True Crime All The Time - Brittanee Drexel Part 2

Episode Date: December 15, 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 the 2nd and final part of the case of Brittanee Drexel. In part two, we’ll learn how police used advances in technology to arrest a former person of interest finally, and how the case has unfolded in recent years. 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 464 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. And you? I'm doing great. You look good. I'm having, I look good.

I'm having a good week. I appreciate the compliment though. Yeah. I don't get a lot of those. No, you don't. Well, because there's not a lot of people here to give me compliments. That's true. Again, I'm just reading off the cue card you had here.

This is what Gibby is supposed to say. Yeah. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had us still a Gilbert. Hey, Gilbert. You know, that's part of the Gibson clan. Is it? Yeah, it's actually Gibbert.

Oh, okay. You said it wrong, but I didn't want to correct you, but... I got you. Gibbert. Hey, Gibbert. All right. I don't know where you're getting that from, but... Out of my, you know why.

Tracy Fickner jumped out at our highest level. Oh, thanks, Fickner. Jen Thurmer. A, Thirmer. DeVina Bruce. Oh, thanks, DeVina. Dale Witten. What's going on, Dale?

Backgirl 138. Ah, where's Robin at? A. Well, A to you too. Just a A. Yeah. Brock Hall jumped out at our highest level. Oh, thanks, Brock.

Estefania. Hey, Estefana. Kristen Murphy. What's going on? And last for not least, Marsha, Ianacon. Ianacon. Or Ianacone. It could be either one.

It could be a can of corn. It could not be can of corn. Is that what you just? No, can't a copier. What? And if we go back into the vault. This week, we selected Nicholas Isby. Well, thank you, Izby.

Yeah, appreciate all the support that we get. We do. So, Gibbs, we have an episode out right now on true crime all the time on salt. We're talking about 18-year-old Andre Jones from Jackson, Mississippi. He was arrested at a sobriety checkpoint. Just days before he was supposed to start his freshman. year of college. And then not long after his arrest, he was found hanging in a prison shower. This is one of those cases where, you know, the authorities kind of have their official theory,

but the family doesn't buy it. They don't believe it at all. They believe, you know, this was a lynching disguised as a suicide. That's true. That's what they believe. So make sure you check that out. All right. Are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? I am. We're on to the second and final part on Brittany Drexel in part one. We covered Brittany's trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, who she spent her final days with and the early suspects in the investigation. And, you know, there's no doubt.

She, you know, kind of tried to pull the wool over her mom's eyes, right? She really wanted to go on this trip. And so she came up with a story. that she was staying at a friend's lake house, but in reality, she was in Myrtle Beach. And we've all been there before. Yeah. A lot of us have, I would say most of us have done something. Maybe, like you said, maybe not to this level.

Yeah. But something along these lines. If you've been a parent long enough, you probably had something like this similar, pulled on you. That you may not learn about until your kids are full grown. adults. And they feel comfortable now telling you. Yes. My daughter, my oldest daughter has made some revelations that are shocking to my wife and I. You're like, who are you? Yes, exactly. So in part two, you know, we're going to talk about how police used advances in technology to make an arrest.

And also how the case has unfolded in recent years, because there's a lot going on. On May 4th, 22, authorities arrested 62-year-old Raymond Moody on an obstruction charge. Authorities confirmed his arrest on May 10th. And we talked about Moody, you know, quite a bit. In episode one, documents listed Moody's offense date as the same day that Brittany went missing. He was granted Bond that day, but remained in detention. On May 11th, Brittany's remains were found in a wooded area along Old Town Avenue and Harmony Township, the property is located near a subdivision that was in its early stages and mostly undeveloped at the time of Brittany's disappearance. She was found about two and a half miles from the motel where Raymond Moody was living at the time. Authorities announced the discovery

of the remains on May 16th after they were identified through dental records. And I just want to go back and kind of talk about the roller coaster that, you know, her family was on this entire time. And now all of a sudden, okay, you've got somebody arrested and then they find her remains. I mean, it's just a lot to process. It is. I can't imagine going through that. I hope I never have to. I wish nobody had to, but obviously it does happen.

Raymond Moody was charged with murder, kidnapping, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Warren stated that Moody allegedly caused Brittany's death by manual strangulation and sexually battered, Brittany. According to the prosecutor, evidence showed Brittany was raped and killed at the Santy River, and her body was taken to Old Town Avenue. And, you know, that's the other thing, right? The family, you're dealing with. the fact that it's confirmed your daughter is no longer alive right probably something that went through people's heads i'm i'm sure it has to as time goes by but then you have to learn all of the

sorted details all the horrific stuff and that's got to be just brutal yeah and then you know even worse when you get to court because it is going to be very in depth there could be photographs. You're going to have people talking. Explicit details. Yes. And in graphic detail about what happened to your dog. I think it would be so hard to sit there and just listen to that. Well, I think a lot of family members get up at certain points if they're showing, you know, very graphic photographs and things like that. And I don't blame them one bit. That would be extremely tough to take. On May 18th, authorities announced that Raymond Moody had, confess to the murder, Moody had an interview with investigators on May 5th and admitted what he did

and he was the one who actually led investigators to Brittany's body. Prosecutor Jimmy Richardson said Moody was the only suspect in that his arrest for obstructing justice was a way to get him locked up. They knew he did it, but they wanted to be able to prove it. After the body was found, News 13 asked the FBI, for a statement regarding the alligator pit allegations and whether Deshaun Taylor was still connected. And this is fascinating. We spent quite a bit of time in episode one talking about it. How many different people came forward and implicated this Deshawn Taylor? Oh, several. Said that there was an alligator pit involved and that's where, you know, Brittany's body was disposed.

