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A co-defendant and key witness in the 2009 abduction and murder of Brittanee Drexel has been sentenced to eighteen years in federal prison after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators.
Angel Cooper Vause, 57, of Georgetown, misled investigators and concealed the truth about what happened to Drexel for more than thirteen years while her family desperately searched for answers. The 17-year-old from Chili, New York, went missing on April 25, 2009, during a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C.
An aspiring nurse and star soccer player at her high school, had come to Myrtle Beach without her parents’ knowledge or consent – leading them to believe she was at nearby Charlotte Beach, New York instead.
Her disappearance remained a prominent ‘Unsolved Carolinas‘ mystery until May 2022, when her remains were discovered in a wooded area west of Georgetown.
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“For more than a decade, Brittanee’s loved ones were left to imagine the worst possible scenario while Vause withheld the truth,” U.S. attorney Adair Ford Boroughs said. “We hope Brittanee’s loved ones can now have both closure and a measure of justice. May she rest in peace knowing that her mother Dawn was relentless in her pursuit of justice.”
Vause’s longtime romantic partner, 65-year-old Raymond Moody of Georgetown S.C., confessed to killing Drexel in May 2022 and was charged with murder, kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He is currently serving a life sentence at Lieber Correctional Institution in South Carolina. Moody was originally named as a person of interest in Drexel’s disappearance in February 2012,
Vause initially denied any knowledge of the crime but later changed her story, claiming Drexel had willingly joined her and Moody.
In 2016, the investigation went off the rails as authorities focused on Timothy Da’shaun Taylor of McClellanville, S.C. based on claims from a jailhouse informant. Despite intense federal pressure, Taylor consistently denied any involvement.
“I had no involvement with anything to do with Brittanee Drexel,” Taylor told us back in 2016.
In March 2024, Taylor filed a lawsuit against both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), alleging that they falsely accused him and his father of Drexel’s disappearance and murder, despite evidence proving otherwise.
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Our founding editor Will Folks wrote extensively about the case against Taylor at the time, including the filing of a controversial “double jeopardy” charge against him in the hopes of forcing him to confess to his alleged involvement in Drexel’s abduction and murder.
Despite her initial denials, Vause played an active role in Drexel’s abduction and was complicit in her rape and murder. During sentencing, U.S. district court judge Richard Gergel emphasized Vause was “a key participant in this tragedy, facilitating the kidnapping of a child.”
When her role in the crime was exposed, Vause wavered on whether to accept a plea deal. She was scheduled to plead guilty in August 2024 but hesitated upon learning her charges could carry a heavier sentence than the five years per charge she had anticipated. On September 9, 2024, Vause finally pleaded guilty to two counts of making false statements to federal investigators.
This week, Vause was sentenced to eighteen years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. There is no parole in the federal system, meaning she will serve every day of the sentence Gergel imposed upon her.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Callie Lyons is a journalist, researcher and author. Her 2007 book ‘Stain-Resistant, Nonstick, Waterproof and Lethal’ was the first to cover forever chemicals and their impact on communities – a story later told in the movie ‘Dark Waters.’ Her investigative work has been featured in media outlets, publications, and documentaries all over the world. Lyons also appears in ‘Citizen Sleuth’ – a 2023 documentary exploring the genre of true crime.
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1 comment
How was Vause involved in the crime?