← Murder With My Husband
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- [00:00]
Peyton Moreland
All right, you guys, we are jumping into an ad and life does not happen biweekly. So why should your payday, the money you've earned, should be in your hands. And with Earnin, it can be. Earnin is an app that lets you access your pay as you earn it up to $150 a day, with a max of $750 between paydays. So what you do is you just download the Earn an app and then you add your information. You, you then start accessing your pay as you work. And you can leave an optional tip to help keep the app running for everyone. And any money you access, plus tips are automatically repaid from your next paycheck.
- [00:43]
Garrett Moreland
Pen and I were just talking about this here today. We were talking about how useful this can be. Especially we were talking about how in college how useful this would have been.
- [00:50]
Peyton Moreland
I'm not going to lie. There have been times where I have been waiting for my next payday in order to get the things that I need. And I know that that is a reality for a lot of people out there. And that's why I think Earn in is such a smart app.
- [01:04]
Garrett Moreland
Download Earn in today spelled E, A R, N I N in the Google Play or Apple App Store. When you download the Earn an app, type in Murder with my Husband under Podcast when you sign up. It really helps the show. Murder with My Husband under Podcast. Earn an is a financial technology company, not a bank. Access limits are based on your earnings and risk factors. Standard cash outs take one to two business days with no mand fees. Expedited transfers available for a fee. Tips are voluntary and don't affect the service available in select states. Terms and restrictions apply. Visit Earnin.com for full details. Download Earn in now and take control of your pay. Shopify. Shopify. Shopify. We are jumping into a Shopify ad. I use Shopify. I've been using Shopify for six years now. Longer seven years now. I love Shopify. I'm a big Shopify fan. It's easy to use, it's intuitive, it has everything I need. If you're thinking about selling anything online, Shopify is the place to do it. They are the experts in helping small businesses grow. Imagine being able to guarantee that shopping is always convenient. And let's face it, acquiring new customers is expensive. With Shopify pos, you can keep shoppers coming back with personalized experience and first party data that gives marketing teams a competitive edge. Their point of sale system is a unified command center for retail businesses as well, not just online businesses. It brings together in store and online operations across up to 1,000 locations. In fact, it's proven based on a report from EY Business on Shopify. POS see real results, 22% better. Total cost of ownership and benefits equivalent to a 8.9% uplift in sales on average relative to the market set surveyed. Sign up for your $1 per month trial and start selling today@shopify.com husband. Go to shopify.com husband shopify.com husband Guys, go check it out.
- [03:10]
Peyton Moreland
You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Moreland.
- [03:16]
Garrett Moreland
And I'm Garrett Moreland.
- [03:17]
Peyton Moreland
That's not the beginning.
- [03:19]
Garrett Moreland
No, wait, you did that wrong.
- [03:21]
Peyton Moreland
Yeah. Okay, let me restart everyone. Let me retry that.
- [03:24]
Garrett Moreland
I didn't even correct you.
- [03:25]
Peyton Moreland
How are we going to start a podcast and not even give them their intro?
- [03:27]
Garrett Moreland
Okay, I'm ready. I'm ready.
- [03:29]
Peyton Moreland
Whoa. Everyone cleanse. Cleanse. Let's retry. Hey everyone. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My husband. I'm Peyton Moreland.
- [03:36]
Garrett Moreland
And I'm Garrett Moreland.
- [03:37]
Peyton Moreland
And he's the husband.
- [03:38]
Garrett Moreland
And I'm a husband. Welcome back to another episode, another week. Hope everyone is having a great holiday. Majority of you are probably off work, depending on what your jobs are.
- [03:51]
Peyton Moreland
Is it Labor Day?
- [03:52]
Garrett Moreland
It is Labor Day. Anyways, hope you guys are enjoying today no matter what you're doing. Hope someone out there did something fun over the weekend. We have just been hanging out, chilling at home, nothing too crazy. And here we are recording an episode, getting ready to hang out with you guys for the week.
- [04:12]
Peyton Moreland
We did just wake up. We have our dutch bros coffee.
- [04:15]
Garrett Moreland
We got our Dutch bros. Even though they don't want to sponsor us. We got our Dutch bros coffee. We are energized. We're ready to go. I made some bagels last night. I know I had a bunch of people asking if about my bagels. Yeah, they're really good, bro. They were like, I made good. They were pretty authentic when it comes to bagels.
- [04:35]
Peyton Moreland
I hope so. It was like a full two day process. He like boiled, baked, all the things.
- [04:42]
Garrett Moreland
All the things.
- [04:43]
Peyton Moreland
Let them sit in the fridge for hours.
- [04:47]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, I did a good job. They turned out really good. That's all I have to say about that. Nothing more. I've just been. Peyton and I have, I guess for my 10 seconds. I'll give you a little life update this week. We've just been kind of rearranging furniture. We got some new furniture. I dropped a Dresser on my foot. I made some bagels. Exercising, hanging out. Halloween is coming up. I mean, not really, but kind of. We're getting there. It's almost September actually. While you're listening to this, it'll be September. So it's basically time to get ready for Halloween. So hope everyone we sh. You know what, I came up with something right as I was talking. I think that we should do a Halloween contest this year.
- [05:30]
Peyton Moreland
Wait, it's September. That means I'm supposed to put Skelly in. In with us.
- [05:34]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah. So I think we should do a Halloween costume contest this year. And the winner gets. What does the winner get?
- [05:41]
Peyton Moreland
Like they. They post on their stories and tag us.
- [05:44]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, like they send us or post on their stories and tag us.
- [05:46]
Peyton Moreland
You know what, you guys go to Instagram to check the official rules. Cuz we're up off the top.
- [05:50]
Garrett Moreland
But the winner will get something really good. We'll keep everyone updated.
- [05:54]
Peyton Moreland
That'll be fun.
