Brittanee Drexel, What happend to this Teen?/ Family has created an official Web site for Brittanee/4.25 w/be 3 Years since Brittanee has been missing. New tips have created a new search!!/Traffic tickets proves POI near Drexel's last known location!!

Big break announced in case of missing teen Brittanee Drexel
Erica Pitzi 1 hr ago

Bradenton, FL - Nearly one year has gone by since Brittanee Drexel was last seen walking into a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina hotel.

Law enforcement along the entire East coast has come together in the search for the missing teenager. Brittanee's face has even graced the cover of People magazine, all in hopes of a good lead.

For Brittanee's family, it's been the longest year of their lives. "You hear the phone ring and you don't know. It could be good news, it could be bad news," said Kari Drexel, the victim's aunt, who lives in Bradenton.

On Friday, detectives announced three to four "persons of interest." They say they're men that Brittanee did not know. That makes the family fear the worst.

"I felt like there was a knife in my stomach," said Drexel.

As Brittanee's aunt, Kari has been a point person for the family, even organizing search efforts.

She got her niece's name and face into a deck of Crimestoppers cards for the South Carolina prison system. "She's the two of diamonds," explained Drexel.

She did the same with a truckstop guide that's featured nationwide.

"We want to find out where she is - alive -and bring her home," said Drexel.

The problem is, police say all signs point to death.

"Until they [police] have evidence or a body is found... our hope is still there. We're never going to give up. We want everyone in the world to see Brittanee's face and have her out there and bring her back home and get answers to where she is."

Lead Detective Chris Bailey from the Georgetown Police Department in South Carolina tells 10 Connects they got a good tip back in December and that is what led them to this point.

They've already put the "persons of interest" through lie detector tests and are working the case seven days a week until they make an arrest.

Unless that happens, in the next two weeks, the family will be back in Myrtle Beach on April 24th for a big awareness push on the one year mark of Brittanee's disappearance.

http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=129543&catid=8

Oh my, it does not look good, but everthing is so vague at this point. They must know a lot to really say she is likely dead? But what do they know?

xoxo
Heike

South Santee Community in Georgetown County.

Anybody familiar with this area. Good or bad? Rich or poor?

They really came right out and told where they are. Wow.

It is not the same county as Myrtle Beach Grand Strand where the hotels she was in is. Myrtle Beach is in Horry (spelling?) county. This is all I know.

This is really odd that they are giving out all this info before they actually name the suspects...I wonder if they are trying to cause them to panic and lead them to some evidence or something...I just have never seen a case handled quite this way...

Ugg... this makes me so sad! My heart goes out to Dawn Drexel and her family. I know we were all hoping she was going to be found alive, but after a year of being missing, and now this news, it appears she was fallen victim to some evil people.

jeanne, I went to Google Maps and entered South Santee Community, Georgetown, SC and it showed the area...Looks like a very rural area with mobile homes and smaller, older homes...It is surrounded by the Francis Marion National Forest...Lots of acreage in which to hide a body I hope they arrest whoever is responsible very soon...If three or four are involved, it makes me very sad to think about what this beautiful girl might have gone through

Thank you lisette. I think that is what her mother is thinking too. She said something like "I hope I am ready to get this news".

I hope I am ready too..it surely doesn't sound good at all.

Investigators looking for ‘key’ piece of evidence in Brittanee Drexel case

GEORGETOWN—Lt. Neil Johnson with the Georgetown County Sherriff’s Office says investigators are looking for a key piece of evidence to establish probable cause to obtain arrest warrants in the Brittanee Drexel case. He says 3 or 4 “persons of interest” have been identified in the case.

Drexel went missing April 25, 2009 while on spring break in Myrtle Beach.

Lieutenant Neil Johnson with the Georgetown county Sherriff’s office says based on information investigators have received, they do not feel like Drexel is alive.

“I can’t elaborate on why but it’s just a sad thing. I hope we’re wrong that we will be able to find her alive, but based on the investigation right now, it doesn’t look good,“ said Lt. Johnson.

Johnson says a cell phone signal from Drexel’s phone led investigators to the Santee area in Georgetown County..

“Around December we got a tip that led us to a particular area in Georgetown County. Since that tip, we have got a bunch more tips in, people that had some good information which led us to three possibly four suspects,“ said Johnson.

Johnson says he cannot say much about the people of interest, but says, “These people live in South Carolina and they live close to this area. (And that’s as much as you can say about them?) Yes….these particular individuals of interest we have been looking at for a few months now. It’s not like we just started looking at them last week. This investigation is kind of like if you can imagine going in a maze. You think you’re going the right track, you get to that other door, and then you come to a dead end, you have to back track, and take another route.“

A couple from Charleston County, who were camping in a wooded section of riverbank along the north Santee river in Georgetown county, found a pair of knock-off designer sunglasses that match the sunglasses Drexel can be seen wearing in a photo days before her disappearance.

