True Crime All The Time - Brittanee Drexel Part 1

Episode Date: December 8, 2025

Brittanee Drexel was a teenager from New York State who went missing during a spring break trip in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Her case remained unsolved for years and sparked nationwide interest. Join Mike and Gibby for part 1 of the Brittanee Drexel case. In what may be a TCATT first, we actually covered this on TCATT unsolved back in 2019 on episode 139. But now that it has been resolved, we thought it would be interesting to revisit it with the updated information that has emerged. You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 463 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? Hey, I'm doing good. How about you? Doing great, man. Yeah. I am in a wonderful mood. You look chipper. I am chipper. I just had a great week and, hey, you know, we had about six inches of snow. Our first snow. My wife and daughter got their first snow days that they were. super excited about. Of course. I want a snow day. No snow day for you. No. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Janie. Hey, Janie. Brandon Parker. What's going on, Parker? Bethany Nickerson. Hey, Nickerson. Sammy. What's up, Sammy? Crystal Christianberry. Hey, Crystal. Valerie Boucher jumped out to our highest level. Oh, you're awesome. Valerie. Alicia Driver.

Hey, Alicia. Sydney Clemens. Hey, there's Sydney. Kim Klein. Hey, Kim. And last, But last but not least, Nancy Clark. Clark. So we appreciate that new support. And then if we go back into the vault, this week we selected Eric. Eric, the Viking. So I appreciate all the support we get.

We have a brand new episode out right now on True Crime All the Time Unsolved. It's a fascinating one that goes back to the year 2000 when two women named Mary Morris were murdered days apart in Harris County, Texas. Now, authorities have said that, you know, they haven't found a link between the cases and both of them are still unsolved, but the families say that the coincidences are too suspicious to ignore. And I kind of feel that way too. And we'll talk about it, you know, as we go through the case. Excited to dive into that. Very quickly, just want to talk about crime con for a minute. You know, it is coming up in May. Be here before we know it. Yeah, absolutely. If you're going, you can save 10% off your standard badges when you go to crimecon.com and use

our code TCAT, T-CATT. I also think they should be lifting the ban from me by then. And Cezers, so I'm sure they will. We should be okay. I'm sure they will. Yeah. Since the whole hangover incident. Exactly.

All right, buddy. Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am. We are doing something that I don't think we've ever done on TCAT. and it's to cover a case that we previously covered on unsolved. So we're talking about Brittany Drexel, who was a teenager from New York State, who went missing during a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Her case remained unsolved for years and sparked nationwide interest.

And you and I covered her case on Unsolved way back in 2019. it's episode 139 for anybody who you know wants to check it out but it's now been solved so what a great way to update the case by doing a full-blown you know true crime all the time episode and there's actually so much information that we had to break it down in two parts very exciting though in part in part one we'll cover brittany's trip to myrtle beach who she spent her final days with and the early suspects in the investigation. Brittany Marie Drexel was born on October 7th, 1991, in Rochester, New York. Brittany's mother, Don Conley, married Chad Drexel, who adopted and raised her.

Brittany also grew up with a brother and a sister. And one thing I didn't mention Gibbs is that we're not using any of the research that we used for the unsolved episodes. All fresh. All fresh research. So, yeah, there might be some differences and probably will be between this episode and our version unsolved. Brittany was born with a rare eye disorder called persistent hyperplastic primary vitrious. She was blind in her right eye and had to have several surgeries.

And I'm not an eye doctor or claimed to be very knowledgeable about eyes. I've never heard of that. You did play one on TV. Thought about it. Yeah. Turned it down. Probably wise. At the time of her disappearance,

Brittany was a 17-year-old junior at Gates Chilly High School. Don said about her daughter, per WMBF, she was full of life. Brittany's heart was soccer. She was small, but boy, could she run fast? At lightning speed right down the field.

Super fast. Well, and let's face it, if you're a soccer player, It does help to be fast. Being slow is not going to be the key to winning the game in soccer. As you can attest to from your very brief soccer career. Absolutely. They also didn't like the fact that you wore wrestling tights.

I mean, why buy more athletic gear? If I already have some athletic gear. Brittany appeared to be in a slump. Because of her parents' separation in 2008, they initiated divorce proceedings in 2009. Her passion for soccer decreased and her grades fell. And we've talked about it before, but, you know, the, the toll that a divorce has on kids. It varies. It does.

From child to child, but there's always something. Could be some type of impact. Yeah. And sometimes it's greater than others. Sounds like it hit her pretty hard. Still, Brittany was taking cosmetology classes and inspired to be a, a model. In 2009, Brittany asked her mother if she could spend spring break with her friends and boyfriend in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Don said no. And man, that is always a tough decision for a parent.

It is. You're talking about a 17 year old who wants to take a trip with other young people and kind of be on her own. Obviously, the decision varies, you know, from parent to parent, but it's always going to be a worrisome thing. Especially when you start remembering how your spring breaks. Oh, yeah. I mean, if I even think about what I did on spring break, nobody's going nowhere. Exactly.

Nor should they. Don, you know, she had a bad feeling and recalled to my ory news. I told her, I didn't know the kids. There was no parental supervision. And I told her if she came to Myrtle Beach, something would happen to her. Kind of eerie.

