Editor’s note: The full press conference is available in the web player at the bottom of this page.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WBTW/WROC) — A news conference at the Georgetown County Courthouse in South Carolina held Thursday afternoon announced a new civil lawsuit filed in the Brittanee Drexel case.
Drexel’s mother filed a civil lawsuit in January against the man who admitted to kidnapping and killing her daughter while the teenager was visiting Myrtle Beach on spring break with friends in April 2009.
Brittanee Drexel was a 17-year-old Gates-Chili High School student on spring break with friends when she went missing on April 25, 2009. It took more than 13 years for police to arrest the man they believe to be responsible, charging him with murder, kidnapping, and criminal sexual conduct.
On October 19, 2022, Raymond Moody plead guilty to the charges.
The lawsuit announced during this press conference differs from the one filed on behalf Drexel’s mother due to its change in a “specific cause of action.” The new lawsuit has cause of actions for survival/wrongful death, sexual assault, and a kidnapping cause of action, as well as against the hotel in Myrtle Beach.
Brittanee Drexel’s mother talks about reason behind new lawsuit
“This has been a long time coming,” Brittanee’s mother, Dawn Pleckan, said. “I’m exhausted, and this needs to come full circle. Brittanee needs full justice.”
Pleckan said she did not know Brittanee was in Myrtle Beach.
“We’ve been living a nightmare,” Dawn said. “I believe that people need to be held accountable, but people also need to know what is going on so we can make changes.”
As for any sense of “peace’ Pleckan will feel:
“I have a piece of mind that Brittanee is back with us, but, it’s the point. It’s not about anything else, there’s a lot of predators and people who like to make money off of people.”
Attorney Roy Willey asked for continued community support to “fill in the gaps” between April 25, and Brittanee’s murder.
“It took 13 years from Raymond Moody to positively identified,” Willey said. “There’s a lot of unanswered questions about why that was, and about what exactly happened between the time that she was kidnapped, and the time her body was found.”
Pleckan said it has become her “life’s mission” to help with missing person’s cases.
To read the full timeline on the disappearance of Drexel, click here.
