your daughter just disappears without a trace, and no one knows where, how, why. >> brittanee has actually gone down to myrtle beach and now she is missing. >> what do you mean you can't find her? where is she? >> her disappearance riveted the nation, and it is still playing out in court this very month. >> i still remember like it was yesterday. >> i'm sorry. >> it is absolutely the last place where you'd want your 17-year-old walking down the strip. >> she's walking down the street, and nobody knows what the heck happened to her. that blows my mind. >> she said, dad, what would you do if i ran away with a rich guy? >> look, my daughter did not run

away. i'm telling you. we were out from sunup to sundown, looking for her. >> brittanee is on surveillance camera, and nothing seems amiss. >> to see her leaving the hotel by herself -- why was she alone? >> she just vanishes. there's nothing. >> her brother looked at me and he said, tarah, where's brit brit? why didn't you bring brit brit home? i couldn't find her. i couldn't bring her home. i don't have her with me. >> and then the fbi drops a bombshell. ♪ >> this place brings back a lot of memories. she just would just run and just

freaking -- she would just be gone. when i was here, i never, ever imagined brittanee would ever go missing. when i had brittanee, i was 20. that is still young to have a child, but it brought a lot of joy into my life. >> when brittanee came into our lives it was a big surprise, a welcome surprise, but we were very young. >> when brittanee was about 2 years old, her parents dawn and john decided to go their separate ways. >> things just didn't work out. we were kids ourselves and lost touch. that hurt a lot. >> dawn eventually starts a new relationship, gets married, and brittanee is raised by her stepfather. >> they live up in rochester. rochester's upstate new york. she was in a suburban area called chili. ♪ itsy-bitsy spider went up the spout again ♪

>> brittanee was vibrant. bchlg ♪ grandma got unover by a reindeer ♪ >> she was just full of life, always singing and dancing and being the center of attention. her smile was so beautiful. it just lit up the room. >> brittanee had a little sister myrissa, and she had a little brother, cam. >> that one's brittanee. that's myrissa and camdyn. >> i was the middle child in the siblings. >> i was 12 years apart from brittanee and very close with her, even though i was little. >> oh, my god. she adored him. look at how happy he was. >> she was very caring. she was just always my protector. she was always the there to hold us, to comfort us, to make sure we're always safe anywhere we went. >> we became best friends from day one. she was a very, very kind, and just beautiful, beautiful person inside and out. >> i would describe brittanee as

a little spitfire. she was little but mighty. she had this, like, warm personality that everyone pgrav. >> she was very likable. if you were a good person, she was going to be your friend. >> she had a very strong spirit, and when she wanted something, she went out and got it. >> she was very energetic, very feisty, especially at soccer. >> powerful. >> powerful on the field, even though she was short. i always used to go t her games when i was younger, and i loved it. >> brittanee played a right winger. she was very fast and very strong. she scored 26 goals in one year. she was just a great soccer player. >> she had little legs, but man, could she move. you could not stop her on the field at all. >> turns out it was a trait she might have inherited from her biological dad, john, who came back into her life right when brittanee was about 16 years old. >> i was shocked the first time

i've seen her play. it was like, wow, that's my girl playing soccer right there. >> her dad used to play soccer, too, so you know they had quite a bit in common. >> she was very excited to have a biological father in her life. >> the first time that i've seen her, it was like looking at myself, the way her features were. she was so beautiful and funny. i was just in awe. once i found her again, life kind of came back in me. we just had a lot of time to catch up with. >> in 2009, brittany is 17 years old and she had reconnected with her biological father, but her stepdad, who aised her, is now separating from her mother. >> my parents divorced. so, during that time, it was rough for us kids as well, so my sister guided us. my brother was only 5, and i was 11. >> i knew that brittanee's parents were going through a

rough time, but brittanee was the type of person where you would never be able to tell on her face that anything was wrong, so it was very difficult to see the damage that it was actually doing to her. >> she was emotionally impacted by the divorce? >> yeah, she was. she started not to want to go to school and things like that. >> brittanee did go a little hog wild there, partying and hanging out with a new group of friends. they were all known -- you know, they were the people that were always at the club. >> they were more of the popular rich kids. >> brittanee is only 17, and these new friends were about a year or two older than her. >> she was just going through a lot. you know, us separating, getting a divorce, and also dealing with normal teenage things with her boyfriend. this photo is of brittanee and john, i believe when they first started dating. >> john grieco was brittanee's

boyfriend, and they had dated for probably a year or two. it was kind of up and down. breakup, makeup, you know, but she loved him. >> it was young love. >> so every once in a while she would just like reach out and say, can you give us a hand? the relationship wasn't probably the greatest, but he seemed like a good kid. >> it's april 2009. brittanee is a junior in high school and spring break is coming up. myrtle beach, south carolina, a beach town about 14 hours away from rochester, is a hugely popular destination. >> brittanee was very excited to go to myrtle beach. she wanted to get out of rochester. she's like, a bunch of us are going. i want to go on the beach. i want to have fun in the sun. >> it was that new group of friends, that older crowd who had invited brittanee to come down to myrtle beach. >> it was kind of like they asked her to go and she agreed. >> she wanted to get away as my

parents were separating, and she wasn't having a good relationship with john lately. >> then she tells you she wants to go down to spring break with some new friends. >> i believe that these people were acquaintances of hers, but she asked to go down there. and i said, brittanee, you're not going to myrtle beach. she got really upset about that, and she called me probably every name in the book. she goes, mom, why won't you let me go to myrtle beach? i said, because i don't know the people you're going with. i said, there's no parental supervision, and i said, something is going to happen to you. >> she then proceeded to ask my mom, okay, can i go to a friend's house who lives in rochester, new york, and stay a couple days there while spring break is going on? and my mom said yes. >> i said, that's fine as long as i talk to a parent. so she put someone on the phone, and i told brittanee to keep in contact with me. >> her mother told her yes that

was okay because she knew she was going to be in rochester. >> so in her mom's mind, brittanee is staying a couple of days with a friend a few miles away. >> that morning, i went with my mom to greece ridge mall. we were buying soccer attire for the soccer season coming up for the summer. and i told my mom, can we call brittanee? because i don't know what size she is for soccer cleats. so she called her. >> i said, well, what are you doing later? and she said, oh, we're just at the beach. because that's what they called lake ontario. i said, i will call you when i get home just to check in. >> and i was like, wait, wait, wait, before she got off the phone -- i forgot to say i love you. so she gave me the phone and i said that i love you and i thank god that i asked my mom to grab the phone back, because that was the last time i talked to her.

