Um, what do you mean you can't find her? Well, where is she?

A mystery. For years now, for the first time, exclusive interviews with the investigators who solved it. We said, let's. Let's look at this thing scientifically and not focus on any specific individual. You're just trying to put those little pieces together to build some type of a profile of her pattern of behavior.

You.

At what point did you get a sense she went from walking to being in a car?

Look, my daughter did not run away. I'm telling you, her drive to find her daughter kept everybody in the nation interested in what was going on with Brittany's case.

Do you think you can be responsible for Brittany?

I think responsible for anybody's disappearance.

The final ping from Brittany's phone is in an area that is swampy. It's not an area where a 17 year old girl would be traveling.

And then the FBI drops a bombshell.

This is a story about a beautiful young woman who goes on spring break to Myrtle beach and her life intersects with a monster. She was perfectly fine and in a spot that she should have been safe.

And then she just vanishes. There's nothing.

Brittany Drexel is walking the strip when all of a sudden all communication stops. Period cold. No one will ever hear from her. Again.

It spout again. Brittany was vibrant. Grandma got one over by reindeer. Her smile was so beautiful, it just lit up the room. When I had Brittany, I was 20. That is kind of still young to have a child. But it brought a lot of joy into my life.

When Brittany came into our lives, it was a big surprise, a welcome surprise. But we were very young. But when Brittany was about two years old, her parents, dawn and John, decided to go their separate ways. Things just didn't work out. We're kids ourselves and lost touch.

They had separated and her mom had married Chad Drexel. They live up in Rochester. Rochester's upstate New York. Brittany had a little sister, Marissa, and she had a little brother, Cam. That one's Brittany. That's Marissa and Camden. I was the middle child and the sibling.

I was twelve years apart from Brittany and very close with her, even though I was little.

Oh, my God. She adored him. Look at how happy he was. She was just always my protector. She was always there to hold us, to comfort us, to make sure we're always safe. Anywhere we went. We became best friends from day one. She was a very, very kind and just beautiful, beautiful person, inside and out. I would describe Brittany as a little spitfire. She was little, but mighty. She had this warm personality that everyone gravitated towards.

She was very energetic, very feisty, especially as soccer, especially on the powerful on the field. Even though she was short, Brittany played a right winger. She scored 26 goals in one year. She was just a great soccer player. Turns out it was a trait she might have inherited from her biological dad, John, who came back into her life when Brittany was about 16 years old. I was shocked when the first time I've seen her play, it was like, wow, that's my girl playing soccer right there.

She was very excited to have her biological father in her life.

The first time that I've seen her, it was like looking at myself. She was so beautiful and funny. I was just in awe. Once I found her again, life kind of came back in me. We just had a lot of time to catch up with. In 2009, Brittany is 17 years old, and she reconnected with her biological father. But her stepdad, who raised her, is now separating from her mother.

During that time, it was rough for us kids as well. Brittany did go a little hogwild there, partying and hanging out with a new group of friends. They were all older than her. She was just going through a know us separating, getting a divorce, and also dealing know normal teenage things with her boyfriend. This photo is of Brittany and John, I believe, when they first started dating. John Greco was Brittany's boyfriend, and they had dated for a year or two. It was kind of up and down breakup makeup, but she loved him. She wanted to get away. As my parents were separating, she had her spring break coming up, and it's cold in Rochester, New York. Brittany was very excited to go to Myrtle beach. She's like, I want to go on the beach. I want to have fun in the sun.

It was that new group of friends, that older crowd, who invited Brittany to come down to Myrtle beach.

She asked to go down there, and I said, brittany, you're not going to Myrtle Beach. I said, there's no parental supervision. And I said, something is going to happen to you. She then proceeded to ask my mom, okay, can I go to a friend's house who lives in Rochester, New York, and stay a couple days there while spring break is going on? And my mom said, yes. I said, that's fine, as long as I talk to a parent. So she put someone on the phone, and I told Brittany to keep in contact with me. Her mother told her yes, I was okay because she knew she was going to be in Rochester. Myrtle beach is a part of the Grand Strand area. It's miles and miles of beautiful beaches. A lot of people come here to enjoy spending time out in the ocean and on the beach with their families. You have beautiful luxury places with pools, and then you have it all the way down to the honky tonk motels that line other parts of this trip.

Late at night in the certain areas, it can get bad, it can get dangerous.

That morning, I went with my mom to Grease Ridge mall. We were buying soccer attire for the soccer season coming up for the summer, and I told my mom, can we call Brittany? Because I don't know what size she is for soccer cleats. So she called her. I said, well, what are you doing later? And she said, oh, we're just at the beach, because that's what they called Lake Ontario. And I said, I will call you when I get home just to check in. And then I was wait. Before she got off the phone, I was like, I forgot to say I love you. So she gave me the phone, and I said that I love you. And I thank God that I asked my mom to grab the phone back because that was the last time I talked to her. And then Brittany says, okay, mom, I'll see you tomorrow. I love you. Those were her last words to me.

Unbeknownst to her mother, Brittany had gone to Myrtle beach for spring break after her mom specifically said she couldn't go. So for the past three days, she's not at a friend's house nearby, but she's 800 miles away, unsupervised.

On April 25, 2009, I received a phone call from Brittany's boyfriend, John, asking me if I had spoken to Brittany that night. And he's like, you know, I can't get a hold of her. We've been in constant communication. We were texting. Everything was fine. And then her text just stopped. Her boyfriend became very concerned, and when she didn't answer him back, he said, I'm going to go tell your mother that you're in Myrtle beach. And that's, in fact, what he did. I heard my mom's phone ring. My mom was downstairs in the living room. And I grabbed the phone, and it's John Greco. And he sounded really frantic. And he goes, I need you to give your mom the phone immediately. So I go downstairs and give her the phone. And as I'm walking up the stairs, she goes, she's what? She's where? John told me that Brittany was in Myrtle beach, and they couldn't find her. My heart just dropped. I'm like, what do you know? You can't find her where is she?

It's been several hours since anyone has heard from Brittany Drexel. After sneaking down to Myrtle beach for spring break behind her mother's back, no one can reach her. Friends and family immediately know something's wrong. They frantically wonder, where could she be?

