Sword and Scale - Episode 269

Episode Date: July 28, 2024

In April of 2009, 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel went to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for spring break. On the evening before she planned to return home, Brittanee went missing. Her disappearance remained unsolved for over a decade. Thirteen years would go by before Myrtle Beach Police and the FBI could determine that Brittanee had crossed paths with a monster.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. This is the case you warn people about. It's your child walking down the street and being snatched up by someone with malevolent homicidal proclivities. It's a sword and scale summer again. Go get your hat. This is season 11, episode 269 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. Didn't think I was gonna get those words in, did ya?

See a professional broadcaster always hits their post. By the way, we don't do this very often, but if you're in search for a new app, check out the iHeartRadio app. These guys have been really, really kind to us, even though we're cancelled. Super based. And they're actually the largest podcast network in the world. Like two decades ago, they went around buying every radio station in America. There's lots of stuff there that's exclusive to iHeartRadio.

So go check out their app. Also check out our app at swordandscale.com, available in iOS and Android varieties. Introducing the Miller Optics 2KW Handheld Laser Welder. It's so simple to use, even a rookie can weld like an expert, allowing you to boost your shop's productivity up to 5 to 10 times more than with traditional arc welding processes. Expand your workforce so you can start doing more and making more. Get the Optix Laser Advantage now and start changing the welding game. Alongside the eastern edge of South Carolina is a 60-mile strip of sand and ocean.

This long stretch of beach is known as the Grand Strand, and right in the middle of it is the resort city of Myrtle Beach. I'm sure you've heard of it. Myrtle Beach is mostly known for being a destination for tourists. It's a vacation spot with golf courses, beachfront boardwalks, huge arcades, an amusement park, and one of America's tallest Ferris wheels. But for young adults, perhaps the most attractive thing about Myrtle Beach is the nightlife. When the sun goes down, the city offers karaoke bars, beach bars, live music venues, nightclubs,

and all the riff-raff that comes with it. For this reason, many college students in America make Myrtle Beach their preferred destination for spring break. Woohoo. While there is plenty of fun to be had in Myrtle Beach, the city also has a dark side. Like any other popular vacation spot, there's no shortage of crime, and most of that crime is dealt with by the Myrtle Beach Police Department. Back in April of 2022, several police investigators in Myrtle Beach, along with a few FBI agents,

questioned a middle-aged woman named Angel Voss. During the course of our investigation, we were able to intercept conversation. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read to you a couple of quotes. If you're trying to accuse him of anything, then I'm going to be involved in it. Because I say he didn't, okay? I say he didn't. I'm not accusing him. I'm not, yes you are. That's what anything, then I'm not going to be involved in it. Because I say he didn't, okay? I say he did not. I'm not accusing him of anything.

I'm not, yes you are. That's what that was, that was what that was. I'm, I'm straight forward too. No, I'm straight forward too. I don't think he did. And you're not going to involve him in it. No, I'm not. No, no, please no, I gotta go.

Shortly after investigators began asking their questions, Angel became very upset and heard the news of the murder. Angel was very upset. Angel was very upset. Angel was very upset. Angel was very upset. Angel was very upset. Angel was very upset.

Angel was very upset. Angel was very upset. Angel was very upset. Angel was very upset investigators began asking their questions, Angel became very upset and hurried out of the interview room. These questions the investigators were asking related to a 13-year-old cold case that was first opened in April of 2009. Your Honor, I'm going to take you back in time, back around April 22nd to 23rd of 2009, 17-year-old Brittany Drexel drove to Myrtle Beach with two of her girlfriends for spring break. But on the night before they planned a return to Rochester, Brittany went missing and the

local police were quickly notified. As part of the investigation, Brittany's 18-year-old boyfriend, John Greco, was questioned by police. Britney Drexel was born on October 7, 1991, and she had two younger half-siblings. All of them were raised by Brittany's mother Dawn and her adoptive dad Chad. The Drexel family lived in a middle-class suburb of Rochester, New York. Throughout her life, Brittany dealt with a condition known as persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous. I think I said that right.

It's a mouthful, but in short, Brittany was blind in her right eye, and she often wore contact lenses to mask the fact that one of her eyes would sometimes wander. By 2009, Brittany was in her junior year at Gates Chili High School, where she played soccer and loved it. With her senior year just around the corner, Brittany was starting to think about college. She planned to continue dating John Greco and hopefully attend nursing school in whatever area John ended up going to college. In April of that year, Brittany's high school let out for spring break and Brittany told John that she was planning a vacation to Myrtle Beach with friends.

She invited John to go with them, but John's work schedule didn't make that possible. When Brittany told her mom about her vacation plans, Don Drexel quickly shut those plans down. She asked me if she could go and I told her no and she asked me why I said because I don't know the kids you're going with. I don't, there's no parental supervision and something's gonna happen. Understandably, Don Drexel wasn't about to let her 17-year-old daughter drive down to Myrtle Beach without any adults. That would be stupid. This led to a heated argument between her and Brittany that ended up with Brittany storming

out of the house. I picked her up from her house because she got into a huge argument with her mom. It was a huge argument. She actually ran away from her house and I picked her up and she's really upset. She said, I'm going to murder. I don't care what my parents say, I'm going. I agree that you need to get a break because her family life is terrible. It's absolutely de- I've ever seen. This problem with her mom has been going on for about a year? Yes. Her mom has never really saw eye to eye with her. That I've known her. And that's typical for so very...

But it was a little bit more extreme because her parents were going through a divorce. I mean, I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus or the parents because the parents really do care about her, obviously. But they're all going through a difficult time too. No, no, no. Oh, absolutely. I understand. I understand. Don and Chad Drexel were in the middle of a divorce,

and Brittany was having an especially hard time dealing with the whole thing. Her boyfriend John was aware of that so he encouraged Brittany to go down to Myrtle Beach, clear her head, have some fun and just relax. So Brittany lied to her mom and told her that she would be spending spring break at a friend's house in Rochester. Then Brittany linked up with two of her girlfriends and the three of them made the 14-hour drive to Myrtle Beach How did she end up coming down here with you folks?

she was originally supposed to go with another group of guys and Then one of them bailed out. We have enough money and the other two didn't have cars so And then she like asked to come with us. When did you get here in Middle Beach? Thursday around like nine in the morning. Okay. And stayed at the Bar Harbor Motel?