Well, yeah. knowing what is going to happen to her. Yeah, obviously it's very eerie. It's foreboding. Brittany appeared to accept this and asked if she could instead spend a few days at a friend's lake house. Don said yes. Brittany left on April 22nd. But Brittany's parents didn't know that she and her friends were really traveling over 800 miles away to Myrtle Beach. And, you know, this sounds to me, Gibbs, like some things that you and I did when we were younger. Oh, that's for sure. We, you know, we've confessed some of our sins before about, you know, telling parents

we were going to be here when actually we had no intention of being there. We were going to go somewhere else and do something that maybe our parents wouldn't approve of. Did a few of those trips. I think the furthest one was when I left this area and went all the way to Chicago. Is that back when you were making runs for hours? Capone? Junior. Brittany called her mother once she was in Myrtle Beach, still leading her to believe she

was in New York. So she's really, you know, deceiving her mom in a big way. There's no doubt about that. You got to keep up the rouge. Well, yeah, if you apply rouge, you got to keep it up, but I mean, I think you mean ruse. Yeah, yeah, exactly. I know you have problems with your rouge from time to time.

A little bit. Brittany and her friends were staying in room 301 of the Bar Harbor Resort on North Ocean Boulevard. Brittany's friends were identified as Jennifer Oberer, Philip Oberer, and Alonalippa. Her boyfriend, John Grieco, did not go on the trip. You ever take a trip to Myrtle Beach, either with friends or family? Been there a few times. Yeah, me too. It's a fun place.

Yeah, you got to hang out. North Myrtle, South Myrtle. I don't really know if there's a middle. Middle Myrtle? I don't believe there is. I don't think there's a West and East Myrtle, as far as I know. On April 24th, Brittany hung out with 20-year-old Peter Brosowitz. It's a club promoter from Rochester.

That evening, he took Brittany to club kryptonite, located at U.S. 17 Bypass and 29th Avenue North. It closed in the fall of 2009. You know who can never go to that club? Mike Gibson, aka Superman. And Rex West? And Rex West. Four individuals identified as Anthony Shemizzi, Philip Watson, Keith Cummings, and Matthew Abram,

said they were sharing a room with Brazzowitz at the Blue Water Resort in Myrtle Beach. They told police they briefly met Brittany at Club Cryptonite. On Friday, April 24th, they didn't know her, but they knew she was a friend of Brazowitz's from Rochester. And, you know, those were the days, right? When you're young and you are going to take a trip with friends, you're not all getting your own room, you know, you don't, you don't have the money. Exactly. You know, two guys are sleeping in a queen, two other guys are sleeping in a queen.

One guy's sleeping on a cot. Another guy's passed out in the, in the tub. Exactly. The bathtub. That's where I always end up being for some reason. on April 25th, Brittany left her friends at the Bar Harbor Hotel and met the five men on the beach near the Blue Water Resort between 11 a.m. and noon. Brittany was last seen on hotel surveillance, leaving the Blue Water Resort at 8.45 p.m. She started walking down Ocean Boulevard, a busy road in Myrtle Beach.

I think that's kind of one of the main drags. I think so, too. If I remember correctly, none of the police reports specified how Brittany traveled between Bar Harbor and Blue Water on April 25th, or how she got to Blue Water later that evening. Brittany had been texting her boyfriend John throughout the trip, telling him she missed him and updating him on what she and her friends were doing. So she was honest with her boyfriend, right, about where she went. He was originally supposed to go with her.

Right. Doesn't. But she was not honest with her mom. No. because her mom absolutely did not want her to go on this trip. And she was just telling her mom that she was at this other place. Yeah. I think every time she called her mom,

she just kept up the ruse or rouge, as you would say, that she was still at her friend's lake house and they were, you know, going swimming or going boating or doing whatever they were doing. After leaving blue water, she texted him saying she was walking back to the, the Bar Harbor Hotel a mile and a half down the road. And, you know, to me, that's not too big of a deal when you're 17. I could walk, you know, pretty good distance at that age. Now, if 52, am I walking a mile and a half down the road? No, I'm calling an Uber. Like, it's only a mile and a half. I know.

It's really not, but, uh, I don't have to and I don't want to. You're like, wait a minute, is it, do I got to go from the door of this hotel to that restaurant? across the street, get me an Uber right now. In the hour before Brittany went missing, she texted John about a pair of shorts. She borrowed and her plan to meet at the Bar Harbor Hotel to return them. She texted a friend to ask about the plans for the night and texted information about her outfit. But minutes after she was seen on surveillance at the Blue Water Resort, she texted her boyfriend

saying she was upset and quote, so he did. So heated. Brittany sent her last text at 8.58 p.m. It read, I'm staying in, packing, and going to sleep, probably. So must have been upset about something. I'm going to pack and get the heck out of here. Over the next few hours, Brittany's boyfriend and other friends texted her multiple times

because they were worried. They received no response. And, you know, just put yourself, let's say, in her boyfriend's shoes. you get this text or these couple of texts. She's upset. She's saying, hey, I'm so heated.

I'm just going to stay in, pack and sleep. Okay. Me personally, I would have some questions. Yeah. What's going on? What made you so upset?

Things like that. And I think people are reaching back out to her, but you're not getting a response. And as convenient as texting is, when people don't reply. to text, that bugs the you know what out of me. Absolutely. Especially when something is going on, you're like in the middle of a text exchange.