I still remember, like, it was yesterday when my mom was like, it's fine, it's fine. You know, they're going to find her. We were so young, and you didn't think of those bad things happening. Just something didn't feel right.

That next morning, dawn and the family mobilize and head to Myrtle beach to find Brittany.

When we arrived in Myrtle beach, it was kind of like boots on the ground. And we just started walking up and down the boulevard.

We're trying to see where her last steps were. Where was she last? Who she speak to? Just trying to collect as much information as possible.

We were searching for her everywhere. We were searching in alleys, we were searching in trailer parks. We were searching in dumpsters, looking for her phone, for her purse, for her. I mean, we were out from sun up to sundown looking for her, trying to talk to people and see if anybody had seen her.

There have been no reported sightings of 17 year old Brittany Drexel, who went missing here in Myrtle Beach.

Family members say anything's possible, and they're trying to stay positive.

Dawn and the police pieced together Brittany's last days before she went missing. I was lieutenant of the violent crime section and the crime scene unit with the Myrtle beach police department. We did send the crime scene unit to her hotel to review what she left behind, if there was anything suspicious or that might give us some clue as to what happened. We found that she took very little.

There were many of us that were working on Brittany's case. For all of us, we knew something wasn't right, and we started looking for any clues as to where she might have gone or who she was with. The fantasies of coming down to Myrtle beach with the older crowd and friends, all of that wasn't panning out the way she thought it would. She went down with two couples. It was just kind of like she was a fifth wheel. When she got down there, she felt isolated, and that's why she reached out to other people that she knew from Rochester to go and hang out with them. We had learned that Brittany had gone to the blue water resort to see some friends.

The night Brittany went missing. She walked down this busy strip to meet friends here at the Blue Water resort. But she didn't stay long. She quickly left to return a pair of shorts she'd borrowed.

While she was there meeting those friends, one of the girls that she had come down to Myrtle beach with texted her and said, hey, where are my black shorts? It was apparently a little bit of an argument, so Brittany, at that point, thought that she would walk them back. And so Brittany left the blue water resort and was heading back to the bar harbor motel to return the shorts to her friend.

Authorities get their first big break when they pull video from the blue water resort. Brittany is seen on tape leaving the hotel.

We knew it was her because of the way that she walks and because of the way that she turned her head in the video, we knew that that was absolutely Brittany that was walking out.

I was happy to at least see that she was on the camera, but leaving was obviously the mystery. Which way she go? Did she take a left? Did she go right? Did she cross the street?

Britt was very independent, of course, but you're in a city that you're not familiar with. It is a party town. And to see her leaving the hotel by herself, why was she alone, heading back down the same path she's taken several times? From what we understand, she just vanishes. There's nothing. My daughter just didn't disappear off the face of the know. She's got to be somewhere.

Missing persons flyers dot poles and posts up and down the main strip. The area where Brittany ventured from this motels. Non stop motel. Motel. Motel. Kids cruising the boulevard, people trying to get to where they're going. A lot of motels have cameras, but they're focused on the desk clerks and the guests. We only found one camera that was facing the road.

When Brittany was walking toward the blue water resort, her image was caught on a street camera. She was walking southbound on Ocean Boulevard.

And, of course, she was walking with her head down, looking at her phone, texting the entire time as she was walking. Authorities know that Brittany Drexel walked past the camera on this corner on her way to the blue water resort. She was also seen walking in and out of the blue water resort, but she never came back past this camera, leading authorities to believe that between the time she left the blue water resort and this place, she was gone.

It's very possible that she trusted the wrong person. But Brittany wasn't one to just go with somebody completely random. Her cell phone was incredibly important from the moment they realized that Brittany was missing.

We know from Brittany's pattern of life that she was glued to that thing just like any other teenage girl. And it's safe to say that where that phone went, she was also going as the family's trying to contact her on her cell phone. Those calls are being sent to her phone from towers. The police track Brittany's phone by looking at cell phone records. They track the cell pings created by incoming messages.

Once we received Brittany's cell phone information, we were able to realize that she was taken or left Myrtle beach very quickly after leaving the blue water resort.

The initial ping was the south end of Myrtle Beach. A short time later, she pinged about 15 miles south. She was moving fast, so we knew she was in a vehicle. But who was Brittany with and where was she headed? The last ping was off a tower near the north Santee river, which is south of Georgetown.

It was 50 miles south, nowhere near Myrtle beach.

The final ping from Brittany's phone is in an area that is swampy. It's not an area where a 17 year old girl would be traveling.

This is when everyone involved in this investigation realized that they had a major problem on their hands.

There was absolutely no reason she would have known a place like that or had a reason to go to a place like that. So how had Brittany ended up there? Authorities track Brittany's cell phone here to the pole yard boat landing on the north Santee river. It's a rural, swampy, hard to reach area 46 miles from Myrtle beach. Not exactly the kind of place people would come to willingly in the middle of the night.

I think at that point, that's when they start realizing that something had happened to Brittany.

Polyard landing is a very remote area at the southern limit of Georgetown county. It's a very isolated area, and it's a very brutal area.

This is an area that is covered in swamps and infested with snakes, alligators.

Wild boar, and then you can add the heat.

If she's here, it's not by her choice.

That expands the scope of your search. It points in a direction far afield from Myrtle Beach. Santee river became a focal point for the police. We brought in divers. We brought in every possible way to search that area to see if we could find what had taken place with Brittany.

Searchers began moving through this area in Charleston county, south of Myrtle beach. They put everything into this, but they were coming up with nothing. I knew she was somewhere out there, but just thinking, oh, my God, are we ever going to find her?

I don't think we were accepting that she was gone. Hundreds of tips came in. False sightings were run down. But anxious weeks of searching became months of agony for family members in law enforcement, as Brittany was nowhere to be found.

We're going to keep looking for Brittany. I mean, we do have hope that she's still out there. The one year anniversary was the most difficult. We did a march for holding, you know, help find Brittany, sign with her little brother and a little sister and one of her other friends. Walking down the main street in those shirts and advocating for someone to speak up and give us answers was heart wrenching.

Authorities continue to track down every lead, no matter how insignificant. At one point, a sheriff's deputy combing through the sex offender registry comes across the name Raymond Moody. Raymond Moody was one of my sex.