- [05:55]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, I'll think of like a really good prize. I don't know, maybe one of my bagels. No, I'm just kidding. It'll be better than that. I'll think of something really good. On that note, I'll see if Payton has anything to say and then we can hop into today's case.
- [06:07]
Peyton Moreland
Well, I don't have anything to say because I'm about to yap your ear off.
- [06:11]
Garrett Moreland
Let's do it.
- [06:12]
Peyton Moreland
Our sources for this episode are live five news.com abc news.go.com people.com cbs news.com my h news.com justice.gov 13wham.com wbtw.com new york post.com wrdw.com and abc.com all right, before I get into it, I did want to say you might recognize this case because it is a little bit more well known in the true crime community. But we haven't done this for a little while. I always find it interesting to introduce more well known cases to Garrett because this will be the first time he's ever heard of it. And it's almost like kind of fascinating to listen to someone digest information that we all already might be aware of. So if you have heard of this case, just stick around and listen. I promise it'll be worth it.
- [07:07]
Garrett Moreland
And for those who might be new listening, I don't know these cases. Everyone's always like, how do you not know these cases? Do you not listen to true crime? No, the only time I listen to true crime is when I am sitting down in this chair hearing it from my wife.
- [07:22]
Peyton Moreland
Okay, so for a lot of people, part of being a teenager is pushing boundaries, finding your independence, learning how to be an adult, and believing that you know a heck of a lot better than your parents do. And most of us have been told no by our parents before, that we can't go to a party or we can't stay out past our curfew, and then we all tried to do it anyways. But when we're teenagers, we aren't thinking about why our parents are setting those boundaries for us. We just think they want to keep us on a leash and say no just because they can. We never consider that they're actually trying to protect us from all of the scary things out there in the real world. Things that our innocent little naive selves still aren't thinking of yet. Drunk drivers, pansy boys, strangers in the night. And while most of the time those fears are just our parents being overprotective, today's case proves that sometimes those fears are greatly justified. So let's travel now to upstate New York, to a suburb of Rochester called Chile. The year is 2009, and this is a place that a 17 year old girl named Brittany Drexel calls home. So again, 2009, in a suburb of Rochester, 17 year old Brittany, now Britney, was born on October 7, 1991. Her parents, dawn and John, were teenagers themselves when they had a Britney and they weren't married at the time. Knock it off.
- [09:08]
Garrett Moreland
Sorry.
- [09:09]
Peyton Moreland
Well, it's not like they chose their names. And then we're like, let's get be a couple and be Don and John. They just met each other, fell in love. Yeah, they weren't married at the time. Again, they were teenagers, so the relationship didn't last long. Now, around the time Britney turned two, dawn got together with a man named Chad Drexel, who ended up adopting Britney and took on the role of a father figure in her life. It was good that dawn had the support, because things weren't easy with Britney when she was a baby. She was born with something called persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous in her right eye, which basically required a bunch of surgeries throughout her life and inevitably rendered her blind in that eye. But that didn't discourage Chad and Dawn from growing their family. So years later, Brittany had a half little brother and sister named Marissa and Camden, and she grows extremely close with these siblings. And while Britney's eye troubles certainly must have been a challenge, they didn't seem to hinder her confidence. As she grew up and into her teenage years, people who knew Brittany described her as a little spitfire ball of energy who was extremely feisty, especially on the soccer field there. Brittany was a Massive star, scoring 26 goals for her team in one season alone. She was also studying cosmetology and had hopes of either pursuing that or modeling once she got done with high school. But come 2009, 17 year old Brittany started doing what a lot of kids her age do. She began testing boundaries. Things at home were getting complicated because dawn and Chad were actually in the midst of a separation. Her biological dad, John, had just come back into her life and was looking to rekindle a relationship with his daughter. And meanwhile, Brittany was trying to make the most of her high school years. It was her junior year and she had just started hanging out with a new group of friends who were all a little bit older than she was, which meant Britney was invited to more parties and less parents supervised outings. She also at this point, had a boyfriend, a kid named John Greco, who she had been together with for about a year or so. And she seemed pretty serious about him. But in the spring of 2009, Britney went to her mom with a request. She wanted to go with a few of her new friends down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for a spring break trip. Now, dawn, her mother, told her right away, I do not approve. Especially because she hardly knew the new friends Brittany was going with and was told there wouldn't be any parents going with them. So this actually led to a bunch of arguments between dawn and Brittany over the next week or two. But Don was not about to cave, especially because she just had that mom feeling if she let Britney go, something terrible would happen. And it didn't seem like she shared this intuition with Britney at the time. But dawn did stand her ground. And then when Britney came to her around April 22, she said, okay, plans have changed. Now me and my friends just want to go to another friend's beach house in Rochester Island. Now this time dawn agreed, figuring it was a good compromise since Britney wouldn't even be crossing state lines. But she had no idea that Britney wasn't being truthful. Later that day, Britney got in a car with three of her new friends and headed south to Myrtle beach anyways. Okay, so her sneaky little plan was tell mom the plans changed, but they actually didn't. So her and her friends check into a place along the water called the Bar Harbor Hotel. They spent the next three days enjoying themselves without a hitch. And on day three, April 25, Britney started to feel a little guilty about the fights that she had had with her mother about this trip. So she called her that day to say she was at the beach. She didn't specify what beach. Dawn obviously thinks she meant that she was at the Lake Ontario shoreline, which was close to the house and something they always referred to as the beach. Plus, the weather was warm back in New York that day. It was 83 degrees. So dawn didn't really ask too many questions. She was just happy that the air was getting cleared between her and Brittany and that her daughter sounded in high spirits that day and was having fun. Before she hung up the phone, Brittany told her mother she loved her and that she would see her the following day. Unfortunately, though, that would be the last conversation the two of them would ever have. That night, around 8pm, Brittany left her hotel alone to go visit some other friends in town who were staying at another nearby hotel. It was called the Blue Water Resort. It was about a mile and a half away from the place she was staying with her friends. Now, security cameras show her walking into this new hotel and then leaving shortly after at around 8:45pm apparently, one of the friends Brittany went down with had texted her asking if she borrowed her pair of black shorts. When Britney was like, yeah, I did, it kind of became an argument between the two friends. So Britney agreed to leave this visit at the new hotel that she was at and head back to her original hotel with her original friends to give the girl her pair of shorts. Okay, sorry, that was a little complicated. Cause there's a lot of friends. But by the way, Britney's boyfriend John was not on the trip with them, but the two were texting pretty much the entire time she was on spring break with her friends. And she told John what was happening as she left the hotel that night to go return the shorts to the OG Hotel. She told John she was walking back. But around 9:15pm that night, Britney's texts stop. Out of the blue, John, her boyfriend, wasn't hearing from her anymore. And he honestly began to panic. He starts calling her friends that she was with. They said they hadn't heard from her either. And Brittany, who was walking that mile and a half back to the hotel in the dark, hadn't made it back yet. So that's when John ups the stakes. He tells Brittany, hey, if you don't text me back soon, I'm gonna call your mom and tell her that you lied and are in Myrtle beach, okay? And when more time passes that night without hearing from Brittany and her not showing up back to the hotel, John follows through on that promise, he calls dawn later that night and says, hey, really worried about Britney. She just stopped texting me out of the blue. And her friends haven't seen or heard from her. And also, she is not in New York. She did actually go to MYRTLE BEACH.