stuff. Well, obviously, once Moody confesses and leads them to her body, all of that pretty much is debunked. Yeah, it gets kind of tossed out the window, doesn't it? The FBI responded with the following. Throughout the investigation, law enforcement followed multiple leads to wherever they let us based on the information we had at the time. We have an obligation to follow leads to their conclusion. The person we believe is responsible for Brittany's murder has been charged. So they're not coming out in saying, we now know Deshaun Taylor wasn't involved, but you can read between the lines. Later that month, the Georgetown County Corner said Britney's cause of death was undetermined.

Manual strangulation couldn't be confirmed due to the condition of the remains. And unfortunately, that's something that, you know, we see quite. a bit. Depending on how long it takes to find somebody's remains, there is a good chance. The longer it goes on, the less is going to be able to be determined. If you just have skeletal remains, yeah, you can look for a fracture in the hyoid bone. You can look for nicks, let's say, from a knife on bone. But if you don't find any of those things, things pretty hard to figure out. I mean, obviously, you're not seeing a bullet hole in the skull. Right, right. Without those type of things makes it pretty tough. Pretty much just speculation.

Yeah, to be 100% certain, right, how a person died. On October 19th, 2022, Raymond Moody pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping, and first degree criminal sexual conduct. He was given a life sentence for murder in 30 years each for the other charges. The obstruction charge was dropped at sentencing. Well, they had them on everything else. I think obstruction at that point, you know, yeah, we'll let that one go because we got you. Exactly. Moody said, as quoted by WBTW, I was a monster.

And I took Brittany Drexel's life and I don't have the words to express how horrible I feel and how I felt ever since that day. And I'm very sorry. Well, you're a monster. That part is undeniably true. He took Brittany Drexel's life. That part is true. Is he really sorry?

You know, I mentioned on Patreon, the fact that I'm watching this show, signs of a psychopath. And, you know, they really go into great detail, analyzing people's words, things like, that. Yeah, it's hard for me to really believe people are sorry at this point. But I do think,

occasionally, for whatever reason, people come around and realize what they did was extremely wrong. And they see it and they know. And I believe they are sorry. Yeah, I'm sure it does happen. It's really hard to tell, though, you know, is it for show because you want people to believe you're sorry, or are you just sorry that you got caught? So technically you really are sorry. Yeah. But you're not sorry for what you did. You're sorry for where you are and where you ended up. Yeah. In his statement, Chad Drexel described Brittany as very strong-willed and strong-minded. She was the leader among her friends and she liked to have the spotlight on her. The family suffered years of torture. After she went missing, Drexel called Moody a.

perverted sick monster. Spot on. Yeah, it's kind of hard to argue with that description. Brittany's mother, Don, said, you are a disgrace to your parents, to your own children, to your family, and any friends you have left. You are a serial rapist and child predator. You should be ashamed of your actions, especially having three daughters of your own. The criminal justice system has failed my daughter as it continues to fail so many other victims. And frankly, Mr. Moody, it failed you because you never should have been released from prison. You should have served the full 40-year sentence.

But you walked after only serving 20 years and returned to your wicked ways. And my daughter paid for that with her own life. Wow. What she said was spot on. Well, you know, this is that argument or debate that a lot of people have. You and I have it. You know, when somebody gets a sentence and they're let out early, which happens all the time, just because you get 40 or 50 years doesn't mean you're not eligible for parole at 20 or 25.

Yeah. And if you're good in prison and you do what you're supposed to do, okay, you could get let out. But when those people go on to do despicable acts, I think it's very easy to look back and say, well, they never should have been let out. That's true. It's very easy. Yes. But there are people who are let out who lead productive lives and never do anything. So, you know, how do you make the decision? That's tough because that's a fair debate.

It just makes me always wonder when these guys that do these terrible things, to young women, when they have daughters around the same age. Yeah. That is tough, right? because you would think being as being dads of daughters ourselves you treasure them their life is you know i'd put my own life ahead of my daughters how could you go out and then take away somebody else's daughter yeah and that it's just hard to understand but like we always say right how do you if you could understand it what does that say about you you know

You're exactly right. You can't get, you can try, you can discuss it, but you can't really be in the side of the minds of these people because if you thought that way, that would say something really bad about you. At the sentencing hearing, prosecutors laid out how investigators linked Moody to Brittany's murder. And, you know, we talked about this in part one. Moody was initially cleared when nothing of evidentiary value was found in. inside his residence at the sunset launch during the 2011 search. But he was high on their radar, right? Moody was as a suspect.

