Change-of-plea hearing set Tuesday for Angel Vause, woman accused of lying to investigators during Brittanee Drexel case

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WBTW) — A woman accused of lying to federal investigators during their investigation into the death of Brittanee Drexel is set to return to federal court in Charleston on Tuesday.

Angel Vause will have a change-of-plea hearing at 1 p.m. at the J. Waties Waring Judicial Center.

Vause, 56, the longtime girlfriend of Drexel’s killer was indicted in March for allegedly lying to authorities as they investigated Raymond Moody, who is serving a life sentence after confessing to the rape and murder of Drexel.

Moody was sentenced in October 2020. Drexel, the 17-year-old from Rochester, New York, was last seen while on spring break in Myrtle Beach in 2009.

Vause in July agreed to plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Charleston to two counts of making false statements to federal agents — each carrying a penalty of five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. A sentencing hearing was scheduled earlier this month but it was continued after it was determined that the maximum penalties for each could would be eight years.

Moody confessed in October 2022 to killing Drexel. Five months earlier, Vause told an FBI agent she went home to get keys from a truck while Drexel was being assaulted and killed, but the indictments said she was actually going somewhere else.

Authorities also said Vause told the FBI that Drexel had her cellphone the entire time, but it was later proven that Vause had it before tossing it somewhere between Georgetown and Charleston.

Prosecutors said Vause played a critical role in forcing Moody’s confession because they initially built a case against her before he claimed responsibility.

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