- [16:43]
Garrett Moreland
S.C. i mean, probably good thing that he told her, obviously.
- [16:47]
Peyton Moreland
And so that's when Don realizes she's gotta get to Myrtle beach immediately.
- [16:53]
Garrett Moreland
Oh, wow.
- [16:54]
Peyton Moreland
So by the following morning, dawn and the rest of the family are basically on their way to South Carolina. And of course, one of their first stops when they get there is immediately to the local police because Brittany never showed up the entire night. But they also start walking up and down the strip that Britney was walking between these hotels to see if anyone had spotted her. And meanwhile, the Myrtle beach police begin searching Britney's hotel room. They find that all of her clothes are still there, but her purse and her cell phone are missing. They also gain access to a security camera on Ocean Boulevard, which is where Britney's hotel was. And it's honestly sort of the main drag along the water with all the different hotels. And they find footage of Britney walking toward the Blue Water resort southbound around 8pm which matches the story. She has her head down, she's looking at her cell phone, she's likely texting John. They also have footage of her going in. This is the other friend's hotel. And then back out of the Blue Water Resort where the friends were staying. Basically, she entered around 8pm and left around 8:45pm okay, so everything seems fine. Yes, it seems to match what everyone was saying. But what they don't have is Britney walking past that original camera on Ocean Boulevard again later on heading back towards her hotel.
- [18:20]
Garrett Moreland
Okay, so.
- [18:21]
Peyton Moreland
So they at least have a kind of a point on a map of where they know she didn't get to. Okay, all right, you guys, let's talk about home security. For the longest time, I thought an alarm that went off after someone broke in was enough. But that's not really security. That is reacting after the worst has already started. And that's why we use Simplisafe. They're changing the game with Active Guard Outdoor Protection. It's a system designed to stop crime before it even happens.
- [18:54]
Garrett Moreland
Here's how it works. Their AI powered cameras don't just detect motion. They can actually tell when someone's lurking on your property and then simply saves lives. Agents step in right then and there. They can speak directly to the person through two way audio, flip on a spotlight sound, a loud siren, and even call the police. There are no long term contracts, no hidden fees and they back it with a 60 day money back guarantee. Someone the other day I get, I actually get quite a few people who are in my DMs asking what security we use and about Simplisafe. Super easy. It's affordable, it's intuitive. You can set it up or you can have one of the professionals set it up. I just set it up because Bob the Builder, we back it, we love it and go try SimpliSafe. Get 50% off your new SimpliSafe system@simplisafe.com husband that's 50% off your new Simplisafe system by visiting SimpliSafe.com husband there's no safe like SimpliSafe.
- [19:52]
Peyton Moreland
This show is sponsored by Liquid IV and honestly you guys, there's really no point in drinking water without using Liquid iv. Transitioning from the relaxed vibe of summer to the focus needed in the fall can honestly drain your energy fast. So ditch the post summer sluggishness with Liquid IV's new energy multiplier. Sugar free hydrating Energy. It is scientifically formulated to support physical energy, hydration, focus, mood and social stammer. It's natural caffeine and electrolytes, hydration and energy all in one. Zero sugar, three times the electrolytes and nine essential vitamins for a sugar free crash free boost. Made with electrolytes, vitamins and natural caffeine for a jitter free sugar free lift. And it helps you feel balanced throughout the day without the crash or jitters.
- [20:46]
Garrett Moreland
Comes in two mouth watering flavors, Sugar free Energy. Strawberry Kiwi and Sugar free Energy. BlackBerry Lemonade. I use these all the time. I play a lot of pickleball, I play a lot of sports. I'm outside a lot during the summer. It's really important to stay hydrated. You also don't realize how much the sun drains you in the summer. It's crazy. I mean you're out there for a couple hours like me, you know, and that golf ball hitting that pickleball around. He needs some Liquid iv. Gotta stay hydrated. Honestly, I back it. It makes a big difference. I don't know how I would go without them.
- [21:16]
Peyton Moreland
And if you're like me and just struggle getting your usual water intake for the day. That is where liquid IV comes in. Just one stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates better than just water alone.
