南卡罗来纳州的调查人员在一名少年案件中取得了重大突破,这名少年于2009年在春假度假时失踪。
当局在周一的新闻发布会上宣布,布里特妮·德雷克塞尔(Brittanee Drexel)失踪案的嫌疑人已被逮捕,并被控谋杀,她的遗体于上周在南卡罗来纳州乔治敦县的一个林区被发现。
“在过去的一周,我们已经证实,布里特妮以一种悲惨的方式失去了生命,死于一个走在我们街道上的可怕罪犯之手,”联邦调查局特工负责人苏珊·费伦西奇说。
德雷克塞尔最后一次被人看到是在2009年4月25日晚上,当时她正离开一个朋友在蓝水度假村的房间,走回她住的酒店——沿着繁忙的默特尔海滩大道步行大约一英里半,ABC罗切斯特站重打举报。
乔治敦郡治安官办公室
在这段视频截图中,默特尔海滩警察局长艾米·普罗克在记者招待会上发言.
调查人员认为,根据第11大道和海洋大道的监控录像,她在前往目的地的半路上失踪了。
乔治敦县治安官卡特·韦弗说,嫌疑人雷蒙德·穆迪,62岁,据称埋葬了德雷克塞尔的尸体。韦弗说,她的遗体被发现时,距离德雷克塞尔失踪时穆迪住的汽车旅馆不到3英里。
朱古力小灵精和乔治敦县的律师吉米·理查森说,穆迪目前被关押在乔治敦县监狱,不得保释,预计除了最初被提起的妨碍司法公正的指控外,他还将被指控强奸、谋杀和绑架。
当局没有回答记者关于德雷克塞尔的遗体是如何被发现的问题,也没有回答调查中是什么让他们认为穆迪是嫌疑人。官员们说,2012年,他被确定为失踪案的相关人员,但没有足够的证据将他列为嫌疑人。
调查人员认为德雷克塞尔是被违背她的意愿关押并杀害的。
德雷克塞尔的父母道恩·普莱坎和查德·德雷克塞尔出席了新闻发布会。在那里,他们要求隐私,并感谢调查人员和志愿者在过去十年的工作。
“这真的是一个母亲最可怕的噩梦,”Pleckan说。“我哀悼我美丽的女儿布里特妮已经13年了。但今天,这是苦乐参半。我们已经非常接近我们一直迫切希望的结局。”
据威猛报道,到周一,德雷克塞尔就30岁了。
Suspect arrested in disappearance, murder of teen who went missing during spring break 2009
Investigators in South Carolina have made a significant break in the case of a teen who went missing in 2009 while vacationing for spring break.
A suspect in the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel, who disappeared in 2009 after traveling to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for spring break, has been arrested and charged with her murder after her remains were found in a wooded area in Georgetown County, South Carolina, last week, authorities announced at a news conference Monday.
"In the last week, we've confirmed that Brittanee lost her life in a tragic way, at the hands of a horrible criminal who was walking our streets," said FBI special agent in charge Susan Ferensic.
Drexel was last seen on the night of April 25, 2009, as she was leaving a friend's room at the Blue Water Resort to walk back to the hotel where she was staying -- about a mile-and-a-half walk down the busy Myrtle Beach strip, ABC Rochester stationWHAMreported.
She was about halfway to her destination when she is presumed to have disappeared, investigators believe, based on surveillance footage from cameras on 11th Avenue and Ocean Boulevard.
The suspect, Raymond Moody, 62, allegedly buried Drexel's dead body, said Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver. Her remains were found less than 3 miles from a motel where Moody had been living at the time of Drexel's disappearance, Weaver said.
Moody is being held without bond at the Georgetown County jail and is expected to be charged with rape, murder and kidnapping -- in addition to a charge of obstruction of justice that he was initially brought in for, said Jimmy Richardson, solicitor for Horry and Georgetown Counties.
Authorities did not answer reporters' questions on how Drexel's remains were found or what in the investigation led them to believe Moody was a suspect. In 2012, he had been identified as a person of interest in the disappearance, but there was not enough evidence to name him as a suspect, officials said.
Investigators believe Drexel was held against her will and killed.
Drexel's parents, Dawn Pleckan and Chad Drexel, were in attendance at the press conference. There, they asked for privacy and thanked investigators and volunteers for their work over the past decade.
"This is truly a mother's worst nightmare," Pleckan said. "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 in the piece that we have been desperately hoping for."
Drexel would have been 30 years old on Monday, WHAM reported.