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The remains of a 17-year-old girl were found last week more than a decade after she vanished on a spring break, leading to the arrest of a career criminal who has been charged with her murder.
Brittanee Drexel, who was reported missing on April 25, 2009, was discovered Wednesday near Myrtle Beach, Georgetown County, South Carolina, where she was last seen, police said.
“This is truly a mother’s worst nightmare,” Brittanee’s mother, Dawn Drexel, said at a press conference.
“I’m mourning my beautiful daughter Brittanee as I have been for 13 years, but today it’s bittersweet. We are much closer to the closure and the peace that we have been desperately hoping for.”
Police arrested career sex offender Raymond Douglas Moody of Georgetown and charged him with murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, reports in the US suggested.
Moody allegedly strangled Drexel on the day she disappeared and buried her body the next day, according to the sheriff.
The young woman's remains were identified through dental records and DNA testing, police said.
Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver appealed to her family at the news conference on Monday, May 17.
“To the Drexel family, we mourn with you and pray for you as you cope with the tragedies of 13 years ago,” he said.
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“No one deserves to go through this and our hearts go out to you. Our only hope is that this finding allows your family to grieve properly for Brittanee.”
Brittanee was on holiday with friends in Myrtle Beach when she was reported missing in April 2009.
Police offered a $25,000 reward and issued CCTV images of Brittanee leaving a hotel, the last confirmed sighting of the teen.
Taquan Brown, who is serving 25 years for an unrelated manslaughter case, previously said he saw Brittannee when he visited a "stash house" in the area she was last seen.
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He said she was being sexually abused by several men.
As he went to give another man at the property some money, Brittanee apparently made an attempt to flee.
She was "pistol-whipped" and taken back inside before Brown said he heard two gunshots.
He says he saw the body wrapped up and taken away.
- Crime
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