0:05
vanished while on a short holiday with
0:06
friends
0:08
there is nothing worse than losing a
0:10
loved one but with no solid lead over
0:12
britney's demise for more than an entire
0:14
decade this story is one of anguish and
0:17
patience
0:19
that would be until 13 years later when
0:22
fresh evidence would suddenly burst this
0:24
cold case open at the seams
0:26
good morning good afternoon or good
0:28
evening my name is adrian and welcome
0:31
back to another video by coffee house
0:32
crime today we're looking at the almost
0:35
solved disappearance of britney drexel
0:37
britney was a young woman who during
0:39
spring break vanished in the space of
0:41
just 10 minutes
0:43
but who exactly was she what happens to
0:46
her and who is at fault
0:48
let's find out together apologies in
0:50
advance folks but i've been struggling
0:52
with covid all week now so this case and
0:55
my performance is a little rough around
0:56
the edges i hope you don't mind and now
0:59
with that said let's begin today's video
1:01
grab a coffee pull up a seat and sit
1:04
back
1:04
this is the case of brittany drexel
1:18
although we're traveling to the state of
1:19
new york we won't be visiting the big
1:21
apple in today's case
1:23
the state of new york may be best known
1:25
for its main city but it also has so
1:27
much more to offer outside of its urban
1:29
sprawl
1:30
the state board is on to canada in which
1:32
it also shares lake erie and lake
1:33
ontario with the country
1:35
so of course also home to hudson river
1:38
new york state is well known for its
1:39
natural water formations
1:41
today we head to the coast of lake
1:43
ontario and more specifically to the
1:45
city of rochester a mid-sized city home
1:47
to over 1 million residents
1:50
rochester is rich in both wealth and
1:51
culture home to many large companies
1:53
such as kodak and home to two
1:55
internationally renowned universities
1:58
and if we're talking culture i don't
2:00
think we can go without mentioning their
2:01
local dish affectionately dubbed the
2:03
garbage plate
2:05
fries macaroni and beans all topped with
2:07
meat chopped onions and various
2:09
garnishes
2:11
but hey i digress let's return our focus
2:14
to today's case
2:15
in the county of chile in rochester we
2:18
find ourselves zeroing in on the drexel
2:19
household and here lived 17 year old
2:22
brittany drexel
2:24
britney was born on october 7th 1991 to
2:27
her mother dawn and father john
2:29
dawn and john were only teenagers at the
2:31
time of her birth but they did their
2:32
very best to raise britney together
2:35
saying that they found that raising a
2:37
child at such a young age put great
2:38
strain on their relationship and sadly
2:41
the two ended up separating early into
2:42
brittany's childhood
2:44
john unfortunately faded out of dawn's
2:46
and britney's lives but it didn't take
2:49
long for britney to regain a new father
2:51
figure as dawn had once again found love
2:54
chad drexel was serving in the military
2:56
at the time and eventually he and dawn
2:58
would marry
3:00
now chad had grown to love brittany like
3:02
his own daughter and upon marrying her
3:04
mother he officially adopted britney
3:05
with his surname
3:07
but britney had her own troubles very
3:09
early in her childhood she developed
3:11
persistent hypoplastic primary virtuous
3:13
in her right eye which therefore caused
3:15
it to be hazy and scarred
3:17
this condition required several
3:18
surgeries and brittany ended up blind in
3:21
that eye as a result
3:23
but despite going through the loss of
3:24
her father and multiple medical
3:26
procedures she never let these hardships
3:28
hold her back
3:29
she grew into an outgoing teenager who
3:32
despite her smaller stature loved to
3:34
play soccer
3:35
during her teenage years britney started
3:37
to wear contact lenses in order to hide
3:39
that her blind eye would often drift to
3:41
the side
3:42
and using her own self-consciousness as
3:44
her drive britney gained a passion for
3:45
cosmetology
3:47
she aspired to help others with their
3:48
self-consciousness and wanted to become
3:50
a model to show people of all types were
3:52
beautiful no matter what
3:54
and that's exactly what she was a
3:57
beautiful young woman surrounded by
3:58
those who loved her
4:00
she had her family a multitude of
4:02
friends and her boyfriend
4:04
sadly her family wouldn't stay together
4:06
forever and by the year 2008 dawn and
4:09
chad had filed for divorce
4:12
now of course the love for their
4:13
children remained strong but after their
4:15
divorce britney's happiness began to
4:17
noticeably slump and unfortunately her
4:20
grades started to drop too
4:21
it's around this time that britney's
4:23
biological father john re-entered her
4:25
life and with more than a decade of time
4:27
lost they had a lot to catch up on he
4:29
would often fly over to rochester to
4:31
take her out to local restaurants
4:33
shopping malls and events and having an
4:35
additional father figure in the picture
4:37
really did seem to help brittany out
4:41
we're moving forward to spring of 2009.
