Brittanee Drexel’s killer expected in Georgetown County courtroom for civil suit

GEROGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — A Georgetown County man spending life in prison for the 2009 kidnapping, rape and murder of Brittanee Drexel is expected to be in court this week.

Drexel’s mother Dawn Conley in January 2023 sued 64-year-old Raymond Moody for intentional infliction of emotional distress, blaming him not only for taking the New York teenager’s life, but lying about it for years as the case drew national attention.

Drexel, a 17-year-old from Rochester, New York, was last seen walking down Myrtle Beach’s Ocean Boulevard on April 26, 2009 — she texted her boyfriend to say she was leaving the Bar Harbor Hotel.

It wouldn’t be until 2016 that Moody and Vause emerged as suspects after the FBI picked up the case.

“There is likely no greater sense of loss than that of a parent who has lost a child, such that the murder of a child is such extreme and outrageous conduct that it exceeds all bounds of decency,” the complaint says. “The murder of a child is such that no reasonable man, much less the mother of the child, can be expected to endure the distress.”

Court records show that the suit is on 15th Circuit Court Judge Alex B. Hyman Feb. 24 docket in Georgetown County, with a 9:30 a.m. start time. Moody will be transported from the McCormick Correctional Institution for the proceedings.

“Justice comes in many dimensions and in this case has been a long time coming. This trial is about more than a verdict—it’s about delivering long-overdue justice in this part of the civil case and providing a measure of resolution for Brittanee’s family and all who have fought for this moment,” Conley’s attorney Roy T. Wiley IV said in a statement.

The start of Moody’s civil suit comes a week after his former girlfriend Angel Vause was handed an 18-year federal prison sentence after lying multiple times to agents who were investigating Drexel’s disappearance.

Vause may also be facing state kidnapping charges for her role in the crime, 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson told News13.