>> and then brittanee says, okay, mom, i'll see you tomorrow. i love you. those were her last words to me. >> they're having a good time, and anything could happen, and it did. >> my heart just dropped. i'm like, what do you mean you can't find her? you know, where is she? i'm still riding toward what's next. even with higher stroke risk due to afib not caused by a heart valve problem. so if there's a better treatment than warfarin... that's a trail i want to take. eliquis. eliquis reduces stroke risk better than warfarin. and has less major bleeding than warfarin. eliquis has both. don't stop taking eliquis without talking to your doctor as this may increase your risk of stroke. eliquis can cause serious and in rare cases fatal bleeding. don't take eliquis if you have an artificial heart valve or abnormal bleeding. while taking, you may bruise more easily... or take longer for bleeding to stop. get help right away for unexpected bleeding, or unusual bruising. it may increase your bleeding risk if you take certain medicines. tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures.

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on april 25th, 2009, i received a phone call from brittanee's boyfriend, john, asking me if i had spoken to brittanee that night. and he's like, i can't get a hold of her. we've been in constant communication. we were texting.

everything was fine, and then her texts just stopped. >> i think it was about 9:30 or something, but john did call me and he just said, brittanee hasn't texted in like 20 minutes. that's not like her. she gets back to me in five minutes or immediately. so he was concerned very early on. so i said, well, she'll get back to you. i thought i had reassured him, but of course, he called me back about 20 minutes later -- i got nothing yet. i got nothing. so i said, well, have you called her parents? he goes, no, i'm going to do that now. i got to do that now. i got to talk to -- this is crazy. >> i heard my mom's phone ring. my mom was downstairs in the living room, and i grab the phone, and it's john greco. and he sounded really frantic. and he was like, where's your mom? and i said, she's downstairs. why? what's going on? what's wrong? and he goes, i need you to give your mom the phone immediately, please. so i go downstairs and give her

the phone, and as i'm walking up the stairs, she goes, she's what? she's where? >> what did he say? >> john told me that brittanee was in myrtle beach and they couldn't find her, and i'm like, what? >> you had no idea she was headed to myrtle beach. >> i had no idea she went to myrtle beach. my heart just dropped. i'm like, what do you mean you can't find her? where is she? >> unbeknownst to her mother, brittanee had gone to myrtle beach for spring break after her mom specifically said she couldn't go. so, for the past three days, she's not at a friend's house nearby, but she's 800 miles away, unsupervised, and now she's missing. >> myrtle beach is a tourist destination. people come there to have fun and relax and enjoy themselves. >> it's a place where you can go drink and party. >> you have beautiful luxury places with pools, and then you have it all the way down to the

honky tonk motels that line other parts of the strip. >> but just steps away from the sand and the sun, things can change quickly. >> late at night in the certain areas, it can get -- it can get bad, it can get dangerous. >> it is absolutely the last place where you'd want your 16-year-old, 17-year-old young girl walking down the strip. >> that's where brittanee drexel has simply vanished. >> john was texting her the whole time she was there, and the text messages go back and forth every couple minutes. they're texting each other. >> and then all of a sudden, it stopped. >> it stopped. >> brittanee's on her phone, brittanee's on her phone all the time. she's always talking to john. and they're mid conversation, and for that to just stop is very, very unlike brittanee. >> first person i called was her father, john. >> i was in tampa, florida, got the call from dawn, very, very

concerned of where brittanee was. and within a few hours, i hit the road and headed to myrtle beach. it was a pretty long drive, so a lot of thoughts were going through my head. hopefully she was just acting like a teenager, you know, a little irresponsible, just walking off. >> dawn was like, no one's getting hold of her. we don't know what's going on. she had called a friend of brittanee's who was at one of the bases in north carolina, and asked him to go to the police station, because this is when it started setting in that this could be something very serious. >> i was stationed in camp lejeune, north carolina, active duty marine corps at the time, and i get a phone call. dawn calls me saying brittanee's down in myrtle beach. nobody knows where she is. they've lost contact with her hours ago. the friends that she went with no longer have contact with her. so everyone's in panic mode. >> i said, john, can you please go down there and report her missing?

and he said yeah. >> we're talking about a teenager who's attached to her phone. within hours of her losing contact, everybody knows something's wrong. there is no waiting until tomorrow. >> i was two and a half hours away from myrtle beach, so at the request of the family, in the middle of the night, i drove down to myrtle beach. >> i was lieutenant of the violent crime section and the crime scene unit with the myrtle beach police department. john actually came down to myrtle beach and started actively looking for brittanee, seeing if he could locate her or find out why she wasn't responding or what was going on. >> i don't remember what time that i arrived. i know it was the middle of the night. i get to the hotel brittanee was allegedly staying at, and there's no one there. >> the group that brittanee came down with, they had plans for the evening, and they were out. >> so i call 911. an officer arrives. i tell him what's going on. he tells me i'm unable to file a missing person report because

she's only been gone for a handful of hours. but when i explain the urgency to him, where she would not be without her phone, nobody's heard from her, he took my report. after i file the police report, i make the decision where i'm going to the gas station, getting some energy drinks -- and i'm going to wait across the street from the hotel for the girls that brittanee went to myrtle beach with. they have to check out of the hotel by 11:00 am, so i wait there all night long. >> we kept calling brittanee's phone, i mean, into the wee hours of the morning. i didn't get any sleep that night. and it just went directly to voicemail. so i started getting packed up, and i headed to myrtle beach. >> the next morning, i received the phone call that they were going to go down to myrtle beach. and i remember looking at my mom, and i'm like, i have to go.

i have to go and -- but thinking we were just going to go pick her up. we were just going to go get britt, and we're going to bring her home. we didn't pack any suitcases. we didn't even pack a toothbrush. i went with sweatpants on and a t-shirt, and we headed down there. >> i knew it was really serious when i got that call and the family said, hey, we're going down there. something's wrong. >> brittanee's missing, and dawn is on her way down to myrtle beach. that moment, i still remember like it was yesterday. i'm sorry. i just remember sitting in the middle of the mall, and my mom was like, it's fine, it's fine. they're going to find her. we were so young, and you didn't think of those bad things happening. just, something didn't feel right. >> approximately 10:45 in the morning, the people she went to myrtle beach with arrive at their hotel room. that's when i called the officer and let him know, hey, they're back. >> he responded with a couple other cars and questioned them about it. >> they were interviewed, but they had no information.

we had no reason to detain them. >> i knew that something bad happened. i said, something is seriously wrong. >> she just vanishes. there's nothing. >> but then a break -- surveillance video that captures brittanee on camera the night she goes missing. so. the new iphone 14 pro. it's amazing. yep, the camera's incredible. and you'll get our best deal. nice. but everyone should get it. everyone can get it. every new customer. and every existing customer. every iphone. every iphone. every iphone. every. every. iphone. ok. my work here is done. everyone gets the best deal on every iphone. best one yet. everyone gets at&t's best deals on every iphone. including up to $800 off iphone 14 pro. are you coming for my job? kohl's is here to help you save on great fall style! including up to $800 like women's tops starting at $15.99. men's long sleeve must-haves starting at $17.59. and kid's styles starting at $10.39.