4:44
north america was beginning to warm up
4:46
for the summer and with that said
4:48
students across the nation were gearing
4:50
up for spring break with parties being
4:51
organized all over the place
4:54
one of these parties was happening down
4:56
in myrtle beach of south carolina and
4:58
with many of her friends and boyfriend
5:00
attending britney plucked up the courage
5:02
and asked her mum if she could go
5:04
dawn wasn't sold on the idea with a lack
5:06
of regulation likely with alcohol and
5:09
possibly even drugs the answer was no
5:11
and britney was clearly downtrodden by
5:13
all of it
5:14
she therefore asked her mother for a
5:15
compromise how about going to a friend's
5:18
house along the beaches of lake ontario
5:20
instead this idea was much closer to
5:23
home and she would be supervised
5:25
eventually dawn agreed
5:27
she never really had to worry about
5:28
brittany before and being frank she
5:31
trusted her
5:32
so on april the 22nd 2009 britney said
5:36
goodbye to her mother as she got into
5:38
her friend's car supposedly only driving
5:40
a few miles down the lake
5:42
but very little did her mother know that
5:44
all of this was a sly ruse as instead
5:47
britney and her friend began the long
5:49
journey south to myrtle beach over 800
5:52
miles away from home and as britney
5:54
drove into the distance dawn couldn't
5:56
help but feel that something was
5:58
horribly wrong
6:02
successfully completing the drive down
6:04
to myrtle beach britney's journey south
6:06
went by without any issue whatsoever
6:09
her new friends appeared to be nice but
6:11
something seemed off about the girls
6:13
there she therefore decided to stick by
6:15
one of her male friends peter brushovitz
6:18
they spent their day time on the beach
6:20
playing volleyball and at night clubbing
6:22
and partying ensued but by april the
6:24
25th the group were beginning to get
6:26
grouchy britney had a small argument
6:28
with the girls that she was staying with
6:30
so at around 8pm that night she decided
6:33
to walk over to the blue resort hotel
6:34
where peter was staying
6:36
surveillance cameras captured britney
6:38
walking along south ocean road located
6:40
between her and peter's hotels
6:42
and just a few minutes later a second
6:45
camera captured her walking into the
6:46
blue water hotel itself
6:48
the argument with her so-called friends
6:50
seemed to be petty she then received a
6:53
text message from one of the girls that
6:54
she was staying with who demanded that
6:56
she returned the shorts that she was
6:57
borrowing
6:58
so reluctantly britney began to make the
7:00
journey back to her own hotel at 8 45 pm
7:04
and all while doing this she texted her
7:05
boyfriend john
7:07
the two had been messaging each other
7:08
all day and although britney was upset
7:10
at her roommates her mood and their
7:12
conversation in general apparently
7:14
seemed normal that was until britney
7:17
suddenly turned silent
7:21
this was something that her boyfriend
7:23
john found to be very unusual she would
7:25
always close off the conversation before
7:27
heading out for a while but this time
7:30
she just stopped texting back
7:32
john sent her several text messages but
7:35
she never replied he then called her
7:37
mobile phone
7:38
still no response
7:40
he even threatened to call her mother if
7:42
she remained silent a couple hours later
7:45
still nothing
7:47
understandably his concerns grew over
7:49
the hours he just knew something was
7:51
wrong he then texted the girls that she
7:53
was staying with to see if they had seen
7:55
her but the answer was also no and this
7:58
was enough for jon to take action
8:00
surrendering britney's plan to her
8:02
mother was a very big move but honestly
8:05
he felt like he had no choice
8:07
her silence had gone on for way too long
8:10
and dawn she was distraught but there
8:13
was no time for hard feelings
8:15
instead she immediately called 9-1-1 to
8:17
report her daughter brittany as missing
8:22
as police investigations began britney's
8:24
mother dawn and father john both flew
8:26
down to myrtle beach to support the
8:28
search for their missing daughter
8:30
both local police and her family
8:32
extensively covered myrtle beach
8:34
looking for any potential clue and
8:36
asking if anyone had seen the missing 17
8:38
year old girl there were a few witnesses
8:41
who suggested that she was at a bus stop
8:43
and at a convenience store but these
8:45
leads proved to be fruitless
8:48
abandoned buildings and dumpsters were
8:49
searched as were parks lakes and swamps
8:53
but despite their meticulous approach
8:55
nothing came to light
8:57
the only true lead that police managed
8:59
to uncover was where britney's phone had
9:01
been on the day she disappeared
9:03