And then all of a sudden they stop responding. Now, normally there's a good reason for it and it's not nefarious. But in this situation, he's pretty far away from her. So at some point, I think the level of concern has to be there. According to my ory news, Peter Brasowitz checked out. of the Blue Water Resort, around 1 a.m. on April 26th. But the other four men stayed. That day, John texted Brittany and warned her that if she didn't respond, he was going to call

her mother and tell her she was in Myrtle Beach. When Brittany failed to answer, he did exactly that. Well, it's the right thing to do. It is the right thing, but I also think it shows his level of concern, right? It had grown and grown and grown to the point where he had no... Or at least he felt he had no option but to call her mom and kind of rat her out. Don called Brittany multiple times. Brittany's family and her boyfriend left New York and started traveling to South Carolina.

They asked a family friend in North Carolina to go to Myrtle Beach and tell the police that something happened to Brittany. And we've talked about it before Gibbs, but, you know, I think if you had the slightest hint that your child was, in trouble. Most of us would do the exact same thing. Oh, absolutely. I'd be on the road. I wouldn't even pack. I would just get on the road and get down there. Breaking the speed limit. The whole way. The whole way, probably. Yeah. According to Don, per Maori news, we had Peter Brosowitz on the phone, three or four times, asking why he didn't call the cops and why he was now looking for her. and he just said he wasn't a babysitter. That's always nice to hear.

Yeah, now you have to take it into context, right? Does he really understand the gravity of the situation? Is she missing, missing, or is she just trying to avoid her mom? Well, it is spring break, right? So you could say maybe she's just having a lot of fun and doesn't want to talk to anybody right now. Yeah. But what we know about him so far, It's a little troubling, right? He was with her. He checks out of the hotel at, you know, a very strange hour. Who checks out at one o'clock in the morning?

Not too many people do that. I mean, I get it. You want to get on the road early maybe, but could also say he had another reason for wanting to get out. Brittany's friends were questioned, but according to Don, they never contacted her. They never asked if they could help. or made any effort to look for. That's really disappointing. You know, you have to ask the question. What kind of friends are we talking about here? Doesn't seem like good friends, right? They don't seem to care about her, at least in their responses. I mean, I know like the friends I grew up around, we would stop everything if something

like this happened. And I think most people would. Yeah. If you considered somebody a friend, everything is shutting down and you're going to jump in and help look for this person who people believe are missing. Brazowitz's friends, Watson and Cummings,

told police that Brittany had been arguing with one of her friends. They thought this person was Jen Oberer. The argument stemmed from Brittany wearing a pair of shorts, belonging to Oberer. Brittany stayed at Blue Water about 10 minutes before walking back to her hotel to return her friend's clothing. All the old fighting of wearing each other's clothes.

I'm sure you did that a lot with your friends. There was only so many singlets to go around. No comment. Dawn pieced together that after Brittany spent the day at the beach near Blue Water, she was dropped off at the Bar Harbor. Brittany received a text that she forgot her, flip-flop, so she walked 20 blocks back to Blue Water to get them later that evening. She stayed about 10 minutes, then left the resort to walk back to her motel, 1.4 miles away.

Don questioned why Brittany walked so far, saying that wasn't something Brittany would do. If she wanted to go to a friend's house, eight houses away, I'd have to drive her. Brittany didn't walk. Like you. Yeah, she sounds very much like me. Now, it is surprising because we did talk about, you know, she was athletic. Yeah. She was big time into soccer.

She was physically fit. You know, unlike myself, she could easily walk a mile and a half. Absolutely. But according to her mom, that wasn't something she likely would have done. On April 29th, multiple people reported seeing a person matching Brittany. description on a bus in Myrtle Beach, that person got off the bus on Ocean Boulevard. That day, WROC and Rochester learned that Peter Brosowitz had retained an attorney. The attorney said this was due to repetitive questioning.

And for many years, Gibbs Brasowitz was considered the last person to see Brittany a lot. So just the mere fact that police believe, you're the last. person to see someone alive who's missing, yeah, you're going to be questioned extensively. Sure you are. Brittany's family deposited money into her account, hoping to see activity on her car. Not a bad thing to do. No, I thought it was actually a pretty smart thing to do. But no activity was detected.

However, police traced her last cell phone ping to an area near the Charleston and Georgetown County lot. according to later released information. Her phone pinged off different cell towers and surfside, Murals Inlet, Polly's Island, Georgetown, and McClellanville. Her phone died at 1157 p.m. Sounds like her phone was pretty busy. Yeah. It's also, you know, one of those very interesting things, right,

that authorities can track. The cell phone activity, you know, down to the, point where they can figure out when the phone died because it's no longer pinging off of any tower on may 4th 2009 police released hotel surveillance videos of brittany along with traffic camera footage on may 11th brittany's parents and peter broswitz appeared on the doctor phil show bringing the case to national attention when asked by dr phil why he didn't give Brittany a ride, Brazzawid said he wasn't in Myrtle Beach to babysit.

Okay. I get it. This is very similar to what he said to, I think, Don or to someone who had asked him about it. You're not making yourself look great, though. No. I mean,

can you come up with a different answer? Or, you know, maybe he felt like, you know, he was being himself. He didn't have anything to hide. And that was, you know, really the reason I didn't want to. I'm not there to babysit anybody.

