Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Teen Girl Vanishes on Myrtle Beach Spring Break, Remains Just Found

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Teen Girl Vanishes on Myrtle Beach Spring Break, Remains Just Found · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

0:05
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. It is a story that
0:16
Speaker 1: has now become all to familiar. A beautiful young girl
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Speaker 1: goes missing on spring break, but in the last hours
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Speaker 1: a stunning twist to the search for a teen girl
0:32
Speaker 1: Brittany Drexel. I'm Nancy Grace and this is Crime Stories.
0:36
Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation
0:39
Speaker 1: and Serious XM one eleven. First of all, take a
0:41
Speaker 1: listen to our cut. One with us tonight is a
0:45
Speaker 1: very special guest. Brittany Drexel's mother is with us, Dawn Drexel.
0:51
Speaker 1: Miss Drexel, Thank you for being with us. What are
0:54
Speaker 1: police telling you? You're welcome. I had just read turned
1:00
Speaker 1: from the police department. I'm not too long ago. They
1:03
Speaker 1: have some leads that they are going on, but they
1:07
Speaker 1: need to follow through with them. Now. I know that
1:11
Speaker 1: you told your daughter, no, you cannot go to Myrtle Beach,
1:14
Speaker 1: so she went to Myrtle Beach. That's not the worst
1:17
Speaker 1: thing in the world. Many a seventeen year old has
1:19
Speaker 1: gone off on spring bright without telling their parents. But
1:23
Speaker 1: she stayed in contact with you. She stayed in touch
1:25
Speaker 1: with you for many, many days until when until Saturday,
1:34
Speaker 1: Saturday afternoon was the last time I spoke with Brittany?
1:38
Speaker 1: And take a listen to cut to where we hear
1:40
Speaker 1: what Brittany told her mom? What can you tell me
1:43
Speaker 1: about the last time you heard from her? What did
1:45
Speaker 1: she say? What does she text? When I spoke with Brittany,
1:47
Speaker 1: I asked her what she was doing, and she says, oh, my,
1:51
Speaker 1: I'm at the beach. And it was an eighty degree
1:55
Speaker 1: day in Rochester, So of course, you know, I thought
1:58
Speaker 1: that maybe she was at beach in Rochester with one
2:03
Speaker 1: of her girlfriends that she had said that it was staying,
2:07
Speaker 1: she was staying overnight. And then I said, well, what
2:12
Speaker 1: do you plan on doing later? She said, oh, I'm
2:15
Speaker 1: just gonna hang off my pharm. We're gonna watch a movie.
2:18
Speaker 1: And I told her, I said, well, please give me
2:21
Speaker 1: a call later, and she said okay, Mom. And then
2:24
Speaker 1: you know, I told her, I said I love you, Brittany,
2:26
Speaker 1: and she says, I love you, Mom, And then then
2:29
Speaker 1: we hung up the phone. How many times has Britney's
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Speaker 1: mother played that conversation, those conversations over and over in
2:42
Speaker 1: her head, wondering what happened to my girl? Again? In
2:48
Speaker 1: the last hour, a stunning turn in the search for
2:51
Speaker 1: Brittany to special guests joining us. This is Dawn Drexel,
2:56
Speaker 1: This is Britney's mother, Miss Drexel. Thank you for being
3:00
Speaker 1: with us. You're welcome, Miss Drexel. How many times have
3:04
Speaker 1: you played that conversation over in your head? Many times
3:09
Speaker 1: over the last thirteen years. I'll always remember Brittany's last
3:14
Speaker 1: words to me, I love you, I'll see you tomorrow.
3:18
Speaker 1: You were hearing me speaking to Brittany's mother when Brittany
3:23
Speaker 1: first went missing. But in the last days, a stunning,
3:28
Speaker 1: stunning turn of events joining me, Nicole Boone, special Events
3:32
Speaker 1: anchor wbt w N Myrtle Beach Nicole, Brittany's remains have
3:39
Speaker 1: been found where well, they were found in a wooded
3:42
Speaker 1: area near the town Harmony Township subdivision, and it had
3:47
Speaker 1: been gone investigators. Police had gone to the site a
3:51
Speaker 1: few days before when they had gotten information Doug on
3:54
Speaker 1: this site in a remote area of Georgetown County, you know,
4:00
Speaker 1: very wooded rural area, very remote, off the beaten path.
4:04
Speaker 1: And once they got this tip from a very reliable source.
4:09
Speaker 1: I spoke with Solicitor Jimmy richardson yesterday and this came
4:14
Speaker 1: about in the last couple of weeks getting some really
4:17
Speaker 1: good information from a tipster. I'll let you determine who
4:20
Speaker 1: the tipster is. There and went to this site and
4:25
Speaker 1: did the excavation and that's where her remains were found.
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Speaker 1: Very rural area of Georgetown County, South Carolina, along the coast,
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Speaker 1: but in inland, in a remote area misstrec So when
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Speaker 1: did you learn that Britney's remains had been found. I
4:41
Speaker 1: had spoken with the FBI. They were pretty much updating
4:46
Speaker 1: me like every day. I knew when they were starting
4:51
Speaker 1: to search. But on Wednesday, probably about three o'clock in
4:56
Speaker 1: the afternoon, they had called me until me that they
5:00
Speaker 1: had found human remains. When you were told that human
5:06
Speaker 1: remains had been found, what went through your mind? I
5:13
Speaker 1: was kind of I mean, you know with me, I mean,
5:17
Speaker 1: fighting for as long as I have for Brittany. I
5:20
Speaker 1: was really upset when they told me they had found her.