Mm-hmm. Until yesterday. Yeah. Brittany and her friends stayed at the Bar Harbor Motel, but these two friends were more acquaintances to Brittany than anything else. The three of them had partied with each other before, but they weren't exactly close, and they didn't stick together during the time at the beach. Instead, Brittany met up with different friends from Rochester while she was there.

On the night before Brittany planned to return home, she left her hotel to meet up with these other friends. As she did this, Brittany was wearing a pair of shorts that didn't belong to her. She said, oh I have them on, do you want to wear them? I said, yeah, do you think you can give me one back? She said, yeah, I'll be there, I'll leave it and I'll be there in a few. to drop them off, but Brittany never made it there. After Brittany was reported missing, Myrtle Beach detectives were able to confirm that Brittany did arrive at and then leave the Blue Water Resort Hotel, which was where her other Rochester friends were staying. The surveillance camera in the lobby captured Brittany walking in and then a few moments later, walking out.

Presumably Brittany was on her way back to her own hotel to drop off the shorts. We know when she leaves the Blue Water because at 8.48 p.m. we get to see Mr. Exel leave the Blue Water. And we know that she's perfectly fine at that time and that's the last time that we get to lay eyes on the Brittany Drexel. The surveillance footage from the Blue Water Resort Hotel

was the last known sighting of Brittany. From that point, nobody seemed to know where she went or why she never arrived back at her hotel. That surveillance footage was captured on the evening of April 25, 2009. It would take Myrtle Beach investigators and the FBI 13 years to determine what happened after Brittany left the Blue Water Resort Hotel. In April of 2022, these authorities revealed to Brittany's family and the public that when Brittany left the hotel, she had the horrible misfortune of crossing paths with a monster. Introducing the Miller Optics 2KW Handheld Laser Welder. It's so simple to use, even a rookie can weld like an expert, allowing you to boost your

shop's productivity up to 5 to 10 times more than with traditional arc welding processes. Expand your workforce so you can start doing more and making more. Get the Optics laser advantage now and start changing the welding game. In April of 2009, 17-year-old Brittany Drexel was vacationing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for spring break. Brittany was from Rochester, New York. Shout out WATP. And she had traveled to Myrtle Beach with two girlfriends even though her mom had forbidden

Brittany from going there. Brittany's boyfriend John Greco stayed in Rochester because he had to work that week, but he was in constant contact with Brittany while she was in South Carolina. The couple texted each other continuously. According to John, as spring break was winding down, Brittany reflected on her vacation and realized that she really hadn't enjoyed herself. She felt isolated by her friends and was eager to come home. She said that she really wasn't enjoying it because I wasn't down there with her. She said that she really liked me a lot and that her friends were being terrible to her. The friends that she came down with, she was ready coming down.

During her time at Myrtle Beach, Brittany separated from the girls she traveled with and linked up with other friends from Rochester who were also vacationing there. On the night before Brittany planned to return home, she walked about a mile from her hotel to the Blue Water Resort Hotel where these other friends were staying. But after she got there, Brittany was called back to her hotel to return a pair of shorts. There was a discussion about wearing a pair of black shorts that another friend of hers was going to wear that night and that she needed to get back to the bar harbor to take those shorts back so her friend could wear them. We know this also because fortunately, unlike many teenagers in this day and age, she loves to use her cell phone and she loves to text message.

Brittany walked along the Myrtle Beach Strip back towards her hotel. All the while she was texting her boyfriend, but their text exchanges abruptly stopped. Brittany was no longer responding. The last of the five tests that have worked were her telling me she hated down here. She was extremely angry at her friend. She was a little upset. So I touched her, you know, be like, one more day there, just try to have a good night. Her last text message acknowledges that she's on the way back to the hotel and that she's going to stay in for the night because she's going back to Rochester the next day.

That's the last electronic communication we know of. Family and friends within seven to 15 minutes right away realize because she used her phone so much that she wasn't communicating and they became concerned and worried about her. And the text messages continue and continue. Rittany, where are you? Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay? She never responds.

After about an hour of waiting for Brittany to respond, John decided to tell Brittany's mom that he couldn't reach her. At the time, Dawn Drexel didn't know that Brittany was six states away in South Carolina. As far as she knew, Brittany was spending the weekend at a nearby friend's house in Rochester. We didn't she knew, Brittany was spending the weekend at a nearby friend's house in Rochester.

We didn't find out that she was there until Saturday evening when I got a phone call, you know, stating that from John Greco that her, which is her boyfriend, stating that she was in South Carolina and that they couldn't find her. After Dawn Drexel was told that her daughter was in Myrtle Beach, she spent the night trying to reach Brittany. For the first few hours, her phone calls rang several times before going to voicemail. But eventually, they started going straight to voicemail. This was obviously concerning, especially because Brittany was known for being glued to her phone. The next morning, Dawn and Brittany's boyfriend drove to Myrtle Beach, where they spoke with local authorities.

After learning about the strained relationship between Brittany and her mom, the prominent assumption among investigators was that Brittany had simply run away. But John Greco insisted that Brittany wouldn't do that without contacting them. Brittany's boyfriend was concerned that Brittany might have accepted a ride from She could not not have had faith in him. Brittany's boyfriend was concerned that Brittany might have accepted a ride from someone while walking back to her hotel. And maybe whoever that someone was had bad intentions. John knew that Brittany was overly trusting and often impulsive, a very bad combination. And he feared that she might have gotten into a car

with strangers or a stranger. She'd be extremely trusting. That's what scared me. If somebody offered her a drink and a ride, she'd do it in a heartbeat. Or a group of good-looking white guys that had a nice car or something and said, hey, you want to ride? We got drinks? She'd be like, sure.