- [21:28]
Garrett Moreland
Get focused. Ditch the glitch with zero sugar and zero crash from Liquid IV. Tear poor, live more. Go to liquid I dot com. And get 20% off your first order with Code Husband at checkout. That's 20% off your first order with codehusbandiquidiv.com.
- [21:45]
Peyton Moreland
So what happened to Brittany after she left the Blue Water Resort? Police begin with tracking Britney's cell phone and they find that she left the Myrtle beach area pretty soon after leaving the Blue Water resort.
- [22:00]
Garrett Moreland
Interesting.
- [22:01]
Peyton Moreland
Yes. So her phone traveled 15 miles south.
- [22:06]
Garrett Moreland
Oh, so she went the other way of her hotel. Okay.
- [22:09]
Peyton Moreland
And obviously in a car because you're not going to be walking 15 miles. It was pretty fast. They also learned that the last ping of her cell phone was in the early morning hours of April 26th off a cell tower about 50 miles south.
- [22:26]
Garrett Moreland
Oh my gosh. Okay. So, I mean, yeah, someone took her in a car.
- [22:30]
Peyton Moreland
It was near a rural swampy area.
- [22:33]
Garrett Moreland
Oh my.
- [22:34]
Peyton Moreland
On the Georgetown Charleston county line. And you can imagine her friends, her boyfriend, her family learning this from police after reporting her missing. Like, okay, yeah, we believe you. She is missing. And also she was taken in a car. Did she get in there willingly? And all of her friends and family were like, no, this is nowhere. Britney would have gone on her own accord without telling John or us or someone. Which then obviously leads everyone in the case's hearts to drop because that means she was most likely kidnapped. So the local police there mobilized pretty quickly, sending search teams out to the area to scour the land on ATVs horseback by foot.
- [23:22]
Garrett Moreland
Oh my God.
- [23:23]
Peyton Moreland
And this is heartbreaking.
- [23:25]
Garrett Moreland
But after the body that quick, after.
- [23:28]
Peyton Moreland
11 days of non stop searches from sunrise to sunset, they come up empty handed.
- [23:38]
Garrett Moreland
Oh my gosh. So they found the last ping, but nothing.
- [23:41]
Peyton Moreland
11 days have gone by without a word from Britney. So there's no sign of Britney. Honestly, things aren't looking good. But her family isn't giving up hope. After posting flyers, the police end up getting hundreds of tips from local people claiming to have seen Britney either wandering Ocean Boulevard, which we knew, or sitting on a bus somewhere close by after she disappeared. But none of this can be confirmed. Nothing really leads to anything useful. There is, however, one person police zoom in on pretty early in the investigation. It was actually the last person Brittany was said to be with. It was one of these friends at the Blue water resort, a 20 year old guy named Peter Brozewitz.
- [24:32]
Garrett Moreland
I mean, something's gotta be on the cameras like 100%. They find something that her getting into a car or being forced into a car has to be.
- [24:42]
Peyton Moreland
So they're looking into Peter, who was a friend at the other hotel and he was a nightclub promoter back in Rochester, who also happened to be vacationing down in Myrtle beach that same week. He and Brittany and some of his friends had apparently met up the night before she vanished. So she had already hung out with these friends on April 24th at a place called Club Kryptonite. Now, Britney, Peter and his friends then met back up the following morning. Morning at the beach near the Blue water Resort around 11am and then again in their room when Britney stopped by the night she went missing at around 8pm now, there's really nothing suspicious about the encounter with Peter from what I can tell, aside from the fact that he lawyers up pretty quickly as soon as Britney disappears, which just honestly seems like a smart move if you're going to be being questioned by the police. But there is something, he says, that makes Britney's mom question his story. He says that she spent 10 minutes in his room the night before her friend texted her saying she wanted her to walk back and give her back the shorts. And that's when Britney left and planned to make the mile and a half walk back to her hotel. But Britney's mom says she hated walking. It doesn't make any sense that she would have turned right back around and walked another mile back to the hotel.
- [26:05]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [26:06]
Peyton Moreland
And so when asked why Peter, who had a car, didn't offer to just give her a quick ride back to the hotel, he said, quote, he wasn't in Myrtle beach to babysit. Now, remember, Britney is a little bit younger. But this response gets police wondering. Did Britney not want to make the walk back to her hotel? And so instead, she got a ride from a cab or potentially a stranger that night. Like, as she was on the walk back, she decided to try and maybe that innocent ride went seriously wrong. Well, after several dead ends, the investigation into Brittany Drexel starts to slow. But Britney's mom, Dawn, is refusing to give up hope. She actually moves to Myrtle beach.
- [26:52]
Garrett Moreland
Oh my gosh, with her parents full.
- [26:55]
Peyton Moreland
Time so she can keep applying pressure to the local law enforcement. Plus, she says it just makes her feel closer to her missing daughter. And meanwhile, dawn starts to have her own theories on what might have happened to her daughter, Britney. She wonders if maybe Britney was lured to Myrtle beach by someone who was promising her something, maybe like a prospective modeling job, which Britney had expressed interest in doing. She also wondered if perhaps Britney had then fallen victim to sex trafficking. This is a theory that might have come from the fact that Horry county, where Myrtle beach is located, has been rated the number one county In South Carolina for human trafficking.
- [27:36]
Garrett Moreland
Wow. Okay.
- [27:38]
Peyton Moreland
However, I'm not sure if the local police took any of that like seriously enough.
- [27:43]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, it's hard. I mean, I think at some point you get so many theories you have to gotta nail something down, right? Yeah, it gets hard.
- [27:50]
Peyton Moreland
I do know that. For another two years.
- [27:55]
Garrett Moreland
So sad.