not long after her last sighting her
9:05
phone would ping seven miles south of
9:07
myrtle beach on surfside beach two and a
9:10
half hours later it pinged yet again
9:12
this time 50 miles south of myrtle beach
9:14
in a place called georgetown
9:17
she seemed to be heading south but after
9:19
this her phone would then switch off
9:21
never to turn on again
9:24
as a precautionary measure police
9:26
searched the homes of all known sex
9:27
offenders in both myrtle beach and
9:29
georgetown in hopes that they could
9:30
generate some sort of lead
9:32
in august authorities searched a hotel
9:34
room in georgetown county saying they
9:36
were looking into a person of interest
9:38
but never revealing who that person was
9:40
but on thursday some new information is
9:43
brought to light
9:44
myrtle beach police revealed this man
9:47
raymond moody as a person of interest in
9:49
the case but sadly no dice all potential
9:52
leads were ultimately dropped
9:55
and when the area surrounding georgetown
9:57
was searched including through wooded
9:59
areas and boggs again
10:01
nothing
10:02
there was no sign of britney anywhere
10:05
quite simply
10:06
she had vanished
10:09
frustration is an understatement
10:12
as time crept by the length of a
10:14
disappearance turned from days into
10:16
weeks into months and then into years
10:20
there was no sign of britney or a body
10:22
regardless both family and police were
10:25
still ruthlessly determined to find her
10:27
there were many awareness campaigns
10:29
telephone hotlines remained active
10:31
authorities gave rewards out to anyone
10:33
with any potential information and
10:36
billboards were often raised
10:38
dawn even traveled down to myrtle beach
10:40
every few months to hold events spread
10:42
awareness and give out flyers she was
10:44
understandably desperate for any new
10:46
information
10:47
dawn knew in the back of her heart that
10:49
after six long years there was little to
10:52
no hope of finding her daughter alive
10:54
but she wanted to bring her home either
10:56
way
10:57
approaching the seventh year and in
10:59
great efforts to keep this investigation
11:01
alive dawn actually moved down to south
11:03
carolina to keep this search up but in
11:05
june of 2016 one single lead would
11:08
finally come to light
11:10
although it's not quite the lead that
11:12
everyone was expecting
11:15
the lead came from taqwan brown an
11:17
inmate who is currently doing time in
11:19
the mccormick correctional institution
11:21
on an unrelated charge of manslaughter
11:24
taekwon came forward to tell of a tale
11:26
of how timothy deshawn taylor who was
11:28
another inmate serving time for robbery
11:30
had sexually assaulted and killed
11:32
britney and about 10 other men
11:35
taqwan claimed that while still a free
11:37
man he traveled to a stash house to drop
11:39
money off for timothy's father this was
11:42
located in mcclellanville a town not too
11:44
far from where britney's phone last
11:46
pinged
11:47
he claimed that while in this stash
11:48
house he witnessed britney being
11:50
assaulted and when he left she burst
11:53
through the front door in an attempt to
11:54
escape she was then allegedly
11:57
apprehended by timothy and dragged back
11:59
inside
12:00
shortly after this taqwan claimed to
12:02
have heard two gunshots
12:06
when a story like this comes from a
12:08
criminal without any coercion or benefit
12:10
one must wonder why they are only coming
12:12
forward now seven years after the crime
12:15
taekwon's story continued to fail him
12:17
when three years later he changed his
12:20
story yet again he then claimed to have
12:22
seen britney two more times after the
12:24
day he previously claimed she was
12:25
murdered
12:26
no witnesses or articles of evidence
12:28
which supported taqwan's story would
12:30
ever come to light it was simply his
12:33
word against timothy's
12:35
so was he weaponizing britney's death
12:37
over timothy
12:38
or had he confused her for another young
12:40
woman
12:41
timothy denied any involvement over
12:43
britney and in fact he claimed that he
12:45
didn't even know taqwan
12:47
to add to this both friends and family
12:49
gave him matching alibis on the day of
12:51
britney's disappearance i may as well
12:53
start with the obvious question
12:55
did you kill brittany drexel no sir
12:58
i did not kill britney drake's
13:00
were you involved in the kidnapping of
13:02
britney drexel no sir i was not
13:06
were you with britney drexel the night
13:08
she was she disappeared in april of 2009
13:11
no soon
13:14
had you ever met her what do you what
13:16
did you know about her
13:18
um i never met her personally or
13:21
physically the only thing i've known is
13:23
from what i've been seeing on tv and the
13:25
bulletins
13:26