She just has very poor judgment when it comes to that. Shortly after investigators began their search for Brittany, they learned that John's theory may not have been far-fetched. Cell phone data and cell towers were used to track Brittany's movements. This data revealed that shortly after Brittany's last text message to John, her cell phone began moving much faster.

That phone is moving 55, 65 miles an hour southbound, heading down towards the call yard. By that time, by 10.01 p.m., her phone, beyond any reasonable doubt, is native to Georgetown. We don't know where she is, but we make the circumstantial assumption that she is with her phone.

And the phone ultimately comes stationary around the Polyard Landing, North Santee River area. For whatever reason, at 11.58 p.m. is the last ping contact that we have at that phone. After that, all that source of information is exhausted as it relates to her phone. Brittany's phone pinged for the last time off a cell tower in Georgetown, about 40 miles south of Myrtle Beach. While Georgetown is a city, the particular area of that cell tower was quite isolated, rural, and extremely swampy. It was a location where you're likely to find hunters, fishermen, wild boars, snakes, and

giant houseflies. All the great things that make the South the South. It certainly wasn't a place that a 17- old girl on spring break would likely want to visit. Within 12 hours of Brittany's disappearance, this isolated area of Georgetown was descended upon by multiple law enforcement agencies and volunteers. Large search parties combed through thick brush and waded through alligator infested swamps in hopes of finding Brittany or at least some sign of her Unfortunately, they came up mostly empty-handed

The only thing of note that was ever found Was a pair of knockoff Prada sunglasses Which may or may not have belonged to Brittany sunglasses, which may or didn't have anything else. So the investigation turned to known associates, video, anything that we could do to try to find out what happened. Investigators eventually turned their attention

to the friends that Brittany met up with at Myrtle Beach. Again, Brittany didn't spend much time with the girlfriends that she shared a hotel with. Instead, she met with other friends from Rochester who were also going on spring break. One of these friends was a young man named Pete Brazowitz lived in Rochester, New York and worked as a nightclub promoter for his parents' company. He was the kind of guy you might find on an episode of The Jersey Shore, if you watched that sort of trash.

You know the type. Spiky gelled hair, popped collar, overly proud of his bottle of Captain Morgan. That kind of guy. Pete knew Brittany Drexel and when he ran into her at a club at Myrtle Beach, he seemingly took a lot of interest in her. According to Brittany's friends, Pete invited her to a VIP area of the club and fed her drinks. The next day, Brittany went missing after leaving Pete's hotel room.

Dispiciously, within hours of Brittany's disappearance, Pete drove back to Rochester. He left Myrtle Beach at 2 o'clock in the morning and had seemingly done so in a hurry. Hmm. Curious. He left behind belongings and a hotel deposit. Also concerning, as soon as he got back to Rochester, Pete hired a criminal defense attorney. Huh. Myrtle Beach police say Peter Brazowitz was one of the last people to see Brittany Drexel

before she walked out of the Blue Water Resort and disappeared. Rumors swirled about his behavior, and Drexel's mother Dawn even wrote a letter to our sister station in Myrtle Beach questioning if he told police everything. In the letter, she accuses Brozowitz of going home to Rochester just hours after Drexel disappeared. She alleges he left his belongings and a deposit behind and gave multiple stories about what happened.

According to the letter, Brozowitz quickly hired an attorney and displayed no empathy or concern. The letter reads, "'My daughter made mistakes, "'and one of the largest ones she ever made was when she trusted this group of people with her life. When the police and the media questioned Pete about Brittany's disappearance, he claimed that the last time he saw her was when Brittany left his hotel room.

The last time I saw her she came up to our hotel room. We were watching the Yankees Red Sox game and she was on the phone arguing with her friend Jen about returning a pair of shorts. She said, I'll give you a call later if I want to come out and party. And she walked out and that's the last time I saw her. Pete was heavily scrutinized by Brittany's friends, family, and media. His attitude and personality made him an easy target.

Still, the scrutiny of this young man wasn't completely unjustified. After all, he gave a 17-year-old girl alcohol, invited her to his room, and allowed her to walk the Myrtle Beach strip by herself. Not exactly a model citizen. Okay, first of all I did talk to Brittany about why she was walking the strip by herself and earlier that day you know she said oh for the last three nights I

walked by myself oh it doesn't bother't bother me. I'm fine. I'm like, well, I didn't even go anywhere by myself because it's pretty bad down there. I'm on spring break. I'm not there to babysit anybody. During his media interviews, Pete didn't do himself any favors. He came across as arrogant

and didn't seem to care about Brittany's well-being at all. Though, he did have a plausible explanation for why he left Myrtle Beach when he did. As anything, I'm from New York, Rochester. It's a 14-15 hour drive. We were there for a whole week. Our checkout time was in the morning, Sunday morning, so we decided to leave at two o'clock because why would you want to leave Sunday in the middle of a day when it's a tourist town?" According to Pete, he left Myrtle Beach at 2 a.m. simply because he wanted to beat the traffic. Makes sense, I guess?

Most of us have done some early morning driving to beat rush hour, right? But two in the morning? It's a weird time to suddenly pack up and go. While still keeping an eye on Pete and attempting to verify or discredit his story, investigators also looked at several registered sex offenders in the Myrtle Beach area. As you can imagine, there's quite a few of them. There was one in particular that caught their attention though. 49-year-old Raymond Douglas Moody. Now, taking a look at Moody's record, he's got quite a past.

He's a registered sex offender for things that happened while he was out in California in which he was charged with committing a lewd act on a minor under the age of 14. He also was charged with sodomy with a child under the age of 14, rape and kidnapping to commit rape. Now for those charges he went to prison for 20 years. Last August Georgetown County Police and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division searched an apartment that they say that Moody lived in at or around the time when Brittany went missing. The apartment was at the Sunset Lodge Hotel in Georgetown, which is pretty close to the cell phone tower where Brittany's cell phone last gave off signal.

