GEORGETOWN, S.C. (TCN) — A 56-year-old woman faces more than two decades in federal prison for lying to federal investigators about her role in the 2009 kidnapping, rape, and killing of Brittanee Drexel.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina announced Sept. 9 that Angel Vause pleaded guilty to making a false statement and could be sentenced to up to 24 years. She also faces a fine of up to $250,000 in restitution, as well as three years of supervision. Vause was initially indicted in March.
According to WMBF-TV, Vause is the longtime girlfriend of Raymond Moody, who pleaded guilty in October 2022 to kidnapping, raping, and killing Drexel. Drexel was 17 years old at the time and on spring break in Myrtle Beach from Rochester, New York, when she was reported missing on April 25, 2009.
Moody saw Drexel walking down a street and asked her if she wanted to party and smoke marijuana before picking her up in a vehicle, WMBF reports. Vause, Moody, and Drexel were all reportedly at a campsite in Georgetown County, where Moody committed his crimes. Drexel’s remains were found more than a decade later, in May 2022.
A judge sentenced Moody to 30 years for kidnapping, 30 for criminal sexual conduct, and life for murder.
According to court documents reviewed by WMBF, in May 2022, Vause informed federal agents that she had planned to get keys at the time of the slaying but was actually driving in a different direction for another purpose.
She allegedly claimed that Drexel kept her phone, but the FBI alleges that Vause took Drexel’s phone and discarded it between Georgetown and Charleston counties. Vause also reportedly said Drexel willingly went with her and Moody, but federal investigators determined the victim was kidnapped “under false pretenses.”
According to WMBF, Vause planned to plead guilty last month but decided to stand trial before changing her mind again this week and pleading guilty.