and what the fbi has been telling me so
13:29
far
13:30
so that's the only thing that i
13:32
personally know about her and that would
13:34
have been after the fact
13:36
yes it would have been after
13:38
april of 2009. so it turns out that this
13:42
lead was all one big red herring a red
13:45
herring that distracted police and
13:47
valuable time and resource
13:49
either way taqwan had now gained the
13:51
reputation of a snitch
13:53
which i'm pretty sure doesn't go down
13:55
well in prison
13:56
and once again in the year 2019 the case
13:59
would turn cold
14:01
with britney's disappearance happening
14:03
in the year 2009 it had now been 10 long
14:06
years of not knowing what happened to
14:07
her that's 10 years of sleepless nights
14:11
her family and friends wondering if they
14:13
would ever see her again
14:15
10 years of speculating if the person
14:17
you love is still alive and 10 years of
14:19
wondering how they may have died
14:26
as we move forward into the current year
14:28
of 2022 13 years have passed since
14:31
britney's disappearance
14:33
at this stage her family have all but
14:35
lost hope in finding her
14:37
but that's when suddenly in may of 2022
14:41
britney's case finally made a
14:42
breakthrough
14:44
this came in the old traditional form of
14:46
a confession
14:48
the confession of a man named raymond
14:50
moody
14:51
so where do we start with raymond
14:54
in short raymond experienced a traumatic
14:56
upbringing as a child
14:58
surrounded by an alcoholic mother and
15:00
violent father he never had the
15:02
opportunity to flourish in a happy home
15:04
as he entered adulthood the young man
15:06
moved out to california to join the
15:08
military
15:09
two decades later and he found himself
15:11
to be a married man with three children
15:14
but raymond's history takes a very dark
15:16
turn from here
15:18
as unfortunately he was well known among
15:20
the police force for multiple crimes in
15:22
other states
15:24
horrifically raymond moody is a
15:26
convicted sex offender
15:28
back in 1983 and despite him looking
15:30
after three children he was convicted
15:33
for sexually assaulting three unrelated
15:35
children under the age of 14. but after
15:37
being locked up he only served half of
15:39
his sentence serving 21 years of his
15:42
scheduled 42.
15:44
he was released on parole in the year
15:46
2004.
15:48
disgusting monsters are very rare to
15:50
learn their lesson
15:51
in 2008 he was again arrested for
15:53
indecent exposure being released shortly
15:56
after this
15:57
and after failing to register as a sex
15:59
offender in 2009 he was once again
16:01
convicted in 2010
16:04
both in and out of prison more often
16:06
than he changed his shirt raymond was a
16:08
free man during the time that britney
16:10
disappeared
16:12
now interestingly raymond had always
16:14
been a person of interest on this case
16:17
if you remember police searched the
16:19
homes of all known sex offenders around
16:21
myrtle beach and georgetown and this
16:23
included raymond's property
16:26
but with no evidence of linking him to
16:28
britney's disappearance he was cleared
16:30
from being a suspect
16:31
however fast forward 13 years to 2022
16:35
and the police had once again resumed
16:37
their investigation of local sex
16:39
offenders which in turn led them to
16:41
revisit the home of raymond moody
16:44
with the change in story police now had
16:46
growing suspicion that he had something
16:48
to do with britney and after being
16:50
charged with obstruction of justice he
16:52
was therefore detained for questioning
16:55
for one reason or another and we aren't
16:57
quite sure why yet but raymond felt it
16:59
was only a matter of time before
17:01
investigating officers found what they
17:02
were looking for and so upon questioning
17:05
and after 13 long years of keeping a
17:07
secret he finally confessed to the
17:10
murder of britney drexel
17:12
it turns out that on the day of her
17:14
disappearance and while britney was
17:16
walking back to her hotel raymond had
17:18
forcefully kidnapped her against her
17:20
will
17:20
unfortunately there were no witnesses or
17:23
surveillance footage of this
17:24
but raymond then drove her to an
17:26
undisclosed location
17:28
sexually assaulted her and then
17:30
strangled her to death the very next day
17:33
he buried her body in the woodlands near
17:35
his property in georgetown the last time
17:37
her phone pinged was toward a cell tower
17:40
nearby
17:41
following his confession police traveled
17:43
to the location raymond claimed that
17:45
they could find britney and four feet
17:47
underground they found what remained of
17:49
her
17:50
a skull and several remaining bones
17:53
forensics were able to identify brittany
17:55