5:24
Speaker 1: But I can tell you that it was a huge
5:29
Speaker 1: relief to me because now I can bring Brittany home.
5:33
Speaker 1: Did you harbor over the years any secret belief that
5:39
Speaker 1: Brittany was still alive somewhere. No. Early on in her case,
5:43
Speaker 1: they had told us that they believed that this was
5:46
Speaker 1: going to be a homicide investigation, and I mean I
5:51
Speaker 1: was pretty much set up for it. I think, I just,
5:56
Speaker 1: you know, you go back to the numbness in in
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Speaker 1: everything from the beginning. I just want to bring britt home.
6:10
Speaker 1: That's all I want to do, is just bring her
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Speaker 1: home so that she can be with us, also with me.
6:15
Speaker 1: Jarrett Farantino, Pennsylvania high profile, a lawyer, a homicide prosecutor. Jared,
6:22
Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. Pleasure to be with you. Nancy,
6:24
Speaker 1: Thank you for having us. Jared. I cannot even imagine
6:28
Speaker 1: what Britney's mother has gone through, and it has dragged
6:32
Speaker 1: out for so long. I mean, when you heard me
6:35
Speaker 1: at the beginning talking to Britney's mother, that was years
6:40
Speaker 1: ago when I first learned that a girl named Brittany
6:44
Speaker 1: Drexel had disappeared on a Myrtle Beach vacation and we
6:49
Speaker 1: were trying to find her, and we were sending out
6:54
Speaker 1: her picture on the tip line and just constantly trying
6:58
Speaker 1: to find Britta. That was a long time ago, in
7:05
Speaker 1: two thousand and nine. As I recall, the suffering her
7:11
Speaker 1: family has been through is really unimaginable. No one can
7:15
Speaker 1: know unless you go through it yourself. Absolutely. Mancy. First
7:19
Speaker 1: of all, thank you for the coverage you've provided in
7:22
Speaker 1: the attention you've brought to Brittany's case. Certainly that has
7:26
Speaker 1: inspired people to continue her search and the quest for
7:30
Speaker 1: answers in the case. In addition to the thirteen years,
7:33
Speaker 1: the investigation itself had taken some twists and turns. In
7:37
Speaker 1: twenty sixteen, there were suspects named. There were certainly rumors
7:42
Speaker 1: and information that came out of what may have happened
7:44
Speaker 1: to Brittany. So Don has been so up and down
7:48
Speaker 1: on this roller coaster of an investigation. But the past
7:52
Speaker 1: several weeks, as we came to learn that things were
7:55
Speaker 1: coming to an end in this phase, don't direct soul
7:59
Speaker 1: as me. This is Brittany's mother, you know, Dawn. We
8:04
Speaker 1: had been looking for Brittany for so long, and I've
8:08
Speaker 1: got to tell you, when I learned that her remains
8:14
Speaker 1: had been found, I felt like I got punched in
8:17
Speaker 1: the stomach. I guess somewhere deep inside I had always
8:23
Speaker 1: hoped that somehow someone had taken her and she had.
8:28
Speaker 1: I don't know what I was thinking in my head.
8:30
Speaker 1: Maybe she was afraid to leave, or she had been
8:34
Speaker 1: Stockholm syndrome. She had been brainwashed and she wouldn't tell anybody,
8:39
Speaker 1: And I always come up with these scenarios in the
8:41
Speaker 1: back of my mind, and then the finality of saying
8:46
Speaker 1: we found her remains. I'm just trying to imagine you
8:51
Speaker 1: in that moment. Where were you when they told you?
8:55
Speaker 1: I was actually at home when they had called. We
9:00
Speaker 1: had met with the FBI UM probably two weeks prior,
9:06
Speaker 1: and you know, at that point things were moving pretty fast,
9:10
Speaker 1: and so I knew they were, you know, they were
9:15
Speaker 1: searching for Brittany, But it's just I don't know at
9:20
Speaker 1: that moment when they when they had recovered um, you know,
9:26
Speaker 1: or had found the human remains, it was like, I
9:33
Speaker 1: don't know, I was just in It's kind of like
9:36
Speaker 1: in disbelief, Like I never knew that we were going
9:39
Speaker 1: to get there, Like thirteen years is a long time.
9:43
Speaker 1: I never thought that that that Brittany was going to
9:46
Speaker 1: be found. Take a listen to our cut eight. This
9:49
Speaker 1: is from WHAM. Brittany was seventeen, a junior at Gates
9:53
Speaker 1: Chila when she left without her mom's permission for spring
9:57
Speaker 1: break in Myrtle Beach. She was less seen alone leaving
10:01
Speaker 1: a motel on the Strip. In twenty ten thirteen, Wham
10:05
Speaker 1: had this exclusive video of the site along a river
10:08
Speaker 1: in South Carolina where Britney's body was believed to have
10:12
Speaker 1: been left. Prime Stories with Nancy Grace to Cheryl McCollum
10:32
Speaker 1: joining me, Fence expert, founder and director of the Cold
10:36
Speaker 1: Case Research Institute. A hotel security camera actually captured one
10:41
Speaker 1: of the last known images of teen girl Britney Drexel.