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♪♪ ♪♪ get exclusive offers on select new volvo models. contact your volvo retailer to learn more. it's been several hours since anyone has heard from brittanee drexel. after sneaking down to myrtle beach for spring break behind her mother's back, no one can reach her. friends and family immediately know something is wrong and head to myrtle beach to find her, and on their way, they frantically wonder, where could she be? >> so at this point you don't really know. you can only hope that her phone died or she lost it somewhere. >> the last conversation i had

with her, she said, dad, what would you do if i ran away with a rich guy? i said, first of all, good for you, and i laughed and, you better let me know where you are, and that was it. >> we had a few questions regarding maybe she had run away. >> she had tried to take pills of her mom's. the divorce, that really took a toll on her. i think at that point, she just kind of had the weight of the world on her shoulders. >> brittanee had experimented at least once with her mother's prescription medication. >> i think she wanted to get the attention of her boyfriend, and i think that's why she did it. but she wasn't known to take drugs. >> what may have happened in the past appeared to be more a rebellious teen than someone that was totally upset enough to pack up and leave. we did send the crime scene unit to her hotel to review what she left behind. if there was anything suspicious or that might give us some clue as to what happened. >> we found that she took very little.

>> that was kind of a shock to everyone, because where's britt going to go without her favorite clothes? >> as a mom, knowing that wherever she was, she wasn't with her bags, what did that say to you? >> well, i knew that something bad happened. and i said, "look, my daughter did not run away. i'm telling you, i know her." i said, "something is seriously wrong." >> when we arrived in myrtle beach, it was kind of like boots on the ground. and we just started walking up and down the boulevard. >> we're trying to see where her last steps were. where was she last? who would she speak to? just trying to collect as much information as possible. >> i mean, we were out from sun-up to sundown, looking for

her, trying to talk to people, and see if anybody had seen her. >> flyers lined the streets about brittanee. dawn talked to everybody that would listen to her and just described brittanee and really just got her name out there. >> we're going to be handing out fliers, business cards, talking to people to see if they've seen brittanee. >> we're here now. we'll find her. >> there have been no reported sightings of 17-year-old brittanee drexel, who went missing here in myrtle beach. family members say anything is possible, and they are trying to stay positive. >> the story took on a national level very quickly. nancy grace covered it. >> brittanee drexel's mother is with us, dawn drexel. ms. drexel, thank you for being with us. what are police telling you? >> they have some leads that they are going on, but they need to follow through with them. >> dawn and the police pieced together brittanee's last days before she went missing. >> what had you put together? what had brittanee been doing during those days in myrtle beach before she went missing?

>> well, we know she got down there thursday. >> on friday night, she was walking on the boulevard by herself, which is not normally like brittanee. >> the fantasies of coming down to myrtle beach with the older crowd and friends, all of that wasn't panning out the way she thought it would. >> she went down with two couples. it was kind of like she was a fifth wheel. when she got down there, she felt isolated, and that's why she reached out to other people that she knew from rochester to go and hang out with them. >> we knew that she'd gone to meet some acquaintances at the blue water resort. >> brittanee reached out to peter brozowitz, who she knew from rochester and was also down in myrtle beach for spring break. >> peter brozowitz was in myrtle beach with a group of friends. brittanee was with a different group of friends. >> they were friends. again, not best friends, but someone that she felt comfortable enough to be around. >> i believe she saw him quite a bit when she was down there. like i said, they've known each other for about four or five

years, so she ended up going to see peter. >> she decides she's going to go down there, and it's early evening. it's not dark. and what's wrong with walking a mile down any street? when you're 17 years old, there's nothing wrong. so she goes up to the blue water. >> and that's when she received a text message from one of the girls asking for her shorts back. >> it was apparently a little bit of an argument, so brittanee, at that point, thought that she would walk them back. >> she says goodbye to peter and his friends, and takes off down the strand to go back to her hotel. >> authorities get their first big break when they pull video from the blue water resort. brittanee is seen on tape leaving the hotel. >> it wasn't until we were actually able to see the video of her that we knew it was her. because of the way that she walks and because of the way that she turned her head in the video, we knew that that was absolutely brittanee that was walking out. >> i was happy to at least see that she was on the camera, but

leaving was obviously the mystery. which way did she go? did she take a left? did she go right? did she cross the street? >> britt was very independent, of course. but you're in a city that you're not familiar with, and to see her leaving the hotel by herself, why was she alone? >> heading back down the same path she's taken several times, from what we understand, she just vanishes. there's nothing. >> i was immediately suspicious of peter brozowitz. >> we found out pretty quickly that that group of boys had checked out of the hotel at 2:00 or 3:43 in the morning. >> he was the last one to see her before she went missing. >> alarm bells were going off. hey dad, i'm almost out. i got you. any questions, chris?

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17-year-old brittanee drexel went missing here in

myrtle beach five days ago. >> your daughter just disappears without a trace. >> mm-hmm. >> and no one knows where, how, why. >> my daughter just didn't disappear off the face of the earth. you know, she's got to be somewhere. >> we are searching for her everywhere. we were searching in alleys. we were searching in trailer parks. we were searching in dumpsters, looking for her phone, for her purse, for her. >> a lot of calls did come in with possible brittanee sightings. >> she was seen at various hotels. she was seen at various restaurants. and when we would track down those leads, it ended up not being brittanee. >> police now say they've located a local girl who resembled drexel and confirmed it was in fact she who was on that bus, meaning drexel's disappearance remains a mystery at this time. >> you have all this hope that you're going to find her and you just -- you keep coming to a dead end. we hit wall after wall. >> the area where brittanee ventured from, it's motels nonstop. motel, motel, motel. kids cruising the boulevard, people trying to get to where

they're going. >> a lot of motels have cameras, but they're focused on the desk clerks and the guests. we only found one camera that was facing the road. the one we did find actually showed brittanee. and of course she was walking with her head down looking at her phone, texting the entire time as she was walking toward the blue water resort. >> but brittanee doesn't reappear on this camera after she leaves the blue water resort on her way back to her hotel. >> she never made it back to that camera. >> it's a little strange that nobody saw anything. if somebody is struggling or is forced to do something they don't want to do, more than likely somebody's going to see something. >> the walk from the blue water resort back to brittanee's hotel is over a mile. we're talking about the main strip during spring break, and there's a lot that could have gone unnoticed.