Offenders here in Georgetown county.

It was interesting that there was a sex offender in such a close proximate location to where her cell phone was last pinging to. So obviously, you want to take a deeper dive into him. Ray Moody was sort of an urban legend in Georgetown. He was, in some ways, the boogeyman living amongst us. Ray left Georgetown at a very early age. He joined the Navy. He was stationed in California. That was when all of his problems started. He was convicted of a series of seven sexual assaults in California and was given a 40 year sentence. It was while he was in prison that he would meet Ernie Merchant. My name is Ernie Merchant. I am a former romantic partner of Raymond Moody's. Ray Moody was my protector, my cell husband, and my. Really my best friend in prison.

Ernie was in prison for various charges related to a drug bust, and his sentence was much less severe than Raymond Moody's.

I was not aware of Ray's sex offender status until the very end of my stay. Right before I left prison, he told me over and over and over again that he was no longer that person. When I left that prison, I had an opportunity to walk away and not look back, and I didn't. I made an enormous decision to go live in a small southern town with a registered sex offender. I had been hairdressing for a very, very long time. I knew how to survive in the free world. He took care of me in prison. I would take care of him in the free world. Moody is released in 2004 after serving only half of his 40 year sentence. The law in California at the time did not allow for a lengthier prison stay.

Based on those charges, Raymond Moody comes back to Georgetown, and most of the folks that remember Raymond Moody also know why he's been gone for 21 years. The concern that a registered sex offender is moving back into their very small community is real, he said.

This is part of it. This is part of my punishment. It's my job to prove that I can be trusted again living together, and we had established a nice, quiet life together. I thought he was happy. I thought he was content.

Things are going well. And then his parole ends. In 2007, when he was essentially, for.

The first time in 25 years, a free man, he started to change. I would say, what's wrong? What's going on? Things feel different. And he would tell me that it was just my imagination. I did not imagine that he was having an affair, particularly with a woman. Her name was Angel. I had done her hair a couple of times. She sat in my chair, smiled in my face, and of course, she was. All that time was sleeping with him. By April of 2009, Ernie and Moody have broken up. On April 25, Brittany Drexel goes missing. Ernie says two days later, he gets a visitor. One morning, I was woken very early. I realized there was someone in the house. I shouted from my bedroom, who's there? Ray said, it's just me. I was still half asleep, but I looked at him, and I saw that his face had claw marks all over it. His neck, cheeks, his head were just clawed. And I said, what in the hell happened to you? Oh, he said it was a wild weekend. He said that things had gotten out of control. And I said, well, good luck with that.

Do you think you can be responsible for Brittany Grexle?

I think responsible for anybody.

Guys like Raymond Moody are extremely dangerous. This guy is as bad as they come.

He just snatched me from behind and put me in the car. Happened just like that, like in the blink of an eye. Hey, I'm Andy Mitchell, a New York Times bestselling author. And I'm Sabrina Colberg, a morning television producer. We're moms of toddlers and best friends of 20 years, and we both love to talk about being parents, yes. But also pop culture. So we're combining our two interests by talking to celebrities, writers, and fellow scholars of TV and movies, cinema, really, about what we all can learn from the fictional moms we love to watch from ABC audio and Good Morning America. Pop culture Moms is out now, wherever you listen to podcasts.

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All of us wanted to know what happened to Brittany. All of us wanted to know and hold anyone accountable that might have harmed her.

As soon as Brittany was missing. Ray Moody was on everybody's radar. The word of what he had done in California permeated the area they immediately focused on. Well, I bet Ray had something to do with it. Those seven sexual assaults that Ray had been convicted of in California included crimes against teens and children. One of them was Carrie Harding.

I was eight years old in 1983. You know, back in the 80s, you played outside a lot. I didn't have any reason to be afraid. I was walking to the school to meet a friend, and he just snatched me from behind and put me in the car. Happened just like that. Like in the blink of an eye, Raymond Moody sexually assaults Carrie. And the way Carrie describes it to police later is that it went on for a very long time. Monsters like Raymond Moody should not be allowed to walk the streets.

But he did walk the streets.

Although Raymond Moody was on the registered sex offender list, and so he was in our sights, we had nothing to link him to the Brittany Drexel case.

After cheating on Ernie with Angel, who was training to be a first responder, the two men have broken up, and Ray is living nearby on his own in a motel. So Moody winds up here in this place? Yeah, the Sunset lodge. What is this place? This is a local, low rent, no tell motel, kind of flop house joint. A lot of people with just nowhere else to turn. Definitely a place where somebody could hide. So you saw the cell phone ping in this area. You had previously identified Moody from being on the sex registry, and you put two and two together and said, maybe he's got something to do, was definitely made him worth looking at. Authorities reach out to Raymond Moody's acquaintances, including Ernie Merchant, to learn more about Moody. They learn about a conversation Ernie said he had with angel around the time of Brittany's disappearance. He says angel called Ray's cell phone one night, but Ernie picked up the phone. According to Ernie, she sounded drunk or otherwise impaired during the phone call. And the things Ernie says Angel told him make the police want to talk to her, and so they bring her in for an interview.

Understand? Now, you date Raymond Moody.

Correct.

We want to talk to you about all this stuff. One thing in particular is this. Brittany Drexel. Police ask angel about that alleged late night phone call with Ernie. You called with Ernie. That was pretty wild stuff. You were saying?

I don't really know, because.

Angel says she had been mixing her pain medication with alcohol, and she doesn't remember that alleged phone call, but she says that Moody has talked about Brittany. So I tell you that you made the comment of that young girl.

Would I remember saying it? No. To be honest with you, I wouldn't remember saying it. Has he ever said her name? Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

What does he say?

Well, he said. Told me one time when I threatened me that he didn't want me to end up.

Do you think he could be responsible for Brittany?

I think he could be responsible for anybody.

To law enforcement, it seems that angel is afraid of Moody. Do you think he would do anything to you?

I have no doubt he would if he was mad enough and thought that I would just.

Moody has shared violent, terrifying thoughts with her.

Oh, he always has these fantasies about snatching girls off the street and raping them and then taking them somewhere. He has those fantasies all the time. I mean, it's always not normal.

It's just weird stuff. What do you think he's done?

What do I think he's done?

Honestly?