10:46
Speaker 1: It was just before nine pm and she was leaving
10:50
Speaker 1: a friend's room, a friend girls room at the I
10:54
Speaker 1: think it was the Blue Water Resort. We see her
10:59
Speaker 1: later walking through the lobby. I don't know how many
11:04
Speaker 1: times you've looked at that video, Cheryl McCollum. I have
11:08
Speaker 1: studied it. I have slow mode it. I have looked
11:10
Speaker 1: at it screen by screen to see if I saw
11:13
Speaker 1: anybody watching her in the background. Just you know the
11:19
Speaker 1: case of Kelsey Smith who went to a target to
11:22
Speaker 1: pick out her boyfriend an anniversary gift. And when you
11:27
Speaker 1: look back at the video at target, she doesn't see
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Speaker 1: this guy, but in every still you see a white
11:36
Speaker 1: male not far from her. He may be on the
11:40
Speaker 1: aisle behind her, you know, looking over, he could be
11:43
Speaker 1: at the end of the aisle looking around at her.
11:45
Speaker 1: He's always right around her, but he never speaks to her.
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Speaker 1: And as Kelsey heads to the checkout at Target, you
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Speaker 1: see him walk passed her and leave, only to ambush
11:58
Speaker 1: her and kidnap her in the garage of the Target.
12:03
Speaker 1: I remember slow mowing Brittany's video and just seeing who
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Speaker 1: was walking by. What can I see? What can I notice?
12:13
Speaker 1: And nothing was really revealed in that video except the
12:16
Speaker 1: time and the date stamp right, which was crucial because
12:20
Speaker 1: it gave us a location, a date, a time, and
12:24
Speaker 1: what she was wearing and the direction she went. So
12:28
Speaker 1: when she left Bar Harbor Hotel headed to Blue Water,
12:31
Speaker 1: then you know, we knew, you've only got a mile
12:34
Speaker 1: and a half and she should have been there, and
12:37
Speaker 1: she texted her boyfriend and hey, I'm walking back to
12:40
Speaker 1: my hotel, So she should have been back there within
12:43
Speaker 1: a half hour. And it was that critical moment. A
12:46
Speaker 1: half an hour, you know, a half an hour, and
12:51
Speaker 1: the whole world changed to Jarrett Farentino joining US high
12:56
Speaker 1: profile lawyer out of Pennsylvania who is Don Drexel's lawyer.
13:01
Speaker 1: A half an hour. I remember Curly Brusia in Florida,
13:07
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you remember her as well. She had
13:10
Speaker 1: to spend the night with a friend girl and was
13:13
Speaker 1: walking home the following morning, I think it was a
13:15
Speaker 1: Saturday or Sunday morning, and she cut caddy cornered instead
13:19
Speaker 1: of following the street, and in the fifteen minutes it
13:24
Speaker 1: would have taken her to walk, she encountered her killer.
13:29
Speaker 1: In fifteen minutes, the world turned upside down for Curly's
13:35
Speaker 1: family and in Brittany Drexel's case. In that thirty minute
13:40
Speaker 1: segment that Cheryl McCollum just identified, Brittany was taken walking
13:46
Speaker 1: from one hotel to the next in Nancy. That examination
13:50
Speaker 1: of that time frame, the surgical precision that the investigator's
13:55
Speaker 1: laser beam focused analysis is really what had to be done.
14:00
Speaker 1: Had to be done in the Brushia case. That's the
14:02
Speaker 1: kind of investigation what can be green from the Bar
14:06
Speaker 1: Harbor Hotel to the blue water that we can learn.
14:09
Speaker 1: We knew when we knew what Britney was wearing, we
14:13
Speaker 1: knew what direction she was heading. So the investigators over
14:17
Speaker 1: the past thirteen years and very recently had to examine
14:20
Speaker 1: that footage, that time frame and the technological advances that
14:25
Speaker 1: have been made, and the interim certainly aided in their
14:27
Speaker 1: investigation as time went on. Take a listen to our
14:30
Speaker 1: cut five our friends at WCIV. Officials say the teenager
14:34
Speaker 1: was on spring break in April two thousand and nine.
14:36
Speaker 1: Surveillance video shows her leaving the Bluewater Resort in Myrtle Beach,
14:40
Speaker 1: and for the first time, officials are giving details of
14:43
Speaker 1: what happened next. We believe she traveled to this area
14:48
Speaker 1: around mcclellanville and the North Charleston South Georgetown area, and
14:54
Speaker 1: we believe she was killed after that. And we do
14:56
Speaker 1: know that Britney was in this community for several days.
15:00
Speaker 1: We think she was held here against her will, at
15:02
Speaker 1: least for a portion of the time that she was here.
15:05
Speaker 1: The FBI also announced today it's now offering a twenty
15:07
Speaker 1: five thousand dollar reward for information leading to an arrest.
15:11
Speaker 1: So by being here for several days, other people came
15:14
Speaker 1: in contact, whether saw her, know that she was here,
15:17
Speaker 1: So we know there is information in the community here.
15:20
Speaker 1: We think we're at a point where one or two
15:22
Speaker 1: small pieces of information could put us over the edge.
15:24
Speaker 1: They say, if you do know information and you don't
15:28
Speaker 1: call police, you could be subject even to federal charges
15:31
Speaker 1: at a later time. You know, why were they so
15:34
Speaker 1: convinced that she was held against her will in that
15:40
Speaker 1: area for several days? Jarrett Farantino, Nancy, That's a great question.