>> it's very possible that she trusted the wrong person. but brittanee wasn't one to just go with somebody completely random. your parents teach you that there's bad people out there and that bad things can happen to you, but as a teenager, you don't think about it. >> peter brozowitz and his friends were certainly our key persons of interest. they were the last ones to see her. >> they checked out of the motel at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, and they left clothing behind, indicating that they may have packed and left in a hurry. >> were you suspicious of peter? >> i just thought he knew something that he wasn't telling us. >> we thought maybe he did have something to do with the bigger picture. i mean, he hired one of the most expensive lawyers in rochester. anyone would have assumed, something doesn't add up here. >> the case was covered on "dr. phil." and in addition to dawn, peter brozowitz was a guest on

the show. along with his attorney. >> i really expected you to be very concerned about a missing friend, but you actually seem to be upset in another way. >> well, i was in the room with four other kids. they're all with me. and then all of a sudden, my name's mentioned as a person of interest when there's absolutely no evidence. >> i actually watched the film of "dr. phil." it was, to me, the worst thing he could have done. i mean, all he did was make himself look worse. >> i'm on spring break. i'm not there to babysit anybody. i don't know brittanee like that. she was down there with how many other friends? >> peter cooperated with the police and said that after brittanee left, he never saw her or heard from her again. >> once they got back, the rochester police interviewed peter, and we found out the reason that they'd returned was one of the boys had exams and he had to study for. >> after they spent some time hearing his story, law enforcement starts getting the

feeling that this is actually making sense. >> ultimately analysis of brittanee's cell phone data would become instrumental. after brittanee left the hotel, police were able to track her phone on cell towers moving south. >> peter and his friends were moving in a completely different direction, heading west. >> so we eliminated peter and that group as being involved in this case. >> in 2009, forensically analyzing cell phones and their tower pings to geolocate people was still pretty early. but in this case, the police immediately went to that information, and it wound up being helpful. >> her cell phone was incredibly important from the moment they realized that brittanee was missing. >> brittanee's last text was to john grieco at 8:58 p.m. she stopped communicating with john mid-conversation.

no one knows where she is. something isn't right. >> they had to start relying on the cell phone towers to try and figure out exactly where brittanee was after that. >> the initial ping was the south end of myrtle beach. a short time later, she pinged about 15 miles south. >> she was moving fast, so we knew she was in a vehicle. >> but who was brittanee with? and where was she headed? >> the last ping was off a tower near the north santee river, which is south of georgetown. >> it was 50 miles south, nowhere near myrtle beach. >> the final ping from brittanee's phone is in an area that is swampy. it's not an area where a young, 17-year-old girl would be traveling.

>> this is when everyone involved in this investigation realized that they had a major problem on their hands. >> there was absolutely no reason she would have known of a place like that or had a reason to go to a place like that. >> that's when it became concerning and very real that something horrible had happened. >> it was really scary i mean, just the area gave you this eerie feeling. >> most of the dogs that were down there were actually cadaver dogs. >> it's horrifying because we're here to find her, and we're here to find her alive. cabenuva is t, long-acting hiv treatment you can get every other month. cabenuva helps keep me undetectable. it's two injections, given by my healthcare provider, every other month. it's one less thing to think about while traveling. hiv pills aren't on my mind. a quick change in my plans is no big deal. don't receive cabenuva if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking certain medicines,

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the last ping on the cell phone for brittanee drexel is near the north santee river,

just incredibly rural, low country, hard to reach. i think, at that point, that's when they start realizing that something had happened to brittanee. her cell phone did not just end up over by the santee river. >> that expands the scope of your search. it points in a direction far afield from myrtle beach. >> where her cell phone pinged made people nervous, because what the heck was she doing that far away from myrtle beach? >> it's a very isolated area. and it's a very brutal area. >> this is an area that is covered in swamps and infested with snakes.

>> alligators, wild boar. the mosquitoes are virtually ungodly, and then you can add the heat. >> brittanee can handle herself, but being down south in the swampland, she is not geared for that. >> if she's here, it's not by her choice. when they began the searches, they had to put officers on horseback. and i remember the officers taking guns with them, because they needed something to keep the wild boar away from the horses. >> searchers began moving through this area in charleston county, about 60 miles south of myrtle beach. >> they put everything into this. but they were coming up with nothing.

>> i knew she was somewhere out there, but you know just thinking, oh, my god, are we ever going to find her? >> we were there for almost three months. i don't think we were accepting that she was -- that she was gone. >> as gut wrenching as it was, her friends and family had to accept returning home without her. >> and coming home without her was the hardest thing that i had to do. >> her brother looked at me, and he said, tara, where's brit-brit? why didn't you bring brit-brit home? and i just looked at him and i'm like, i am so sorry. i couldn't, i couldn't find her. i couldn't bring her home. i don't have her with me.

>> months go by, and the police are still looking for clues. they're knocking on doors for random people's houses that just happen to live in a 50 mile radius. >> she has vanished. i mean, i think at some point, the trail is starting to kind of go cold. >> the one-year anniversary was the most difficult. we did a march for her. i was holding a "help find brittanee" sign, with her little brother, her little sister, and one of her other friends. >> walking down the main street in those shirts and advocating for someone to speak up and give

us answers was heart wrenching. >> did you have hope at that point? >> i did in the beginning. >> when did you lose hope? >> probably after that first year. >> for that entire first year, you're hoping she's somewhere. >> yeah. >> she needs to be saved and rescued. >> mm-hmm. ♪ i hear wish, your s.o.s. ♪ ♪ i will send out a warning and find you in the middle of the darkest night ♪ ♪ it's true, i will rescue you ♪