Just being honest with you. Although, again, people are, are not going to take that well. No. I'm sure on the show, he probably got a few booze. Booze, yeah. My other question is, why would you agree to go on Dr. Phil in the first place? You've already said you've got all this scrutiny on you to the point where, you know, you had to hire an attorney, maybe just lay low.

Yeah, there's no way. had to go on. I mean, especially with my last thing with Jerry Springer, didn't go well. Well, that woman did throw a chair right in your face. And it hurts. Still hurts present to this day? Still hurts. Thinking about it. But Dr. Phil was a big show, right? So that would be national attention. The following month, her case was featured on America's most one. On October 10, 2009, Brittany's father, Chad Drexel, received a call from her phone, only to find out the sell company gave the number to a new customer. What the heck, man?

Really? That fast? Yeah, I don't know if they were given a heads up that she was missing. And I don't know if they knew exactly what was going on. But that would be a little disheartening, right, if you're the family. Yeah, I mean, now if the family or somebody reached out to them and said, hey, And look, this number belongs to our daughter. We don't want anything to happen to it.

That's one thing. But if they didn't say anything. And they didn't know about it, really? I mean, I know phone companies recycle the numbers when they get a chance. But the thing that went through my mind is that that probably meant nobody was paying the bill. Well, that's the other thing. To retain the number, you probably got to pay the minimum to keep it. But here's my thought.

if you got somebody missing a loved one wouldn't you want to pay that bill because you want that lifeline open the possibility of of them calling i know authorities have said the phone went dead but if there's any chance that maybe they could use it then yeah i'd want it and i'm not blaming the family maybe it's just something they didn't think about yeah on november 12 2009 brittney's story was featured in People Magazine. So, you know, we said there's a lot of national attention. You think about Dr. Phil, America's Most Wanted, People Magazine. These are vehicles that reach a very wide audience.

Very true. In December 2009, campers found sunglasses that investigators thought could be linked to the case. The Myrtle Beach police also said they had identified three or four persons of interest. Okay. Seems promising, right? We don't know what these sunglasses are, but if you have three or four persons of interest, that's better than having none. In June 2010, Brittany's high school classmates remembered her at their graduation ceremony. And that has to be tough, right? You're already consumed with worry about, you know, where your daughter is, where your child is. Now it's dragged on to the point where her class has their graduation ceremony.

And the only thing you can think is she should be here. Absolutely. She should be walking with the rest of them. But we don't know where she is. That same month, 37-year-old Timothy Sean Taylor was arrested and accused of trying to kidnap a 20-year-old woman in Myrtle Beach. The victim claimed two men jumped out of a van and tried to abduct her. She elbowed one of them in the face and escaped.

Okay. That sounds like some badass John Wick, Liam, Liam Neeson, taken type stuff. It does. Good for her to give them the elbow. Police initially thought this could be connected to Brittany's disappearance. The charges were dropped five months later. And police determined the cases were not related. And you and I talk about it quite a bit, right?

these things that in the moment seem like they could break the case wide open and then ultimately are determined to mean absolutely nothing. It's just the highs and the lows of an investigation. But I would rather them look into it as if it was connected than not at all. Oh, absolutely. I would agree with you 100%. But if you're the family, you're kind of riding these ties and lows as the investigation goes along. I think you might finally get somewhere. In 2010, acting on an anonymous tip, police searched an area near Charleston. In January 2011, the case was re-examined by investigators with the National Center for Missing

and Exploited Children. In November, a team searched an island off the coast of McClellan, South Carolina. based on a tip from a fisherman, but found no evidence. Again, just more things, right? You have a reexamination by investigators. You have this tip from the fishermen. You have police searching an area near Charleston, but what comes up it? So it's like hope, hope dashed.

More hope, that hope is dashed. And it's just a vicious cycle, I think. I guess if you had to think of a positive, it would be the fact that the case is at least active. It's being worked. For sure. Yeah. And I don't know how it couldn't be with the amount of attention that it has received.

That's true. I mean, this is not something that the police can just put off because, you know, the whole country, maybe the whole world's kind of looking at them. What are you doing? In February 2012, Captain David Knipes of the Myrtle Beach Police Department confirmed that investigators were naming 51-year-old Raymond Moody as a person of interest in Brittany's disappearance. Back in August 2011, investigators executed a search warrant at a motel room at the Sunset Lodge where Moody was living at the time of Brittany's disappearance. Police wouldn't name him as a person of

interest at that time. Captain Knipes confirmed Moody received a traffic ticket in Surfside Beach the day the search for Brittany began. According to WBTW, Moody would claim he was out of town. But that ticket proved otherwise. Kind of hard to argue about that one. It is. It's also one of those things where, you know, if you're going to tell a lie, you really shouldn't tell one that can be pretty easily disproven.

Because once the authorities think you're lying, they're really going to start looking at it. That's you. For sure. I mean, I got a ticket the other day. I won't remember when I got that. You know, once I pay it, I'll forget all about it. So I could see me saying, oh, no, I was over here.

And then they'd be like, wait a minute. What about this ticket? Not remembering that there's something that could refute your claim. Yeah. Yeah, I get that point. Not to mention the fact that we're not always talking about the smartest people in the world. I'm not grouping you into that bunch. I mean, the people were talking about as persons of interest.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's it. Yeah. That's the ticket. That's the ticket. Police said Moody was one of many people. They had investigated. Moody was a Navy veteran from Georgetown, South Carolina. His father worked at the local paper mill.