by comparing her dental records to the
17:57
skull and sadly it was a confirmed match
18:01
as the news spread the name and face of
18:03
britney's killer became public and as
18:06
his old victims put two and two together
18:08
old wounds would resurface
18:11
in fact one of his previous victims
18:13
carrie harding has since come forward to
18:15
share her story with this evil monster
18:19
kerry was only eight years old when
18:21
raymond assaulted her she was playing in
18:23
a playground when she was abducted by
18:25
him and even in her young age she
18:27
thought she would never see her family
18:29
again
18:30
i won't go into the details
18:32
but kerry was given permission to go
18:34
around the back of the car to use the
18:36
bathroom where she then noticed a green
18:38
bumper sticker on his vehicle the brave
18:40
eight-year-old made a break for it and
18:42
managed to run away from her attacker
18:44
just as raymond was about to grab her
18:46
she spotted a couple in the distance
18:49
two people who were just busily hiking
18:50
in the area
18:52
screaming for help she ran into their
18:54
arms and meanwhile raymond retreated and
18:56
sped away the only clue that helped
18:58
identify and convict raymond was the
19:00
small green bumper sticker that kerry
19:02
remembered
19:04
police knew that this was needed to get
19:05
to the naval base found in town and
19:08
following two more undisclosed cases
19:10
raymond was eventually sentenced to 42
19:12
years in prison
19:14
however in a crime of justice he only
19:16
ended up serving 21 years
19:18
[Music]
19:19
raymond's closest friend who actually
19:21
ended up becoming his prison husband was
19:23
ernie merchant and while the two had
19:25
their own thing going on behind mars he
19:27
asked raymond why he did these awful
19:29
things to which he replied i don't know
19:32
why i had the impulses and thoughts for
19:35
a long time before i acted on them i
19:37
felt it building up in me until i
19:39
couldn't control it anymore
19:41
and after this one it got easier i
19:43
became someone else
19:45
someone that didn't care
19:48
with this case being so recent raymond's
19:50
trial is yet to be announced at least at
19:52
the time of this recording but
19:54
considering he has confessed to her
19:56
murder and her remains have been found
19:58
it's safe to say that he'll be found
20:00
guilty for these actions
20:02
a devastating note to this story but a
20:04
framed had been made to serve his full
20:06
42-year sentence then britney would
20:08
probably still be alive to this day
20:10
what is now important is that britney
20:13
and her family get the justice they
20:14
deserve over the cruel monstrous actions
20:17
of raymond moody
20:20
that's one thing that
20:21
you know we're going to look forward to
20:24
is to get justice for brittany i want
20:27
people to know out there that britney's
20:30
legacy is going to live on
20:32
again the true tragedy to this case is
20:34
that britney would still be alive to
20:36
this day if justice had thoroughly been
20:38
served for his previous victims
20:41
reformation is a possible thing but how
20:43
we judge whether one is ready to rejoin
20:45
society or not i don't know
20:48
in this case being allowed to once again
20:50
roam free resulted in the death of an
20:52
innocent young woman
20:55
raymond snuffed out a very bright light
20:57
in april of 2009
20:59
the sick and momentary pleasure he
21:01
desired in return wrecked havoc and
21:03
tragedy across an entire family for
21:06
decades
21:07
there is no way to bring britney back so
21:10
justice will never truly be served
21:12
but if i could have it my way this man
21:15
will never step foot outside of prison
21:17
again
21:18
britney had plenty to give to her
21:19
friends her family and the rest of the
21:21
world and it's awful how unkindly how
21:24
unfairly and how abruptly she was ripped
21:26
away from all of it
21:28
i hope her family finds the peace they
21:29
deserve in the years ahead
21:31
i'm calling it quits here folks as
21:33
exhaustion is catching up with me but
21:35
thank you so much for watching another
21:36
video today by coffee house crime if you
21:39
found this video interesting or you
21:40
learned something new today then please
21:42
remember to like the video and subscribe
21:44
if you haven't yet
21:45
thank you to attica topaz and brie for
21:47
suggesting this case i'll be keeping a
21:49
close eye on raymond's case in the
21:51
following months or years
21:53
as always folks please remember to share
21:55
your thoughts in the comments section
21:56
down below and i'll be back again real
21:58
soon for another video
22:00
but until that moment arrives please
22:02
remember to look after each other
22:04
goodbye
22:05
[Music]
22:13
[Music]
22:15
you