Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Teen Girl Vanishes on Myrtle Beach Spring Break, Remains Just Found

Episode Date: May 17, 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, the family of Brittanee Drexel can bring her home. Many theories surfaced on what happened to Drexel, including an allegation that her body had been fed to alligators. 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.  Now, Sheriff Carter Weaver of the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office has announced that Drexel's remains have been recovered and a suspect is behind bars for her 2009 murder. Convicted sex offender Raymond Moody, 62, is facing murder and related charges.   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.

You're listening to 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. But in the last hours, a stunning twist to the search for a teen girl, Brittany Drexel. 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 to our cut one.

With us tonight is a very special guest. Brittany Drexel's mother is with us, Dawn Drexel. Ms. Drexel, thank you for being with us. What are police telling you? You're welcome. I had just returned from the police department I'm not too long ago they have some leads that they are going on but they need to follow through with them 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-degree day in Rochester. So, of course, you know, I thought that maybe she was at the beach in Rochester with one of her girlfriends that she had said that she was staying overnight.

And 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, then we hung up the phone. How many times has Brittany's mother played that conversation, those conversations over and over in her head, wondering what happened to my girl. Again, in the last hour, a stunning turn in the search for Brittany. Two special guests joining us.

This is Dawn Drexel. This is Brittany's mother. Ms. Drexel, thank you for being with us. You're welcome. Ms. Drexel, how many times have you played that conversation over in your head? Many times over the last 13 years. I'll always remember Brittany's last words to me. Mom, I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. You were hearing me speaking to Brittany's mother when Brittany first went missing. But in the last days, a stunning, stunning turn of events. Joining me, Nicole Boone, special events anchor, WBTW in Myrtle Beach.

Nicole, Brittany's remains have been 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 from a very reliable source, I spoke with solicitor Jimmy Richardson yesterday, and this came about in the last couple of weeks, getting some really good information from a tipster. I'll let you determine who the tipster is there. And went to this site and did the excavation, and that's where her remains were found.

Very rural area of Georgetown County, South Carolina, along the coast, but inland in a remote area. Ms. 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 three 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?

No. Early on in her case, they had told us that they believed that this was going to be a homicide investigation. And I mean, I was pretty much set up for it. I think I just, you know, you go back to the numbness and everything from the beginning. I just want to bring Britt home. That's all I want to do is just bring her home so that she can be with us. 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, 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 in 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've 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 Dawn has been so up and down on this roller coaster 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 Stockholm Syndrome. She had been brainwashed and 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 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 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 Britney'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 have slow-mo'd it.

I have looked at it screen by screen to see if I saw anybody watching her in the background. Just, 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 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 us, 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 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 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 Farentino? 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 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 believed 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 Brittany'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 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 whole scenario that was being asserted. For those of you just joining us, breaking news in the search for a beautiful young girl, a teen girl, Brittany Drexel. And I remember like yesterday when we

first started the hunt for Brittany 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, South Carolina to Georgetown, maybe not quite that far, maybe 40, but still a decent distance. And once she went missing in 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 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 an 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. Another issue, and I'm going to throw this back to you, Jarrett Ferentino, Pennsylvania lawyer, homicide prosecutor. 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 and put me in the passenger seat of the car and he drove from there about two or three miles away to um an undeveloped housing um track get in the back seat and take off your clothes and when i said why he said because we're gonna 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. 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. 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. I'm just very curious, back to you, Nicole Boone, joining us, special events anchor WBTW in Myrtle Beach. She's also host and producer of Conversations with Nicole podcast. Nicole, I'm curious about the tipster that called in the location of Brittany's remains. Well, some of the things I am not at liberty to talk about that I have learned through sources, but I think the tipster is obviously someone very close to the case. And my understanding is in the last couple of weeks, this information really started to turn quickly.

And for boots on the ground in Georgetown County, I know other media outlets were really getting some information and starting to close in and hear what was happening with investigators. You know, you had an unbelievable amount of agencies working this case for quite some time. And it appears to me that they started getting the information to really hone in on where Brittany's remains were and what was involved. And as a good journalist, I am not at liberty to tell some of the things that were told to me, but the tipster was apparently very clear and concise on where her remains were located. Dawn Drexel is with me. This is 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 to find your daughter. Dawn, what a long, long road this has been, and I just, I hate it so much for you. I'm curious, who do you believe is the tipster? I'm not at liberty to, you know, because that information, I can't comment on it at this time. But I can tell you, Raymond Moody is a sex offender.

Okay? And 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. It is. 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, what do you make of the so-called tipster? Well, apparently it was solid information because we were able to recover Brittany, and she will be able to, you know, go back home with her family. But again, 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. Yeah. And you know, Nancy, 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 Britney, 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. Publicly, his name has not come up in Drexel's case since 2012. We think she was held here against her will, at least for a portion of the time that she was here. In 2016, the FBI revealed first-time details about Brittany Drexel's disappearance, saying she was killed after being held against her will,

kidnapped while she was walking on the Myrtle Beach Strip while on spring break. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Straight back out to Nicole Boone joining us from WBTW. 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. So 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. Wow, that's a nerve for him to suggest he's going to call police because he's having a problem. 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 vehicle 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. Dawn 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. 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 Dom 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. The body has been located and identified by DNA and dental records and has been given over to the Drexel family. To Dawn Drexel, 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. What is your next step? Well, my next step today, well, today I am going to be going to the funeral home. When they had called me and told me that, you know, it was a positive ID, I had said, you know, I don't want Brittany in the ground. She's been in there for too long. I'm going to go ahead and have her cremated. So I spoke with the funeral home here, and I'm actually going to pick up Brittany today so that I can bring her back home with us.

Does this all seem so surreal to you? It does. It happens so fast, you know, and it just, you kind of go back to like the numbness and, you know, like those surreal moments when she first went missing. And, you know, 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. And now I'm finally going to be able to do that. I know we're going to also be having a celebration of life in Rochester with our family, Brittany's friends and friends that are close to our family. And also we're going to have a celebration of life in Myrtle Beach. We got so much support there from the community and a lot of people that live in South Carolina. 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 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, to appear in court and for justice to unfold. Our prayers are with Dawn Drexel and Brittany's family as they move forward in the next phase of their lives. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.