BRITTANEE Drexel's family has ripped the early parole release of the man who allegedly confessed to killing and burying the 17-year-old in a wooded area.
Raymond Moody, 62, was arrested on Monday after police recovered Brittanee's skeletal remains some 13 years after she went missing while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Two years before Brittanee's fatal trip, Moody was released from parole supervision following his prison release in 2004.
He served two decades in prison for the brutal rape of Kerri Harding in California in 1983.
According to Moody’s sex offender profile with SLED, Harding was one of seven girls under the age of 14 that he also kidnapped and assaulted.
Now, 13 years after Brittanee's body was finally recovered, her family has slammed law enforcement's ill-fated decision to let Moody loose after naming him a person of interest during their investigation.
"It was hard for us knowing he was out there," the victim's grandmother Carol Wagner exclusively told The Sun.
"He was locked up after she disappeared, but they let him go. He's had other victims. You can't rehabilitate a sex offender like him," cried Wagner.
Authorities have also been looking into Moody in connection to the 2005 disappearance of a 28-year-old mother, Crystal Soles.
'I'M SO SORRY THIS HAPPENED TO HER'
In an interview with WMBF News, Harding also ripped the California State Prison Solano's decision to let Moody off parole.
“You know, when you’re the sixth of seven girls, what you know for sure is that he’s never going to stop doing this,” Harding told the outlet.
Harding said she did everything to help law enforcement officials connect Moody to Brittanee's disappearance at the time.
“I did everything I thought I could do to help them have evidence to support that he had done this to Brittanee.
"For instance, I told them to get my records here and compare them to Brittanee’s records and they did and the similarities were uncanny,” she said.
Harding was left in a pool of emotion after learning about Moody's arrest.
“I was sickened, that’s all I can say, I was sickened. He needs to be put away forever. I’m so, so sorry this happened to her,” she told the outlet.
THIRTEEN YEAR INVESTIGATION
Brittanee, who was 17 when she went missing, was visiting friends in Myrtle Beach while on spring break.
The teen, originally from New York, was last seen leaving the Blue Water Resort in April 2009 and never returned to the motel she was staying in.
Her phone last gave off a signal on April 26, 2009, in Georgetown County.
In August 2011, investigators combed through the Georgetown hotel room Moody was staying in, removing several bags of evidence but never identifying him as a suspect.
Moody claimed he was not in the area when the teen went missing. Yet, in 2012, investigators discovered he was issued a traffic ticket in nearby Surfside Beach the day after Drexel’s disappearance.
Last week, authorities arrested Moody on an obstruction of justice charge connected to the teen's disappearance.
According to the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office, Moody admitted to killing Brittanee and told investigators where she was buried.
On May 11, investigators recovered her remains in a wooded area of Harmony Township, about 40 miles south of Myrtle Beach, GCSO said.
BRITTANEE'S MOTHER SPEAKS OUT
On Wednesday, Brittanee's mother, Dawn Drexel, expressed relief over Moody's arrest.
“This is truly a mother’s worst nightmare,” Dawn said at a news conference with law enforcement officials in Georgetown on Monday.
“I am 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.”
“I never thought we would get to this place, and now we’re here and I can get Brittanee back and lay her to rest,” Dawn said.
“She had her whole life ahead of her, and this monster took it away from her,” Drexel told TV Reporter Steph Watts.
“I’m glad he’s behind bars, so he can’t hurt anyone else’s child.”
Moody has been charged with rape, murder, and kidnapping.
Authorities were able to positively ID Brittanee through dental records and DNA, adding that she had been strangled.
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