He was also, Moody was a registered sex offender. In 1983, he was convicted of rape by force, kidnapping and a lewd act on a child under 14, as well as other charges in California, he admitted to stalking, abducting, and raping seven young women over two years. One of the victims, Gibbs, was just eight years old. So a sick individual, but Brittany would have been in his MO. Yeah, she was young. She was 17 years old. Now, Moody was sentenced to 40 years, but was released in June 2004. And, returned to South Carolina. In 2008, he was convicted of indecent exposure and public disorderly conduct.

In 2009, he was convicted of a sex offender registry violation. Well, sounds like he didn't learn everything he should have when he was in prison. Well, it also seems to me like, you know, indecent exposure, if you are a registered sex offender, should land you back in something. you would think. Detective Philip Hannah with the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office confirmed that they were also looking into Moody as a person of interest in the 2005 disappearance

of 28-year-old Crystal Souls. Crystal went missing on January 24th, 2005, from Andrews, South Carolina. She lived with her father and son, but was known to leave home intermittently for days of the time. time due to substance abuse. Although she would leave home unannounced, she always made an effort to contact her son. She was last seen at the Shaw's Corner Store in Andrews. The store owner confirmed she purchased and ate a hot dog in the store, then called her dad, asking for a ride

home. Her father was too sick to drive. Crystal started walking home, but never arrived. Sounds like another tragic story. Yeah, and there's no doubt. out, right? It sounds like Crystal, she had some issues going on with substance abuse. She would leave home for days at a time, sometimes unannounced. I'm sure her father felt, uh, or maybe still does, feel a lot of guilt, right? She's asking for a ride. He says, oh, I'm too sick to come get you. So she starts walking home, but never makes it home. Those are the kind of situations where you're going to feel some guilt. Absolutely. Because you're always going to ask yourself. What if I went and picked her up? Yeah, then maybe nothing would have happened.

Yeah. Brittany's mother, Don, said they had heard Moody's name before and heard rumors about the potential link when authorities searched the motel. In April 2012, one of the victims spoke to News Channel 15. Carrie Harding was only eight years old when she was assaulted by Moody. She was walking to school to meet a friend. and cut through a yard where Moody was playing basketball. Carrie said, just as I passed, he grabbed me from behind, pulled me by my hair,

and put his hand over my mouth, and pulled me by the waist into the passenger seat of the car. Moody drove a few miles to an undeveloped housing area. He said, get in the back seat and take off your clothes. When I said, why, he says, because we're going to screw.

You don't tell an eight-year-old that. You don't even know what the hell that means. You never move on from this. This is something I'm going to have to live with the rest of my life. And clearly she still does. Well, any type of sexual assault is just absolutely horrible. But gives to an eight-year-old to be in this situation where a grown man is telling you to take your clothes up. Yeah.

And then sexually assaults you. I mean, that's making my blood boil. I don't even know how you come back from that. Well, it takes a lot of strength. Yeah. Probably some counseling, things like that. I don't know how a father keeps his composure once he learns, you know, what happened to his eight-year-old daughter. That would be very difficult.

You just want to hunt this man down and cut his balls off wherever you find him. Absolutely. That's the nice side of me. Well, I don't, yeah, nobody wants to know the, the real bad side. No. Carrie said that it bothered her, that Moody was released after serving half his sentence. It was messed up. How's that even happened?

Well, because, you know, he was sentenced in the 1980s. We've talked about all that before. But from the, this viewpoint of a victim, to have someone released earlier than you think is fair, that has to be like a second violation. Oh, I bet it will feel like that for sure. Number one, this man did something horrible to you. And now he's not paying for it the way that you thought he was going to. And then on top of that, he's going to be free.

So undoubtedly, your level of concern, your fear is going to go through the roof. Is there a chance that, you know, he could come after me? I mean, it's unfair to her on so many different levels. Sure is. Now, obviously, we know it's going to be unfair to many other people as well because he's out with the ability to commit additional crimes. Yeah, someone messed up on that one, letting him out. Yeah, I always feel that way too.

Now, are we saying that because we know how, you know, bad this guy was? I'm sure there are examples where people are let out early and they don't do anything. But I think when you've done that to people as young as he did, getting out early is a tough pill to swallow. Kerry said he should have served at least 29 years. The fact he got off at all was insane. Our system is broken. Nobody should get a second chance to hurt a child. And I'll be honest with you, it's hard for me to argue.

against what she said. I get it, you know, throughout history, right? There have been maximum sentences for different crimes. They've changed over the year. Sure they have. I don't know what's worse than hurting a child, especially one as young as eight years old, whether it's murder, sexual assault, anything. I don't know how many second chances you should get. Zero. According to WBTW, Moody was eventually cleared when nothing of evidentiary value was found inside his residence at the Sunset Lodge. So there's no question, right, as to why police would look at this guy. I mean, look at his rap sheet. Look what he was in prison for.

Yeah. He has to be a person of interest. Now, it sounds like, you know, eventually he's eliminated, but only because they disqualify. They just couldn't find anything. But you're right. I mean, you would have to put him at the top or near the top of the list of people to look at. In September 2012, a week before what would have been Brittany's 21st birthday, her mother sent a letter to media outlets questioning whether her friends told police everything they knew. She claimed the friends never looked for her and refused to report her missing.