15:45
Speaker 1: They were convinced that she was definitely in that area
15:49
Speaker 1: based on some cell phone technology where her phone was
15:52
Speaker 1: pinging from in the remote area some fifty miles away
15:58
Speaker 1: from the Myrtle Beach area. So whether or not she
16:02
Speaker 1: was being held against her will, that was a little
16:04
Speaker 1: bit of conjecture on the part of investigators, and certainly
16:08
Speaker 1: some information that came out later may have suggested that.
16:12
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure why at that point they felt
16:15
Speaker 1: she was being held against her will for an extended
16:17
Speaker 1: period of time. What about it, Cheryl McCollum. I have
16:20
Speaker 1: no idea why they would say it. I have no
16:22
Speaker 1: idea why they would bring up even the gator pit.
16:27
Speaker 1: There were several things said in that first you know,
16:29
Speaker 1: press comfortence that Don and I talked about that I
16:32
Speaker 1: thought was just way over the top and almost sensationalized,
16:36
Speaker 1: and I thought maybe they were trying to beat the
16:38
Speaker 1: bushes to bring other people out to say, hey, that's
16:41
Speaker 1: not what happened. You're making it worse. That's what I
16:43
Speaker 1: believed they would do, and was trying to look for
16:45
Speaker 1: other witnesses to come forward, or maybe they just had
16:48
Speaker 1: a bass aukwards. Now you brought up my next topic,
16:51
Speaker 1: and that was how in the world did a gator
16:56
Speaker 1: slither into this fact scenario who had nothing It had
17:00
Speaker 1: nothing to do with this disappearance, and yet somehow that
17:03
Speaker 1: became the centerpiece of so much of the coverage of
17:08
Speaker 1: Writtey's disappearance. Cheryl McCallum, Well, Nancy, I remember years ago
17:13
Speaker 1: you and I were investigating the case and we had
17:15
Speaker 1: to go talk to some near the whales and you
17:19
Speaker 1: said to me, swans don't swim and assume her. In
17:23
Speaker 1: other words, who do you think I've got to go
17:24
Speaker 1: to to find out about this criminal? Other criminals. So
17:28
Speaker 1: they were getting information from jailhouse informants, criminals, liars, So
17:34
Speaker 1: they have to run that down. If they get information,
17:38
Speaker 1: if they get a tip, they've got to run with
17:41
Speaker 1: it and make sure this is either credible or not credible.
17:44
Speaker 1: But either they got to work that tip. Well, you
17:47
Speaker 1: know another thing, as tough as it is to believe,
17:51
Speaker 1: I have actually had a case where a child was
17:57
Speaker 1: killed and left and a swap infested with gators. So
18:02
Speaker 1: it has happened, but in this case, it just seems
18:05
Speaker 1: so far fetched, the whole the scenario that was being
18:09
Speaker 1: asserted for those of you just joining us breaking news
18:13
Speaker 1: in the search for a beautiful young girl, a teen girl,
18:17
Speaker 1: Brittany Direxel and I remember like yesterday when we first
18:23
Speaker 1: started the hunt for Brittany. To you, Dawn Directel, Brittany's mother,
18:28
Speaker 1: Can you believe it's twenty twenty two and when you're
18:33
Speaker 1: just solving the mystery? Yes, I know it's this case.
18:43
Speaker 1: I can tell you I believe this case should have
18:46
Speaker 1: been solved a long time ago. But you know that's
18:52
Speaker 1: for another day. Well, you're absolutely right about that. To
18:56
Speaker 1: Nicole Boone joining me from wbt w U, Nicole, again,
19:00
Speaker 1: thank you for being with us. Could you please describe
19:03
Speaker 1: the area where Britney's remains were found and how far
19:08
Speaker 1: away is that from where she went missing at the
19:11
Speaker 1: Blue Water Resort in Myrtle Beach. Yes, Nancy, it was
19:15
Speaker 1: a very remote area, a wooded area along Old Town
19:19
Speaker 1: Avenue and Harmony Township in Georgetown County. Georgetown County is
19:24
Speaker 1: along south Carolina's coast and Georgetown itself. The city would
19:29
Speaker 1: be about fifty four miles from Myrtle Beach if you
19:34
Speaker 1: the drive time from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to Georgetown.
19:37
Speaker 1: Maybe not quite that far, maybe forty, but still a
19:42
Speaker 1: decent distance. And once she went missing in Myrtle Beach,
19:47
Speaker 1: immediately once the cell phone started ring peeing from the
19:52
Speaker 1: cell phone towers, she ended more in that remote area
19:55
Speaker 1: of Georgetown County. And to the fact about the talk
19:59
Speaker 1: of an alligator pit and all of that that was
20:03
Speaker 1: brought up years after she went missing, it's very much
20:07
Speaker 1: an alligator invested area, and some of those things start
20:12
Speaker 1: to come up that may not have merit. But when
20:14
Speaker 1: I spoke with Solicitor Jimmy Richardson, he told me there
20:17
Speaker 1: were so many tentacles in this investigation. You have to
20:21
Speaker 1: keep checking things out, and to the point that when
20:23
Speaker 1: it came up out of speaking with people that were
20:26
Speaker 1: actually jail house snitches, you are dealing with criminals themselves.