Like Pete Brazowitz, Raymond Moody was heavily scrutinized by the media after being named as a person of interest. In fact, one reporter went go to someone's job and put them on the spot like that. But Ray Moody was a convicted sex offender that raped a child. So, fuck him. In any event, the police had two potential suspects in Brazowitz and Moody. But in both cases, they couldn't find any significant evidence to link either one of them to Britney's disappearance. Typically when a teenager goes missing, the truth about what happened to them comes out pretty quickly.

Rarely these days do these kinds of cases drag on but that was unfortunately exactly what happened here. The investigation into Britney Drexel's disappearance lasted for years. All the while, Brittany's mom pleaded for her daughter's safe return. Please give us back our daughter. We have so many people that love Brittany. Her brother and sister miss her dearly. It hurts me very much when I see her younger brother and sister ask me, you know, they say mommy please bring Brenny home. We miss her, we love her.

Brenny may be scared. I don't know what the, you know, I don't know what they may have done if someone does have her. You know, I want them to return her home. She's ours and we need her. In June of 2016, over seven years since Brittany went missing, investigators seemingly got a break in the case. A prison inmate and FBI informant in South Carolina came forward and claimed to know what happened to Brittany Drexel. This informant told investigators that Brittany was abducted and taken to a drug stash house. Once there, she was killed and her body dumped into an alligator pit.

According to the FBI, their informant named 20-year-old Tim Deshawn Taylor as the culprit behind Britney's disappearance and murder. Tim had a criminal history and was arrested in 2011 for acting as a getaway driver for an armed robbery. He pled guilty to multiple charges and was sentenced to 18 years of probation, but these charges were only resolved in state court. After the informant named Tim accused him of being responsible for the killing of Brittany Drexel, the FBI charged Tim federally for the same crime, so that

they could arrest him and question him. Which is bullshit. The FBI shouldn't be allowed to do that. If you believe in the Constitution, that is. In any event, just like Pete Brazowitz and Raymond Moody before him, the media dug their claws into Tim Deshawn Taylor. Did you find that strange? Yes sir. Did you kill Brittany Drexel? No sir. Were you involved in the kidnapping of Brittany Drexel? No sir, I was not. Were you with Brittany Drexel the night she was, she disappeared in April of 2009? No sir. Tim claimed that before Brittany Drexel's disappearance, he didn't even know who she was and that he had never

been in her presence. He explained that everything he knew about Brittany came from the authorities and the media. You heard the allegations from this informant. He says he saw you in this stash house sexually assaulting Brittany Drexel, you know recounts this whole detailed story. What do you have to say about that story? There's nothing too much that I can say about the story. I just think it was not true. It was very, very disorienting. Okay, Forrest, why don't you tell us about your chocolates now? Anything that you would want to say to the family of Brittany Drexel?

I would tell them deeply I apologize for their loss and I sincerely do apologize for their loss and I honestly hope that they find who've done this and give them justice but I honestly don't have anything or have any information to help them because I honestly don't know anything. Tim was unwavering in his denial and once again the authorities were unable to find any significant evidence to charge him with any crimes related to Brittany Drexel. More than a decade after Brittany's disappearance, the case remained unsolved and quite cold. The Myrtle Beach police and the FBI still had no answers for Brittany's mom. I'm just so frustrated. I mean, at this point, it's just, it's just I want answers and they better start coming. You know, because, you know, because to me, I mean, you know, I've been in this for a long time, right? Along with you guys.

Dawn Drexel was desperate. And who could blame her? Her daughter left the house one day and never came home. And nobody seemed to know where she went or why. She was just so frustrated. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking.

And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking.

And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just wanted to know what she was thinking. And I just house one day and never came home. And nobody seemed to know where she went or why. What a nightmare. Can you imagine? In her desperation, and given the authorities were unable to provide any answers, Don turned to the unorthodox and spoke to several self-proclaimed psychics. One psychic told Dawn that Brittany was still alive and that she was being held captive by a clean cut man in his late 20s.

She had stated that Brittany, or she was reading it, she said she was randomly targeted. She said there was a man sitting in his chair offering the girls, offering them a drink. She had said something about a drug being put in the drink, but she wasn't sure if it may have been a mixed drink or maybe just a coke or something like that. She feels like she was affected. She had made it this gentleman that she was talking about had made contact with all three of these girls. She was watching her out. I'd like to take this opportunity to say, fuck these people. If someone wants to play make believe, pretend they have magic, thinking powers, and con-gullible people out of their money Gullible, usually broke people, I might add.

Well, that's just fucking gross. You're a piece of shit. Do you hear me? I'm talking to you, psychic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know your magic crystals tell you things. I know you can hear the voice of your grandfather or some shit. That's because you're mentally ill.

Got it? Good. Let's continue. When you start blatantly lying and giving made up false hope to desperate parents who are suffering some very, very real pain, you've crossed the line of being a swindler, a grifter, a whatever you want to call it, and now you've become a full-blown absolute fucking monster. Shame on you if you even know what that word means. These so-called psychics are sick people with no empathy and they should be called out at every fucking turn. Listen to the desperation in Don Drexel's voice. Listen to the desperation of this mother who would do anything to find her missing daughter.

And this piece of shit comes by to grift on that. How could anyone listen to that desperation and decide to take advantage of it? It's just shameless. She's a well-known paranormal person. I mean, believe me, I don't believe in psychics, but you know what? If they can give me some flowers of my daughter, and every single one that we've talked to

states she's still alive. But I mean, the things are making sense. I mean, this guy was watching her. You've seen him before. Yeah, I mean, it's worth looking into, you know? Because if this guy is holding her there, maybe at least we can get her, you know what I mean? You know, I want to find her.

I need to see people. My daughter is just having pain, you know? For 13 years, Dawn Drexel did all she could in hopes of one day being reunited with her daughter. For 13 years, she searched relentlessly for answers. Then in April of 2022, she finally got some of those answers. Unsurprisingly, they didn't come from a psychic. They came from the girlfriend of the murderer. They came from the woman who was dating Brittany Drexel's killer. Introducing the Miller Optics 2KW Handheld Laser Welder.