- [27:56]
Peyton Moreland
The investigation creeps by with a lot of false leads, bad tips and little movement. Okay, that was Until August of 2011, when someone comes forward in the case with something of use. So that year, a woman goes to the police and says she wants to report something. Her boyfriend, a 54 year old man named Raymond Moody, had been abusing her. She also mentions that Raymond's on a sex offenders list and also might be worth looking into for the Brittany Drexel case. So this woman basically walks in and says my boyfriend sucks. And also you might want to look into him as a suspect. Well, it just so happens that Raymond also lives pretty close to the area where Brittany's cell phone last pinged. Only about 10 miles away over in Georgetown County. In fact, Raymond used to be in the navy. And when he was stationed back in California, he was convicted of seven different sexual assaults, some of which included crimes against kids and teenagers, which he did serve about 20 years for. After his release in California, Raymond moved back to his hometown in Georgetown, S.C.
- [29:21]
Garrett Moreland
Ends up being the guy. I don't really know what to say. Other than.
- [29:26]
Peyton Moreland
20 assaults.
- [29:28]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, we just keep him there for life. You, you're staying in for life or.
- [29:32]
Peyton Moreland
You'Re he's not going to get better.
- [29:34]
Garrett Moreland
Or you're getting the ex. Like I don't know. Because if this ends up being the guy, look what happened. Look exactly what happened when he got out of prison. And I'm not saying that everyone who gets out of prison, but for anyone who's unaware the amount of people who reoffend when they get out of prison, the percentage is absolutely astonishing.
- [29:55]
Peyton Moreland
For sex crimes.
- [29:56]
Garrett Moreland
For sex crimes, you guys would be mind blown.
- [29:59]
Peyton Moreland
I'm. Don't quote me, but the last time I looked into it, plus well no, the last time I looked into it, the highest re offenders were sex crimes.
- [30:09]
Garrett Moreland
And I had to look at the percentage, but I remember it being an astonishing number where I was like, yep, and this is why you should never get out of prison.
- [30:17]
Peyton Moreland
You know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 21, like bye.
- [30:22]
Garrett Moreland
Insane.
- [30:23]
Peyton Moreland
You're obviously highly up on the reoffender list. Okay. Anyways, I. That's just like really frustrating when we cover these cases and someone has offended that many times, whether Raymond did it or not. Like it's. Why is he. I mean, okay. Anyways, so after his 20 year sentence, he gets out, he moves back home to South Carolina and had been living there ever since his parole had ended back in 2007. This was two years before Britney's disappearance. So he was in the area and no longer on parole. But now Raymond is back on the police's radar, especially because one of the crimes he committed actually sounds eerily similar to what happened to Brittany Drexel once police are given his name and look into him. According to one of Raymond's victims, a woman named Carrie Harding, she was eight years old back in 1983 when she was targeted by Raymond. She was walking to school one day to meet a friend. So walking on a street, when Raymond grabbed her from behind and threw her in his car. Now, after sexually assaulting 8 year old Carrie, he did let her go. But police are wondering if the situation was maybe slightly different with Britney. So they start questioning Raymond and those close to him. For starters, they hear from a friend and former romantic partner of Raymond's. It's a guy named Ernest Merchant. And he says a couple of days after Britney was reported missing, Raymond came to his house unexpectedly and he had claw marks all over his face.
- [32:18]
Garrett Moreland
Oh my gosh, dude. However, gotta be kidding me.
- [32:21]
Peyton Moreland
When police learn about him, they're like, yes, this is someone we're gonna look into. And they decide to speak to Raymond. He says, no way. No way. This disappearance from years ago. He was out of town around the time Britney Drexel went missing. So police investigate this alibi and learn it wasn't the case. Raymond was lying to them. There was a parking ticket issued to him in Myrtle beach, of course, the day after Britney disappeared. And that officer who issued him the parking ticket also noted that he had scratch marks all over his face. So this is the second person claiming that days after Brittany's disappearance, Raymond was not only in Myrtle beach, he had scratches, but he had scratches on him. Police also learned that Raymond Moody had moved into a place in Georgetown called the Sunset Lodge the day before Britney vanished back in April of 2009. So that August of 2011, they get a search warrant for the room Raymond had rented while he was in the area where Brittany went missing. And they rip the place apart, they tear down the wallpaper, they open up mattresses looking for any sort of clues or DNA, anything that can tie him to Britney. But there was nothing in that room that pointed to a murder or Raymond Moody. Being guilty. So it was a dead end. The room was. Meaning none of this is enough to move forward with Raymond Moody, at least according to the local police. So after that, the case kind of reaches another standstill. Seemed like a good suspect, but they get nothing from it. Five years later, in 2016, the FBI holds a press conference to say that they feel pretty confident that Brittany Drexel is no longer alive. They do believe she was killed in the Georgetown area, particularly an area called McClellanville, based on where her cell phone.
- [34:24]
Garrett Moreland
Five years later. Okay, thank you.
- [34:26]
Peyton Moreland
Yeah, I mean, I think it's just more of them officially being like, hey, this girl was murdered. But that makes Britney's family wonder what's changed in the investigation for the FBI to confidently come out and now say this their new information, that they haven't been told. The answer is yes, sort of. It turns out someone had recently come forward about Britney's case. It was an inmate serving a 25 year sentence, which I'm pretty sure we've.
- [34:55]
Garrett Moreland
Talked about this before. Like snitching on inmates. Like sometimes it's good information, sometimes it's bad.
- [35:02]
Peyton Moreland
Right? Unreliable.
- [35:03]
Garrett Moreland
Yes.
- [35:04]
Peyton Moreland
So he says he has information on Brittany Drexel's disappearance. He says he saw Britney before, for her disappearance at a stash House in McClellanville. He says he noticed that she was being assaulted there. And then he actually watched her get shot and killed.
- [35:23]
Garrett Moreland
Oh my God.
