brittany told her mom. What can you tell me about the last time you heard from her? What did she say? What did she text? When I spoke with Brittany, I asked her what she was doing. And she says, oh, mom, I'm at the beach. And it was an 80 80 degree day in Rochester. So, um, of course, you know,

I thought that maybe she was at the beach, um, in Rochester with one of her girlfriends that, um, she had said that it was staying, she was staying overnight. Um, and, uh, then I said, well, what do you plan on doing later? She said, oh, I'm just going to hang out with my friend. We're going to watch a movie. And I told her, I said, well, please give me a call later. And she said, okay, Mom. And then, you know, I told her, I said, I love you, Brittany. And she says, I love you, Mom.

And then we hung up the phone. You were hearing me speaking to Brittany's mother when Brittany first went missing. Right now, I feel the same way. I feel like it's so surreal. Like, you know, is this really true? You know, and it just, I don't know. I've always, you know, fought for Brittany and I've always wanted to bring her home. Dawn, I'm curious, what is your most vivid memory of Brittany? Just her laugh, her smile.

Brittany, she was just full of life. She had a great personality. She had a lot of friends. And just watching her play soccer on that soccer field, she was just amazing. She was amazing at the game. She loved the game. And Brittany made like 26 goals within her season, which was pretty awesome. And she was just, she was just so full of life, you know, and for somebody to take that away from us is just, it's indescribable. It really is. We live in an evil world, Nancy. As we wait for the registered sex offender, Raymond Douglas Moody, and for justice to unfold. WBTW in Myrtle Beach. Well, Moody will get 30 years on kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in the

first degree because he pleaded guilty to all three of the charges against him, including murder, in which he will face life in prison without parole. The judge sentenced him to that this morning, and the state recounted 13 years of an investigation in about 25 minutes. And Deputy Solicitor for the 15th Circuit, Scott Hickson, said in court that the passage of time, unlike most cold cases, actually helped out this case because of the fact that there were advancements in cell phone tracking technology that allowed investigators to pinpoint Brittany Drexel's phone from Myrtle Beach on its way south into Georgetown County. Our prayers are with Dawn Drexel and Brittany's family as they move forward in the next phase of their lives. Goodbye, friend.