It wasn't until the spring of 2022 with the help of improved cell phone tracking technology that investigators built a case against Moody's longtime girlfriend, Angel Voss, and then got Moody to take responsibility. In 2019 and 2020, investigators took a fresh look at surveillance footage from Ocean Boulevard and data from Brittany's phone. They tracked Britney's movements by matching surveillance footage with cell tower pings. Her phone was moving at walking speed, but then began moving at a speed up 55 miles per hour, indicating she had gotten into a vehicle. Investigators identified a one-minute wait. window of when she got into the car and surveillance footage showed only one vehicle passing the

location where herself last pinged at a walking speed. It's amazing what technology can do. Yeah. I mean, you think about not having this early on in the investigation or not being able to be used this way. Right. And then as in all the cases that we talk about, right, technology just continues to advance. in leaps and bounds.

But this one is really fascinating. You know, cell phone tower pings with her route and knowing, you know, within a 60-second window, let's say, when she stopped the walking speed and the driving speed started. And then to go back and find that exact time and, surveillance footage is just amazing. I think it's just shows you how far we've come. I kind of feel like it's that, and I think I've mentioned this in the past,

that Tom Cruise movie. Oh yeah, because he's only made 700 movies. You mean that one? That one. Minority report? Yes. You're moving your hands and somehow I get minority report from that.

That was a good movie. It was. I liked it. I think they remade it. I don't remember who, but they remade it. Sure. Yeah.

I don't think they did. I think they did. I don't believe so. I'm calling BS on that one. They've made a lot of, remade a lot of movies, but I don't remember them remaking that one.

If they did, I missed it. Yeah. Somebody will leave a voicemail or write in and say, Ferg, you're wrong. Gibby's right as he always is. So police were able to trace this vehicle to Moody,

who, like we said, right, it was already a person of interest. In April 2022, Angel Vos agreed to help the FBI and wear a wire while talking to Moody. There was enough evidence to charge Vaz with accessory. But they chose to focus on Moody. And that doesn't surprise me at all, right?

Accessory, not to say that that's, you know, nothing, but you want the actual murderer. And if you have to make a deal with someone on an accessory charge, well, then that's what you do, right, to get their cooperation, to get them to help you. Prosecutor Jimmy Richardson said at a news conference, per WBTW, a lot of times is law enforcement. You have to make a deal with the getaway driver to get the armed robber. I don't mean to minimize this. She's got more to do. She would have been an accessory, but we had to proffer Angel.

Prosecutors didn't believe Angel was present for the murder, but she was in the car on the way from Myrtle Beach to Georgetown County. And if you're in the car, right, when Brittany is picked up, you might not have committed the murder, but you had to have known something happened. Yeah, you are going to be associated with it for sure. Yeah. In his interview, Moody said Brittany got into the car willingly, and they drove to a campsite in Georgetown County. Prosecutors weren't able to verify this, but took his work to secure a conviction. Moody claimed that once there, they engaged in a consensual sexual act. Moody wanted to elevate the sex act, and that's when the kidnapping started.

Moody admitted to raping Brittany. Once it was over, he realized that he was. would go back to jail, so he strangled her before taking her body to another side in the county to bury it in the woods. And this is what fascinates me, right? You know, what does the perpetrator have to say? I mean, he's admitting to the murder. He's also admitting to rape. Sure is. But he's starting out the story by saying, you know, I picked her up for a ride. We had consensual sex. And then, you know, he's starting out the story. And then I wanted to elevate things. So that's when the kidnapping occurred. You know, if I'm a juror, I don't know if I'm buying that at all. I'm saying BS all the way from the beginning.

On the consensual part. Absolutely. Of things. Richardson said at the press conference, I don't believe everything that Moody said. But after 13 years, you've got to take what he said, corroborate what you can. It was enough to get rape, murder and kidnapping because we could corroborate a lot of his story. So I think he's kind of getting at what we were saying. You know, maybe they don't believe the consensual part of it, but it's not going to really matter when it comes down to the convictions. Because they have enough to go ahead and move that direction.

But this is what, you know, a lot of people like Moody do, right? You know, they tell a story, some of which. which, in this case, a lot of which implicates him in very horrific crimes, but they also try to soften parts of it. It started out as me just giving her a ride. And then, you know, we were fooling around. And then things got out of hand. When more likely than not, he only picked her up because he had this in his mind the entire time.

Yeah, it was his intention. And there was no consensual sex whatsoever. He's just saying that to make him look less like a demon. Oh, of course. Yeah. I'm not a monster. It's just things went sideways and I made some mistakes. Mistakes were made.

Yeah. As they would say in call of duty, when you accidentally forget to throw the grenade and blow yourself up. Oh. It says mistakes were made. That was definitely a mistake. Later that month, prosecutors realized. released Moody's confession interview. He described how he was driving down Ocean Boulevard, smoking marijuana when he encountered Brittany, who commented that the marijuana smelled good.

He offered her some. They chatted a little, and he was surprised when she got in the car. Her phone kept going off while they were in the car, but he never told her she couldn't answer it. They drove to a campground. As stated by Moody, I made her take her clothes off. She was cooperative, but it was against her will. I started strangling her. I was in a panic. I didn't know what to do. How do you be cooperative about taking your clothes off, but against your will at the same time?

Well, the only thing that I can think of, because that didn't make sense to me either, was that he's ordering her to do this. There's probably some threat behind it. and she's cooperating because she doesn't want to be hurt or killed. Maybe that's what he was saying, but not cooperative in that she wanted to have some, you know, sexual encounter with this nasty man.