- [35:23]
Peyton Moreland
When she tried to fight back. He also mentioned something particularly gruesome. That the people at this house, they dumped Britney's body into an alligator pit. Now, police do take this tip seriously, especially because it seems to be corroborated by someone else. But the more they look into it, the less it pans out. And eventually police get this informant to admit that he had made the entire thing up.
- [35:50]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, that's what I was saying.
- [35:50]
Peyton Moreland
He was hoping to provide information so he could get some kind of leniency. Which means again, Britney's case sits idle until 2019. This is 10 years.
- [36:02]
Garrett Moreland
So sad.
- [36:03]
Peyton Moreland
When things finally start to pick up some momentum. Jumping into an ad here. And I was just thinking the other day as I was standing in my closet, really, time to do a refresh in here. But you know, items I'm not going to get rid of in my closet, all of my quince items. Quince has all the elevated essentials for fall. Think a hundred percent mongolian cashmere from $50. Washable silk tops and skirts and perfectly tailored denim, all at prices that feel too good to be true. And I'm not lying. I've told you a thousand times I wear my silk skirt all the time. I recently got a pair of shoes shoes from Quince that I have been wearing down to the bone. And the reason that you get such good quality with quints but at a lower price is because they partner directly with ethical top tier factories and quints cuts out the middlemen to deliver luxury quality items at half the price of similar brands. It is the kind of wardrobe upgrade that feels smart, stylish and effortless. Keep it classic and cozy this fall with long lasting staples from Queen quince. Go to quince.com husband for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. That's Q U I N C E dot com husband to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com husband hi everyone, this is Jenny Moness from We Didn't Turn out okay Podcast did you know at Great Wolf Lodge, there's adventure for the whole family? You and your pack can splash away in the indoor water park where it's always 84 degrees. There's a massive wave pool, a lazy river and tons of water slides for your pack to enjoy together. And the fun doesn't stop there. Get ready to explore and play at Adventure packed attractions from Magiquest, a live action game that takes place throughout the lodge, to the Northern Lights Arcade. There's also a bunch of great dining options and and complimentary daily events like nightly dance parties all under one roof. And the best part? With 23 lodges across the country, you're always only a short drive away from adventure. As a parent who loves family adventures, I love when everything's in one place. It's why I can't wait to take my family to Great Wolf Lodge. So bring your pack together at a lodge near you. Book your stay today@greatwolf.com and strengthen the package. So by this point, like I said, 10 years have passed. There is still no body, no suspects, and no real theories about what happened to her after she left the hotel that night. All police know for sure is that her cell phone, at least, was in a car and traveled somewhere near the Georgetown county line and then stopped working after that. But now that a decade has passed, technology has vastly improved. So while looking back into the case, police use new methods to track the final movements of Britney's cell phone. And with this new technology, they are able to get a much more accurate reading of where she was. More specifically, they are able to pinpoint down to the minute when her phone went from walking to driving.
- [39:21]
Garrett Moreland
That's amazing. I didn't know that. I didn't think they could go back and do that, is I'm trying to say.
- [39:25]
Peyton Moreland
And they also realized that the average speed the cell phone was traveling was 55 miles per hour. So now they can kind of put together a timeline of all the roads that she was possibly on and the times she was traveling down them. And using this information, they essentially know, okay, around 8:58pm the car with Britney's cell phone in it is going to pass this particular camera at 11th Avenue South. Like, based on where they know the phone ended up, they map it out. They're like, hey, based on how fast the phone is traveling, what are the roads they most likely take, what are the route? And they're like, there's a camera on this road around the time this cell phone was passing it. So they pull up those old videos from 10 years ago and they watch them incredibly close. Now, it takes months of scouring footage, but they study and look up every single vehicle that goes by in this time frame.
- [40:27]
Garrett Moreland
Wow.
- [40:28]
Peyton Moreland
And they cross reference them with any vehicles in connection to any of their people.
- [40:32]
Garrett Moreland
I love this. This is the part of true crime that I do love is I feel like I haven't mentioned in a while. But when you get all the cameras, you start cross referencing everything. You look at all the frames, like you're just digging deep and able to figure it out from camera footage is so cool.
- [40:47]
Peyton Moreland
This is truly looking for clues. Like you're taking what you have to dig into possible clues. This might not. They might have the wrong road for all they know. You know what I mean? But it's, it's honestly just such great work. So they're studying, they're cross referencing it with every single name that has come up in their investigation. They also compare it to footage near another location and at a place called Polyard Public boat landing. They know this is where Britney's cell phone actually ended up. So at a boat landing, I'm just.
- [41:21]
Garrett Moreland
I'm just still mind blown because I can't believe, you know how like I feel like it was a thing when I was growing up. Like stranger danger, you know, it was like a big thing and ice cream trucks and people giving out candy. And it's just crazy to me that I feel it was really big in the 70s and the 80s. I mean, I know it still happens now, but people just taking, like just taking random people and for so long just taking people.
- [41:47]
Peyton Moreland
I mean, because for so long people thought that it was stranger Danger. Then we learned, oh, it's usually someone you know, but like, it seems like in Britney's case, it is stranger danger. Like the reality, like Garrett's saying, of people just taking strangers off the road, it's insane. So they are cross referencing everything and eventually they find a match. It's a very specific 1998 Eddie Bauer Ford Explorer. And they learn Raymond Moody's girlfriend at the time of Brittany Drexel's disappearance, a woman named angel had owned one just like it.
- [42:32]
Garrett Moreland
What a surprise.
- [42:35]
Peyton Moreland
So it's not necessarily Raymond's car, but it's someone that he was very heavily involved with in his life that is seen on cameras.
- [42:44]
Garrett Moreland
You know what kind of sucks is they had him five years ago.
- [42:48]
Peyton Moreland
Yeah.