20:30
Speaker 1: So a lot of tentacles in this investigation. But the
20:34
Speaker 1: area where Britney's remains were found very remote in Georgetown County,
20:41
Speaker 1: forty miles or so from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, up
20:45
Speaker 1: the coast where she went missing along the boulevard. Then
20:49
Speaker 1: the search focuses there at Georgetown County, about fifty miles
20:54
Speaker 1: away from where she was last seen alive. Now take
20:58
Speaker 1: listen to our cut three our friends in h Am,
21:01
Speaker 1: a hotel security camera captured one of the last known
21:05
Speaker 1: images of Brittany. It was just before nine pm. She
21:08
Speaker 1: was leaving a friend's room at the Blue Water Resort
21:12
Speaker 1: to walk back to the hotel where she was staying.
21:15
Speaker 1: We know that Brittany Drexel made it here to Eleventh
21:18
Speaker 1: Avenue in Ocean Boulevard. How do we know Well, one
21:22
Speaker 1: of the few working cameras at the time captured this
21:25
Speaker 1: image of her. She was about halfway through that mile
21:29
Speaker 1: and a half walk back to her hotel when Brittany disappeared.
21:33
Speaker 1: The next clue appears fifty miles away and Georgetown County,
21:37
Speaker 1: where Brittany's cell phone gave off its last signal. That's
21:41
Speaker 1: about eight miles from the Sunset Lodge where Raymond Moody
21:45
Speaker 1: had moved in the day before. Moody was stopped for
21:48
Speaker 1: speeding a nearby surfside the day after Britney disappeared to
21:53
Speaker 1: doctor Angela Arnold joining me, psychiatrist renowned psychiastists on the
21:57
Speaker 1: Atlanta jurisdiction. I don't know if you recall the name
22:01
Speaker 1: Timothy McVeigh. He's an Oklahoma City bomber that claimed the
22:04
Speaker 1: lives of so many, including children that were in a
22:09
Speaker 1: daycare at the Alfred Murrah Federal building that was bombed.
22:13
Speaker 1: He was pulled over the cause of the tall light,
22:18
Speaker 1: as I recall, and when his car was searched there
22:23
Speaker 1: was evidence that he may have been involved in the bombing.
22:27
Speaker 1: In this case, Moody was stopped for speeding in Surfside
22:32
Speaker 1: the day after Brittany disappeared. But I think that it's
22:37
Speaker 1: too far fetched to expect the cops to put two
22:41
Speaker 1: and two together based on a speeding ticket. I can't
22:44
Speaker 1: fault them on that. Well, I do think, Nancy, that
22:48
Speaker 1: I mean, let's say said, I think that these things
22:50
Speaker 1: have to be taken very seriously, just knowing I think
22:53
Speaker 1: that we never can let our guard down. Well, I
22:55
Speaker 1: agree with that. Another issue, and I'm going to throw
22:59
Speaker 1: this back to you. Yere At Farentino, Pennsylvania lawyer, a
23:02
Speaker 1: homicide prosecutor, take a listen, to our cut number nine
23:06
Speaker 1: from WPDE Carrie Harding was only eight years old when
23:11
Speaker 1: she was abducted by Raymond Moody. Just as I passed,
23:14
Speaker 1: he grabbed me from behind with his hand over my
23:16
Speaker 1: mouth and around my waist and put me in the
23:18
Speaker 1: passenger seat of the car. And he drove from there
23:22
Speaker 1: from two or three miles away to an undeveloped housing
23:27
Speaker 1: tracks to getting the back seat and take off your clothes.
23:29
Speaker 1: And when I said why, he said, because order a screw,
23:32
Speaker 1: which you know you don't televate your old Chile that
23:35
Speaker 1: we don't even know what they call that mean. Moody
23:37
Speaker 1: served twenty one years of a forty year prison sentence
23:40
Speaker 1: after admitting to sexually assaulting Harding and six other girls.
23:43
Speaker 1: He relocated to Georgetown after his release from California State
23:46
Speaker 1: Prison in two thousand and four. Nobody should get a
23:49
Speaker 1: second chance to hurt child. Police suspect Drexel was kidnapped
23:52
Speaker 1: as she walked along Ocean Boulevard and driven to Georgetown County.
23:56
Speaker 1: Her cell phone signal was last detected in a remote
23:58
Speaker 1: boat landing area near this out Santi River. It's roughly
24:01
Speaker 1: eight miles from the sunset Lodge apartments in Georgetown County.
24:05
Speaker 1: That's where Moody had been living at the time. I mean,
24:08
Speaker 1: Cheryl McCollum, you pull a guy over for speeding, so
24:11
Speaker 1: to day after Brittany disappears, there were rumblings even then,
24:18
Speaker 1: where's Brittany Drexel. They don't run his rape sheet when
24:22
Speaker 1: they pull him over. I mean when I get pulled
24:24
Speaker 1: over for anything, I said there forever, I don't know
24:27
Speaker 1: what they're running. But you've got a guy who has
24:33
Speaker 1: done hard jail time for raping a little girl in
24:38
Speaker 1: the vicinity where Brittany Drexel goes missing. Another reason that
24:44
Speaker 1: is so important, Nancy I said. When he has questioned
24:48
Speaker 1: later about Brittany, he says, oh, I was gout of jail.
