Prison messages between Drexel’s killer, longtime girlfriend discusses Dateline, lawsuit, their love

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) – Prison messages between the man who raped and killed a 17-year-old girl and his longtime girlfriend give insight into their relationship.

WMBF News obtained over 150 messages between Raymond and Moody and Angel Vause from Live5News, our sister station in Charleston.

The prison messages were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The messages go from the time he entered prison in October 2022 after he pleaded guilty to raping and killing Brittanee Drexel to September 2023.

Moody admitted that he and Vause picked Drexel up in April 2009 along Ocean Boulevard while she was visiting Myrtle Beach for Spring Break. Moody said they took her to a site in Georgetown County where he raped, killed and disposed of her body.

SPECIAL COVERAGE | Brittanee Drexel Case

In the messages between Moody and Vause, the two talk about their love for each other, with Moody calling Vause his sun, moon and world.

In a message from Vause to Moody on Dec. 11, 2022, she discusses the Dateline special that came out where Moody was interviewed following his guilty plea. Vause expressed her displeasure with the special’s outcome.

“The next hour was about 10 minutes of you in the interview the rest of the time he spent talking about me and how you concocted your story to protect me and how it was funny how you came forward after they came after me blah blah blah,” Vause wrote. “Of course he told they need to keep investigating me.”

In his response to Vause, Moody said that she shouldn’t be worried about being criminally investigated or charged because that portion was “done and over with.”

But Moody was wrong.

Vause now faces federal charges in the case. A federal indictment issued earlier this week shows she faces three charges of making false statements to the FBI during its investigation into Drexel’s disappearance.

As the messages between the couple go on, they discuss the civil lawsuit brought on by Drexel’s mother, Dawn Pleckan. She is suing Moody for intentional infliction of emotional distress and outrage. According to the public index, a trial is set for April 15 in Georgetown County.

Vause wrote that she wasn’t sure why Pleckan was filing the lawsuit.

“Not sure what they plan on getting since there is nothing in your name but I am going to the lawyers office tomorrow,” Vause wrote.

Moody claimed in the next message that the civil lawsuit is aimed at Vause so that they can go after the house and property. He also discusses which attorney to reach out to deal with the civil lawsuit.

At one point, Moody admitted to losing sleep over the lawsuit.

“Was not too happy with being served with the Civil Suit on Friday. Not sleeping well due to that,” Moody said.

He also discussed an attorney who wants to appeal his case. But even Moody said he’s not very hopeful about having his guilty plea overturned.

“Hes (sic) working on an appeal. Hes (sic) dreaming but Im (sic) not gonna say that. This is it for him,” Moody wrote.

In several of the messages, Moody apologized to Vause for the situation they’re in.

“I created this situation with my crazy behavior back years ago & unfortunately endangered you too. You didn’t do anything wrong except pick some (me) with problems to be with,” Moody wrote.

He also talked about prison being harder this time around then the first time in California. Back in 1983, Moody was ordered to serve a 40-yearr, four-month sentence on several charges including sodomy of a child under the age of 14. But he only served a little over 20 years of that sentence.

“This time around is much harder than my first because I had such an appreciation for the Life (sic) I just lost. And Im (sic) older & a much better man now. I always wonder why I was the way I was for most of my life,” Moody wrote.

Moody is now serving a life sentence. He was last in Lieber Correctional Institute in Ridgeville. But most recently, on March 13, state records show he was moved to an outside medical facility.

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