It's so simple to use, even a rookie can weld like an expert, allowing you to boost your shop's productivity up to five to ten times more than with traditional arc welding processes. Expand your workforce so you can start doing more and making more. Get the Optics Laser Advantage now and start changing the welding game. By April of 2022, 13 years had passed since 17-year-old Brittany Drexel went missing while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Throughout the investigation, the local police and FBI took a close look at several potential suspects, one of which was Pete Brazowitz. Pete was 20 years old when Brittany went missing, and he was the last person to see her before

she disappeared. Pete garnered a lot of suspicion through his actions. He left Myrtle Beach within hours of Brittany's disappearance and had seemingly done so in a hurry, leaving belongings and a hotel deposit behind. He also hired a criminal defense attorney when he returned to his home city of Rochester, New York, and seemed to show no concern for Brittany's well-being. Despite all this, authorities did eventually clear Pete as a potential suspect. Myrtle Beach police say Peter Brazowitz was one of the last people to see Brittany Drexel

before she walked out of the Blue Water Resort and disappeared. But new emails we obtained detail why Myrtle Beach police say they eventually cleared him. Police say it wasn't Brozowitz's decision to go back to Rochester and that while he did leave clothes behind, it was only wet bathing suits on the balcony. And the emails show they were at a party at Coastal Carolina, all while Drexel's phone was heading south. Police also found nothing suspicious in their room or cars. Eventually authorities announced another suspect in the case. Several years later, the FBI began investigating a young man named Tim Deshaun Taylor, who was named as Britney's kidnapper and murderer by an FBI informant.

Eventually, it was determined that this information was not true at all, and Tim had nothing to do with Brittany Drexel at all. Despite this, the FBI never publicly set the record straight, and a cloud of suspicion followed Tim for years. Tim was never charged in the Drexel case, but for the next six years, the court of public opinion presumed he was guilty. They wanted so badly for this to be Timothy, and to me, they didn't look for anybody else,

they didn't look for the real killers. Brittany's father was horrified that the FBI had let them believe Tim Taylor was responsible for all of these years. The FBI specifically said they killed her, The He did it. Are you kidding? They don't even want to talk about it. The accusations that the FBI made about Tim wreaked havoc on Tim's life and the lives of his family members. But the FBI maintained that they did nothing wrong and, I mean, let's face it, who do they have to answer to anyway? So, you know, go fuck yourself.

It wouldn't really be anything that the FBI would need to apologize for because we didn't leak that information. We're just exploring a whole investigative. They didn't leak the information. They set it in open court and never set the record straight even after dropping Tim as a suspect. If they would take their time, they would know it's a lot to apologize. We lost livelihood. We lost income. I lost my job. They blasted us all over the world.

And you just don't do that to somebody and walk away. The disappearance of Brittany Drexel had a ripple effect that devastated countless lives. And for over a decade, there was still no explanation of what happened to her. Then finally in 2022, Myrtle Beach Detectives were able to crack the case. In April of that year, they were able to speak to a 54-year-old woman named Angel Vause. According to yet another informant, there's lots of them I guess, maybe everybody's an informant there's lots of them I guess maybe everybody's an informant anyway according to yet another informant during a night of heavy drinking Angel confessed to killing Brittany the confidential source had come forward to law enforcement and said that an intoxicated angel laws had made

shockingly and shocking admissions to them specifically claiming that that she was concerned about Raymond constantly being accused of things that he didn't do. As a matter of fact, she knows he didn't do it because she killed her and Raymond helped hide the body. Angel Vaz was the girlfriend of Raymond Douglas Moody, who was another potential suspect that the police had not crossed off their list. Moody was a registered sex offender who had spent 20 years in prison for raping a child in California.

In 2009, when Brittany Drexel went missing, Moody was living in an apartment not far from where Brittany's cell phone signal died. After the police were made aware of the admission that Angel made about Brittany, they questioned her about them. At least they tried to. During the course of our investigation, we were able to intercept conversation between individuals. And one of these individuals was a person that was responsible.

Okay. Okay. You can try to understand what I'm saying. Yeah. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read to you a couple of quotes. What? Because if you try to accuse him of anything, then I'm going to have to do something. Okay.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to read to you a couple of quotes. Because if you're trying to accuse him of anything, then I'm going to be involved in it. Because I say he didn't, okay? I say he did not. I'm not accusing him of anything. I'm not. Yes, you are. That's what that was. I'm not accusing him of anything. I'm straightforward too. Can we just start?

No, I'm straightforward too. I don't think he did. And you're not going to involve him in it. There's nothing to do with that. It doesn't. It doesn't. Before investigators could read the admissions that Angel allegedly made to their informant, Angel stormed out of the interview room. Though within minutes she was convinced to go back inside and the questioning continued. Yeah, I did say what I said. I was talking to Tera and a friend of mine and I was highly drunk. We went out and I drank it and she kept asking me questions about Ray

and everybody that comes to the queue is Ray. So yeah, I did say nothing. Is that true? No, no. I would never hurt anybody. That's for sure, Kim. According to Angel, the only reason she confessed to killing Brittany was because she was a victim of a drug use. She was a victim of a drug use. She was a victim of a drug use. She was a victim of a drug use. She was a victim of a drug use.

She was a victim of a drug use. She was a victim of a drug use. According to Angel, the only reason she confessed to killing Brittany was so that people would stop accusing her boyfriend, Raymond Moody. Sounds like a solid plan. Angel claimed that she had no idea what happened to Brittany, but based on her earlier admissions, the FBI pursued her and conducted another search of the apartment that she shared with Moody. During that search, something interesting happened. Nothing of an entry value was particularly found in the search warrant. What did happen is there was a face-to-face conversation with Mr. Moody and FBI agents

concerning the direction of the investigation and the effort of building a case towards Mrs. Vos. Based on that, Mr. Moody had retained an attorney and agreed to come in to have a set down discussion with law enforcement officers concerning his involvement in that. Since the feds were pursuing his girlfriend, a now 62 yearold Raymond Moody finally decided to come clean. Throughout multiple interviews with authorities, Moody described the night that he came upon Brittany Drexel. Well, I finally told this story.