24:53
Speaker 1: They got proved he was not out of jail. He
24:55
Speaker 1: was eight miles away the day after she was kidnapped too.
25:00
Speaker 1: To Michelle Dupree, joining US former forensic pathologists, medical examiner, detective,
25:05
Speaker 1: author of homicide investigation field guide, doctor Dupree, the moment
25:10
Speaker 1: the remains were found, police and immediately identified it, identified
25:17
Speaker 1: them as human remains? How could they do that immediately
25:21
Speaker 1: upon sight? And now I think most often it's with
25:23
Speaker 1: a skull because obviously, you know, humans have a very
25:27
Speaker 1: distinctive skull shape. It can also be by other means.
25:30
Speaker 1: Other bones in the body can tell whether it's human
25:33
Speaker 1: or not. I'm just very curious. Back to you. Nicole
25:36
Speaker 1: Boone joining as special events anchored wbt W in Myrtle Beach.
25:41
Speaker 1: She's also hosting producer Conversations with Nicole podcast Nicole. I'm
25:46
Speaker 1: curious about the tipster that called in the location of
25:52
Speaker 1: Brittany's remains. Well, some of the things I am not
25:56
Speaker 1: at liberty to talk about that I have learned through sources,
26:00
Speaker 1: but I think the tipster is obviously someone very close
26:04
Speaker 1: to the case. And my understanding is in the last
26:07
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, this information really started to turn quickly
26:12
Speaker 1: and for boots on the ground in Georgetown County, I know,
26:17
Speaker 1: other media outlets were really getting some information and starting
26:22
Speaker 1: to close in and hear what was happening with investigators.
26:26
Speaker 1: You know, you had an unbelievable amount of agencies working
26:30
Speaker 1: this case for quite some time, and it appears to
26:35
Speaker 1: me that they started getting the information to really hone
26:41
Speaker 1: in on where Brittany's remains were and what was involved.
26:46
Speaker 1: And as a good journalist. I am not at liberty
26:50
Speaker 1: to tell some of the things that were told to me,
26:52
Speaker 1: but the tipster was apparently very clear and concise on
26:59
Speaker 1: where her remains were located. Dawn Drexel is with me.
27:03
Speaker 1: This is Britney's mother, who has been through pure hell
27:07
Speaker 1: since two thousand and nine. And I can remember the
27:11
Speaker 1: very first time we spoke searching for Brittany, and you
27:15
Speaker 1: would beg and you would cry in commercial breaks when
27:20
Speaker 1: I was at HLN and I could hear you, and
27:24
Speaker 1: and somehow when we came back on the air, you
27:29
Speaker 1: are crystal clear and Razor focused on trying to find
27:35
Speaker 1: your daughter. Dawn. What a long, long road this has been,
27:43
Speaker 1: and I just I hate it so much for you.
27:46
Speaker 1: I'm curious, who do you believe is the tipster. I'm
27:52
Speaker 1: not at liberty to be in and I can't comment
28:00
Speaker 1: at this time, but I can tell you Raymond Moody
28:08
Speaker 1: is a sex offender, Okay, and I don't I don't
28:14
Speaker 1: care what anybody thinks. You cannot rehabilitate a sex offender,
28:20
Speaker 1: you know what. That's what I've been saying since day one,
28:23
Speaker 1: when I first started prosecuting. I do not believe child molesters, rapists,
28:30
Speaker 1: sex offenders in general can be rehabilitated. I agree, and Nancy,
28:36
Speaker 1: this is doctor Arnold. This is not a matter of
28:38
Speaker 1: believing it or not. It is that is the truth.
28:42
Speaker 1: They can be watched, and when I was working with
28:45
Speaker 1: sex offenders earlier in my career, we would keep an
28:48
Speaker 1: eye on them very closely. I can tell you about
28:52
Speaker 1: it sometime. But they cannot be rehabilitated. Dawn, I'm just
28:57
Speaker 1: thinking back on the erie beginning, and I mean, you
29:01
Speaker 1: see a lot of crime shows on TV and in movies.
29:04
Speaker 1: Real wife isn't like that. Cops are not tarot card
29:09
Speaker 1: readers or soothsayers. They can't look into a crystal ball.
29:12
Speaker 1: They can't figure out Oh I started this guy speeding.
29:15
Speaker 1: I wonder if he took Brittany, but they had a
29:19
Speaker 1: bead on him from the beginning. Take a listen to
29:22
Speaker 1: our cut thirteen. This is the Georgetown County Sheriff. The
29:26
Speaker 1: why I may never be known or understood, but today
29:29
Speaker 1: this task force can confidently and without hesitation answer the
29:35
Speaker 1: rest of those questions, along with the who is responsible?
29:40
Speaker 1: The who is Raymond Douglas Moody who lives at fifty
29:45
Speaker 1: five oz two Rosehill Road in Georgetown, South Carolina. His
29:49
Speaker 1: date of birth as May the ninth of nineteen sixty
29:53
Speaker 1: and he is a white male with an extensive sex
29:56
Speaker 1: offender criminal history. The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office charges against
30:01
Speaker 1: mister Raymond Moody are murder, kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct in
30:09
Speaker 1: the first degree, all of these charges occurring within the
30:13
Speaker 1: jurisdictional limits of Georgetown County, all of which occurred on
30:18
Speaker 1: April the twenty fifth of two thousand and nine, in
30:22
Speaker 1: all of which detail Brittany Drexel as the victim. Cheryl mccollin,
30:28
Speaker 1: what do you make of the so called tipster? Well,
30:30
Speaker 1: apparently it was solid information because we were able to
30:34
Speaker 1: recover Brittany and she will be able to go back
30:37
Speaker 1: home with her family. But again I agree with Dawns.