>> as the months turned into years, there's no doubt in my mind that the family became even more and more discouraged. >> the thing is, you can't get answers. they're investigating. investigating what? >> in reality, we were working this case nonstop. you share what you can, but a lot of the things that we did have going on, we couldn't share and didn't share. >> authorities continue to track down any lead they can follow. and at one point, a detective from myrtle beach checks the sex registry and comes across the name raymond moody. >> raymond moody is a convicted sex offender that hails from georgetown, south carolina. >> moody had been pulled over in the area on april 26th, 2009. >> he was in the myrtle beach area in the timeframe that

brittanee went missing, which certainly made him a person of interest. >> it's been years, and now we have a person of interest. do we now have answers? >> detective hull obtained a search warrant for where mr. moody had lived at the time of the incident. they conducted a search down at sunset lodge. >> the sunset lodge motel is near the location where brittanee's phone last pinged the night she went missing. >> s.l.e.d. crime scene technicians searched an apartment at the sunset lodge south of georgetown today. raymond moody lived in that room around the time drexel disappeared. >> it had been a year or two since the incident. >> so they take the room apart. they want to see if there's anything that would connect ray moody to the disappearance of brittanee drexel. and they take the wallpapers off the wall. they take the mattresses off the bed and split them open.

>> they did the search, and i remember we were all waiting for answers. >> i was hoping they found something, find some answers and justice for her. >> nothing was found in the search. we had nothing further that we could do at that point. >> it's just another dead end in this case. >> the search for brittanee was far from over. >> and then, the fbi drops a bombshell. >> what we've come to discover through the course of this investigation now is -- >> she swims into a shark infested pool, and there is a shark nearby. >> you absolutely don't want to envision that that's how brittney's last moments were. and he's hurt someone else? like, how could this even be? >> this guy is as bad as they come. this is the boogeyman.

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>> i'm done with the bs, i'm done with the lies, i want my daughter found. >> today is eight years since brittanee drexler disappeared on spring break in myrtle beach. >> he saw brittanee being assaulted. she resisted and was shot and killed. >> was it presented to you as fact, that this is what happened to your daughter? >> it was yes. >> it was very factual. it came right from the fbi. >> but just when you think this story is over and settled, it makes a u-turn that couldn't be more surprising. >> that isn't what happened to her. i said, you've got to be kidding me. >> it was clear that there was a person of interest. >> you're never gonna believe who it is. >> looked at him and i saw that his face had claw marks all over it -- his neck, his cheeks.

>> my mom was destined to find my sister from day one. >> why did i have to wait 13 years for this to be solved? >> you had to wonder -- how did we not see this? the person they had been looking for was in front of them the whole time. >> throughout all these years, i never gave up trying to look for brittanee. this was about three years after she went missing. i remember planting that tree, it was so little. this one was for her 21st birthday. a really important birthday. you know, she was an adult. this was seven years after she went missing. the color of the balloons are brittanee's favorite color. we always held out hope that she was somewhere out there. >> hope was a very strong word, especially with our family, when

it came up to my sister's case. >> when the world says give up hope, hope whispers, try one more time, and that's the phrase i've always thought of. >> the not knowing had to be one of the hardest parts, if not the hardest part? >> yeah. it's just a parent's worst nightmare. >> you had heard that her mother had come down looking for her and that there had been searches going on in our area. this happened in 2009. we still had every year, people asking the question, "what could have happened to her?" >> you always hope that something's going to happen. the fbi says, we found her, or, we got the guy. you hope for something. >> in 2016, the fbi holds a press conference in mcclellanville. >> and this is near the area where brittanee's cell phone last pinged. >> and the fbi drops a bombshell.

they come forward to say they're ready to announce that brittanee drexel is dead. >> what we've come to discover through the course of this investigation now is that brittanee drexel did leave the myrtle beach area. we believe she traveled to this area, around mcclellanville. we believe she was killed after that. >> the first question was how do they know that she is dead? how she died and what happened to her was still being held from us. >> the fbi has some evidence pointing towards britney's death, but what they don't have is who is responsible for this. so they have to be very careful about what information they release to the public. >> you've got to have hard physical evidence of the remains of the person, really, for finality. >> after seven long years of waiting and praying for the return of my daughter, we know she isn't coming home alive.

brittanee's life was stolen from her in a brutal and senseless fashion. >>law enforcement tells you what they believe happened to brittanee, but no arrests were made. >> no arrests. >> i've been authorized by the director of the fbi to offer a $25,000 reward leading to the arrest and the conviction of those responsible for killing brittanee drexel. >> it was in some ways unprecedented how strong they came out without actually charging anyone. they needed us to still help them find out who did it. >> we need your help so we can find brittanee's remains and bring her home to lay her to rest. >> it was a horrible feeling, that they're now officially saying that she's no longer alive. and then to have released the details that they did, it was tragic. >> law enforcement proceeded to tell me that my daughter was

gang raped, beaten, and then they shot her. and then they fed her to the alligators. i couldn't even talk. i was so upset, i couldn't even talk. >> two months later, the public finally learns of the evidence ehich authorities claim points towards brittanee's death and how they allege she had died. >> newly released federal court documents reveal what fbi agents think happened to brittanee drexel. an agent says an inmate told investigators drexel was kidnapped, raped, shot and killed, and her body was dumped in a swamp near mcclellanville. >> an individual by the name of taquan brown, who was an inmate serving a 25-year sentence, came forward and indicated that he was present and saw brittanee drexel in mcclellanville at a stash house.

>> in court documents, this stash house is described as a hangout place where there was allegedly some drug use. >> the statement from taquan brown was that he saw brittanee, i guess, being assaulted by somebody. she resisted in some form and was shot and killed. >> you absolutely don't want to envision that that's how brittanee's last moments were -- being shot and then being dumped in a gator pit. to think that's what happened to someone that you're so close with, someone that you loved so much, it was an awful, awful feeling. >> once that was in my head, i just broke down at that point. i don't understand how they could do that. i don't get it. >> for anybody, knowing her or not knowing her, to hear that a human went through that was just

like, oh, my goodness. >> i can't imagine anything being more shocking. >> was it presented to you as, this is what happened to your daughter? >> yes. it came right from the fbi. and they had this jailhouse informant that was pretty sure he knew. >> the informant who comes forward, taquan brown, says he knows who was involved in the abduction of brittanee drexel. and he points the finger at a young man named timothy da'shaun taylor. >> once investigators receive information from a jailhouse informant, the very next step they take is to set about trying to corroborate that information. >> the information being provided by brown coincided with some of the cell phone information that was discovered and it was corroborated by another individual that was providing information. timothy da'shaun taylor was the individual identified by law enforcement as the chief suspect based on the information that