And we talked about that when it came up, right? I think that's strange. Now, how good of friends were they, really? Well, when you hear something like this, for me, I'm thinking probably not that great of friends. But you can understand why Don would question their actions. Brittany's disappearance remained unsolved, but law enforcement and her family never gave up their search for answers. At one point, Don believed Britney was abducted in traffic. She told myori news that she thought Britney disobeyed them and went to Myrtle Beach because she was promised something by somebody.

That can be the case sometimes. Don said at the time of Britney's disappearance, her mental stability wasn't good. I was losing my home. My ex-husband had moved out and we were going through a divorce. She wanted security and stability. Maybe a modeling job. She always wanted to model. Girls can be lured.

Maybe they were grooming her. I don't think it's far-fetched. She was attractive young girl. She was. If you look at her picture, she was very cute. And then somebody talks her up and says, come down here. I can put you to work.

Make some good money. You can be on your own, possibly. And some of that could have been appealing for her, especially knowing what was going on at home and all of that. In May 2014, South Carolina authorities searched a new area in connection with the case. New technology made additional cell phone data available, leading to the expanded search area,

but nothing new was found. And man, how many times do we hear that in an unsolved case? Yeah, too many times. Oh, we got this great new lead, we check it out, but nothing was found. In June 2016, the FBI announced their belief that Brittany was kidnapped, taken to the McClellanville area, and held against her will for days before being killed.

The agency announced a $25,000 reward, and this marked the first time. Authorities publicly said they thought Britney was murdered. No specifics were mentioned, but authorities said they pursued leads across the country and knew someone had the information they needed. In August 2016, the Charleston Post and Courier named 26-year-old Timothy Deshaun Taylor as the man who might have been involved in Brittany's murder. A prison informant told the FBI that Deshaun Taylor held, raped, and killed Brittany before disposing of her body in an alligator infested swamp.

And that would be horrible all the way. around for sure right to be held against your will to be raped to be killed and then thrown to the gator disson taylor is the son of timothy shan taylor who was accused of kidnapping in 2010 deshaun taylor was arrested weeks later on an unrelated robbery charge his attorney claimed he was interrogated about the drexel case and the robbery charges were a smokescreen to squeeze him into cooperating with the Drexel investigation. Taylor had already been prosecuted for this robbery. On September 3, 2011, Taylor was arrested for his involvement in a robbery of a local McDonald's

in which the manager was shot. He was accused of being the getaway driver. He pleaded guilty on July 29, 2013, and completed his probationary sentence. But on June 21st, 2016, the federal government filed an indictment, charging him with conspiracy to commit armed robbery for the same robbery. So I get it. I get why,

you know, the defense would say, hey, this is, you know, BS. They're just charging him to get him to cooperate with the, the Brittany Drexel investigation.

And maybe that is true. Yeah, it could be. Now, wouldn't be the first time. No. And you can also make the argument meant that if you're the getaway driver in a robbery where someone gets shot,

you shouldn't get only probation. In August 2016, an FBI agent testified that eyewitnesses said Brittany Drexel was taken to a stash house in McClellanville, where she was raped and shot after trying to escape. The FBI named inmate Tiquan Brown. As the eyewitness, Brown claimed that Taylor and others, sexually abused Brittany, he saw Brittany try to run from the house. She was pistol whipped and taken back inside. He later heard two gunshots and assumed Britney was shot.

Several witnesses told them Britney's body was thrown into an alligator pit. Based on Brown's statement, the FBI alleged in court testimony that Deshaun Taylor and his father, Timothy Sean Taylor, were both involved in Britney's disappearance. the FBI alleged that Deshawn brought Brittany from Myrtle Beach to McClellanville. And we mentioned it, right? Brittany's phone last pinged in McClellanville where Deshawn's family lives. So, all right, you have this guy to Sean Taylor. Obviously, it was not a great guy.

He was involved in a robbery and where some guy got shot. But I will say, he has a bunch of people coming out against him as I eyewitnesses, which authorities seem to be taking very, very seriously. Obviously, it all comes down to whether these people are telling the truth or not. Prosecutors asked for a 20-year sentence. The defense argued they were only pursuing a lengthy sentence because of a lack of closure. In the Brittany Drexel case, Chad Drexel released a statement in response to the new information, which was published by Rochester first.

I would like to set the record straight with a strong reply to Joan Taylor's comments to the post-currier in South Carolina this past Friday. Based on evidence the FBI and the Myrtle Beach Police Department is gathered, along with facts and specific information, gathered from a team of private investigators that I hired to work with local law enforcement actively during the case, which will soon come to light. we have no doubt Timothy Deshawn Taylor played a significant role in the abduction and murder of my daughter. Of course, the mother of Timothy Deshaun Taylor is going to defend her son. As a father, I can understand a need to defend your children. What I don't understand is defending your children when you must know the truth. Her assumptions and words stated have been verified and correct and couldn't be farther from the truth. We know Timothy Deshaun Taylor was witnessed by others.