30:42
Speaker 1: They not only had a beat on him, they named
30:46
Speaker 1: him in two thousand and twelve as a person of interest.
30:48
Speaker 1: They certainly did. Yeah, and you know, he has hurt
30:53
Speaker 1: six young women and children, And it is baffling to
30:59
Speaker 1: me that a body can rate and harm six young
31:04
Speaker 1: people and walk free, and walk free to be out
31:07
Speaker 1: there to take Brittany put her through God knows what
31:12
Speaker 1: before he killed her. You're absolutely right. Take a listen
31:15
Speaker 1: to our cut six our friends from Wham. Raymond Moody
31:19
Speaker 1: was first named a person of interest in Brittany Drexel's
31:23
Speaker 1: disappearance in twenty twelve, but was never charged. In the
31:27
Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, Moody was charged with kidnapping and raping a
31:31
Speaker 1: child in California and as a registered sex offender. Publicly,
31:37
Speaker 1: his name has not come up in Drexel's case since
31:40
Speaker 1: twenty twelve. We think she was held here against her will,
31:44
Speaker 1: at least for a portion of the time that she
31:46
Speaker 1: was here. In twenty sixteen, the FBI revealed first time
31:51
Speaker 1: details about Brittany Drexel's disappearance, saying she was killed after
31:55
Speaker 1: being held against her will, kidnapped while she was walking
31:59
Speaker 1: on the murder Old Beach strength while on Spring Brink
32:15
Speaker 1: Time stories with Nancy Grace straight back out to Nicole
32:22
Speaker 1: Boone joining us from w bt W. Nicole. It was
32:26
Speaker 1: around twenty eleven, I believe, just before Moody was named
32:31
Speaker 1: a POY person of interest, and one of wbt w's
32:35
Speaker 1: reporters questioned Moody, what happened. It's been interesting confrontation is
32:41
Speaker 1: how I would have described it. It was he was
32:43
Speaker 1: very much pushing back. Our reporter at the time, Mason Snyder,
32:48
Speaker 1: went to speak with him, and this was after they
32:51
Speaker 1: had searched a hotel room where Moody had been living,
32:55
Speaker 1: and our reporter goes up to Raymond Moody talked to him, said,
33:01
Speaker 1: what do you know about Britney Drexel? Do you know
33:04
Speaker 1: anything about her? He said, I know nothing about this.
33:08
Speaker 1: Where were you the night the day that she went missing?
33:11
Speaker 1: He doesn't answer. He just tells them you need to
33:14
Speaker 1: get out of here. You need to leave, and if
33:17
Speaker 1: you don't, I'm calling the police. So very interesting. He
33:21
Speaker 1: was very in my opinion, belligerent with our reporter and
33:25
Speaker 1: adamant that he leave, in adamant that he knew nothing
33:28
Speaker 1: and for basically to leave or he was calling police. Wow,
33:31
Speaker 1: that's a nerve for him to suggest he's going to
33:33
Speaker 1: call police exact because he's having a problem. You know,
33:37
Speaker 1: thirteen years this guy has walked free after murdering a
33:45
Speaker 1: teen girl on spring break. Just beautiful girl, scrubbed in
33:52
Speaker 1: sunshine on the inside and the out. I want to
33:54
Speaker 1: go back to Jarrett Farentino, high profile Pennsylvania lawyer that
33:58
Speaker 1: is working with Dawn director. Britney's mom jump in. Well, Nancy,
34:03
Speaker 1: I have to say, you talk about capturing Timothy McVeigh
34:06
Speaker 1: with a viha bleostom. If we remember the Son of Sam,
34:10
Speaker 1: he got captured with a parking ticket. This was Moody
34:14
Speaker 1: was a fish out of water. He was fifty miles
34:17
Speaker 1: away from his home. He had rented an apartment in
34:20
Speaker 1: Myrtle Beach the day before April twenty fifth, when Britney
34:24
Speaker 1: went missing. That was suspicious to the officers immediately as well.
34:29
Speaker 1: You have this individual with a record and these downright
34:33
Speaker 1: dangerous homicidal sexual proclivities in town. When a young beautiful
34:39
Speaker 1: girl disappears, he was on their radar, and the focus
34:44
Speaker 1: has since, as we discussed, gone on to him in
34:48
Speaker 1: great detail, leading to these charges. I mean the coincidence
34:53
Speaker 1: that he shows up and then suddenly she goes missing.
34:57
Speaker 1: I mean, Cheryl McCollum, he just got there and suddenly
35:01
Speaker 1: a young girl is kidnapped. You said that there were
35:04
Speaker 1: six victims of his that we know, how explain that
35:09
Speaker 1: we know of And that's the big question, Nancy, in
35:12
Speaker 1: the past thirteen years, how many more are there? He
35:15
Speaker 1: hasn't just been sit in that trailer. He hasn't just
35:19
Speaker 1: gone dormant. He's been out free to stalk, harass, harm, rape, kill.
