Jury rules that Brittanee Drexel’s killer must pay damages to mother

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — A jury ruled on Tuesday that Raymond Moody, the man who pleaded guilty to kidnapping, raping, and killing Chili teen Brittanee Drexel, must pay damages to Brittanee Drexel’s mother.

Closing arguments in Moody’s civil trial happened Tuesday morning.

The jury has decided that he must pay Dawn Conley, Drexel’s mother, $200 million in damages.

Moody has been serving a life sentence since October 2022, admitting to killing Drexel in 2009 while she was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on a spring break trip.

Conley filed a lawsuit against Moody for intentional infliction of emotional distress or outrage. The suit claims that Moody deprived her of the “ongoing love and affection a child gives a parent.”

Moody confirmed he has “no intention” of putting on a defense. Conley testified on Monday, saying she wants to see a precedent set for people who commit crimes like Moody.

“They need everything taken away from them because they took the most precious thing they could have taken away from me, and that was Brittanee,” Conley said.

Thirteen years after Drexel’s disappearance, investigators found Drexel’s remains in a wooded area in Georgetown, about 45 minutes south of Myrtle Beach. In addition to Moody pleading guilty, his longtime girlfriend, Angel Vause, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for making false statements about her role in Drexel’s disappearance.