I think he's probably done something. But to who and where? I wouldn't know.

She never implicated Ray as having any involvement in Brittany Drexel's disappearance. If you knew, you tell me. Or are you too afraid of.

No. If I did positively, without any kind of doubt that he'd done it, I would say so.

After hearing Angel's concerns about Moody and her fear of him, authorities are even more interested in him as a suspect. But they still need concrete evidence to link him to the disappearance of Brittany Drexel.

Georgetown county was able to get a search warrant for the Sunset Lodge. They were looking for any clues of Brittany having been there in the room that Raymond Moody had rented sled.

Crime scene technicians searched an apartment at the Sunset Lodge south of Georgetown today. Raymond Moody lived in that room around the time Drexel disappeared.

So they take the room apart. They want to see if there's anything that would connect Ray Moody to the disappearance of Brittany Drexel. And they take the wallpapers off the wall, they take the mattresses off the bed and split them open. They did the search, and I remember we were all waiting for answers.

And what did you find? Nothing. Nothing. Complete dead end. Dead end. Ray Moody was a dead end, but the case was about to pivot in a whole new direction. What we've come to discover through the course of the investigation now is.

Do you absolutely don't want to envision that. That's how Brittany's last moments were. We always held out hope you that she was somewhere out there.

Hope was a very strong word, especially with our family. When it came up to my sister's case.

When the world says, give up. Hope. Hope whispers try one more time. And that's the phrase I've always thought of.

But hope is running thin. No leads have panned out. The investigation into convicted local sex offender Raymond Moody has turned out to be a dead end. And seven years have now passed.

This happened in 2009. We still had every year people asking the question, what could have happened to her?

But then, in 2016, the FBI holds a press conference here in McClellanville. You see, this is near where Brittany's cell phone last pinged, and just minutes away from where authorities conducted an exhaustive search for her.

And the FBI drops a bombshell. They come forward to say they're ready to announce that Brittany Drexel is dead.

What we've come to discover through the course of the investigation now is that Brittany Drexel did leave the Myrtle beach area. We believe she traveled to this area around McClellanville, and we believe she was killed after that. They were sure that Drexel was deceased. They were sure where she was deceased at.

After seven long years of waiting and praying for the return of my daughter, we know she isn't coming home alive. Brittany's life was stolen from her in a brutal and senseless fashion. The first question was, how do they know that she is dead? What happened to her was still being held from us.

The FBI has some evidence pointing towards Brittany's death, but what they don't have is who is responsible for this? So they have to be very careful about what information they release to the public. I've been authorized by the director of the FBI to offer a $25,000 reward leading to the arrest and the conviction of those responsible for killing Brittany Drexel.

It was, in some ways, unprecedented how strong they came out without actually charging anyone. They needed us to still help them find out who did it. We need your help so we can find Brittany's remains and bring her home to lay her to rest. It was a horrible feeling that they're now officially saying that she's no longer alive and then to have released the details that they did. It was tragic. Law enforcement proceed to tell me that my daughter was gang raped, beaten, and then they shot her, and then they fed her to the alligators. I couldn't even talk. I was so upset, I couldn't even talk. Newly released federal court documents reveal what FBI agents think happened to Brittany Drexel.

Two months later, the public finally learns of the evidence authorities claim points to Brittany's death and how they allege she died.

An agent says an inmate told investigators Drexel was kidnapped, raped, shot, and killed, and her body was dumped in a swamp near McClellanville.

An individual by the name of Taquan Brown, who was an inmate serving a 25 year sentence, came forward and indicated that he was present and saw Brittany Drexel in McClellanville at a stash house. In court documents, this stash house is described as a hangout place where there is allegedly some drug use. The statement from Taquan Brown was that he saw Brittany, I guess, being assaulted by somebody. She resisted at some form and was shot and killed.

You absolutely don't want to envision that. That's how Brittany's last moments were being shot and then being dumped in a gator pit. To think that that's what happened to someone that you're so close with, someone that you loved so much, it was.

An awful, awful feeling once that was in my head. I just broke down at that point. I don't understand how they could do that. I don't get it.

For anybody knowing her, not knowing her, to hear that a human went through that was just like, oh, my goodness.

The informant who comes forward, Dequan Brown, tells the FBI he knows who was involved in the abduction of Brittany Drexel. There were some allegations against or implicating an individual from McClellanville, Timothy Deshaun Taylor. McClellanville is obviously very close to where Drexel's phone was last pinging to. It's definitely something to be followed up on. The information being provided by Brown was corroborated by another individual that was providing information.

Taylor was on law enforcement's radar for a long time at this point because he had already been convicted of taking part in an armed robbery.

Taylor had been involved in a McDonald's robbery that resulted in state charges. When the information came to light about his alleged involvement in Brittany Drexel's case, he was recharged in federal court. You don't often see that, but it was viewed by many in law enforcement and on the outside as an opportunity to put pressure on Timothy Taylor to provide information. Now, Taylor at all times denied any involvement in Brittany's case. In fact, he went on television. I didn't pick her up. I never saw her. Besides seeing her on TV and the Internet through a computer screen, it did not happen. Did you kidnap Brittany Drexel? No, I did not. Have you ever been to the blue water hotel where she was last seen? No, sir. He was unwavering. And I said to myself, this guy's lying, man. He's a real good liar. Taylor. The stuff looked exciting to begin with, but the information that we received from the informant never panned out.

And it's not enough to charge Timothy Taylor with Brittany's disappearance. The FBI obviously had enough information that they felt this had truly happened to Brittany. That isn't what happened to her. I said, I'm done with the Bs. I'm done with the lies. I want my daughter found.

A new FBI team steps in. Who can we look at and say evidence puts them here and here. The team's meticulous approach honors a shocking and familiar name.

You're never going to believe who it is. Okay, mom. I'll see you tomorrow. I love you. Those were her last words to me. We were so young and you didn't think of those bad things happening.

Imagine to yourself, what if that was my kid? You don't want to stop until you find them. When she steps out of the car here, who steps out with her? People want answers, and we do, too. But it's like some of those things are going to be hard to find. At the end of the day, we're looking for Britain. That is the golden ticket. Who can we look at and say evidence puts them here and here. Point A and point B. Your point a was all of Myrtle beach. Did we miss something?