35:27
Speaker 1: I would be on it comparing his m O and
35:30
Speaker 1: him to every single disappearance or rape or sex attack
35:35
Speaker 1: in the area and beyond. Don Drexel with me, this
35:40
Speaker 1: is Britney's mother and this has been a very long
35:44
Speaker 1: road for her and she never gave up ever in
35:50
Speaker 1: her search for her daughter. You were telling me, Don,
35:54
Speaker 1: that it was early on that you believed that Brittany
36:00
Speaker 1: had been killed. What led you to believe or think
36:05
Speaker 1: or feel that. Well, shortly after Britton you went missing,
36:10
Speaker 1: the Myrtle Beach Police Department had told us that they
36:14
Speaker 1: believed that they were dealing with a homicide investigation at
36:20
Speaker 1: that point. From there, you know, and then what came
36:26
Speaker 1: out in twenty sixteen with the FBI. I mean, we
36:33
Speaker 1: pretty much knew that, you know, it's it was thirteen
36:37
Speaker 1: years We pretty much knew that that Brittany was most
36:41
Speaker 1: likely deceased. Guys, take a listen to our cut fifteen.
36:45
Speaker 1: This is Solica Richardson in Georgetown County. Justice is never
36:50
Speaker 1: going to be good enough. That's the fallacy and all
36:54
Speaker 1: of this that somehow we're going to do our very
36:58
Speaker 1: best to see that Raymond moved pays for what he's
37:02
Speaker 1: done here. But that is not going to replace Brittany.
37:08
Speaker 1: But what we have been able to do is to
37:11
Speaker 1: return a body to Chad and Dome and hopefully start
37:19
Speaker 1: the process of closure. And again, closure is not nearly
37:23
Speaker 1: as good as justice, and justice isn't nearly as good
37:26
Speaker 1: as just having it not happen. But that's all we
37:31
Speaker 1: have to offer. So again to repeat, Raymond Moody is
37:35
Speaker 1: in custody, is being held. He does not have a bond.
37:38
Speaker 1: That original bond was on a obstruction of justice charge.
37:43
Speaker 1: That's another charge that I failed to mention. But he
37:46
Speaker 1: remains in custody. The body has been located and identified
37:53
Speaker 1: by DNA and dental records and has been given over
37:59
Speaker 1: to the Drectual family. Dude Dawn's Rexel. This is Brittany's mother.
38:06
Speaker 1: I know it's hard to think about it right now
38:08
Speaker 1: because since two thousand and nine, your goal has been
38:12
Speaker 1: to bring Brittany home. Now Brittany has been found, what
38:20
Speaker 1: is your next step? Well, my next step today, Well
38:24
Speaker 1: today I am going to be going to the funeral home.
38:28
Speaker 1: Um when I when when they have called me and
38:31
Speaker 1: told me that, you know, it was a positive Idum,
38:37
Speaker 1: I had said, you know, I don't want Brittany in
38:40
Speaker 1: the ground. She's been in there for too long. I'm
38:43
Speaker 1: going to go ahead and have her cremated. So UM,
38:47
Speaker 1: I spoke with the funeral the funeral home here and
38:51
Speaker 1: I'm actually going to pick up Brittany today so that
38:54
Speaker 1: I can bring her back home with us. Does this
38:57
Speaker 1: all sing so so realty? It does? It happened so fast? Um,
39:05
Speaker 1: you know, and it just it you kind of go
39:08
Speaker 1: back to like the numbness and you know, like that
39:12
Speaker 1: those surreal moments when she first went missing, and you know,
39:18
Speaker 1: right now it's I feel the same way. I feel
39:22
Speaker 1: like it's so surreal, like you know, it is this
39:26
Speaker 1: really true? You know? And it just I don't know.
39:31
Speaker 1: I've always, you know, fought for Brittany and I've always
39:34
Speaker 1: wanted to bring her home, and now I'm finally going
39:37
Speaker 1: to be able to do that. I know. We're going
39:39
Speaker 1: to also be having a celebration of life U in
39:42
Speaker 1: Rochester with our family, UM, Britney's friends and h friends
39:47
Speaker 1: that are close to our family and also, we're going
39:51
Speaker 1: to have a celebration of life and Myrtle Beach. We
39:53
Speaker 1: got so much support there from the community and a
39:57
Speaker 1: lot of people that live in South Carolina. I'm curious,
40:02
Speaker 1: what is your most vivid memory of Brittany. Just her laugh,
40:09
Speaker 1: her smile. Brittany, she just was She was just full
40:14
Speaker 1: of life, her person she had great personality, she had
40:17
Speaker 1: a lot of friends, and just watching her play soccer
40:22
Speaker 1: on that soccer field, she was just amazing. She was
40:26
Speaker 1: amazing at the game. She loved the game. And Brittany.
40:31
Speaker 1: Brittany made like twenty six goals within her season, which
40:35
Speaker 1: was pretty awesome. And she was just She's just so
40:40
Speaker 1: full of life, you know, And for somebody to take
40:44
Speaker 1: that away from us as just it's it's undescribable. It
40:49
Speaker 1: really is. We live in an evil world, Nancy. As
40:54
Speaker 1: we wait for the registered sex offender, Raymond Douglas Moody
41:01
Speaker 1: to appear in court and for justice to unfold, our
41:05
Speaker 1: prayers are with Dawn Drexel and Britney's family as they
41:12
Speaker 1: move forward and the next phase of their lives. Goodbye friend,