The only person who ever told this story, too, is my lawyer. I need to remember him in a real story. Anyway, while I was going down the ocean boulevard, I was talking to a friend of mine. He said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story.

I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going to tell you a story. I said, I'm going are you? Hmm. I think you'll never even hear the real story. Anyway, while I was going down the ocean, I pulled the guard, and we were going on pretty slow driving. I was driving, and I'm pretty walking speed, and I saw the judge go working,

walking on the sidewalk, and I was smoking pot. She noticed that, walked over to the door and said something about that smells like good weed. She said, yeah, you want some? Sure. Get in. She hopped right in the back, but had a problem. Did she ask for a ride or did you ask her for a ride?

You asked her if you wanted a ride, you remember? I asked her if she'd like to party with us. Okay. She said sure. When she had the vehicle, did you know it was for a bad purpose? No, not at all. It didn't even cross my mind.

Okay. No. According to Moody, he was driving on the main Myrtle Beach Strip with his girlfriend Angel, who was in the passenger seat. The traffic was so bad that night that they were only moving at a walking pace. Moody claimed that Brittany noticed them

and from the sidewalk, jokingly called them out for smoking pot. When Moody offered Brittany some weed, she willingly climbed into the backseat of his SUV. Supposedly, Angel didn't have a problem with this because she and Moody had an...open relationship. Did you do it at other places like where you and Angel would be? There's nothing wrong with

it. You picked up a girl and it was kind of flinching over the wall. We had done that before. So we had a relatively open type relationship. We had a very trusting relationship. Now that Moody was cooperating with the authorities, Angel Vaz did as well, and she also provided her version of what happened that night. According to both Angel and Moody,

after Brittany got into the SUV, the three of them drove to Georgetown. During that drive, they collectively got to know each other. I know it was a conversation like, hey, my name is so and so, you know, introduce yourself. And then she said something about where she was from. I remember New York, that's about it.

And she said something about where she went to school. She got pretty sure she said she was like 18 or something like that. And, you know, but it was just like banner. And I said, Hey, we're gonna want to party a little bit with us? We can get some cocaine, you know? Sure. So we started driving. We were just driving around, smoking, talking.

And I started writing in Georgetown. Went right to a spot where we used to camp out down by the river. Moody, Angel, and Brittany arrived at a desolate campsite in Georgetown. Not long after they got there, Angel recalled that her son had the keys to her apartment and she needed to get them before the night got any later.

I called my son, or he called me, I can't remember who called him, but he had the keys to the apartment so after a little bit I walked back to call we all walked back to where the like the car would be parked and I said I had to meet him to get the keys and I said I'll be back in a little while nobody said anything doesn't know y'all from anybody right and. And so y'all get in a car with her and you drive down to the pool yard. Yep. Fine. And then you have to leave.

Right, right. So what was that conversation like? Well, I just said. Him and her, how'd that go? Yeah, well, we were all standing there when I left. I just ended up, I had to go meet my son to get the keys before he went back over to the races. And I just wanted to meet him.

I'd be right back. And I got in the car and drove off. Angel drove away leaving 17-year-old Brittany alone with a 49-year-old convicted child rapist. Within 10 minutes of Angel leaving, Raymond Moody was raping Brittany. I love the words in your mouth, but... I mean, there's something just like snapping them up out of my mind, you know? I mean, I knew I was demon, but I wasn't really like in real control. I had that character to not act on my impulse.

Moody described that Brittany was terrified as he forced her to remove her clothes and that she tried to resist him as he raped her. When the assault ended, Moody realized that what he had done was probably going to put him back in prison for the rest of his life. The only way he might be able to protect himself was to silence Brittany forever so he strangled her to death She said she was gonna... she'd sell angel on me. Did you start to have sex with her or did something happen to stop that? No, I did. I was a raider. Do you remember what she was like at any point after you raped her before she was dead?

She was scared. And then afterwards what happened? Did she say, like what caused you, other than her laugh? I panicked. You panicked? Yeah, I panicked because I started just playing the whole thing through my mind what was going to happen. I was in better prison again, the rest of my life. When you strangled and gripped me with it, did you use your hands or did you use part of her clothing or... Did you have to hold her down at all or was she just pretty compliant or...

She was troubled. Brittany fought for her life, but Moody overpowered her. He wrapped his hands around her neck and squeezed until Brittany's life left her body. She was dead. Realizing that Angel would be returning at any minute, Moody carried Brittany to a nearby wooded area and dumped her behind a tree. I was all shook up because what had happened I didn't know what to do. I was trying to figure out what the hell I wanted to do until the language gets back. So I came up with this story that I can't remember exactly.

I told her that she hooked up somehow with her friends on the phone and they came and picked her up. When I got to the pole yard, he was standing in the parking lot of the pole yard. I asked him where she was. He said that she called somebody or somebody called her, whichever way, I don't remember. And she left. And I said, okay. And we left the whole yard and went to the apartments. Do you remember anything about after, like after you got to the apartment, what you did? I went bed. After Angel went to bed, Moody returned to the scene of the crime,

collected Brittany, and took her body to a heavily wooded area about two miles from his apartment. Once there, he dug a shallow grave and buried Brittany. Angel claimed that she initially believed Moody when she said that Brittany's friends picked her up, but she began questioning that story when Brittany's face appeared on the news. he would straight out tell me, was she there when you got there? And I'm like, no, she wasn't there. And he said, well, I told you, she left. He never said one word about the night or anything after that to me. If Angel's story was true, it means that she kept quiet for 13 years and never told police that she saw Brittany on the night that she disappeared. Nonetheless, the agreement that Moody and Angel made with the authorities was that they would cooperate if and only if Angel didn't face any consequences.