Witnesses not in jail with my daughter. We're just praying that they do the right thing and step forward with what they know. Additionally, he has been seen and followed to the exact area where my daughter's DNA was found. Joan Taylor claimed that the FBI in government are falsely accusing her son because of witnesses in jail. Well, we have other specific evidence that I cannot disclose at this time for the safety of my daughter's case, which corroborates these testimonies. Timothy Deshaun Taylor is known to be involved in dogfighting, bringing drugs to parties, and raping women, mostly Caucasian young women, either picks up unwillingly or friends of friends that end up being drugged and taken there. This is only the beginning. There is a ton more evidence and horrible info.

We would like the public in that area to be aware for their safety, but we are unable to disclose at this time. Without a doubt, Timothy Deshaun Taylor is a suspect in my daughter's disappearance and murder. My family and I will be following the FBI's request to keep specific details in our daughter's case under rep until this horrible piece of trash goes to prison. for life. After the guilty verdict, we'll be happy to dispel these fairy tales that are being spun by Timothy's family. It's disgraceful. The way this family and their friends are supporting and claiming innocence of a proven felon without even looking at the evidence presented and the facts surrounding the case. Also adding this piece of trash photo so everyone can see who he is. Please keep our family and our Brittany in your prayers.

Chad Drexel, father of Brittany M. Drexel. Okay. I mean, it's a long diatriat. But I think it's important to read because of just how absolutely positive he is at this point in time that Timothy Deshaun Taylor murdered Brittany. Feels pretty solid about it. I don't think he has any doubt. based on the way that he's talking. Deshawn Taylor also released the statement,

maintaining his innocence, and claiming the FBI was given false information by an inmate desperate to make a deal. Now, that's not too surprising. We've talked about this so many times. Yeah, the fact that someone comes forward with information, but they're getting something out of it. Now, that doesn't necessarily mean the information is bad,

but it could mean that because they have a very real incentive for coming forward with anything. Yeah, I think you just have to be really careful and really try to vet that out, which is probably not going to be too easy. Deshawn went on to say, I had no involvement with anything to do with Brittany Draxel. I don't know to Quan Brown. And I don't know why he would call my name. I'm being prosecuted again for a crime. I already helped himself and already did my time. time for, all because some guy in prison is trying to cut a deal. It's not fair to be charged for the same

crime twice, and that's not how our system is supposed to work. In September 2016, Chad Drexel created a petition asking a grand jury to validate or discredit eyewitness claims and called for Taylor and his father to be indicted. In late October 2016, Deshaun Taylor sat down for an interview with News 10 NBC and maintained his innocence, claiming he'd never even met Britney Drexel. He denied other allegations made by federal authorities and claimed he had an alibi. He was a teenager. Still in school at the time of Britney's disappearance, he said he provided proof to authorities and took a polygraph, the results of which showed everything was okay.

He cooperated with the FBI. during his initial questioning several years earlier and was only contacted again in 2016. Deshaun said, it seems to me that they're just trying to find someone to arrest or someone to try and arrest to get the case over with solved and closed. That's what it seems like to me. He also told News 10 NBC that he never met to Quan Brown. He insisted his father was not involved either and accused Brown of lying to make a deal. So Chad Drexel is adamant, right, that Deshaun Taylor had something to do with Britney's disappearance. Deshaun is adamant that he didn't.

Right. Who's telling the truth? Well, at that time, I think a lot of people reciting with Chad. Oh, absolutely. But to me, again, it all comes down to the veracity of these people, these so-called eyewitnesses, right? especially the ones who are trying to make a deal. Are they credible? Is the information credible?

Or are they just saying anything to try to get a reduced sentence? Because we know it does happen. News 10 NBC asked Deshawn about the allegation from Chad Drexel that they met when he was passing out flyers in McClellanville. And Deshawn allegedly laughed at him. Others had corroborated this account. Deshawn said he did not remember meeting Mr. Drexel or receiving a flyer from him.

And obviously, if that happened, that doesn't make him look good, right? If others are corroborating that he laughed at the father of this missing girl, at the very least, it shows a callousness. Sure does. In March 2017, investigators searched a property outside Georgetown. The FBI said the search was linked to Brittany's case, but didn't provide further information. investigators said they made some progress but did not elaborate. And for me, that's the really frustrating thing about these unsolved cases.

Right. You get a little bit of information, but not enough to really understand what's going on or what it means. It's like a little teaser. Yes, that's all it is. A federal court reinstated Deshaun Taylor's bonds, but he was arrested for violating the terms of his bail by crossing county lines in November. 2017. Not a smart thing to do. No. In March 2018, federal prosecutors revealed that Taylor failed the polygraph administered in June 2017 regarding the Drexel case. And you mentioned, you know,

where people are siding. I mean, here's just another thing that are going to make people side against Deshaun Taylor. Okay, he failed a polygraph. Yeah. He's got to be guilty. He has to be. Per the sentencing memo, if Taylor agreed to share truthful, substantial assistance to law enforcement regarding cases, including the Drexel case, he would get a lighter sentence. So he was offered a deal, right? A plea deal.