Yeah, because remember he said at first it was consensual sex and I'm thinking, what part of consensual is in that statement? Doesn't sound consensual at all. Not at all. And that's part of the reason why, think that was BS. He said, I was scared and she was scared. When asked what caused things to go wrong, he said nothing. It was just my mind. You know, I'm sorry, but screw him to say, I was scared

and she was scared. No, she was scared because what you were doing, what were you scared about? Yeah, screw him. Yeah. I like that. I like that. Because, again, is this just part of, you know, a sociopath, a psychopath, whatever this person may be, you know, they tell these stories. And they sprinkle in parts to make them look better to kind of humanize them when in fact, they're, they're monsters. You know, I was scared. She was scared. You're the one doing all this.

Yeah. Nobody would have been scared, right? Exactly. It seems like he's just looking for sympathy. You know, it's just a piece of shit at the end of the day. But that's what a lot of these people do. He strangled Brittany before she had a chance to escape saying, I was all shook up because of what had happened. And the other thing is, it's all about him, right?

I was scared. I was all shook up. Yeah. Me, me, me, as opposed to how's this poor girl feeling as I'm doing these terrible things to her? Such a narcissist. He said he didn't plan to hurt. but it, quote, just happened. Well, it's going to happen when you put your hands around somebody's neck and keep squeezing.

He said he left her under a tree, but returned and took it to the location where it was found. Yeah, let's go back to that. It just happened. I mean, that's such a cop-out thing to say to me. It just happened. You hear people say that when they cheat. You know, it just happened. Yeah.

Yeah, there's a lot of things involved in. in that happening. Exactly. You know, if I fall down, okay, well, that just happened. I didn't plan it. You know, there wasn't a lot involved in it. I tripped or whatever. But all these other things,

you're talking about picking someone up and killing them and or, you know, having an affair or things. Those things don't just happen. There's thoughts involved. Yeah. There's planning in some cases. There's thoughts. There's actions.

There's probably all kinds of different points in time where you could make a different decision, but you choose not to. When Moody's girlfriend, Angel, returned to the campsite, he made up an excuse that Brittany had called her friends and suggested they not camp there. He was unable to sleep and returned to the crime scene and buried the body in another location. Moody said about the exact location of the body, she's about four feet down. He said he got rid of his clothing and put Britney's in a donation box.

He threw her phone into the river, but kept her high school ID for a while before getting rid of it too. Well, that sounds like one of his trophies. Yeah. So did it just happen? Because now you're keeping trophies. You're probably pulling out this ID. You're reliving what you have done. Exactly.

This doesn't sound. in any way like something that, quote, just happened. He thought his time in prison had changed him, but it didn't. Moody said, I wish I was different, but I wasn't. Okay. That might be a true statement. He might have wished he was different. In January 2023, Brittany's mother, Don, filed a civil suit against Raymond Moody,

seeking damages for the loss of her daughter. Moody filed a handwritten response denying each and every question and statement listed in the requests for admission. Because he's so sorry for what he did. One question I had Gibbs is how much this guy really have? You know what? He was in prison for 20 years. Yeah. Well, whatever he has, take it all.

Yeah, I don't blame him at all. But I can't imagine this guy was swimming in money. But sometimes I also think maybe it could be some former therapy. Yeah, I don't know that it's all about the money ever. I think some of it is just how can I get back at this person in any and every way that is possible. And this is one that was possible. In November 2023, Brittany's estate sued Moody and the Bar Harbor Resort, where Brittany stayed with friends, Brittany's family previously said she was staying at the hotel.

Without her parents' permission, the resort denied the allegations in the lawsuit, saying Brittany was never a registered guest and might have been friends with another guest at the resort. So that's an interesting case because obviously, you know, she wasn't an adult. She could not rent a hotel room. Right. Right. by herself. But if she's crashing with other people who had rented, one of which, let's say, had rented the room, how would the hotel even know about it? Yeah, I think it'd be difficult,

but I think if you're going to hire an attorney, the attorney's going to say, let's line them all up and see where it sticks. Yeah, go after everybody. In March 24, Timothy Deshaun Taylor filed a federal abuse of power suit, claiming false narratives pushed by the FBI caused irreversible emotional strength. Taylor's team reiterated that he was innocent and said that Taylor, who was 16, was in class at the time of the crime. Deshawn's mother, Joan, said, is quoted by WBTW for over a decade. My son and his father were relentlessly pursued for a crime that federal law enforcement officials knew. Neither of them committed because they had evidence to the contrary. Their illegitimate investigation wreaked havoc on our lives and we demand answers from those responsible.

Our family deserves a public apology and my son deserves for the public to know his name without any association to Brittany Drexel. So, you know, again, we did talk about Deshawn. I don't know if he was a squeaky clean guy, but at 16 years old, to be thought of as the murderer of Britney Drexel. Yeah, I would say that's going to do some irreparable harm to someone. It's going to be tough to reverse some of that. Hence the irreparable. Exactly. I think the problem in some of those types of cases is how do you measure that? Oh man, it'd be so hard. And so how do you quantify it?