My mom was destined to find my sister from day one. Why did I have to wait 13 years for this to be solved?

She went from being desperate to determined. There's nothing like a mother who's determined.

Moment.

There's no stopping.

It's been almost a decade since Brittany Drexel vanished while on spring break in Myrtle Beach. I did call the FBI today and they said they still have no updates for us.

All american girl, very pretty, 17, nothing but a bright future ahead of her. Goes down to Myrtle beach to have fun with friends. And every parent's worst nightmare, she disappears.

We still don't know where she is or what happened to her.

You've got a young girl in a safe place, caught on camera and then minutes later, just to disappear. The suddenness is stunning.

No arrests have been made and no one has been charged. Throughout all these years, I never gave up trying to look for Brittany. This was a really important birthday. I mean, her 21st birthday. This is when they had the press conference in telling us that she was deceased. A lot of times it felt like I was never going to find her. But I knew that I had to keep her name and face out there.

In the years that Brittany has been missing, the main persons of interest named by authorities have all turned out to be dead ends. Timothy Deshaun Taylor, named by a jailhouse informant in 2016, and Ray Moody, a convicted sex offender investigated in 2011. But now a new FBI team is brought in. As far as our involvement for this team that we currently have started. When Don Drexel came to our office and asked us if we would become more involved in assisting in this investigation, she's very proactive in seeking answers, and she doesn't accept inactivity. Inactivity would probably be the best way to say it.

I went in to a meeting with them. I said, I'm done with the Bs. I'm done with the lies. They said, I want my daughter found.

Between the three of us up here, we're into the double digits on daughters, all of us. And it's something that when you hear the story and you see what happened, you just imagine to yourself, what if that was my kid? You don't want to stop until you find them. It was most important to us to find Brittany, and that changes your investigative strategy, because you're not just looking to find the answers to the case. You're trying to find her where she is physically located. We all reviewed the entirety of the evidence, making sure we were looking at at least the most complete picture that was possible. We said, let's look at this thing scientifically and not focus on any specific individual. Let's see who is at Myrtle beach between 830 and a little bit after nine, the day that Brittany went missing, and who was at the landing shortly after 10:00 p.m. Who can we look at and say evidence puts them here and here, point A and point B. Remember, authorities had pieced together the general vicinity of points A and B years before. Law enforcement, way before we got involved, had collected cell phone information based on Brittany's cell phone and knew where she was at at certain points, based on communications going in and out of that cell phone.

All these data points were developed by people who care about Brittany. And inadvertently, I don't think they realized it at the time, but they were creating evidence, critical pieces to the investigation. Your point a was all of Myrtle beach, more or less. And then your point B is somewhere. Wait, how many miles away is the Santee river? Takes about an hour and 20 ish minutes to get there by car. It's a big area. How do you start narrowing it down? So we talk about Brittany getting seen on the 11th Avenue south camera, which was right behind me walking south across this hotel area right here. And what we were able to determine was approximately how fast she is moving. We came out here, we walked it with stopwatches, we checked it against maps. You're just trying to put those little pieces together to build some type of a profile of her pattern of behavior. The fact that Brittany's text with her boyfriend ended so abruptly that night provide a critical clue for the FBI that tells you that whatever was the norm has now changed. Investigators had always suspected that Brittany somehow got into a vehicle after she left the blue water resort.

At approximately 08:45 p.m. We have Brittany on video leaving the blue water resort. Then her phone travels at a speed consistent with walking. At what point did you get a sense she went from walking to being in a car? So her last outgoing text message or communication of any kind to anyone was at 857 58. And we knew from the geolocation data that she was moving north on Ocean Boulevard. And we knew that if she had continued her normal pattern of walking, that we would have seen her back on this camera. But Brittany never was seen crossing back. Instead, what you see is that only approximately six or seven minutes later that her phone is pinging in the area. Blocks and blocks and blocks north, where it would be impossible for someone on foot to get there that fast. And how do you know which way she's going? The way the phone data looked to us was that they stayed on this road here. So that's when, for the FBI team, what had been a routine stream of traffic on the 11th Avenue south footage took on urgent meaning. We knew that between 08:58 p.m. And car was going to pass on that 11th Street south camera that had Brittany's phone in it, which most likely had Brittany in it.

These guys had the videos enhanced. We studied that video ad nauseam to really make sure we knew every vehicle that went by. That took months and months and months and months because a bunch of vehicles grainy video, it's hard to tell the difference between a Ford Explorer black Brown suburban pickup truck. At the same time, they're digging through files and databases trying to determine what vehicles their persons of interest were driving or had access to. Could we attribute a vehicle associated with any of our persons of interest to a vehicle in that video? Eventually, there was a point in time where there was one specific vehicle that stood out to us. It's an odly specific Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer. Even as the team zeroed in on point A on the Myrtle beach strip, they also had to narrow down which persons of interest could be placed at the other end of the puzzle at point B at the pole yard landing. What was obvious to us was like, you don't just pick that location. We were reasonably sure it was somebody that had familiarity with the landing. That's when the team's meticulous approach points to a familiar name.

Raymond Moody. Raymond Moody was an individual that popped up both at A and both at B during that evening. He was living at the Sunset Lodge. And crucially, they discovered documentation that Angel Voss, Ray Moody's girlfriend, could have had access to the type of Ford Explorer they'd identified in that video from 11th Avenue south. Meanwhile, one more piece of information, also involving angel, comes to the FBI's attention. According to authorities, angel once told a friend that she and Ray might have had something to do with Brittany Drexel's disappearance. Authorities say that Angel's friend goes to investigators with this information, and they convince her to let them record another conversation with angel. She gets a statement from angel on tape saying, I did it. Not Ray. I did it. Authorities cannot corroborate Angel's claim, and they say that they're skeptical that it's true. The idea is from all of the agencies. Look, angel didn't do this. She's lying. But angel is on tape saying she did that. And given Angel's possible access to that Ford Explorer on Ocean Boulevard, the FBI sees an opportunity. Ray's the convicted sex offender. We think we got our guy. But if everything is pointing at angel, that might be a tool we can use.

Ultimately, it's decided that, hey, now's the time. Let's take a run at it and see what happens.

