Girlfriend of Brittanee Drexel's murderer withdraws plea deal and faces trial

CHARLESTON, SC (WMBF) – The longtime girlfriend of Brittanee Drexel’s convicted killer will face a federal trial on charges related to the case.

Angel Vause, 56, appeared in federal court in Charleston on Tuesday to plead guilty to two counts of making a false statement to a federal agent.

However, in the closing minutes of the hearing, Vause informed her lawyer that she was rejecting the agreement she had signed and submitted on Tuesday and wanted to go to court.

Although Vause signed the agreement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday said she legally had until the end of the hearing to change her mind.

For that reason, Holliday said, he now plans to additionally charge Vause with kidnapping because she used a phone and a car that were not made in South Carolina to commit crimes in the state.

“So this is obviously a more serious charge. Whether that happens is up to the grand jury, but that is our intention,” Holliday said.

Vause had originally reached a guilty plea agreement with prosecutors in July and was scheduled to enter her confession last week, but new information was presented that changed the length of a possible sentence.

That information involved different guidelines from another federal district regarding those charges, which would increase her maximum sentence to 16 years instead of 10. Vause had previously faced five years for each of her charges, but now faces eight years for each count based on the new information. A judge later decided to continue the case, leading to Tuesday's final hearing.

Dawn Conley, Drexel's mother who has been outspoken since her daughter's disappearance, was not present at Tuesday's hearing, but her attorney said Conley was pleased with the outcome.

“Dawn hopes for full justice in this case and the civil litigation we have brought and will bring against all those responsible for this terrible tragedy. We look forward to the trials,” 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 campground in Georgetown County, where Moody kidnapped, raped and killed the teenager. Her remains were found over a decade later in the Harmony Township area.

Vause spoke to the FBI around May 11, 2022, and told an agent she left to pick up the keys during the murder but headed in a different direction for another reason, court documents say.

She also said that Drexel kept her cellphone when, according to the FBI, Vause took Drexel's phone and disposed of it between Georgetown and Charleston counties.

Vause added that Drexel joined her and Moody voluntarily, but the FBI stated that Drexel was actually kidnapped “under false pretenses.”

A date for Vause's trial in federal court has not yet been set.

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