And if a jury does, you know, find in your favor, what's the formula? You know, in a lot of states, there's a formula for wrongful convictions. It's based on how many years you spent in prison. A lot of times it's like a very low amount, $20,000 a year or something like that. You're telling me, okay, I spent 20 years in prison, you're going to give me $400,000? Right. Thanks, but I'll take it. I'll take it. But 20 years in prison is in no way worth $400K. 400K is a lot of money. Don't get me wrong. Yeah, yeah, but not for what you endured. Not for giving up 20 years of your life. I just, you know, we had conversations like this

in the past where someone has looked heavily as the main person of interest or suspect. And then they later found out they had nothing to do with it. But, in the eyes of the public, unless they read the story that's buried further back in the paper or today, if they go out on the internet and search it, they're just going to remember what they remember last time they saw something.

They're going to think, oh, that's that guy that did that thing. He's a bad person. But even if every single person knew that he now wasn't involved, there was 13 years. Yeah. or however many years of him from age 16 to let's say 29, almost 30 years old, how much did that alter his life? And you have to think it was pretty great.

Yeah, I think it had definitely had a major impact. In March 2024, Angel Vos was indicted on three counts of line to federal investigators. In May 22, Angel told an FBI agent, she went home to retrieve key. from a truck ring while Brittany was being assaulted and killed. However, she was going somewhere else for a very different reason. She also said that Brittany had her cell phone with her the entire time when it was proven that Angel had the phone and disposed of it somewhere between Georgetown and Charleston.

She also insisted that Brittany got into the car voluntarily to consume marijuana and cocaine, but this was a lot. On May 27th, Angel was granted a $10,000 bond. On July 24th, 2012, Angel agreed to plead guilty to two counts of making false statements to federal agents, each carrying a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. hefty. Yeah. I mean, you know, you told some really big lies, right?

It's not good to lie, but there are little white. lies that don't really hurt anyone, right? Sometimes we lie to our kids about certain things. Maybe we shouldn't do that, but we do. Right. There's no more cookies left. There are cookies left. I just don't want you to have any of the cookies. What I meant to say, there's no more cookies left on that shelf in that pantry that you're looking at right now. But some lies are huge. I mean, if you're misdirecting federal investigators in, during, you know, this search for a murderer, okay, that's a big deal. On August 15th, the planned date of sentencing. Both sides agreed to a 10-day continuance

after the penalty was upgraded to a maximum of eight years for each count. Prosecutors said they were preparing for trial and considering all options, including potentially seeking a superseding indictment, to include a federal Kidnapping charge. I'm sure things got real scary. Well, you know, eight years on each of those is no joke, but federal kidnapping is going to be a heck of a lot. Absolutely. But on August 27th, Angel rejected the plea deal.

Days later on September 9th, Angel Vaz pleaded guilty to all three counts of making a false statement to federal agents concerning where she was. the night Raymond Moody abducted, raped, and murdered Brittany. She admitted for the first time that her story about her encounter with Brittany on April 25th, 2009 was a lot. And I'm sure we'll probably get into it more, but just on the surface, it looks like she really took the incorrect route here. Yeah, because three counts at potentially eight years apiece. Versus two. She could have pled guilty. They wanted her to plead guilty to two counts.

It ended up being three counts. Sentencing documents released in January 2025 shed more life on the roles Angel and Raymond Moody played in the murder and laid out Moody's history as a sexual predator in California. The following details were published by WBTW during a 2024 jail interview with the FBI. Moody explained in detail. What happened the night Brittany was kidnapped, he said, we were hunting. Referring to his and Angel's plan to abduct a girl, take her to a tent they had set up in Georgetown, and rape her. Moody and Angel drove up and down Ocean Boulevard.

They passed Brittany at least twice. Moody said, I had my eye on her, and I thought, she's the one. They encountered her again. Moody was driving, but it was Angel, who got out. to talk to her and kind of soften her up a little bit. Maybe trust them. There's two things here that are really scary to me. The first is that you have people out hunting.

That's just a scary thought. It is. In general. Now, we know people are out hunting all the time. Sure. The second really scary part of this is Angel being involved. Yeah. Because, you know, my thought is most,

likely if Brittany sees Moody, you know, in the vehicle by himself. She probably no way gets in. Yeah, she passes on. Probably. But you have a woman get out. Hey, do you need a ride? We'll help you out. There is likely to be a little more trust involved there. We know women can do bad things, but not as often as men, and they're not viewed typically to be as violent or especially sexually motivated in their crimes as men. Yeah, I think a woman's probably going to let her guard down a little bit more around another woman than around a man. And rightfully so.

A lot of men are scary. Angel led Brittany back to the vehicle. They told her they were tourists and learned that she was also a tourist. They offered to drop her off at her hotel. But instead, Moody turned off the boulevard and pretended to be lost. He stopped driving after crossing Kings Highway, saying he needed to change drivers. He planned to get into the backseat to restrain Brittany, but the door was locked. So he entered the passenger side front door.

Before Angel put the vehicle in reverse, Moody drove into the backseat and restrained Brittany. He told her not to panic because he killed. kidnaps girls, demands a $5,000 ransom, and returns them. He handcuffed Brittany either in the vehicle or at the pole yard boat landing, where their tent was located. They walked in the woods to the tent before Angel left to get the keys to their apartment. And this is such a scary situation to think that, you know, Brittany was in. Yeah, absolutely.

She's thinking she's getting a ride from this couple, you know, Her mom said it, right? She didn't like to walk. Now, could she have been tempted maybe by drugs? Maybe. I don't know. That wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. But this thought that all of a sudden this man is diving back on you, restraining you, handcuffing you.