Of course, there's always consequences. I did this. Yeah. Angel had been a victim of mine for a long fucking time. Okay. You know, because that's the kind of piece of shit that I am. I didn't turn into a good person till May 15th, 2015.

I can be a man of my word, and y'all can be a man of your word. You can be a man of your word, You could be a man of your word. Then I'll take it right where the body is. But if I feel like you ain't been that of your word, fuck it, never get that body. Moody claimed that the recent birth of his grandchild transformed him into a good man all of a sudden.

It's kinda like when some of you say, I can't listen to those stories about kids because I have kids. You're assuming that everybody that doesn't have kids doesn't give a shit. It's kind of insulting. Anyway, this so-called good man used the hidden location of his 17-year-old murder victim as a bargaining chip to save his own ass. Raymond Moody was, is, and will always be a disgusting and evil piece of shit.

After that interview with law enforcement was completed, he agreed to take investigators both to the pole yard and point out the campsite locations, and he agreed to go to the area off Pennyroyal Road and pointed to investigators the location where he placed Mr. Axel's mortal remains. Her mortal remains were proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be hers through dental records as well as DNA testing tonight from Myrtle Beach. Investigators say they have found the remains of missing teenager Brittany Drexel. It has been 13 years since she disappeared.

Police arresting a man last week who they say was once a person of interest in the case. Well, today they confirmed that man, Raymond Moody, is responsible for her death. This is the case you warn people about. It's your child walking down the street and being snatched up by someone with malevolent homicidal proclivities. Raymond Moody had no prior connection to Brittany Drexel.

In May of 2022, 13 years after Brittany left for Myrtle Beach, her mother, Dawn Drexel, brought Brittany back home to Rochester, New York. I've been waiting for this day for 13 years, ever since the day Brittany disappeared. I never thought we would get to this place and we're finally here and now I can get Brittany back and lay her rest. Dawn finally got some answers about what happened to her daughter. But not everything made sense. How could it? The respective versions of events given by Angel and Moody were mostly consistent. But there seemed to be some potential contradictions in what they told police. For one,

both Moody and Angel told investigators that Brittany initially took an interest in them because they were smoking pot. Yet, according to her friends and her boyfriend, Brittany didn't smoke weed at all. When you say party girl, are we talking drinking or are we talking a little bit of everything or anything? Everything except the drugs. She's never smoked, never done anything. Also, according to one of the girlfriends who went to Myrtle Beach with Brittany, when the option to smoke weed was offered, Brittany declined. I'm not an narcotics addict. I actually asked her conventional trigger, but I asked her, declined.

If Brittany did get into Moody's SUV willingly, it seems very unlikely that marijuana was her motivation. It's possible that Moody simply offered Brittany a ride and she accepted. But it's also possible that she was simply offered Brittany a ride and she accepted, but it's also possible that she was abducted off the street. If Brittany was abducted, it means that Angel was a willing participant in the crime. And now, she had immunity. Something else that didn't make any sense was that Brittany didn't text or call anyone while she was with Moody and Angel. This was extremely out of character for her. Brittany was constantly on her phone, like most teenagers, and almost always texting her boyfriend. Yet, both Moody

and Angel claimed that they never prevented Brittany from using her phone. But she said it was her boyfriend or something and she would call him when she got back. Okay. Again, these potential problems with their respective stories suggest that Angel may have acted as Moody's accomplice. But investigators were able to use Angel's phone records to confirm that she did in fact leave the campsite where Brittany was supposedly murdered and returned a short while later. So, part of her story seemed to be true. Other than that, everything else remains a mystery. Did Brittany get into Moody's SUV willingly

or was she abducted off the street? If she did go willingly, why? Maybe she was tired of walking and accepted a ride. Maybe she felt she was safe because there was another adult female in the passenger seat. But if that was the case, why did she suddenly stop using her phone? Why didn't she tell her boyfriend

that she had accepted a ride from two strangers? It doesn't really add up. Unfortunately, we will may never, never know exactly what happened that day because Mr. Exel can't tell us what happened. So to some degree, we are compelled to listen to the version that's provided by Mr. Moody, and then it's incumbent upon law enforcement to determine the credibility or not on certain points and not certain points. The consensus among law enforcement seemed to be that Brittany did get into Moody's SUV voluntarily, but the only thing they could say with certainty was

that Moody did murder Brittany Drexel. His confession and the fact that he led investigators to the body were the final pieces that allowed investigators to close the case and hand things off to prosecutors. Ultimately, Moody didn't fight the criminal charges against him. He pled guilty to kidnapping and murder, and with those pleas came the inevitable impact statements from Brittany's parents. When I found out that she went missing, I didn't know what to think. I didn't know. that she went missing. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to...

I just felt numb. I mean, I'm gonna be her adopted dad, but I want her. At first, I thought she would be found because like Don had mentioned that she was going down there and searching. They're gonna bring her home. And that's what I thought would happen. However, days turned to months,

and those months turned into years. Years of torture, wondering where my daughter was. And now 13 years later, I find out the horrible, disgusting, and senseless way she was abducted and murdered. Every part of my being wants to say and do something about that, but my heart knows that I will not, and Brittany would not want me to go to jail over that. So I internalize it. That's all I do, just, it's sickening. The defendant was and is, and I'm sorry, a perverted sick monster.

I think we can all agree that Brittany's adoptive dad has absolutely nothing to apologize for. After Chad Drexel addressed the court, it was Brittany's mom's turn to do the same. As Brittany's moms turn to do the same. For 13 years I have searched for Brittany and suffered the loss of a child. Today we know the truth and today Mr. Moody, you face the consequences for that. That's all I have left. That's all we have left after what you did to her. Brittany was a beautiful 17-year-old with her full life ahead of her. From the moment I gave birth to her, Brittany was my life.

She had a beautiful soul. She was our soccer star. She was loved by everyone in our family, by her friends, classmates, and an entire community. What gave you the right to put your hands on my daughter? You are a serial rapist and a child predator. The criminal justice system has failed my daughter as it continues to fail so many other victims. And frankly, Mr. Moody, it failed you. Because you never should have been released from prison.

