Many had feared it, but now it has become sad certainty: US student Brittanee Drexel, who has been missing for 13 years, is dead. She was the victim of a violent crime, and the alleged perpetrator is already in custody. The police announced this at a press conference after parts of the body were discovered and identified on May 11. The girl’s parents were also present at the sad announcement.

Dawn Drexel, the mother of the girl who was killed, said, according to cnn.com: “This really is a mother’s worst nightmare. I mourn my beautiful daughter today, as I have for the past 13 years.” Despite the devastating news, the certainty that has been gained may also help to find inner peace at some point.

In April 2009, Brittanee Drexel left with friends for Myrtle Beach, a well-known spring break location in South Carolina. The high school student wanted to visit relatives and celebrate with friends here. She was last caught on camera leaving the hotel, probably to meet up with her friends. After that the trail was lost.

Brittanee’s mother, Dawn Drexel, has testified that she did not allow her daughter to travel because there were no adults and she did not know the teenagers traveling with her. “I told her I had a feeling something was going to happen to her,” Dawn said. “I just felt it.” Her daughter and she broke up in an argument at the time. At first she didn’t know that Brittanee had driven despite her objection.

After Brittanee’s disappearance, suspicion fell on registered sex offender Raymond Moody (62) in the course of the investigation in 2012. He has been in custody since May 4 and is now charged with murder, kidnapping and a serious sexual offence. Moody had already served 21 years in prison starting in 1983 after being convicted of a rape in California.

Investigators are currently assuming that the suspect killed Brittanee immediately after her kidnapping and then buried her. The body was found near Myrtle Beach, a little further south on the Atlantic coast.

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The original to this post “Brittanee Drexel missing after a fight with her mother – now her body has been found” comes from Bunte.de.