That is so scary. And as you're walking into the woods, how terrified must she have been? Yeah, I cannot even imagine. Moody previously lied to FBI agents and said Angel was going to get drugs from the apartment. He also believed she went to get the keys from her son in Georgetown. The sentencing documents indicated their plan all along was to have sex together with Drexel. Angel even told Moody not to have sex with Brittany until she got back. After Angel came back later that night, Moody left with Brittany still in handcuffs.

The plan was to get sex toys from their apartment. When he returned, he raped Brittany with Angel present in the tent. But she did not take part in the rape. And I think, you know, what some of his statements do, if true, right, you have to always say that, they definitely signify more involvement on the part of Angel. Yes. than what I think she had previously admitted to. It also confirms that Moody was a bigger piece of shit

because he even lied about some other aspects of it, right? I mean, he kept on changing his story, and then he finally said, well, I did rape her. You hear this story, you're like, there's no consent. Oh, no, no part of that. And I didn't feel that was true from the very beginning. but I think it's very obvious now that none of this was consensual other than maybe her getting in the van under false pretences. I don't think they grabbed her off the street and threw her in

the van, but she thought maybe she was getting a ride or whatever. Everything after that, there was no consent whatsoever. And it was all, you know, just one horrible, despicable act. action after another. Moody told investigators he couldn't have an orgasm because he was thinking about having to murder Brittany after the rape. Angel didn't know he intended to kill her. He strangled Britney with a yellow nylon rope and choked her with the rope to make sure she was dead. He stabbed her in the heart with an ice pick before carrying her to the river and placing her face down in shallow water. He later took her body to the boat landing and put her under a tree before returning to the tent. They packed up their belongings in a vehicle.

I mean, what did she think was going to happen after they raped her? You mean Angel? Yeah. Yeah, it's a good question. You can't imagine that she thought they were just going to let Brittany go, right? Having seen their faces uncovered, her having been raped. and the natural thought would be that she's going to go straight to police. And she's going to know what we look like.

She's going to know what our vehicle looks like. She might even know the license plate number. So I get it when he says, okay, like maybe he didn't tell Angel he intended to kill her. Yeah. But back to your question, what did she think was going to happen? I mean, there's no doubt to me that Angel was a heck of a lot more. involved in this than she initially led on. For sure. They drove north to Georgetown and drove across a bridge before stopping and leaving

their explorer. They drove back to the boat landing in Moody's truck, stopping along the way to get a shovel to bury the body. With Brittany's body in the truck, they drove to their apartment at the sunset lodge and went to sleep. And that seems extremely brazen. You're just going to leave the body in your truck. You just did this horrific thing. And like you said, you're okay? Just leaving her in the truck like that? Yeah, and I don't have all the details.

You know, maybe she was in the bed. The bed was covered. Nobody could see. But it still does seem strange. At the very least, it's very callous, right? You're just going to go to sleep with a dead body in your truck. Angel told Moody she was scared. He was afraid.

she wouldn't keep their secret. And so she shouldn't know where he dumped the body, so he left and went looking for a place to bury Brittany. The next day, they drove the truck to Polly's Island. To retrieve his motorcycle, he tossed the rope in shrubs before they drove to Surfside Beach where they were stopped for speeding.

Moody revealed that he feared Angel was coming apart after her FBI interview in 2022. He told Angel to tell authorities that Brittany was already gone. when they got back to the pole yard boat landing and that she used his phone to coordinate a pickup with her friends. And I would thank Gibbs for most people, it would be hard not to start to come apart after being interviewed by the FBI in connection with a horrible crime in which you know you were involved. Yeah.

It's going to be pretty intense. On February 13, 2025, Angel Vaws was sentenced to 18 years in federal prison. She received three consecutive 72-month sentences for each count of lying to federal investigators. She will have to serve three years of supervised release once she is out. And prosecutors hoped for 24 years. But the judge wasn't confident in some of the information in the pre-sentencing report because it came from Moody a known liar.

And that's always tough, right? Because, I mean, this guy has a reason to lie. I do think he told the truth about some things, but he peppered in a bunch of lies in with it in large part to make himself look a little better, soften it a little. Maybe he was also trying to protect Angel in some ways. Yeah, maybe. but, I mean, 18 years is nothing to laugh about. No, 18 years is a long time if she does that.

Now, it's consecutive, so that helps. But, you know, I'm sure she could come out early on parole or something like that. When speaking in court, Don Conley called her the angel of death. In their news release, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina wrote, according to evidence presented in court. Vaz concealed the truth of what happened to Brittany and her involvement for more than 13 years. Vaz told investigators that Brittany willingly joined her in Raymond Moody,

that she left Moody and Brittany at the pole yard boat landing near Georgetown and that she didn't take Brittany's cell phone with her, when in reality she participated in Britney's abduction and was complicit in her rape and murder. On the night of Brittany's disappearance in April 2009, Vaz assisted Moody in luring the 17-year-old into their vehicle, promising her a ride to her hotel. Vaz left Brittany alone, with Moody at the sight of her rape and murder, taking her cell phone, her only chance of survival with her.

The judge noted during the sentencing hearing that Vos was a key participant in this tragedy, facilitating the kidnapping of a child. And I think it's really hard to argue with that statement. I don't think you can. She was very involved in all of this. And she had opportunities to do the right thing. Yeah, and she didn't take any of those. No.