The loss of my daughter has ignited a fire in me and set me on a mission to strip away the rights and freedoms of people like you. My daughter's tragic and senseless murder has inspired me. Britney's life and memory are now the driving force behind the initiative to make changes in sex offender laws and to keep monsters like you where they belong in cages so they can never harm again." Raymond Moody will, indeed, spend the rest of his life in a cage, which is

exactly where he should have remained after being convicted the first time for raping a child. For fuck's sake. How are we not electing better people to run this shindig? In the case of Brittany Drexel, Moody was given two consecutive sentences, 30 years for kidnapping and another 30 years for murder. If Moody wants to see the outside of a prison, he'll need to live to be 122 years old.

Good luck, shitbag. The Brittany Drexel case took 13 years to solve and that long investigation as well as its resolution offers plenty of lessons and takeaways. For one, the general population is way too quick to presume guilt. The mild association that Pete Brazowitz had with Brittany Drexel has all but defined his life. Even to this day, and despite the resolution of the case, you can't Google

him without seeing his photo next to a picture of Brittany Drexel. There are countless blogs about him, probably a bunch of Facebook groups, and I can't even imagine what's on Reddit. Many of the authors of these comment areas are completely certain that Pete murdered Brittany despite all the evidence. Okay. Okay. Granted, Pete didn't do himself any favors. I mean, during his media interviews he came across as arrogant and uncaring. He was really easy to dislike. But then again, what 20 year old isn't a little self-centered and kind of an asshole? I mean, I haven't met one yet. Also, Pete was in a no-win situation.

If he feigned sympathy and offered to help, he would have been accused of trying to get inside information about the case. Pete was crossed off the potential suspect list very early on in the investigation, and frankly, the authorities should have made more of an effort to make that clear. The same is also true for Tim Deshaun Taylor, but in his case, things were much worse. Not only had the court of public opinion pretty much convicted him, but so did the FBI. Tim committed a robbery before he was investigated for possibly murdering Brittany. He pled guilty to that robbery charge in state court and was sentenced. When that kind of thing happens, the feds should not be allowed to reuse the same crime as leverage against someone and charge them again

That's a very very dirty practice and the FBI knows it but again Who's gonna stop them? anyway, finally and perhaps the most frustrating element of this case is that Raymond Moody was a registered sex offender and a previously convicted child rapist. Once again, we have a case where a predator is released from prison and surprise surprise, they sexually abuse another child. It's almost like we can predict that it's going to happen. It's almost like we can predict that it's gonna happen. It's

almost like it's a given. It's almost like we've known this for decades. Huh. This is a complicated issue that we have covered extensively in prior episodes of this show and there are many conflicting opinions on how child rapists should be dealt with. A woodchipper is a popular suggestion. But one thing is clear. The system we have in place right now simply isn't working, and our kids are paying the price for that failure.

Again, why pay for a safety net if there's no safety? In this particular case, 17-year-old Brittany Drexel paid the ultimate price. She paid with her life. Her parents paid with their grief. And until we make reforms to the way that our government handles child sex offenders, this kind of thing is going to continue to happen again and again and again. And you could be anywhere in the country. Anywhere. Because once these predators are released in whatever state they're released in,

they travel to whatever state they want to. And maybe that's where your child is Maybe one of those times it happens again. It'll involve a child that you know Maybe just maybe it'll be your child and I'm not saying that to scare you I'm not saying that to scare Monger I'm saying because it's fucking reality if you look around for half a second. It's just the world we live in now.

Bad decisions lead to bad outcomes. And here we are. The Drexels were a typical suburban family and the events that led to Brittany ending up in Myrtle Beach is a story as old as time. She lied to her mom about where she was. Kids do that all the time. I mean, hell I did it. All my friends did it. I don't know anybody who didn't do it, actually, now that I think about it. Everybody lies to their parents. Everybody goes out and sneaks out and does stuff when they're a teenager that Now that I think about it, everybody lies to their parents. Everybody goes out and sneaks out and does stuff when they're a teenager that they shouldn't

be doing. So the thought that it can't happen to you is a dumb one, no matter how good your kid is. Usually when kids lie about their whereabouts, things don't end badly like they did this time. But every once in a while, a monster comes along and waits for the perfect opportunity to strike on their prey. The frustrating part is that it's not just any monster.

It's a monster we can see coming. It's a monster that our laws and our government released from a cage. Don't be sad. This isn't the end. There's more true crime available at SwordandScale.com. Go check out Sword and scale television episode 4 Angela Bledsoe Boy even when you're doing well sometimes you're not doing well. You know what I mean? Anyway, it's an amazing story that our television team put together they get in an RV

They stuff in all their cameras and all their gear and they travel all around the country all year round to do this. You gotta check it out. Stay safe guys. Why do I have to upgrade from plus to plus two to watch season or to listen to season two that makes no sense I've been paying 10 bucks this whole time and then you put out a new episode for season two to listen to but yeah you want me to upgrade to 20 bucks now like what are we doing here guys Oh my god people get the fuck over it. I understand that you are limited in what you can say on air and in private to those very special customers that you have that don't seem to understand that you don't get more shit without paying for it.

You know, there's this thing called inflation, and there's this thing called people need to make a living, and that's what Mike and his crew do, and that's why he's created more tiers. So, I thought I'd talk directly to them so that you didn't have to, and I could say some of the things that we should all know. If you can afford it you can afford it but get with the time

you ain't gonna get what you used to get for the same price. Things are changing. It's called life. It's called progress. The number of Sword and Scale episodes on your feed for regular subscriber and plus subscriber has not changed. The shows that are additional in your feed are the offerings and hard work of Mike and his team on new projects that if you so please you can listen to for an appropriate expense. I'm so sick of seeing people complain on social media and on the voicemails about what happened to my photo and tear. Get that fuck over it! How do I put this gently? You fucking idiots! You can't get a bunch of more shit for free!

Mike, keep doing what you're doing. We love you for it. Don't listen to our special friends.