Brittanee Drexel disappeared during spring break in 2009. Now cops say they’ve found her body – and her killer

The body of a 17-year-old New York girl who disappeared during a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 2009 has been found and identified – and a registered sex offender who was an early person of interest in the case is facing kidnapping charges , rapes and strangles her.

At a news conference on Monday, Brittanee Drexel’s family listened as a parade of law enforcement officers discussed the “bittersweet” twist in the cold case, but gave no details on how they managed to crack it after so long.

“This really is a mother’s worst nightmare,” said Brittanee’s mother, Dawn Pleckan. “I mourn the loss of my beautiful daughter today as I have for the past 13 years.”

The man accused of killing the teenager is Raymond Moody, 62, who has a criminal record dating back to 1983. He was arrested on May 4 for obstruction and then slapped with other charges after investigators dug up Brittanee’s body in Harmony Township, 40 miles from where she was last seen.

Authorities said they learned of the possible burial site on April 26 and found the remains on May 11 at a private fenced property. The victim was identified using dental records and then DNA.

Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said that following the teen’s disappearance, the Drexel family were “promised that every resource would be used to find the answer as to what happened to Brittanee, where it happened, how it happened and.” why it happened.

“The why may never be known or understood, but today this task force can safely and without hesitation answer the rest of those questions, along with who is responsible.”

Myrtle Beach Police Commissioner Amy Prock appeared on the verge of tears as she said: “Every cop has that one case that occupies every waking thought. So did many in our team.

“While we’re certainly grateful to be able to bring closure to Brittanee’s family, Brittanee’s friends and our community … it’s not the final chapter we were hoping for.”

Moody spent two decades in prison for sexually assaulting a child and was released in 2004. In 2012, he was publicly named as a person of interest after investigators searched a hotel room he’d been staying in around the time Brittanee disappeared during her spring break adventure three years earlier.

Another man, Timothy Taylor, was made a person of interest a few years later based on testimony from prison informants. WCIV reports that the FBI says Taylor is no longer a suspect.

“Throughout the investigation, we followed multiple clues to where they led us and to the conclusion of those clues. That portion of the investigation has been completed and we are confident that with the arrest of Moody’s we have the man responsible for Brittanee’s murder,” the FBI said in a statement.

Taylor’s attorney said in a statement that “hopefully the FBI will have the decency to issue a statement acquitting Mr. Taylor with the same fanfare when he was falsely accused.”