Judge Richard Griseld also said, as quoted by WBTW, she, Angel, had every opportunity when that boyfriend was calling every 30 seconds to say, help or call 911. He called Angel a key facilitator in this. And she takes the only means of escape. She lured this girl into a car. And from that point on, she's on a road to death. True statement, because that's what happened.

Well, you made the statement, right, that she didn't take any of the opportunities that presented themselves where, you know, she could have stopped it or helped to stop. it. And I think what the judge is pointing out is, you know, one of those or several of those. And that's when Brittany's boyfriend was calling all the time. She could have picked up the phone and said, hey, this is what's going on. Yeah. Something bad's happening. It's in help. She didn't do any of that. Angel said in court, I'm not a monster or a horrible person. I'm simply a person who became a victim early in life, my past is full of mistakes. I'm sorry for not speaking up soon. I don't know how you say you're not a monster or a horrible person for what you were part of

because you were. You could say maybe today you don't feel like you are. That's your opinion. But you definitely are a horrible person for what you put that young girl through. Yeah, it's really hard to argue that. And, you know, I, don't like the statement she made. I'm simply a person who became a victim early in life. Now, maybe she was victimized. Yeah. Many people are. Sure. But they don't go on to murder, rape or help facilitate a murder, rape. So, I mean, to me, that statement just doesn't, it doesn't garner any sympathy for what you did. Now, you can get some sympathy for being a victim. sure you can. When you're younger.

But you're not going to get any later on when you participate in something like this. No, it's not an excuse for what you've done. Angels defense attorney Charles Cochran claimed she was manipulated by Moody and had a history of domestic violence relationships. The defense noted Angel's lack of criminal history and multiple incidents of abuse from Moody. Cochran said he was always the mastermind here. We understand there's no emotional argument that will turn the tide in our direction. So I get what he's saying, right? She was abused by Moody.

You can make a possible connection that maybe she felt as though she didn't have a choice in doing this. But that's not the way it seemed to me. I get that's the way the defense attorney is trying to paint it. Sure. I mean, she had opportunities to get a hold of the authorities. Maybe she was too scared from the abuse that she has received in the past from Moody, but I still feel like she had an opportunity to end this. On February 20th, Brittany's mother met with the prosecutor,

seeking additional kidnapping charges against Angel. Authorities have never alleged that Angel was present at the remote boat landing where Brittany was raped and murdered, but they do blame her for not trying to stop it because she had Brittany's cell phone, which received nearly 30 calls that night. Don Conley said at a news conference, this is not over. I don't believe in closure. I believe in resolution.

I mean, Don is out to kick some ass and take names. Yeah, good. Or kick names and take some ass. No, I think it's the first one. However it happens. However it happens. But she, obviously, has gone through an unbelievable tragedy, but she's fighting like hell, right, Gibbs, for her daughter.

She wants these people to spend the most amount of time incarcerated as they possibly can. She also wants to hurt them in any way that she can, right? I go back to the civil suit. If there's an avenue where she can stick it to them, she's going to take that. And I don't blame her one bit. Sure, yeah. I'm sure it's not enjoyable. for her in one sense because she has to relive everything that happened in the Brittany.

Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, this is not a walk in the park, right, to go through these different trials because she has to hear the facts over and over and over. U.S. assistant attorney Woolard Holiday said attempts by the defense team to paint angels as a victim were betrayed by her attitude in a jailhouse phone call with Moody in late 2024, Holiday said Angel was very much in charge of the conversation. She was defiant. She was belligerent. She was profane.

She was not someone who seemed to be under Ray Moody's thumb. Very strong will. Now, you could also make the case that she knew there was no way he could get to her once they were both incarcerated. But, you know, you do have to take what this guy's saying. He heard all that stuff. We didn't. Yeah, you could say that.

defense was just trying to soften her up a little bit before sentencing came around. But he's seen the true nature of their relationship. Yeah, it seems that way. On February 26, 2025, jurors awarded $700 million in damages to Brittany's family in her suit against Raymond Moody. And that is a boatload of money. That is. Now, I don't know how much of any of that. Brittany's family. family will ever see. But like you said earlier, it may not be about the exact dollar amount. It may be more about, you know, just really sticking it to him in as many ways as possible. We want this guy to suffer in every way he can. He's ruined as much as they can ruin them. In March 2025, a judge dismissed Deshaun Taylor's federal abuse of power lawsuit.

And I don't really have all the facts of that. Again, there were people who came forward and said that Deshaun Taylor did this. There was the alligator pit. You know, I don't think authorities pulled this out of thin air. Yeah. Now, these people that were telling them this seemed to be lying, right? We now know that. But it could have been that they, you know, the courts felt that they were acting on this

information in doing what they did. But I still do feel very heavily for Deshaun Taylor regarding this part. There might have been other things he did in his life that I don't feel sorry about. But for being thought of as maybe one of the prime suspects in Brittany's murder for many, many years, I do feel for him regarding that. You know, as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, over a decade after she went missing, Brittany's case was finally resolved. She was kidnapped by two predators,

seeking to abduct and rape a girl from Myrtle Beach's busy Ocean Boulevard. Raymond Moody had a known history of sexual violence, and many believed that his early release was a grave error on the part of the criminal justice system. And again, as I said earlier, I think it's really easy to think that

when a person goes on to then commit other horrible crimes, right, it's kind of a no-brainer. Well, this guy shouldn't have been let out in the first place. But there are other people who, you know, do their time, get out, become productive members of society and never go on to do anything else. True.

