Person of interest in Brittanee Drexel case has been arrested in Georgetown County

The remains of Brittanee Drexel were found on May 11 in Georgetown, South Carolina.

The Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office held a press conference on Monday, May 16 to confirm that Drexel’s remains have been found and that Moody was responsible for her disappearance and death. “’Where did it happen? How did it happen? And why did it happen? The ‘why’ may never be known or understood. But today, this task force can confidently and without hesitation answer the rest of those questions, along with the who is responsible,” said Sheriff Carter Weaver of Georgetown County.

How did Brittanee Drexel die? Arrest warrants reveal more in 13-year SC disappearance

Weaver said that Moody is a sex offender with an extensive criminal background — he previously served about half of a 40-year sentence beginning in 1983 on convictions for criminal sexual conduct with minors in California.

Weaver also said that the charges being brought against Moody are murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, all occurring within the jurisdictional limits of Georgetown County.

“Charges against Raymond Moody were made possible through investigative findings and evidence that led us to a possible site were Raymond Moody buried a deceased Brittanee Drexel, on or around April the 26 of 2009,” Weaver said.

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A man named a person of interest in Brittanee Drexel’s 2009 disappearance in Myrtle Beach has been arrested in Georgetown County.

Raymond Moody, 62, was booked into the Georgetown County Detention Center on May 4 and charged with obstructing justice, according to online jail records. No bail has been set.

Moody is still incarcerated as of Wednesday morning. He was named a person of interest in the case in 2012.

It is not clear whether Moody’s arrest was in connection to Drexel’s case.

Drexel, who was 17 when she went missing, was visiting the area with friends from New York. While on the trip, Drexel walked out of the Blue Water Resort around 8:15 p.m. Her phone last gave off a signal on April 26, 2009 in Georgetown County.

Police have said she was abducted a day after she came to Myrtle Beach. FBI agents previously said they suspect the Rochester teen was held against her will for several days before she was killed in the McClellanville area.

FBI officials have said witnesses reported that Drexel’s body was put in a gator pit on the property.

Drexel’s body has not been found.

The case garnered national attention when it happened and has even been the subject of an episode on “Real Life Nightmares,” which aired on CNN’s Headline News channel in 2020.

This story was originally published May 11, 2022 at 10:40 AM.