Plead guilty, help us clear up some cases, and you'll get a lighter sentence. Taylor initially agreed and met for a polygraph. The court document also shows the questions he was asked. that led him to failing a polygraph, he confirmed he never saw Brittany in person and only saw pictures of her in the news. He did tell the FBI he overheard an argument between two people about a time when one of those individuals was accused of having Brittany's cell phone. He told the FBI he thought the argument was suspicious. He answered no to the questions, do you know for sure who was involved in the disappearance of Brittany Drexel,

and did you ever see Brittany Drexel in person? An FBI agent told him he was being deceptive. And, you know, to me, those are two questions that if you were lying about when you answered no, it would make you look fairly guilty. Sure, not good. I mean, you better be sure that no one can put you at a place or you would have seen her in person.

Yeah, but I think he's got a lot of people saying he's doing a lot of things. Now, whether they're being truthful or not, that's the question. Taylor was given the chance to meet with his lawyer. The lawyer agreed he failed the test, but allowed the agent to continue. Taylor became belligerent, which ended the discussion. In December 2019, Taylor was sentenced to time served after spending 319 days in jail. awaiting his trial for federal armed robbery. I mean, so he wasn't a great guy.

No, but we also find out that he was a juvenile, right, at the time of this armed robbery, which does kind of make more sense as to why he probably got probation, right, for being the getaway driver. It wasn't a good thing to do. Don't get me wrong. But the federal government coming back, right, later on, and basically, charging him again for the same crime. Now it was different charges,

you can make the argument of whether that's right or wrong. And maybe it did have something to do with, you know, kind of putting pressure on him to cooperate. In the Brittany Drexel case, he's got these very serious charges hanging over his head. But he did spend almost a year in jail. I think it would have been pretty scary sitting in jail knowing that you were being looked at for this case.

For Brittany, this case? Yeah. And you've got these people coming out against you. Now you're saying they're not telling the truth. They're only doing it to get a deal. But yeah, you're caught up in the machinery of the system. So it's going to be scary. Meanwhile, you have the federal government coming after you,

which is always scary too. We know what kind of power they have. But I think that's a good place to end it for part one, because we have a lot more to cover in part two. But, you know, as we wrap up the first part, you know, we have a 17-year-old girl in Brittany Drexel who, you know, let's face it, did lie to her mom. She wanted to go on this trip.

So she came up with a ruse where her mom would think she was still in New York at somebody else's lake. house, meanwhile, she's hanging out, having fun in Myrtle Beach. Again, all of us have done something similar, maybe not to that extent where we're 800 miles away, but, you know, most of us when we were younger told some white lives about where we were, where we were going to be and what we were going to be doing. You have authorities throughout the years coming out and saying that, you know, they have or they are looking at some persons of interest. And then you have this guy,

Deshawn Taylor, who they're really looking at. And Brittany's dad is convinced, is behind her disappearance and whatever happened. I mean, very solidly behind that. Oh, yeah.

I mean, I think you can tell from that letter, he called the guy a piece of trash and basically came out and said, you know, we have proof. Can't tell you what it is. but we have a lot of proof that we'll show he was involved. Now, was he?

We'll find out in part two. Exactly. But that's it for our first part on Brittany Drexel. You know, it was a pretty infamous unsolved case, even when we did it back in 2019. Obviously, when it was solved, it got reignited in the news and became front page. news again. Like all unsolved cases, it was very sad, you know, as we went through it. And I know it had a lot of

chatter out there on social media. I can only imagine what that chatter looked like once it finally got solved. Yeah. Yeah. But we'll talk about that in part two. Like I said, you know, in between parts one and two, it might be kind of fun to go back and listen to the unsolved episode of it. It's episode 139. if you want to check that out. But we got a voicemail Gibbs. You want to check that out? Yeah, let's hear it. Hey, Mike and Gibby.

This is Aaron calling from Fair Haven, Massachusetts. I had invited you both to my wedding last month. Now, Mike, I know you weren't leaving the basement, but there was a guy in the back of the church wearing traps, a cowboy hat, and had a cabar on his hip. So I'm pretty sure Rex West made an appearance. Anyway, I'm listening to the Marie-Robbles episode. And, Givie, you really asked Mike if he knew Stacy's mom,

like, Stacy's my mom. mom. Now I can't get this song out of my head. Thanks for all you guys do. Your hard work and respect that you pour into every episode is so greatly appreciated and so honorable to the victims. I just want to say, keep doing what you're doing. Happy nine year anniversary. Stay safe and keep your own time picking. Oh, that's awesome. Thank you so much for the voicemail. And congratulations. Absolutely. On the wedding. Yeah. What I will say, and I'll, I'll be truthful about this. What people didn't hear was after that, I had to ask you what you were talking about because I didn't get it. I know.

And so it would have made for very bad podcasting. Yes. And so I had to cut it. And I cut it to the point where I just left it there hanging. Yeah. Hoping that some people were going to understand what you meant. And obviously a lot of people probably did. But I didn't get it.

So it didn't go anywhere because of me, not catching on. Like most things. Like a lot of things. It goes right over my head. Exactly. Because I'm not in MENSA. No. And I'm not smart enough to get these very obscure references that you so wittingly, you know,

drop out there. It is interesting. She caught me at the back of the church. Mm-hmm. Now, I was going to say. The only way to prove for sure is to answer the question, were there, was there anything on under the chaps? Because if there was, that's probably not Rex.

Probably not. I like to go bareback. Okay. I don't know if that's exactly the word you meant, but hey, we'll go with that. Yeah, I think that's a good place to end it. But might have to edit that out now that I think about it. No, I am not editing that out.

All right. That is it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.