Girlfriend of Brittanee Drexel’s killer pulls plea deal, will face trial
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WMBF) – The longtime girlfriend of Brittanee Drexel’s convicted killer will head to a federal trial for charges related to the case.
Angel Vause, 56, appeared inside a federal courtroom in Charleston on Tuesday and was expected to plead guilty to two counts of making a false statement to a federal agent.
However, in the closing moments of the hearing, Vause told her attorney that she rejected the plea agreement that was already signed and filed Tuesday and wanted to go to trial.
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Even though Vause signed the agreement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday said she legally had until the end of the hearing to change her mind.
Because of that, Holliday said he now plans to additionally charge Vause with kidnapping because she used a phone and car that weren’t manufactured in South Carolina to commit crimes in the state.
“So it’s obviously a more significant charge. It’s up to the grand jury whether that happens, but that’s our intention,” said Holliday.
Vause originally reached a plea agreement with prosecutors in July and was scheduled to enter her plea last week, but new information was presented to that altered the length of a potential sentence.
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That information concerned different guidelines from another federal district regarding those charges, which would bring her maximum sentence to 16 years as opposed to 10. Vause previously faced five years on each of her counts but now faces eight on each count based on the new information. A judge later ruled to continue the case, leading to Tuesday’s final hearing.
Dawn Conley, Drexel’s mother who had been outspoken since her daughter’s disappearance, was not at Tuesday’s hearing. However, her attorney said Conley is happy with the outcome.
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“Dawn looks forward to full justice being delivered in this case and in the civil cases that we have brought and will bring against everyone who is responsible for this horrific tragedy, we look forward to trial,” said Roy Willey, Conley’s attorney.
Vause’s boyfriend, Raymond Moody, confessed in May 2022 that he and Vause picked up Drexel on April 25, 2009. Drexel was walking down the street, and Moody asked her if she wanted to party and smoke marijuana.
The three ended up at a campsite in Georgetown County, where Moody kidnapped, raped and killed the teenager. Her remains were found in the Harmony Township area over a decade later.
Vause talked with the FBI around May 11, 2022, and told an agent she went to pick up keys during the killing but was driving in another direction for a different reason, court documents state.
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She also said that Drexel kept her cell phone when the FBI alleges Vause took Drexel’s phone and dumped it between Georgetown and Charleston counties.
Vause added that Drexel voluntarily ed her and Moody, but the FBI said Drexel was actually abducted “under false pretenses.”
A date for Vause’s federal trial has not been set.
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