I'll tell you the best of my ability. Can I be 100% precise? I can't promise you that.

And then we get to the third agent who starts asking to have questions. Are sitting down with Ray Moody's longtime girlfriend, Angel Voss, at the Georgetown County Sheriff's office. It's more than ten years after local authorities first brought her to the same room to question her about Ray. And the night of Brittany Drexel's disappearance, I took her upstairs, introduced her to special agent Kavanaugh and special agent Conley and intelligence analyst Caleb Messer. She agreed to go in, sit down, talk with them, go back to the beginning on this thing, and just talk to everybody who's been interviewed before. Anything she says is better than nothing. We'll even take the small victories because the small victories adds up. It's a little ways to go. I understand.

No, I mean, I'll take you best of my ability, but can I be 100% precise. I can't promise you that.

We totally understand. Okay, so the interview starts off very slowly as they're asking her basic questions in order to warm her up before they start hitting her with the harder questions. What is the first memory that you have about the first time you heard about the Brittany Drexel case?

First memory. I don't know if I heard it on TV.

Probably heard it at work. They're trying to determine if she or Ray would have been driving that 1998 Ford Explorer on Ocean Boulevard during the specific time window that they think Brittany's cell phone passed the camera on. 11th Avenue south. We're pretty sure that's their Explorer, but I need her to say it. Do you guys ever have a bravada? An old mobile or anything like that?

Like a Cherokee kind of thing?

Could be.

I'm asking because when my car messed up before I got another one. My brother let me use his car.

Okay?

He had one. It was like a Cherokee, but I.

Don'T know what she didn't say. Explorer. It was hard. Do you remember anything about when it was wrecked or when you borrowed his car?

Early 2009, maybe. Yeah, maybe.

Had Ray ever been in the vehicle?

Just a couple of times. Really not too much. But actually, I did do think I picked him up a couple of times.

She was trying to minimize as much detail as she possibly could, try and keep things as gray as she possibly can. Would there be any reason why anyone might have seen that vehicle near the landing the night that Brittany went missing?

I have no idea.

I'm at work that night. This is an art form. There are three agents that are questioning her, and the first two handle all of the initial stuff. And then we get to the third agent, who starts asking the tough questions. Angel, I'm kind of a direct guy.

That's fine.

I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'm going to waste your time. Did you have any involvement in picking up Brittany directly?

Did not.

She was never in a vehicle with you?

No. Never a vehicle with me? No, period.

Mike Conley, he brought up the big guns. At this point in time, he let her know that the FBI was in possession of an intercepted communication in which an individual claims responsibility for the death of Brittany Drexel. I'm going to read to you a couple of quotes. It's pretty much almost verbatim, what we're saying by one of these people.

Don't read me that, because if you're trying to accuse him of anything, then I'm not going to be involved in.

Angel said, you're not going to sit here and tell me that Ray was involved in this girl's death. He didn't have anything to do with it.

Did I say he didn't? Okay. I say he did not accuse him. I don't think he did. And you're not going to involve us in it.

She storms out of there. Obviously, it's a law enforcement facility. You're not allowed to walk around unattended. So I had to run and go get her and accompany her back out to the parking lot. She's cussing them the whole way out. And I told her, I said, look, they're not here to talk about Ray. They're here to talk about you. Right now, you're the focus of the directional investigation. She started chain smoking a couple cigarettes, and she know, I need to go back in there and talk to them.

I'm back.

Hank had explained to her that she's the one they had on tape talking about Brittany. It was her own words the agent was going to read. She tells the FBI she knows what she said.

She was just drunk, drinking. And she kept asking me questions about.

Ray, saying that to absorb and deflect, get the attention off of Ray.

I would just want anybody to leave him alone. So I put the blame on me instead of him.

Is that true?

No. I would never hurt anybody.

What's the truth?

I don't know the whole truth. I don't know where he was that night.

She maintained that she wasn't with him, didn't know where he was, what he was doing.

He did have my. Yes.

She placed Ray in her brother's vehicle. So if the vehicle was on the boulevard at the exact time, pretty much. Your recollection is that was in Ray, your vehicle. That was your vehicle. That puts Ray in the same place at the same time from the approximately the same location that Brittany disappeared from. That was huge. Law enforcement had never gotten there before. At the end of the day, we're looking for Brick, the body. Right? So that is a golden ticket.

I'm sure it is.

Right. What we're trying to do is find out what exactly happened. Right that night. We picked you to talk to because we thought you would have information. There's evidence that indicates that you could have been in that vehicle.

Right?

That your phone could have been there.

You know what? I probably still have that phone.

You still have that phone. That's hugely important. There could be evidence of that cell phone. It could be photographic call detail records, text message content, geolocation. Data that could prove or disprove her statements. That's a big win. Just before the interview concludes, angel tells the FBI she does not know what happened to Brittany Drexel. Any we don't have that information would be holding a very, very valuable card.

I don't know where Brittany is. I don't.

Want to try to get there. When we ended the interview, angel appeared cooperative.

I don't think we do tomorrow.

We thought it went well. Our hopes were dashed pretty quickly of that the next day when she didn't respond to any of my calls or texts. We let a full day go by. We're back to square one. We all come together. I want that phone. I'm getting a search warrant to get in your house and get that phone. We execute the search warrant. Huge operation. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting a cop out there that day. Everybody wanted to be part of this. Senior investigator Hank Carrison is leading one team, one route, while special agent Michael Connolly and special agent James Kavanaugh are leading the second team, a different route. They actually encounter Ray and Angel in a church parking lot next to a dollar general. Ray comes right up and starts talking to Special Agent Conley. Mike told him that we got some stuff we think it's important that you hear. And Ray says, I got a big surprise for you guys. We got a call that he wanted to speak to us. While investigators are executing a search warrant at the house where Ray Moody lives with his longtime girlfriend, angel Voss, Moody arrives back on the scene.