was being provided by these witnesses. >> taylor was on law enforcement's radar for a long time at this point, because he had already been convicted of taking part in an armed robbery. taylor had been involved in a mcdonald's robbery that resulted in state charges. when the information came to light about his alleged involvement in brittanee drexel's case, he was recharged in federal court. you don't often see that, but it was viewed by many in law enforcement and on the outside as an opportunity to put pressure on timothy taylor to provide information. now, taylor at all times denied any involvement in brittanee's case. in fact, he went on television. >> i didn't pick her up. i never saw her besides seeing her on tv and the internet through a computer screen. it did not happen. >> did you kidnap

brittanee drexel? >> no, i did not. >> have you ever been to the blue water hotel where she was last seen? >> no, sir. >> he was unwavering. and i said to myself, if this guy's lying, man, he's a real good liar. >> the fbi claimed that they had information pointing to taylor, but the case stalled once again. >> it's not enough to charge timothy taylor with brittanee's disappearance. >> the family believes this story from jailhouse informants because it came from the fbi, but someone else thinks they know who may have harmed brittanee. >> he's hurt someone else? how can this even be? pic® tri-z. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. announcer: ozempic® provides powerful a1c reduction. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c

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today is eight years since brittanee drexel disappeared on spring break in myrtle beach. her family continues to hold out hope, dedicating a memorial in >> they planted a memorial tree down in myrtle beach and another one in her hometown a few years later. >> we have a tree planted here in davis park at the soccer field where brittanee played soccer at. >> that was her soccer number, number 2. the soccer ball on here. >> a few years after she had

disappeared, the tree was planted, and it's still there. people put stuff there. so, it's kind of neat. i hung a whistle there once. it's cool. >> you want to grow old with your best friend. you want to go through life's milestones together. you plan to go to college together and get married and have children. and you think of all these things that brittanee could have been, but she's not here, and we still had no answers. >> top story tonight, a low-country man who the fbi once tied to the disappearance and alleged murder of brittanee drexel, is a free man. >> in december 2019, the federal case against timothy da'shaun taylor is finally resolved. taylor is sentenced to three years probation for his

involvement in that mcdonald's robbery, but he is never charged in connection with brittanee's disappearance. >> as the years go by, local authorities never lose sight of one man -- raymond moody. that registered sex offender who is pulled over at a traffic stop one day after britney disappeared. >> back in 2011, his residence was searched, and he was later identified as a person of interest. >> s.l.e.d. officials say moody is a registered sex offender who previously lived at the sunset lodge motel that was searched for evidence in the drexel case. >> investigators did not have enough to charge him with anything. still, there was somebody who's convinced that he could have harmed brittanee. >> when i realized that he had been named a person of interest in the disappearance of a little girl, just broke me all over again. he's hurt someone else? like, how could this even be? my name is kerri harding.

i grew up in vallejo, california, about 30 minutes away from san francisco. i was 8 years old in 1983. back in the '80s, you played outside a lot. i didn't have any reason to be afraid. i was walking to the school to meet a friend that i was going to play with on the playground, and when i got to the school, raymond moody was walking towards me and he was bouncing a basketball and he was walking towards me. and he was like, you can't go back there because they're working on the fence. i backtracked, and now he's walking in front of me bouncing the ball, and when he got up to his car, he opened the passenger door right as i was walking by, and he just snatched me from behind and put me in the car. it happened just like that, like in the blink of an eye.

he drove a few miles up the road to, like, an undeveloped housing tract. he parks, and he told me to get in the back seat and take off my clothes. >> raymond moody sexually assaults kerri. >> i kept telling him i had to go to the bathroom, because i figured if i could get outside of the car, maybe i would have a better chance to get away. he finally opened the back door there and tells me to squat down there, and he had his hand wrapped in my hair, real tight. and when he let go my hair, i took off running. i ran to the people in the distance. it was a pregnant woman and her husband, and they had a toddler and i was just ran screaming.

i was like -- i said, i was kidnapped, and i kind of collapsed into her arms. >> kerri was not the last young girl that raymond moody attacks. in the end, there are seven victims. >> he was charged and pled guilty to multiple sexual assaults of little girls. he was sentenced to 40 years in the california penal system. >> monsters like raymond moody should not be allowed to walk the streets. >> but he did walk the streets. this guy is as bad as they come. this is the bogeyman. >> ray moody was my cell husband in prison. everything that heever told me was a lie. feeling good.

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my name is ernie merchant, i am a former romantic partner of raymond moody's. ray moody was my protector, my cell husband, and my -- really my best friend in prison. >> ernie was in prison for various charges related to a drug bust, and his sentence was much less severe than raymond moody's. >> the first time i saw ray moody, he had been in prison for about 17 years. it was definitely clear that we were interested in each other. >> raymond moody and ernie merchant form a very deep

bond. >> he was unfailingly kind, the most impeccable manners. there was never a time when he was anything but a very nice person. >> this is the late 1990s, and inmates have no access to the internet. so for his entire relationship with raymond moody, ernie says that he had no idea the nature of raymond moody's crimes. >> he told me that he was in for a series of robberies. i was not aware of ray's sex offender status until the very end of my stay, right before i left prison. i think he felt that he needed to let me know the truth. ray gave me his file that listed his crimes and what he had done. i was stunned, horrified.

particularly because as a child, i was a molested child. >> it was a horrible moment for ernie. he now has to come to terms with the fact that raymond moody is convicted of sexually assaulting children. >> he told me over and over and over again that he was no longer that person. when i left that prison, i had an opportunity to walk away and not look back. and i didn't. i knew how to survive in the free world. i was very successful before i went to prison. i had been hairdressing for a very, very long time. he took care of me in prison. i would take care of him in the free world. unfortunately, i felt like i

owed him the same thing when he got out. >> moody is released in 2004 after serving only half of his 40-year sentence. the law in california at the time did not allow for a lengthier prison stay based on those charges. >> so, raymond moody comes back to georgetown, south carolina. >> i made a -- an enormous decision to go live in a small southern town with a registered sex offender. >> i ask myself, what was i thinking? >> and most of the folks that remember raymond moody also know why he's been gone for 21 years. the concern that a registered sex offender is moving back into their very small community is real. >> he said, this is part of it. this is part of my punishment. it's my job to prove that i can be trusted again.

the time that we were living together, you know, we had established a nice, quiet life together. i thought he was happy. i thought he was content. >> things are going well. and then his parole ends in 2007, and that's when ernie says things changed. but they didn't change for the better. >> when he was, essentially, for the first time in 25 years, a free man, he started to change. his whole attitude changed, and i started to worry. and he purchased a motorcycle. he got on that motorcycle and drove off. the person that i knew never came back.

