\
THE former girlfriend of Brittanee Drexel’s killer has pleaded guilty to charges connected to the case 15 years after the teenager’s death.
Angel Vause, 56, appeared in federal court in Charleston, South Carolina on Monday to enter her plea over charges of lying to cops about her role in the 2009 murder and kidnapping.
7
7
7
Brittanee Drexel, 17, from Rochester, New York went missing on April 25, 2009, during a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
She disappeared from the Blue Water Resort where she was staying with friends and was not seen again until her remains were discovered in May 2022.
Shortly after the gruesome discovery, Raymond Moody was arrested and in October 2022 he pleaded guilty to all charges of rape, murder, and kidnapping.
Moody is serving a life sentence for his crimes against Drexel.
read more on the Drexel case
GUILTY PLEA
Now, his former long-term girlfriend has admitted that she lied about her involvement in the teenager’s death.
After continually changing her mind on how to plead, the 56-year-old confessed to lying to federal agents in 2022.
“She acknowledged being right in the middle of the crime in terms of where she was while Ray Moody was assaulting and killing Brittanee,” U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday told the press after the hearing on Monday.
Vause had given cops false information on her location while the crimes were being committed and lied about where Drexel’s cell phone was.
In addition to this, she lied when claiming the teenager voluntarily joined her and Moody to partake in drug taking.
“Obviously these were important things for us to have known 15 years ago, 10 years ago, or whatever, and she lied to the FBI as recently as May of 2022,” Holliday added.
When Moody confessed to kidnapping and killing Drexel, he told cops that he and Vause had picked the teen up when she was walking down the street.
He claimed he had asked her if she wanted to have fun and smoke marijuana.
The trio then arrived at a campsite in Georgetown County where he kidnapped, raped, and killed her before dumping her body in Harmony Township.
However, when questioned by federal agents in May 2022, Vause said that as the murder was taking place she left to pick up some keys but drove in another direction for a different reason, according got court docs.
Raymond Moody profile and how he was caught:
On December 15, 1983, he was sentenced to 40 years and four months in prison for sexually assaulting then-eight-year-old Kerri Harding.
On June 9, 2004, he was released on parole supervision; he was discharged from parole on June 9, 2007.
In 2010, Moody was charged for failing to register as a sex offender in Georgetown County.
On May 4, 2022, Raymond Moody was arrested in connection to Brittanee’s disappearance and homicide.
Since 2012, law enforcement considered him a person of interest in the investigation.
According to prosecutors, police were able to narrow down Moody as a person of interest in Brittanee’s disappearance because of nearby surveillance cameras and advancements in DNA technology.
When investigators retrieved the hotel’s surveillance footage, they observed a vehicle traveling along the same road that belonged to Moody and his girlfriend Angel Vause.
The victim’s last cellphone signal was also traced along the same road.
Moody was charged with obstruction of justice, as well as first-degree murder, kidnapping, and sexual misconduct.
He confessed to sexually assaulting and killing Brittanee and led police to her remains.
On October 19, 2022, Moody pleaded guilty to all charges.
The sex offender was sentenced to life in prison with two additional 30-year sentences.
At his sentencing hearing, Moody told the court: “I don’t have the words to express how horrible I feel and I have felt ever since that day.
“I’m very sorry. I was a monster then, and I was a monster when I took Brittanee Drexel’s life.”
She also claimed that the teen had kept her cell phone which was later found dumped between Georgetown and Charleston Counties.
The FBI alleged that Vause took and dumped Drexel’s phone and that Drexel had been kidnapped “under false pretenses” despite Moody’s girlfriend claiming that the teen came willingly.
Vause who was out on bond after her indictment in March has had it revoked by the judge who called her a danger to the community, a move which Drexel’s mother has celebrated.
‘NO WORDS’
“I’m glad that the judge revoked the bond for her. You know, Brittanee didn’t have that choice,” Dawn Pleckan Conley told NBC News affiliate WCBD.
“Brittanee didn’t have no choice. So, I’m very glad she was reprimanded into custody.”
While the family is grateful to be one step closer to getting justice, Conley noted nothing will stop the hurt.
“I just have no words. She’s a mom and a grandmother. How could you do this to a human being?” she said.
“I don’t think you ever get closure after losing a child. She will pay for what she did to my daughter.”
Meanwhile, Drexel’s father, John Kahyaoglu, said that hearing the guilty pleas from Vause gave him some level of joy and relief.
“I’m still soaking it in but I got some happiness out of it. I got a lot of happiness out of it, that she’s not just going to walk out of here,” he said.
“A lot of people have been working on this and been waiting for this day. I can’t wait until sentencing of course, but it’s been a long journey.”
At a hearing two weeks ago, Vause was expected to plead guilty but during the final moments, she changed her mind and entered a not guilty plea which saw a trial date set for November 18.
However, she later changed her mind again, leading to Monday’s hearing.
Holliday hopes that Vause will be sentenced around what would have been the trial date but noted that this would be an incredibly quick turnaround.
“I’ve made the request, in part at Dawn’s request, that we try to get it done by the end of the year, to start to provide some closure,” he said.
Vause who was taken to the Al Cannon Detention Center could receive up to 24 years in prison with each charge carrying a maximum sentence of eight years.
7
7
7
7
