Jury orders Raymond Moody, Brittanee Drexel’s murderer, to pay millions to Drexel’s mom
A Georgetown County jury told Raymond Moody, the man who murdered Brittanee Drexel, to pay at least $200 million to Drexel’s mother.
Dawn Conley, Drexel’s mom, sued Moody for infliction of emotional distress. She filed the civil lawsuit in January 2023 and the trial began Feb. 24, with Conley and Moody appearing in a Georgetown.
While Drexel was on a trip in Myrtle Beach in April 2009, Moody kidnapped her and brought her to Georgetown County before raping and murdering the teenager. Her case went unsolved until 2022 when Moody confessed to his crimes. He’s now serving a life sentence plus 60 years in prison for murder, criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping, The Sun News previously reported.
The jury ordered Moody to pay Conley $200 million in actual damages Tuesday afternoon, a WBTW live stream of the court room showed. The judge then sent the jury to deliberate over punitive damages.
Moody represented himself and offered only one statement on Monday outside of declining to offer an opening statement or witnesses.
“I’m completely guilty as charged and I have no defense for my behavior,” Moody said.
Conley said she sued Moody to hold him accountable in every way possible, her lawyer Roy Willey said during opening statements.
“I wanted to set a precedent that the people who commit these crimes and do what Mr. Moody did to my daughter, they need everything taken away from them because they took the most precious thing they could have taken away from me,” Conley said on the witness stand. “It’s about the principle.”
What happened to Drexel?
During spring break 2009, Drexel and her friends came to Myrtle Beach without her mother knowing. On April 25, 2009, Drexel left the Blue Water Resort around 9 p.m. and ran into Moody and his girlfriend, Angel Vause, who were in a vehicle.
The couple abducted the teenager into Moody’s car where he then drove her to the woods in Georgetown County.
Moody said he had hoped to get Drexel under the influence of marijuana and have consensual sex with him. When that didn’t happen, he raped and strangled her. Then he wrapped her body in a blanket and buried it in a wooded area in Georgetown County.
Vause had left the campsite with Drexel’s phone during Moody’s encounter with the victim, records show.
Vause is in prison for lying to FBI agents about Drexel’s murder. During the 2022 investigation of Moody, Vause told the FBI while Moody was assaulting Drexel, she went to her house to grab her keys, The Sun News previously reported. She was actually driving a different direction for a different purpose, The Sun News previously reported.
She also said Drexel willfully got into Moody’s car and ingested marijuana, according to court records.
