The man convicted of killing Brittanee Drexel admitted that his girlfriend was present the night he preyed on young girls and watched him rape and kill the teen.
Raymond Moody, now 64, was sentenced to life in prison after leading authorities to Drexel's body in May 2022, ending a decades-long cold case.
The then 17-year-old New York teen went missing on April 25, 2009, while on a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
She was kidnapped by Moody, who raped and murdered her before burying her body the next day.
Investigators said in 2012 that Moody was considered a person of interest in her case, but he was never charged and the case went quiet.
A breakthrough in the case came in May 2022 when he was arrested for obstruction of justice.
According to police, he then admitted to raping and murdering Drexel, and was subsequently sentenced to consecutive 30-year terms on charges of kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct, and a life sentence on the murder charge.
Moody's girlfriend Angel Cooper Vause, 56, was arrested in 2023 on charges of Drexel's rape and murder, and pleaded guilty to all three charges of making false statements to the FBI.
Raymond Moody's girlfriend, Angel Cooper Vause, now 56, will be sentenced in February for her involvement in the 2009 murder of Brittanee Drexel
The body of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel was found in May 2022, almost 13 years after she disappeared while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in April 2009.
A break in the case came in May 2022 when Raymond Drexel was arrested for obstruction of justice. According to police, he then admitted to raping and killing Drexel
Ahead of Vause's sentencing next month, Moody has alleged that not only was she with him when he viciously strangled Drexel, but that she was part of the plot to kidnap and rape the teen, according to a federal sentencing memorandum obtained by People.
Moody's allegation stems from an interview he gave to the FBI at the Liber Correctional Institution in Ridgeville on November 13.
Speaking to investigators, Moody said he and Vause went hunting for young girls the night they kidnapped the teen.
He also claimed that Vause texted him just before their “hunt,” telling him she had “always fantasized about stealing a girl.”
Moody responded to Vause with, “That's all you had to say to me.” and asked her: 'So you want to go hunting with me, huh?'.
She replied, “Yes.”
He told the special agents that the text triggered and surprised him because he did not seriously consider that type of criminal activity with Vause, saying he usually did it alone.
They first attempted to kidnap on April 24, 2009, the night before Drexel was kidnapped, but he said they had “some phone activity” and Moody was concerned about leaving an electronic footprint.
Drexel was picked up by Raymond Moody and later attacked and killed by Moody
On April 25, 2009, surveillance footage captured Drexel leaving the Blue Water Resort after visiting a friend who was wearing a teal and black shirt that she had texted her friends about.
Bar Harbor Resort on Myrtle Beach, where Drexel was staying at the time of her disappearance
In 2012, a memorial tree in Drexel's honor was planted in Grand Park near Myrtle Beach
The next night, Moody and Vause came across Drexel walking alone from the Blue Water resort to the Bar Harbor in Myrtle Beach.
After driving past Drexel twice, Moody claimed it was Vause who lured the teen to their car by claiming they were tourists and offering her a ride back to her hotel.
Moody added that Vause was the one who spoke to Drexel to “soften her up and maybe even gain her trust.”
Once Drexel got into the car, Moody had Vause take the wheel so he could restrain the teen in the backseat.
The couple then took Drexel to a tent they had already set up at the Pole Yard Boat Landing in Georgetown.
Vause had time to release Drexel while Moody was away, but did not, he told investigators.
Moody then said that after raping Drexel, he strangled her with a rope, according to the document.
Moody said he does not remember Vause taking part in the murder and said she was unaware of his intentions to kill Drexel after the rape.
However, he noted that she was in the tent during the murder and that she did not try to stop him.
Moody later buried his victim alone at a construction site.
Moody's interview came after he agreed to provide “full and truthful information regarding the kidnapping, rape and murder of Brittanee” in exchange for the Drexel family's grant to hold some of Moody's property in a trust for Vause's grandchildren .
In November 2022, chilling text messages Drexel sent to her boyfriend the night she disappeared were revealed.
She had been texting her friends all day, court documents revealed at the time, and contacted her boyfriend in her hometown of Rochester, New York, to complain about just under an hour before she was reported missing.
“I'll tell you later when you call me,” Drexel told her friend, adding, “I'm so excited.”
Drexel later told him that she planned to just stay in that night and pack before going to sleep.
The teen spent the day sending text messages to her boyfriend, her friends she traveled to Myrtle Beach with, and people she met while vacationing there.
In one text, Drexel tells a friend that she borrowed a pair of shorts and made plans to meet at their hotel later that day to return them.
And in another, she tells a friend what she was 'going for' [a] walk' and asked 'what's going on tonight?'
Drexel also talks about her outfit, describing the teal and black shirt she later wore on surveillance footage at the Blue Water Resort after visiting a friend.
At 8:58 p.m., Drexel sent her friend one last text message that read, “I'm going to keep packing and probably go to sleep.”
Although phone records show no other messages from the teen, her boyfriend and her friends became increasingly concerned about the lack of response.
One texted: “Send me something, we think you're missing.” Another told Drexel to “stop playing games,” while her friend simply wrote, “Honey, I'm worried.”
According to court documents, Drexel's phone continued to ping to various locations in the Myrtle Beach area throughout the night before going dark at 11:57 p.m.
Her body was eventually found buried in a shallow grave on the grounds of Moody's home in Georgetown.
Her remains were positively identified using dental records and DNA. A coroner later determined that Drexel died of strangulation.