We're not talking about it. them. We're usually talking about the ones who get out and then go on to do horrible things. So, yeah, it's real easy to say, boy, they made a big mistake. And maybe they did. Maybe the, the signs were there and they just missed them. Or maybe he had done 20 years. They felt as though he was rehabilitated. It just turns out he was not. I feel like it could be difficult managing that process. It has to be because, you know, I kind of go back to Shawshank, right? When Morgan Freeman's character, you know, went in to the parole hearing, he started saying all the stuff he had said year after year, everything he thought the parole board wanted

to hear. Yeah. Which is, I assume, what most people do, right? I'm so sorry. I'm a changed person. And then all of a sudden, he's like, you know what? you're not letting me out anyway. So he started saying a little bit more like heartfelt stuff and they let him out anyway. But you know, I kind of think, you know, to your point, it is very difficult to know,

because there's no way you can know who's going to reoffend and who's not. You can look at the signs. You can look at the reports and, you know, psychology reports and all of that. But at the end of the day, there's no way to know. It's true. Who's going to walk to straight and narrow and who's going to go on to do despicable thing? It's a sad case, right? Because a young woman, young girl, she wasn't even 18 years old, lost her life. But like I said, there are a couple of different things that are really scary. First of all, two people working in tandem to kidnap, rape and murder is always a scary thing because that's two people coming together and agreeing on doing this horrific act. It's one thing for a loner to convince themselves, hey, this is

what I should do. But now you got two people agreeing on it. Add in the fact that one of them is a woman who undoubtedly probably made it more likely. that Brittany would get in the vehicle. Sure. Brittany let her guard down more because of that. I would think so. And I think most people believe that and it's probably true. So that becomes very, very scary as well. And again, I think Angel had so much more involvement in this thing than what she cop to and really what she was convicted for.

who she was convicted of lying basically to federal investigators. I think she was way more involved and could have faced some much, much more serious charges and probably should have. I agree. But at the heart of it, Raymond Moody is like you said, a POS, a monster.

How much did he coerce Angel? That part will never know. Was there fear? Was there intimidation? But all in all, Right. Just a tragic story. It was interesting to, you know, do a T-Cat after we had done the unsolved version so many years ago. Oh, yeah. To see it come full circle and be solved is kind of amazing. It's what we hope for all the unsolved. Now, we know they're not all going to be solved, but more and more of them are being solved, which is awesome. Oh, I think it's amazing because, you know, as we talked earlier, the technology behind everything that's helping solve these cases.

Yeah, it really is. And it just continues to evolve, right? What's the technology going to be like next year, five years from now, 10 years from now? Yeah, wow. But that's it for our two-parter on Brittany Drexel. We've got a couple of voicemails. You want to check those out? Let's hear them. Hey, Mike and Gibby. My name is Jessica Gregory. I am a very long-time listener, and I love the podcast. I just have to call in because I just finished the Marie Robards case. I'm a high school English teacher. I teach seniors, and we're studying Hamlet right now. And so when I listen to that court case, I came in the next day and told my students

about the case with her getting caught and looking real guilty when it came to the Claudius part, talking about poisoning his brother. So I told my kids, I said, this is, you know, this is why Shakespeare's still relevant, because look at that. It just helps solve a court case. Anyways, I also had wrote in, I think a year or two ago now about the Jimmy Robertson case in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and you guys covered that case, and I still appreciate it. Still my biggest flex. Anytime I do, like, two truths and a lie, I'll be like, I contacted a podcast, and they did the one I asked him to do. So I really appreciate you guys.

I think your podcast is amazing. I always refer you to other people if they're ever looking for a really good podcast. Super appreciate you. I am both team Mike and team Gabe Gibby. I think you guys are amazing. Keep doing what you're doing. I hope you guys have a fantastic holiday season and keep your own time ticking. Awesome.

Thank you so much. You know, anytime you can use the podcast to, you know, kind of encourage your students, that's a good thing. It's a really good thing. I was going to say, you know who you do not want to play two truths and a lie with? Hey. Mike Gibson. You will not win that battle. You're going to lose every time.

Hey, Mike. Hey, Givie. This is Chuck Richardson. I'm a longtime listener, first time caller from Maryland. About to actually be a Tick Bawkes. Really love the show. I was listening to the Ashley Dresslop case, and I couldn't stop laughing because, you know, picturing Gibby playing soccer and wrestling sites, just a suggestion for you.

I was wondering if you could do the case on Charles Mitten. It's very interesting, given how aware he was. of dismental issues. So I think that would be, you know, an interesting listen to. I'm definitely Dean Mike and Dean Gibby. And again, love the show. Keep your own time ticking.

Bye. All right. Thanks for the voicemail and for the suggestion. Yeah, the, you know, the kind of the mental image of Gibby running up and down the soccer field with his singlet or wrestling tights, as we like to call them on, is very relaxing. Not relaxing at all.

No. No, it actually provokes my anxiety to a great extent. Like, I have to be honest with you. It's a nightmare inducing type stuff. But that is it, buddy, for another episode of True Crime all the time. So for Mike, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.