I give Ray a copy, the search warrant. He can put two and two together and start to realize that we've got evidence. And ultimately, we would go after whatever and whomever we had to to get justice for Brittany Drexeland. Moody asks his attorney to meet with the FBI. We presented the information about the vehicles, the information about the phones, and we said, this is what we think happened. The investigators painted Moody into a corner. We got a call and that he wanted to speak to us. Moody meets with the FBI and local authorities at his attorney's office. You do have the right to remain silent, okay? Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. The only person who ever told this story to you is my lawyer. The angel never even knew the real story. After 13 long, agonizing years, it's over in an instant, Ray Moody confesses to killing Brittany Drexel. Well, I was going down Ocean Boulevard, pretty slow driving, and I saw the jerks girl working, walking along the sidewalk. Did she ask for a ride, or did you ask her for. If you wanted a ride?

Do you remember? I asked her if she'd like a party with us. Okay. She said, sure. Angel was with you when you picked up Brittany. Is that correct? She rushed to get in the car. She was sitting in the passenger seat. So we started driving. We're just driving around, smoking, talking. Went right into Georgetown, went right to a spot where we used to camp out down by the river. And I was by myself with her because angel left a son. Things got out of hand, and I panicked. She panicked, and I strangled her. Moody's statements are that the murder and the strangulation and the rape all occurred at the landing. But that point. It's just a confession, but it doesn't get you to a point where you can say definitively it's all correct and he's the guy. But Moody claims full responsibility for the crime. I did this. Angel has been a victim of mine for a long time. The ultimate test for us was going to be, could he provide information that would ultimately lead to the remains of Brittany Drexel?

Raymond Moody takes them up past the Sunset lodge, about 3 miles into a wooded area to the site where he says that he buried her body.

He stood on the ground and said, it's right here. Investigators immediately arrest Raymond Moody for obstruction of justice so they can hold him in jail until they can excavate the site. And then there's the matter of the difficult phone call to Don Drexel.

And I go, you've got to be kidding me. And I said, they looked at him in 2012, and I'm like, oh, my God. Dawn had called me, and she just said, you're never going to believe who it is. And I said, who? And she said, raymond Moody, Brittany was killed at that boat landing. He took her down there same night she went missing. He raped her. She fought. She fought hard.

Ernie merchant can only think back in horror to the time that Raymond Moody described the scratches on his face as being the result of a wild weekend. If those claw marks on his face were made by her daughter, she fought for her life. We lodged Ray overnight in jail, and we brought him out the next day. And with his attorneys present, we conducted a far more in depth and more formal interview. Drove all the way straight back in Georgetown, and the whole time, we're laughing, small talk and all that kind of stuff. Moody tells investigators that sometime after they got to the Polyard landing, Angel left for a period of time. And that's when Moody, now alone, says he murdered Brittany did you have any inclination at that point when angel left and what was going to happen next? There's something just like snap. Moody says he hid Brittany's body about 150ft away in a blanket in a grove of trees. Moody says when angel returned, he told her Brittany's friends had come and picked her up. She didn't really question me about it. He says he retrieved Brittany's body hours later while angel was sleeping and buried it at the site he'd taken investigators to.

Several days after Moody's confession, Angel herself came in for what's called a proffer interview. In effect, she promises to tell the truth, and in return, they promise to take her cooperation into account in determining whether or not to prosecute her for any involvement she might have had in the events of that night. Despite having lied, angel finally admits she was with Ray when they picked up Brittany Drexel on the strip. But she says she left Moody and Brittany alone at the pole yard landing. According to prosecutors, phone records show that there was a time later in the evening at the pole yard landing where she and Ray were not together.

She got into the vehicle. She had her phone and everything with her. Never made me suspicious for a little bit until things came on TV. And then I'm like, okay, what's going on? And he said, I told you. Was she there? And that was my answer. I got every time I said anything about it. He never said one word about the night or anything after that to me.

Meanwhile, investigators finally start to dig where Moody said he buried Brittany. All day we dug into the night. We're all feeling pretty dejected that we didn't find anything. Those days of digging and maybe, did we miss something? I was starting to lose hope. It's been 30 years since Brittany Drexel suddenly went missing. Authorities now have a confession from registered sex offender Raymond Moody. But they will only believe it when they've located Brittany's body.

I talked to them on Monday, and they had started digging up this area where they believe Brittany was put. And in the first few days, they didn't find her. Well, Wednesday, I got into my car and I turned my radio on, and this song came on. Rescue by Lauren Daigle. There's never been a moment you were forgotten. It's a beautiful song. And I knew they were searching for Brittany, and I told them, listen to this song. While you're searching for her, I will send out an army to find you. In the middle of the dark night, I will rescue you.

She called me and said it gave her hope. We were getting close because of the context of that song. Actually, I played it and listened to it while we were there.

I will never stop watching reach you in the middle of the heart fight it through I will rescue you.

Late on the third day of digging, the man running the backhoe at the dig site alerted the team that he thought they were close. All of a sudden, he says, this is it. He could tell dirt that had been disturbed before versus dirt that had not. We uncovered a bone, and at that point, we stopped everything and we took a step back, and we called the evidence response team, who came out and began the process of extracting her remains. They set up lights and the FBI dug all night. We go from inch by inch to grain by grain. It was an entire team effort that night. Everyone felt a sense of ownership, a sense of responsibility. Just the wave of emotions that overcomes you. We just found Brittany Drexel.

That following day, they had told me that they had found human remains that they believed to be Brittany's.

The discovery of human remains in a rural area of South Carolina.

Drexel's body was identified through dental records and DNA testing. My mom had called me. They found Brittany's remains, and her nose ring was still there. A piece of her contact was still there. I told her I wanted to keep those. And dawn called me and told me. And it immediately. It didn't feel like it had been 13 years. It felt like it still feels so raw. Something that I'd waited 13 years to hear, 13 years to be able to lay my best friend to rest. I didn't want Brittany buried. I told her she's been in the ground too long. I said I would like to have her cremated so that the people that loved her could have a piece of her. I like this.

It's beautiful.

My mom was destined to find my sister from day one. But we're just waiting for justice for her now. After 13 years of waiting, Brittany Drexel's family finally getting some answers. Authorities announcing an arrest. After more than a decade of searching.

The Georgetown county sheriff's office. Charges against Mr. Raymond Moody are murder, kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. Angel Voss is not charged in connection with Brittany's disappearance.

Today marks the beginning of a new chapter. The search for Brittany is now a pursuit of Britney's justice.

That pursuit of justice will soon bring Brittany's family face to face with the man who confessed to her murder. You guys are all mentally prepared to see this guy. Just remember, today's about Brittany, not him.