- [42:49]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, that sucks.
- [42:50]
Peyton Moreland
Instead of bringing Raymond back in for questioning, a pretty heavy person of interest in this case, they actually bring in Angel. So this is his ex girlfriend from the time. And one of the main things they're trying to determine is whether or not Ray Moody ever borrowed Angel's car and if he was driving it or if she was with him the night Britney disappeared. And when they ask her about the car, she admits, okay, I did pick up Raymond a couple of times in my car, but he really wasn't in it that much. So eventually they start asking her whether or not she and or Raymond were on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle beach the night Brittany Drexel was taken. She's like, no, no, no, no, no. Neither of us had any involvement in that. So they pull out this other video. Now, let me backtrack a little bit here. I'm not sure when this certain video, this evidence, was brought to the police, but at some point during the investigation, a friend of Angel's showed up to the police. They had heard mention in conversation in the friend group that she and Raymond might have been involved in Britney's disappearance. So police ask this person, are you willing to wear wire and see if you hear this again? And the friend's like, sure. Only when they try to get angel to bring this up on wire, she says, on wire to this friend, Raymond had nothing to do with this. It was just me who did something to Britney.
- [44:20]
Garrett Moreland
What?
- [44:20]
Peyton Moreland
Yeah. So police have had what is happening. We don't know when, where, how. We don't know if it was just kind of sketchy circumstances, which is why they didn't take it very seriously. But either way, the police had always felt like angel was not the person who had done this.
- [44:35]
Garrett Moreland
Well, okay.
- [44:37]
Peyton Moreland
Chances were she was just scared of Raymond Moody and was protecting him. Considering he's the registered sex offender with a history of committing crimes against teenagers. They're like, we're pretty sure if anything happened, it was this guy. Then the car shows up on the footage. So cut back to that interrogation where they're asking angel about her car. And after she's done insisting that neither she or Nate, like, neither she nor Raymond were involved, police are like, well, let's break out this old video we have in our box of Brittany Drexel's disappearance where we have you on video recording saying that it was you and not Raymond who was involved. So this is when angel slowly starts to crack in this interrogation. She says, okay, yeah, see that whole thing, that was not true me on that wire. I don't even know when you did that. But, yeah, that wasn't me. She says Raymond was using her car the night Britney disappeared, and she can prove that she wasn't there when Britney was killed because she might actually still have her old cell phone from a decade ago that they can go look at the pings of. Okay, it's a pretty big deal to police because it can either prove or disprove her statements on top of maybe offering up text messages and forms of correspondence between her and Raymond the night Britney disappeared. So hoping angel will cooperate, they let her go. Except when they try to reach out over the next few days to get this cell phone, he's gone. She just ghosts them, of course. Still now they feel they have enough to get a search warrant for both Angel's house And the now 62 year old Raymond Moody's residence as well. So while they're searching Raymond's house in May of 2022, they bring him in for questioning. And once he is presented with all of the evidence, they have Britney's cell phone data, the Eddie Bauer truck, their theory of what had happened. That's when Raymond, realizing his hands are tied, just randomly decides to confess. So they haven't found anything at the houses, but he's like, you have enough that, like, let me talk. And I want to mention, please take this next part with a huge grain of salt because this is all coming from Raymond's mouth over a decade after when he feels like police have enough to at least tie him to being involved. So this is what he offers up. He said that on the night of April 25, 2009, he and angel were driving around Myrtle beach together in her car when they saw Brittany walking back down to her hotel. According to Raymond pulled over, asked her if she wanted to go party with them, and she said yes and willingly got in the passenger seat.
- [47:20]
Garrett Moreland
Is such bs, Man.
- [47:22]
Peyton Moreland
He says.
- [47:22]
Garrett Moreland
Such bs.
- [47:23]
Peyton Moreland
The three of them start driving around town talking, smoking marijuana, and they end up back in Georgetown, which is how her cell phone data got her there. They went to a spot where he used to camp down by the river to hang out. He says at this point, angel leaves, and that's when things between him and Britney got, quote, out of hand. He said he tried to force himself on Britney. She fought back, and knowing that if he let her go, he could go back to prison after just getting out, Raymond said he began strangling Britney, which ultimately led to her death. Raymond also says during that confession that angel was not involved at all. But police figure there's only one way to tell whether or not Raymond's being honest. So they say, if this is true, you need to lead us to Britney's body. So Raymond takes investigators to an area near the Sunset Lodge where he was staying at the time. It's about three miles away into this heavily wooded area. He says, okay, this is where I buried her. After that, police immediately put him in handcuffs for obstruction of justice. This way, they can just keep him behind bars till they can add charges for murder and kidnapping. And over the course of the next three days, the FBI excavated the area.
- [48:37]
Garrett Moreland
Please tell me they found a body.
- [48:39]
Peyton Moreland
On May 11, 2022, they finally discover human remains about four feet underground. There was a nose ring and a blue colored contact lens, both of which. Brittany War.
- [48:53]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [48:54]
Peyton Moreland
Four days later, on May 15, using dental records and DNA analysis, they confirmed that they had finally found the remains of Britney Drexel. While Raymond stated in his confession that Britney's cause of death was strangulation, her remains were too decomposed for an actual cause of death to be determined.
- [49:15]
Garrett Moreland
That's horrible.
- [49:16]
Peyton Moreland
Still, this is more than enough to charge Raymond Moody with first degree murder, criminal sexual conduct, and kidnapping. Meanwhile, angel also made a deal with investigators. If she was completely truthful about her future statements regarding that night, police would take her cooperation into account when deciding whether or not to prosecute her.
- [49:38]
Garrett Moreland
I just. I don't believe. I don't believe her at all. I think she's probably more involved than we'll ever know. But now I just don't believe anything that's coming out of her mouth.
