CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — The man federal agents falsely accused of kidnapping and murdering Brittanee Drexel lost his appeal in a lawsuit against the government for its aggressive actions in the case.
Timothy Da'Shaun Taylor, in 2024, sued the U.S. Department of Justice over "investigative missteps" and "false narratives" pushed by the FBI during a years-long effort to coerce his confession to a crime he did not commit. In the lawsuit, the Taylor family alleged the FBI caused emotional distress by abusing its power against them while also having evidence linking Brittanee Drexel's actual killer, Raymond Moody, to the crime.
In 2025, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit. The Taylor family quickly appealed that ruling, and it was that appeal that was shot down on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
BACKGROUND READING | "Tim Taylor, man wrongfully accused in Brittanee Drexel case, sues DOJ over harm caused."
Drexel, 17, disappeared while on a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach without her parents' knowledge or permission in April 2009. On April 25, 2009, Drexel walked to another hotel in Myrtle Beach. A while later, she texted her boyfriend to say she was heading back. It would be the last time she was known to be alive.
As efforts shifted to investigating Drexel's disappearance as a homicide, the FBI in 2016 named Taylor and his father, Shaun Taylor, as suspects based on the accusation of a jilhouse informant. However, when Drexel was last seen alive in Myrtle Beach in 2009, the two were...
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