GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Exactly how Brittanee Drexel died remains a mystery after Georgetown County Coroner Chase Ridgeway said on Tuesday that the 17-year-old’s cause of death was “undetermined.”
Drexel disappeared while on spring break with friends in April 2009, and it took more than 13 years for police to arrest Raymond Moody, the man believed to be responsible for her death.
“The skeletal remains were taken to the Charleston County Coroner’s Office to be examined by a forensic anthropologist and a forensic odonatologist,” Ridgeway said Tuesday in a Facebook post. “It was during this examination that the remains were confirmed to be that of Brittanee Drexel, which was collaborated by a DNA analysis performed by SLED. Due to the condition of the remains, manual strangulation could not be confirmed.”
Prosecutors previously said that she died by strangulation.
Raymond Moody was arrested on May 4 and charged with obstruction of justice, and Drexel’s remains were found on May 11 in a wooded area in Georgetown County. Sheriff Carter Weaver then announced in a May 16 news conference that the remains were those of Drexel.
Moody has been charged with murder, kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct for her death and disappearance.
Count on News13 for updates.
