How 'promising lead' led to Drexel's remains, murder suspect 13 years after disappearance

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — There are still so many questions to be answered after a 13-year-old murder case has made its way to the surface once again.

On Monday, it was announced by several officials that an arrest had been made after locating the remains of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel, who went missing from Myrtle Beach in 2009.

Authorities said Raymond Moody buried a deceased Drexel. His charges include rape, murder and kidnapping, and he is in custody, according to officials.

READ MORE: Moody only Drexel murder suspect, more charges not expected, other victims not identified

The newest information released Tuesday morning states that Moody confessed to the murder of Drexel and it was he who led investigators to her body after being held on an obstruction of justice charge, confirmed by the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office.

Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson shed even more light on the case in an interview with WCIV's Anne Emerson and Drew Tripp.

Officials started following a "promising lead" about three months ago, but within the last two weeks, Richardson said it was a race against the clock to get Moody behind bars and find Drexel's remains.

In the last maybe two weeks to three weeks, we put that into motion, that being stuff that I really can't talk about. But we put all that into motion. And fortunately, it was the right call and it had some other stuff to bring up. And that ultimately led us to where Brittany was buried," Richardson explained. "We were really against a race against the clock to find, we knew where she was at, and we needed to find her. And make sure that what we were looking at confirmed the theory that we had.

Richardson explained her body was needed to move anything in the investigation forward, which is why he claims officials moved quietly.

Investigators deliberately kept things quiet as long as possible, and some lack of information was meant to be confusing to the public. They couldn’t risk critical details getting out before they had the body.

Moody had to be placed in jail quickly on the obstruction of justice charge to prevent losing any chance they had of finding Drexel's body, and also because they felt he was too dangerous to be on the streets. On Wednesday, his official charges were listed in the Georgetown County jail log, replacing the obstruction of justice charge.

And I really needed the body to be able to prove what I was thinking. And what the FBI was thinking was right. So, we kept that extremely quiet. We knew Moody was, we had to have an arrest on Moody. Moody was arrested for obstruction that was really confusing. Honestly, it was supposed to be confusing to a degree. We knew if we put Moody in jail for murder, rape and kidnapping, then the cats out of the bag. So we had to put him in jail, but we had to put him in jail under a different charge. That wouldn't be so obvious. And that's why Moody was arrested on the obstruction charge. There's nothing to worry about on the obstruction charge going forward, we're not going forward on an obstruction charge. That was a placeholder to keep from, you know, letting the cat out of the bag. And we were in a race against time to be able to find this body and confirm what we thought was going on.

Investigators knew generally where her body was, but not specifically. The FBI had a lead that proved to be true and was critical in the final pieces to the puzzle, Richardson explained.

At this point, Richardson claims they don't currently have any other suspects or persons of interest. They also don't have co-conspirators in their sights.

Also, he explained that all evidence they have suggests Drexel got in a vehicle with Moody willingly. Officials don't know the circumstances, but they don't believe it was a kidnapping until later in Georgetown, which is why there are no charges out of Myrtle Beach.

He said they aren't expecting more charges either, nor are there any other potential victims. There is no evidence suggesting that there could be more victims as of now.

Richardson further explained that they have more video from the strip in Myrtle Beach that shows Drexel's progression down the street.

There's apparently more video from April 24, 2009 than what was originally released to the public. That footage shows the vehicle Moody was in, but not Moody inside.

Moody had also been pulled over in Surfside Beach by officers and received a speeding ticket the day after Drexel went missing. It is believed Drexel had already been murdered at that point, according to Richardson.

READ MORE: Case of missing daughter out of Andrews often linked to Drexel's disappearance

According to arrest warrants, Drexel's cause of death was manual strangulation by Moody on or around the night of April 25, 2009, while in the limits of Georgetown County.

But the Georgetown County Coroner's Office said that it could take weeks for a clearer cause of death to be released. As of Monday, the office said an official cause of death is still pending.

Richardson said Drexel was raped and murdered at the Santee River and then her body was moved to Old Town Avenue. All evidence indicates she died at Pole Yard Way near the boat landings.

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The search, which resulted in the discovery of the remains, happened approximately 2.5 miles from a motel called Sunset Lodge where Moody had been living when Drexel went missing.

The teen, a Rochester, New York native, had traveled to South Carolina over spring break when she disappeared.

So what's next for Moody? He has waived all rights to bond hearings and arraignments. He will likely go to a plea hearing in the upcoming months.