Family ‘devastated’ after mementos removed from Brittanee Drexel memorial in Myrtle Beach

Mementos recently taken from a memorial honoring Brittanee Drexel has left members of the murder victim’s family “devastated.”

That’s according to a June 24 Facebook post by Myrtle Beach officials, who said tokens were placed at the memorial in Grand Park were removed unintentionally through a local clean-up effort.

“The removal of these items has devastated the Drexel family,” city leaders wrote, asking that they be returned.

The Myrtle Beach Police Department is working to formalize the memorial, which is centered by a stone plaque with the April 25, 2009 date when Drexel disappeared.

In October, 62-year-old Raymond Moody was sentenced to life in prison in the killing of Drexel after pleading guilty in May 2022 to charges of murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct.

Drexel was last seen alone leaving an Ocean Boulevard motel

Drexel was last seen alone at the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard the night of April 25, 2009 according to previous reporting.

Investigators relied on advancements to technology to pinpoint the location of her phone as it traveled around Georgetown County — concluding when she was no longer walking alone but traveling by vehicle because her phone was moving about 60 miles per hour.

They also figured out which vehicle she had been in and linked it to Moody.

Moody told investigators that him and his girlfriend at the time, Angel Voss, had went to Myrtle Beach to party when they saw Drexel walking by herself down the street on that April night. He said she willingly got in the car with them to smoke marijuana, and that’s when they headed to Moody’s campground in Georgetown.

Moody said he had hoped that with Drexel under the influence of marijuana, the teenager would have consensual sex with him.

But, when that didn’t happen, he forced her to take off her clothes and proceeded to rape her before strangling her and wrapping up her body in a blanket, police said.

Moody would tell police later that he explained to Voss that Drexel’s friends had picked her up, later returning to the site to dispose of her body, burying it in a wooded area.