Two long-term Horry County cases were resolved nearly a month apart. What happened?

Since April 25, 2009, Brittanee Drexel’s family had been searching for her – waiting for her to come back home. But it wasn’t until Oct. 19, 2022, that they were able to confront the person responsible for why she didn’t.

“It was tough,” Chad Drexel, Brittanee’s father said of the last 13 years during a press conference after the hearing. “It was extremely tough – an emotional roller coaster. That’s all you can say as a man, as a dad. It was up and down, up and down…”

The 17-year-old had been on a spring break trip with her friends in Myrtle Beach when she disappeared. She was missing for 13 years.

But, during a hearing in Georgetown County, a judge sentenced her killer to life in prison.

The case is one of two long unsolved high profile investigations in the county that was resolved this year, which authorities credited to advances in technology.

More than a month before the October hearing, a trial was held for a woman charged in a 2008 case about “Baby Boy Horry,” an infant who was left for dead in Conway, where his body was found.

It took 12 years for an arrest to be made in the case.

Jennifer Sahr, identified as the mother, plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter on Sept.15, bringing the cold case to an end.

It has been 14 years since the baby was found in a Bath and Body Works bag inside a cardboard box, which was left off of S.C. 544 on Dec. 4 amid 28-degree weather, according to previous reporting.

Officials gave the deceased infant the name “Baby Boy Horry” after efforts to find his mother were unsuccessful.

Sahr was identified based on scientific evidence and was arrested in 2020. She was released on bond that same year.

‘That thread became a rope’

Drexel’s loved ones’ took up two rows behind prosecutors at the hearing to learn about her tragic end.

“Today, nobody wins,” Drexel’s mom, Dawn, said repeatedly during impact statements.

That day marked the closing of a chapter for the New York family and multiple law enforcement jurisdictions that worked to solve the case of the missing Rochester teen, whose body was found after Raymond Moody, 62, led the authorities to it. Her remains were discovered May 11 off of Old Town Avenue in Georgetown County.

Moody, who was previously named a person of interest in the case. confessed to murdering the teen during questioning in May. He pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct.

Assistant Solicitor Scott Hixson spoke about the night Drexel went missing and how investigators were able to pinpoint the location of Drexel’s phone as it traveled around Georgetown County.

Hixson said agencies also figured out when she was no longer walking alone but traveling by vehicle because her phone began moving about 60 miles per hour.

After piecing together phone records with surveillance video, investigators determined which vehicle Vause and Moody would have picked Drexel up in, which was identified as a 1998 Ford Explorer, a car that was linked to Moody, Hixson said during the hearing.

But before those connections were made, Vause had agreed to share information with investigators earlier this year about what happened that night.

Vause had been questioned as early as 2011 after Moody’s children reported to police that Vause had said Moody killed Drexel. But the interview was not enough to make an arrest, Richardson told The Sun News.

“With all these other leads, maybe they could have followed up on that a little bit more or stayed with it a little further, he said. “I’m not questioning what they did or didn’t do at that time.”

At a later date, Vause even claimed to someone that she was responsible for Drexel’s disappearance. That got back to police and a search was conducted at Sunset Lodge, where Vause and Moody were staying, but nothing was found.

After investigators got Vause to talk earlier this year, they made a case against Moody, who told them about his interactions with Drexel the night she disappeared.

“..That thread became a rope,” Richardson said. “And then when they turned in and she said that she would in fact cooperate, that rope now is tightening around Ray.”

When a case is old, prosecutors must question every statement given, Richardson pointed out.

“...I have to go and verify parts of that statement to show that this person is not just pulling this out of their behind,” he explained.

Richardson said there was enough evidence to charge Vause with being an accessory, but they chose to focus on Moody instead.

“I do not believe in any way that Angel was involved, and the evidence shows that Angel was not involved in the murder or rape,” he added. “I believe we probably could have pursued accessory after the fact. But it is not uncommon at all to have to make deals sometime.”

During Moody’s questioning, he told investigators he and Vause had gone to Myrtle Beach to party when they saw Drexel walking down the street by herself, according to Hixson’s presentation at the hearing.

Moody alleged that Drexel willingly got in the car with them to smoke marijuana, and that’s when they headed to Moody’s campground in Georgetown, Hixson said, adding that’s where Moody raped her and strangled her when she wouldn’t have sex with him.

Moody wound up wrapping up her body in a blanket and disposing of it later that night, according to his statement.

Vause had left the campground when the rape and murder happened, Hixson said. When she came back, Moody told her that Drexel’s friends had picked her up.

How Baby Boy Horry’s mother was found

Unlike Drexel’s case, it is unknown what happened leading up to the infant’s final moments alive. But Hixson said he was alive upon birth.

Investigators on the case identified Sahr as the infant’s mother through a biotechnology company, which allowed them to use the baby’s DNA to find a distant relative.

The way in which we can read DNA has evolved, Richardson said. And yet, still, that wasn’t enough.

“...Like with any puzzle, you don’t want to put yourself out there explaining new processes of DNA,’‘ he added. “So, that’s where the good old fashioned detective work comes in.”

He added that new technology can be a hard concept for courts to understand, and it’s not something they want to rely on.

Sahr’s attorney, Morgan Martin, said that Sahr told him that she did not know she was pregnant until she gave birth. Sahr told him that she had passed out from bleeding and that she did not see the baby make any movements or sounds.

Martin also noted that Sahr had gone to a medical provider at Coastal Carolina University, where she attended, before giving birth because she was not feeling well. During that visit, Sahr claims that she did not know she was pregnant, and the medical provider didn’t know either.

Horry County Coroner Robert Edge said when he examined the infant, his limbs and the rest of his body appeared to be intact, according to previous reporting.

After Sahr’s guilty plea at trial, Judge Paul Burch ruled for a presentence investigation, which could take 45 to 60 days.

He will decide Sahr’s punishment with her two daughters, ages two and five, in mind.

Sahr, a Vermont native residing in Pensacola, Florida, will continue on house arrest until that is determined.

Prosecutors are asking she be put away for decades, but her defense is asking for probation.

The investigation requested by Burch will be conducted by the South Carolina Probation, Parole and Pardon Services.

That entity will determine how likely she is to commit another crime and give the judge an unbiased view that will help him decide on her punishment, Richardson said.

What other unsolved cases are still out there?

Advances in technology also assisted police to uncover new evidence which led to the arrest of Randy Barnhill.

In June, Branhill was arrested in connection to five unsolved sexual assault cases from the early 2000s, according to previous reporting.

Police say that it’s possible that Barnhill could be responsible for multiple other cold cases.

The 56-year-old is being charged with multiple first degree criminal sexual conduct instances, kidnapping, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, first and second degree burglary, and exposure of private parts in a lewd and lascivious manner.

There were similarities between some sexual assault cases in the area and that they thought the instances could be related, according to a Horry County Police Department news release from 2005.

Further investigation revealed Barnhill’s involvement in four other sexually-based investigations, according to previous reporting.

Richardson said law enforcement is constantly working on cases and will continue to rely on new advancements to get crimes solved.

“There is going to be more information and ways of reading data,” he added. “We’ll always continue to follow the trends and improvements and try to get the best technology or borrow the best technology, and be on the cutting edge of this stuff.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2022 at 7:00 AM.