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In the wake of the arrest and confession of a suspect in the 2009 murder of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel, one of his previous victims has come forward to describe the horror she suffered after being kidnapped and sexually abused by him back in 1983.
Kerri Harding, now 48, also expressed her outrage that Raymond Moody – who raped her when she was eight years old – was allowed out of prison after serving just under half of the 42 year sentence he received for sexually assaulting her and six other girls in Vallejo, California.
Moody, now 62, was released in 2004. In April 2009 investigators allege that he kidnapped, raped and strangled 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel while she was on a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.
In an interview with The US Sun, Harding said: ‘That’s what hurts me so deeply because Brittanee would still be with us today if he was kept behind bars.’
Kerri Harding, pictured here as a child, said that she was 8 years old when Raymond Moody abducted her from a playground in Northern California
Moody confessed to killing Brittanee Drexel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on May 4, 2022. A week later her remains were found outside of Georgetown
Drexel, a native of Rochester, New York, was in South Carolina on a Spring Break vacation with friends when she was last seen
Harding said that she’s still haunted by the words he uttered to her when she was eight years old: ‘Let’s get in the back, we’re going to screw.’ At the time, Moody was 23.
Years later, on May 4, 2022, he confessed to killing Drexel. A week later her remains were found outside of Georgetown.
The teenager, a native of Rochester, New York, was on a trip with friends at the time – unbeknownst to her parents.
He is now facing murder, kidnapping and first-degree criminal sexual misconduct charges which are death penalty eligible.
In a separate interview with WHEC, Harding said: ‘He’s a demon and a monster and he needs to be put to death. The world would be a better place without him.’
Harding told The Sun that on a winter’s morning in 1983 she was meeting a friend at a school playground for a play date.
When she walked near the school, Harding first encountered Moody standing by his car bouncing a basketball.
Harding described her 1983 abduction saying: ‘Everything happened in the blink of an eye. He had me in his car and had driven away within seconds’
Harding said of Drexel’s killing: ‘I was sickened, that’s all I can say, I was sickened. He needs to be put away forever. I’m so, so sorry this happened to her’
Moody told her not to walk in the direction she was going because repairs were being done to a fence. Harding said that she ignored him but found that he was telling the truth, so she turned around and headed back to wear the predator was waiting.
Then, Harding says: ‘Everything happened in the blink of an eye. He had me in his car and had driven away within seconds.’
Harding said that Moody held her head down in the passenger’s seat while steering with one hand.
Moody told her that she was too young to be out on her own and that he was taking her to a police station.
Eventually, Moody brought Harding to a seemingly abandoned housing construction site where he told her: ‘Has anyone told you, you have a beautiful body?’
Harding said that his next words haunted her forever, Moody said to her: ‘Let’s get into the back, we’re going to screw.’ At 8 years old, Harding said that she didn’t understand what he meant.
After being brutalized for hours, Harding was able to convince Moody to allow her to go to the bathroom as he held her hair.
When Harding attempted to urinate, a pool of blood gushed out which caused Moody to lose his grip on her.
Harding ran to a couple who were viewing one of the homes with a realtor. From there, they were able to notify authorities as Moody sped away from the scene.
In her interview, Harding spoke of how difficult it was for her family members to hear about her ordeal. She said: ‘My uncles were very strong men, and to see them devastated like that and feeling so helpless that’s something I’ll never forget as long as I live.’
Soon after the incident, Harding said that her mother and aunt took her out driving around the area where she was abducted in the hope of recognizing Moody’s car.
After some time, Moody remembered that his car was adorned with a green bumper sticker that was used by military members in order for them to get access to the nearby naval shipyard.
Harding was able to identify a green sticker on Moody’s car which indicated he had access to a local navy shipyard. This helped detectives to apprehend him in 1983
Moody was arrested the following day. Reporting from the time indicate that Moody had been a petty officer second class at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard.
After his release from California State Prison Solano, Moody moved across the country to Georgetown, South Carolina.
When Moody was first named as a suspect in Drexel’s disappearance in 2012, Harding told WMBF News that she went to the police.
That was also the first time that she found out Moody had been released halfway through his 42 year sentence.
She said: ‘I did everything I thought I could do to help them have evidence to support that he had done this to Brittanee. For instance, I told them to get my records here and compare them to Brittanee’s records and they did and the similarities were uncanny.’
Harding continued: ‘I was sickened, that’s all I can say, I was sickened. He needs to be put away forever. I’m so, so sorry this happened to her.’
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