Brittanee Drexel’s mother files lawsuit against her daughter’s killer

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) – The mother of a teenager who disappeared in Myrtle Beach and whose body was found more than a decade later, is now suing the man who admitted to killing her daughter.

Dawn Pleckan, the mother of Brittanee Drexel, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Raymond Moody.

Drexel, who was originally from New York, vanished on April 25, 2009 while vacationing in Myrtle Beach.

It wasn’t until 13 years later, in May 2022, that Moody confessed to law enforcement that he had kidnapped, raped and killed Drexel.

RELATED COVERAGE:

• CASE CLOSED: From disappearance to conviction, an in-depth look at the Brittanee Drexel case
• ‘I was a monster’: Raymond Moody pleads guilty to murder, kidnapping, rape of Brittanee Drexel

The lawsuit states that Moody and his then girlfriend, Angel Vause, lured Drexel into their SUV while she was walking alone in Myrtle Beach.

The documents claim that they went from Myrtle Beach to a campsite near Moody’s home at the Sunset Motor Lodge in Georgetown County, and that’s where Moody held Drexel “against her will and then brutally raped and murdered her.”

Moody led law enforcement to the Harmony Township area of Georgetown County where her remains had been found.

In October 2022, Moody pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to life in prison.

Pleckan is suing Moody for intentional infliction of emotional distress/outrage.

The lawsuit states that Moody deprived Pleckan of the “ongoing love and affection that a child gives a parent” and intentionally caused her emotional distress.

It also claims that Moody knew that law enforcement considered him a suspect but took active steps to conceal his crime.

“There is likely no greater sense of loss than that of a parent who has lost a child, such that the murder of a child is such extreme and outrageous conduct that it exceeds all bounds of decency,” the lawsuit states.

The documents go on to state that Drexel’s disappearance gained national attention and that Moody knew or should have known the effect his actions had on Pleckan.

The lawsuit states that Pleckan is entitled to actual damages, special damages, consequential damages and punitive damages due to medical bills she has incurred during the ordeal, along with loss of enjoyment of life, pain, suffering and mental anguish.

Pleckan demands a jury trial in the case.

Moody is currently being held at the Kirkland Correctional Institution in Richland County.

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