- [49:48]
Peyton Moreland
So, yeah, because she's lied, she's like, multiple times already.
- [49:52]
Garrett Moreland
No, I don't believe anything that's coming out of her mouth.
- [49:54]
Peyton Moreland
So from that day forward, angel agrees to cooperate. Here's what she says. She was in the car when she and Raymond picked up Britney. She left them down in Georgetown near a campsite. And when she dropped them off, Britney was still alive and well. But when she came back later to get Raymond, Britney was no longer with him. Apparently, he told her that a friend of Britney's had come by to pick her up and take her back to Myrtle Beach. Now, police do manage to get phone records from both angel and Raymond from the night to confirm some of their stories. And they do find that angel kind of did seem to be telling the truth. There was a period in that evening when the two cell phones parted ways and then came back together. Now, ultimately, this cooperation was Angel's saving grace for now. Raymond Moody, on the other hand, pleaded guilty to murder, kidnapping and sexual assault in October of 2022. He even said this before the court, quote, I was a monster. I was a monster then and I was a monster when I took Brittany Drexel's life. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole. In January 2023, Britney's mother, Dawn, filed a civil suit against Raymond Moody for emotional distress. Also included in that lawsuit was the hotel that Brittany and her friends were staying at. Her family argued that they contributed to the events by allowing unaccompanied minors to check into the hotel without adult supervision.
- [51:15]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [51:15]
Peyton Moreland
Now in the end, the Drexel family was awarded $700 million in punitive damages.
- [51:21]
Garrett Moreland
Which they probably won't even ever see because the hotel doesn't have 700 million. Raymond doesn't.
- [51:26]
Peyton Moreland
Right?
- [51:27]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
- [51:27]
Peyton Moreland
Then in March of 2024, 57 year old angel was back on the FBI's radar. While she wasn't charged with kidnapping or murder, they did finally slap her with charges for lying to federal officers about her involvement and for keeping all of this information under wraps for 13 years. I mean, you're, you leave your boyfriend alone with a 17 year old girl, she disappears that night and you never come forward and say anything. In fact, when you do come forward, you lie.
- [51:56]
Garrett Moreland
I just don't believe that she just got in that car willy nilly and was like, oh, yeah, let's go party. Nah, I just, I, I maybe, I mean, yeah.
- [52:05]
Peyton Moreland
To take a ride.
- [52:06]
Garrett Moreland
Could I be wrong? Sure do I think there's just. I just think, I just don't think that's what happened. No, I don't know.
- [52:13]
Peyton Moreland
By the time angel left her boyfriend and a 17 year old girl alone, she knew exactly. Maybe not murder, but she knew exactly what was about to go down.
- [52:24]
Garrett Moreland
100.
- [52:24]
Peyton Moreland
Because I promise you, at that point, Britney was not cool with where they were and that she never got dropped back off at a hotel. If that's why she ever willingly got in. We don't even know if she willingly got in.
- [52:35]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah.
- [52:36]
Peyton Moreland
So that September, she pleads guilty to those charges and is actually given 18 years in federal prison. But two months later, Raymond Moody came forward with a shocking new revelation. He's like, okay, actually, angel was an integral part of the kidnapping and murder. He told the FBI that Angel helped lure Brittany into the car, held the steering wheel while he restrained her. This is probably more likely. And angel helped guide Britney to a tent near the lake that they both had set up previously.
- [53:09]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, this is probably more of what happened for insane.
- [53:13]
Peyton Moreland
The purpose of kidnapping a teenager and angel letting her boyfriend stay alone with this teenager at this pre set up location. He even said it was Angel's idea to go out and find a woman that they could assault together. And that angel was there when he killed Britney. Now, once again, I don't know how much we can't believe, because her cell phone does leave. Apparently Raymond shared this with police because he was trying to strike a deal, one that would ensure part of his property remained in a trust for his grandkids. Yeah, Raymond has kids and grandkids.
- [53:51]
Garrett Moreland
Okay.
- [53:52]
Peyton Moreland
But you have to wonder, did angel know a lot more than she confessed to? What's the truth here? I think there's a lot of unanswered questions about this case, unfortunately, even though it somehow was solved years later. But there's one thing that Brittany's mother, Dawn, is sure of and honestly proud of. Raymond Moody was spotted by multiple people with obvious scratches all over his face. We know Britney the spitfire. Everyone remembered her as fought hard, which is both devastating and also does make her mother proud to know that she did fight back. She did try. And that is the case of Brittany Drexel.
- [54:38]
Garrett Moreland
Yeah, I think definitely angel had a lot more involvement than we'll ever know. Nothing we can really do about that, because people can lie. Horrible. It's just crazy to me that people. I mean, they still do. They just take people. Like people are just taken out of nowhere.
- [54:57]
Peyton Moreland
No.
- [54:57]
Garrett Moreland
What's disgusting and that is wild to.
- [54:59]
Peyton Moreland
Me is that in the revelations, we realize that there was a tent pre set up in this heavily wooded.
- [55:05]
Garrett Moreland
No, that's wild.
- [55:06]
Peyton Moreland
Which just means that, yeah, they are telling the truth at the end that this was planned. They went out on the hunt for a girl who was alone that night. It's disgusting.
- [55:18]
Garrett Moreland
It's insane. It's honestly it's mind blowing.
- [55:22]
Peyton Moreland
All right, you guys, that was our episode and we will see you next time with another one. Also, two bonus episodes have been released. If you just need more. I love it.
- [55:31]
Garrett Moreland
I hate it.
- [55:32]
Peyton Moreland
Goodbye. Thanks to Simplisafe for sponsoring the show. Get 50% off your new SimpliSafe system. And@simplisafe.com husband, that's 50 off your new Simply Safe system by visiting SimpliSafe.com husband. There is no safe like Simplisafe.