i would say, what's wrong? what's going on? things feel different. and he would tell me that it was just my imagination. i did not imagine that he was having an affair, particularly with a woman. her name was angel. her name is angel. >> i had done her hair a couple of times. she sat in my chair, smiled in my face, and of course, she was all that time, was sleeping with him. the man that i moved here with ultimately was not the man that he turned out to be. i felt so deceived. everything that he ever told me was a lie. ultimately, i just wanted to be away from him. i wanted him out of my life. >> by april of 2009, ernie and moody have broken up. on april 25th, brittanee drexel

goes missing. ernie says two days later, he gets a visitor. >> one morning, i was woken very early. i realized there was someone in the house. and it startled me. i shouted from my bedroom, who's there? and ray said, it's just me. i said, what are you doing here? and he said, i just came to pick up some tools. i was still half asleep, but i looked at him, and i saw that his face had claw marks all over it. his neck, cheeks. and he had a shaved bald head. his head. were just clawed all the way down to here. and i said, what in the hell happened to you? oh, he said, it was a wild weekend. he said that things had gotten

out of control. and i said, well, good luck with that. >> when mr. moody was stopped and issued a citation for speeding, he did have scratches and injuries to his face and body. >> have there been clues that have been staring investigators in the face the entire time? wit? we're managing type 2 diabetes and heart risk. we're hittin' the trails between meetings. and putting the brakes on fried foods. jardiance is a once-daily pill that...not only lowers a1c, it goes beyond to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death for adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease. and jardiance may help you lose some weight. jardiance may cause serious side effects including ketoacidosis that may be fatal, dehydration that can lead to sudden worsening of kidney function and genital yeast or urinary tract infections. a rare, life-threatening bacterial infection in the skin of the perineum could occur.

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>> reporter: 10 years ago, tomorrow, brittanee drexel disappeared. >> we still don't know what happened to her or where she is. >> they are still picking up the pieces. >> no arrests have been made and no one has been charged. >> after the fbi's case against timothy taylor went nowhere in 2016, years passed with very little information made public. >> i did call the fbi today, and they said they still have no updates for us. >> new fbi agents are assigned to the case, and they go back to square one. >> i had went into a meeting with them.

i told them, i said, i'm done with the bs. i'm done with the lies. i want my daughter found. they went all the way back to the beginning of brittanee's case, and they were pulling tons of evidence. >> everyone got on the same page. where have we been? where are we going? what has changed over the past 13 years that we could now adapt to this case? >> advances in technology can often lead investigators to look at old evidence in new ways. and based on what authorities later revealed, that seems to be in play here. >> they started to say, hey, we have some video we want to enhance or some cell phone data we're looking at. >> it was clear that there was a person of interest. investigators had said to us they were going to approach the person they identified as the suspect. >> we are told we're close to finding out what happened to her, but they can't tell us who.

>> in the spring of 2022, there is a development in the brittanee drexel case. that's all we know. that's all we hear. and that's when we saw a very familiar face, raymond moody. >> reporter: first tonight at 6:00, why are investigators being so tightlipped about a georgetown man's arrest for obstruction of justice? and does raymond moody know what happened to brittanee drexel? >> they were holding raymond moody on an obstruction charge that dated back to evidence from april 25th, 2009, when brittanee drexel disappeared. >> to everyone on the outside looking in, it's a curious charge -- not murder, but obstruction. >> it's called a holding charge. and what they were really doing was they were keeping him in custody in order to complete the investigation. dawn said the authorities had

reached out to her and shared certain details about recent developments leading to moody's arrest. >> raymond moody. i said, you've got to be kidding me. i said, "they looked at him in 2012." i'm like, "oh my god." >> dawn had called me. and she just said, "you're never going to believe who it is." i said, "who?" and she said, "raymond moody." >> this was the first arrest that we had had in the case, and the first sign that we had that there may be a location on her body. >> what was the new evidence? >> i think it was alot of the cell phone data, because they could place him at the same time, same location as brittanee's cell phone. >> i do know that technology factored into this case, the pooling of cell phone data, the utilization of video evidence. >> it was security cameras that were catching a vehicle that could have been raymond moody's. we understand that we may not

see raymond moody, but the vehicle that he was driving. >> authorities claim that at this point raymond moody confesses to killing britanee drexel. >> according to law enforcement, raymond moody had taken brittanee drexel that night down to the boatyard landing on the santee river. that's where we find her last cell phone ping. law enforcement says that's where she was raped and strangled and murdered. >> brittanee was killed at that boat landing. you know, he took her down there same night she went missing. he raped her. she fought. she fought hard. >> if those claw marks on his face were made by her daughter, she fought for her life.

>> law enforcement says that raymond moody then took her body up past the sunset lodge, about three miles into a wooded area, and that's where he had buried her. >> but the alleged confession was not enough for law enforcement. >> they said, well, now, we want brittanee. >> they had to find brittanee drexel. it was paramount to start putting these pieces together. >> moody was going to take them to the body. i held my breath and hoped for the best. >> it was overwhelming. the abcs of ckd a is for awareness, because knowing that your chronic kidney disease in type 2 diabetes could progress to dialysis is important. b is for belief that there may be more you can do. just remember that k is for kidneys and kerendia. for adults living with ckd in type 2 diabetes, kerendia is proven to reduce the risk of kidney failure,

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it has been 13 years since brittanee drexel went missing, and now authorities claim that her alleged killer, raymond moody, has confessed and is going to lead them to where her body is buried. >> i talked to them on monday, and they had started digging up this area where they believe brittanee was put, and in the first few days they didn't find her. ♪ ♪ well, wednesday, i got into my car and i turned my radio on, and this song came on, “rescue” by lauren daigle. ♪ there's never been a moment

you were forgotten ♪ >> it's a beautiful song. and i knew they were searching for brittanee, and i told them, listen to this song while you're searching for her. ♪ i will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night ♪ ♪ it's true, i will rescue you ♪ >> that following day, they had told me that they had found human remains that they believed to be brittanee's. ♪ i will never stop marching to reach you in the middle of the hardest fight ♪ ♪ it's true, i will rescue you ♪ >> we begin with breaking news

