Brittanee Drexel Case: Family Speaks Out After Man Was Falsely Accused in Death of New York Teenager Found After 13 Years

Brittanee Drexel Case: Family Speaks Out After Man Falsely Accused in Death of New York Teenager Found After 13 Years
On Thursday, the family of Timothy Taylor, a man accused of kidnapping and murdering Brittanee Drexel, spoke out publicly for the first time. Darren Hauck/ Getty Images

Following Raymond Moody's arrest in the Brittanee Drexel case, Timothy Da'Shaun Taylor's family held a press conference on Thursday.

The Taylor family has been crushed by the legal system and the charges leveled against their son, according to Reverend Lawrence Bratton. On Monday, News13 inquired with the FBI about Timothy Taylor's involvement in the case. Timothy Taylor has had enough, according to his family.

Family of Timothy Taylor Speaks After Arrest

Joan Taylor expressed her condolences to the Drexel family on their loss. Timothy Taylor did not show up for the press conference. According to warrants, Moody was charged with murder, abduction, and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Moody reportedly strangled Drexel on or around April 25, 2009. Under the warrants, Moody also sexually assaulted Drexel on the same night.

Drexel was raped and killed in the Santee River, according to 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson, and her body was then brought to Old Town Avenue. Moody is the lone suspect and he won't face any more charges until the evidence changes. According to the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, Moody reportedly confessed to the crime and led authorities to her body.

At a press conference on Monday, Georgetown County officials verified that the bones discovered in a forested area near Old Town Avenue in Harmony Township on Wednesday were those of Drexel, who went missing more than a decade ago, WSTW News13 reported.

Melissa Drexel told ABC News that Drexel flew to Myrtle Beach from her parents' home in Rochester, New York, in April 2009, despite her mother's refusal to let her go. She was last seen on a hotel surveillance video on April 25, 2009, when she walked back to her hotel from a friend's room at the Blue Water Resort, roughly a mile and a half down the bustling Myrtle Beach strip, according to ABC Rochester affiliate WHAM.

Georgetown County Sheriff Carter Weaver said her bones were discovered less than 3 miles from a hotel where Moody had been staying at the time of Drexel's abduction.

The Real Suspect in Brittanee Drexel Case

Authorities stated Moody buried Drexel's corpse, but they didn't say how his remains were discovered. According to Jimmy Richardson, counsel for Horry and Georgetown Counties, Moody is being detained without bond in the Georgetown County prison and is anticipated to be charged with rape, murder, and kidnapping.

Moody was identified as a person of interest in the disappearance in 2012, but investigators stated there was not enough evidence to charge him as a suspect. Even though Timothy Taylor's identity has been cleared, his mother claims that his name and face will always be associated with Brittanee Drexel, as per ABC News.

Investigators searched the Georgetown hotel room Moody was staying in August 2011, taking numerous bags of evidence but never naming him as a suspect. When the teen went missing, Moody said he was not in the neighborhood. Nonetheless, authorities learned in 2012 that the day following Drexel's disappearance, he was issued a traffic citation in neighboring Surfside Beach.

Authorities detained Moody last week on suspicion of obstructing justice in connection with the teen's disappearance. Moody acknowledged murdering Brittanee and informed detectives where she was buried, according to the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office. Her bones were discovered on May 11 in a forested region of Harmony Township, some 40 miles south of Myrtle Beach, according to The Sun.

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