Once he walked into that courtroom, it just made me so angry.

I was imagining a thousand ways to break his nut. Today is the most anticipated day in this 13 year saga. Raymond Moody is expected to plead guilty to all counts surrounding the murder of Brittany Drexel. Good morning.

The family of Brittany Drexel coming face to face with the man responsible for her murder. You got my speeches all done or printed out? She read it last night, and our unanimous vote was take out the Mr. Moody, because it just seems too respectful.

I refer to defendants all the time by Mr. It's almost like a backwards slap. The most important thing is that obviously, this is coming from your heart.

I think the FBI just got here. Good morning. Good. How are you, Mike?

How are you?

Yes, I'm good.

You ready?

I'm ready. If the FBI agents that I have been working with since after 2016, if they would have never gotten involved, we would not be where we are today.

I was happy about it. You guys are all mentally prepared to see this guy, just so you know. I mean, this is. You're going to be looking him in the face, know. And all I could tell you is this. I've done this too many times. Keep your cool. Today's about Brittany, not him. Now, five months after Moody confessed to killing Brittany Drexel, it's finally judgment day. On the day of Moody's hearing. We're all there, and it's a team win for everybody. We do the best we can in what a quote unquote civilized society allows us to do. We hope that's enough for the family.

Hi there. How are you?

Good to see you. How's everything? You're good, all things considered. Hey, good. How are you? We had an obligation to Brittany, and we had an obligation to dawn and her entire family. It feels good to see the hours that are poured in come to somewhat of a resolution point for the family.

Thanks, Gail. Justice for Brittany is us all being able to look him in the face in the courtroom and telling him that he's taken one of the most special people to all of us and in such a monstrous way. All right. Once he walked into that courtroom, I was so angry.

When I saw him sitting there. I just had a lot of rage. A lot of rage. Just trying to keep calm, not be one of those people. The lunge. Well, I was imagining a thousand ways to break his neck. The matter before you here today is the state of South Carolina versus Raymond Douglas Moody. The state dropped the obstruction of justice charge, and the hearing was focused on Moody's plea on the charges of kidnapping, murder, and criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. It's the state's understanding that Mr. Moody wishes to plead guilty. Mr. Moody, you want to plead guilty? Yes, sir.

In.

Your honor, Brittany's mother would like to address the court.

Okay.

Raymond Moody finally comes face to face with all the pain he has caused, and he'll have to listen to every word.

Today, we know the truth. And today, Mr. Moody, you face the consequences. For that, Brittany is present. I wear her picture and her ashes around my neck. That's all I have left. That's all we have left. After what you did to her. He wouldn't even look at me, and I was shaking. I was that mad. Today, no one wins. Forgiveness is not part of this narrative. Today I ask you, Judge Catherine, to sentence Raymond Moody to the fullest extent of the law, not a day less, to make sure his last breath is taken in the cage where he belongs, where he will never harm another beautiful girl like Brittany again.

May it please the court. Your honor, I believe Mr. Moody would like to briefly address the court.

Okay.

Thank you. I did 20 years and eight months, and I thought that was enough, but it wasn't. I was a monster then, and I was a monster when I took Britney Greggs with life. I don't have the words to express how horrible I feel. And I've felt ever since that day. Very sorry. I thought it was. It's a show for him. That's it. I don't buy it. I'm sorry. That's like asking the lion if he's sorry about attacking the gazelle. He's a predator. Remorse is not something that someone like Ray Moody feels. And it's my job to sentence you appropriately for the crime of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. You're committed to the state department of correction for a term of 30 years on kidnapping. You committed for a term of 30 years on the crime of murder. Sentence to the court is you committed to the state department of Correction for the term of your natural life. He is going to serve life imprisonment without possibility of parole. He will never be out on the street again.

He did what he did, and now he's paying the price. And I'm glad he's locked up where he belongs. And now that the Drexel family has their justice, Timothy Taylor's family is demanding the same thing.

Now, remember, Taylor had been living under a shadow of suspicion for nearly six years before Moody confessed to the crime.

FBI got wind from a jailhouse informant that Taylor was allegedly involved in. Brittany Drexel's disappearance, Timothy's name and face will forever be linked to Brittany Drexel because of a lie. We are still waiting on authorities at all levels to clear the record, saying the words, Timothy Taylor is innocent. Does my son deserves that? I feel bad for Deshaun. I feel bad for the family. So sorry for everything you and Deshawn endured. Nobody wins, as Don says. But we're so glad that justice was served today. Thank you.

God bless you.

Thank you.

We have been fortunate to get many answers. Some of the answers have raised more questions.

I don't believe anything he has to say.

Watch your step for snakes. Be careful. The day after Moody's sentencing, the FBI brings the family to the pole yard landing where Moody killed Brittany's. Like, right here. He said, right in here. This was generally the area that Moody pointed out. And this is where he said he had actually raped and killed Brittany. Right here. Despite finally finding Brittany after all these years and Ray Moody behind bars, her family still wrestles with some questions. Whatever motivated Brittany to get into that car, she was immediately separated from her phone.

In reference to Moody, I don't believe anything he has to say.

We have been fortunate to get many answers to the questions that have been asked, but some of the answers have raised more questions. We have to live with this for the rest of our lives. We have to learn how to live with it.

I wanted to do something beautiful for her because she was a beautiful person inside and out. Brittany would want to be remembered as a person she was before she went missing. She'd want to be remembered as that happy dole lucky girl who brightened up a room when she walked in. I never thought this day would come. But here we are, 13 long years later. When the FBI called me, I was in tears. I said, thank you so much for finding my daughter. I would like to honor FBI agents with this pendant. It is a picture of Brittany, and on the back it says, thank you for finding me.

There is nobody more singularly responsible for the resolution of this case than Don Drexel. She went from being desperate to determined.

She's my kid. I mean, she was my heart. We brought her home so now she can rest in peace. You.

Brittany Drexel's mother, Dawn, has now filed a civil suit against her daughter's killer, Raymond Moody.

She says it's become her life's mission to help people on missing persons cases and to combat human trafficking. That's our report for tonight. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Deborah Roberts.

And I'm David Muir. From all of us here at 2020 and ABC News. Good night.