tonight, the discovery of human remains in a rural area of south carolina just over 2 miles from the motel where raymond moody was living at the time of brittanee drexel's disappearance. >> my mom had called me. they found brittanee's remains, and her nose ring was still there. a piece of her contact was still there. i told her i wanted to keep those. >> dawn called me and told me, and -- and i just -- it immediately -- it didn't feel like it had been 13 years. it felt like -- it still feels so raw. >> all of a sudden, after all these years, they found her. >> it's something that i'd waited 13 years to hear. 13 years to be able to lay my best friend to rest. >> this was a huge missing person's case that spanned over a decade, and now finally there are going to be some answers. >> this day is kind of

bittersweet, because we are going to be bringing brittany home. i never thought this day would ever come. >> i don't think we'd be here today though, dawn, if you didn't push as hard as you have. >> i had to. it's my daughter. >> you never let it go. never. >> my determination just kept me pushing, pushing, and pushing. >> what happened to brittanee? where did it happen? how did it happen? and why did it happen? the why may never be known or understood, but today, this task force can confidently and without hesitation answer the rest of those questions, along with the who is responsible. the who is raymond douglas moody. >> want to turn now to that major development in a spring break vanishing.

more than a decade ago. authorities in south carolina have arrested a man for the murder of 17-year-old brittanee drexel. >> you had to wonder, how did we not see this? the person that they had been looking for was in front of them the whole time. >> the georgetown county sheriff's office charges against mr. raymond moody are murder, kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct in the first degree. >> probably the most amazing thing out of this case is she's walking down the street, and nobody saw anything. that blows my mind. >> solicitor jimmy richardson, prosecutor on the case, told local media that he believed that brittanee willingly got into raymond moody's vehicle, but it very soon turned into a kidnapping. >> brittanee did not like walking, and dawn believes that might be the reason why she got into the vehicle in the first place, to be dropped off at her hotel. >> when they drove past the hotel, she was probably like, oh, i'm in trouble.

i couldn't imagine how scared she was. >> we're going to do our very best to see that raymond moody pays for what he's done here, but that is not going to replace brittanee. >> this is truly a mother's worst nightmare. i am mourning my beautiful daughter brittanee. today marks the beginning of a new chapter. the search for brittanee is now a pursuit of brittanee's justice. >> we still don't know why raymond moody allegedly confessed, but for law enforcement, when a suspect takes you to the body, that corroborates the confession. >> it's good to have closure, of course. it's always good, but it's never easy, the finality of it all and yeah. the loss. >> we brought brittanee home, but there's that emptiness and she is still gone from us. >> seven years ago, the fbi

focused in on timothy da'shaun taylor, naming him as a suspect. prosecutors now say his name has been cleared in this case. >> the prosecutor on the case told local media that the accusations against taylor from jailhouse informants were simply not true, the stories were made up. >> if there's anything that you'd like to say to timothy da'shaun taylor's family? >> i just want to apologize for what law enforcement told us, and i know that he went through a lot. i'm so sorry his family endured all that. >> my son timothy was suspected without any credible evidence of a crime he did not commit. he has been legally cleared of these accusations, and the public is now learning the truth. his name and face will forever be linked to brittanee drexel because of a lie.

>> after the press conference, we were brought out to the location. >> i cannot imagine what that must have felt like. >> i think i went numb again, and i was just so angry. my son camdyn lost it when we were there. >> just standing over where she was buried, it is very hard for me. i actually drew a heart and had the number 2 in it, because that was her soccer number. but it gave me closure. we're thankful for the long hard hours that everybody put on this. we're grateful, lord, that they got some kind of resolution and there was some measure of peace. >> just feeling where she was, it just felt like i was with her. >> i didn't want brittanee buried. i told her, she's been in the ground too long. i said i would like to have her

cremated so that the people that loved her could have a piece of her. i like this. >> it's beautiful. >> my mom was destined to find my sister from day one, but we're just waiting for justice for her now. >> raymond moody has been arrested. brittanee's body's been found, but the question is, what will be raymond moody's fate? >> to be honest with you, i hope he rots in hell. numbers move you. but some can stop you in your tracks. like the tens of thousands of people who were diagnosed with certain hpv-related cancers. for most people, hpv clears on its own. but for those who don't clear the virus, it can cause certain cancers.

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ask you doctor about tremfya® today. this was one of the most mysterious cases and a mother's worst nightmare, and it's finally been brought to justice after 13 long years. >> a tragic ending to the case of a teenager on spring break. >> moody, a convicted sex offender, is now charged with obstruction of justice, murder, kidnapping and first-degree

criminal sexual conduct. >> moody's court date is imminent and scheduled next week. >> he could plead guilty or take a trial. >> he killed my best friend. he needs to be held accountable for what he did to her. >> we got to make moody pay. we have to make sure he stays in jail. >> i'm angry. he was supposed to serve a 40-year sentence and served 20 years. >> mood write the previously been convicted of multiple sexual assaults. immense outrage he was released. >> if he would have had to serve all of his time, brittanee drexel would still be here. >> this is a bad guy. this is a career criminal and serial sex offender who is going to face the maximum sentence from any judicial officer who hears this case. >> i do remember him telling me once, maybe they just should have never let me out. i don't know how to live in this

world. >> dawn hopes to have her day in court so she can confront moody. >> i'm putting brittanee right in front of his face, 'cause i am bringing in her urn into the courtroom. i just hope he rots in hell. that's going to be his sentence. >> we have to live with this for the rest of our lives. we have to learn how to live with it. >> i wanted to do something beautiful for her, because she was a beautiful person inside and out, and i wanted to have the best remembrance of her that we could. >> brittanee would want to be remembered as the person she was before she went missing and before this tragedy happened to her. she wanted to be remembered as that happy-go-lucky girl. she'd want to be remembered as the person who brightened up a room when she walked in.

>> i miss everything about her. to my best friend brittanee -- like her laugh. i love you. >> i never thought this day would come, but here we are, 13 long years later. >> this was an effort by various law enforcement agencies over 13 years. >> when the fbi called me, i was in tears. i said, thank you so much for finding my daughter. i would like to honor the fbi agents. i am honoring you with this pendant. it is a picture of brittanee, and on the back, it says, thank you for finding me. >> you fought for that every day, and you never, ever stopped. >> i couldn't. she's my kid. i mean, she was my heart. we brought her home, so now she can rest in peace.

♪ >> just incredible story from you, amy this week. the anguish of this family for 13 years, finally getting some small measure of closure now. >> that's right, brittanee drexel who you have turned 31 years old. that is our program for tonight. i'm amy robach. >> i'm david muir. from all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, good night.

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