“The sunglass is a piece of evidence but right now, from what the investigators have, the sunglass does not have anything to do with leading back to these individuals,“ said Johnson.

He added, “As far as evidence missing, there is that key piece that we need to establish probable cause to obtain arrest warrants. What that key piece is we’re looking for, I can’t get into details because we don’t want to alert these individuals to what we’re looking for but that’s what we’re looking for, that key piece that’s going to give us probable cause.“

Johnson says authorities hope people will come forward with information, though he doubts anyone will confess to knowing where Drexel is located at this point, if they haven’t done so already..

“What we’re hoping is people who may associate themselves with these individuals will stop and think about britanee’s family, put theirself in britanee’s family’s shoes and think about it as if it was happening to them. Turn the whole scenario on them and please come forward and please give us information. What we’re also hoping for is these individuals that are responsible. that think they’re men and claim to men need prove theirselves and just come forward and tell us what they did and tell us where britanee is so we can put closure to this case.“

http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/local/grand_strand/article/investigators_looking_for_key_piece_of_evidence_in_brittanee_drexel_case/118048/

I just looked back to see when the sunglasses were found, and it was during the first week of December...LE said that was when they got a real good tip that led them to where they are now...Maybe the sunglasses had fingerprints on them? Or the news about the sunglasses jogged somebody's memory? Maybe a conversation somebody had with someone about the case? I just hope that whatever it is that LE is looking for will be found, and soon!

I am hoping that Brittanee dropped those sunglasses as a sign.

Victoria E. Freile • Staff writer • April 16, 2010

Nearly one year after her daughter disappeared while on spring break, Dawn Drexel appeared on Today in New York this morning and spoke with show co-host Matt Lauer about her daughter’s case.

Gates Chili High School student Brittanee Drexel was 17 when she traveled to Myrtle Beach without her parents’ permission last year. She was last seen on hotel surveillance cameras on April 25, 2009. Brittanee’s family and friends have traveled to South Carolina countless times to search for the teen.

Myrtle Beach and Georgetown County, S.C., police investigators said last week they are closing in on several persons of interest in the case. They also indicated that they believe Brittanee is no longer alive.

Dawn Drexel today told Lauer that police have not shared many details about the recent developments in her daughter’s case. She said they told her they are focusing on three or four persons of interest and a location of interest.

She also said she believes one of three things has happened to Brittanee.
“She’s being held against her will, she’s been trafficked or she’s not alive,” Drexel told Lauer this morning.

Also during the news segment, which aired shortly after 8 a.m., NBC aired video images of Brittanee texting, smiling and laughing in a hotel room in Myrtle Beach on April 24, 2009, one day before she disappeared. Police apparently received the footage from a person she met in South Carolina, whom they did speak with. That person was not considered a suspect.

Dawn Drexel said she wants to find her daughter, first and foremost, and remains positive about the recent developments.

“We either wanted to find her, or get some closure,” she said.

Today’s appearance starts off a full day of events involving Drexel family members, including a news conference in Florida and a candlelight vigil in Myrtle Beach. S.C. Another candlelight vigil and march for Brittanee is planned in Myrtle Beach next week.

Drexel asks that anyone with information that could help the investigation into her daughter’s disappearance to go to www.helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com

VFREILE@DemocratandChronicle.com

Includes reporting by staff writer Gary McLendon

you can see The Today Show video here:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100416/NEWS01/100415029/1002/NEWS/Brittanee-Drexel-s-mom-says-police-focus-on-3-4-people-

Thanks wrap! I watched the new video of Brittanee on the Today show and it was very short it just showed her looking up and smiling and you could tell she was texting someone on her phone. It was taken the day before she disappeared. She seemed so happy it's such a shame that the next day something went horribly wrong. I feel so bad for her mom and family.

Did I hear this had turned in to a homicide case too? Man the the last video of Brittney really got to me. She was so young and so beautiful. I really feel for Brittney's Mom.

News - Breaking News
Monday, Apr. 19, 2010
Myrtle Beach police release video of Brittanee Drexel (with video)
Tonya Root - troot@thesunnews.com

Myrtle Beach police released a short video taken of Brittanee Drexel, a New York teen last seen in Myrtle Beach nearly a year ago.

The video first aired Friday when Drexel’s mother, Dawn Drexel, and Monica Caison, director of the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons appeared on the “Today” show.

It was previously unreleased and showed the teen in a Myrtle Beach hotel room texting on her cell phone. It is not clear who shot the video clips, which are about 30 seconds in length, and shot at 10:30 and 11:45 p.m. April 24, 2009.

Brittanee Drexel was last seen on video surveillance leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard while on spring break in the area on April 25, 2009. Dozens of searchers have scoured Myrtle Beach and wooded areas in Georgetown and Charleston counties looking for clues in the teen's disappearance.

Georgetown County sheriff's officials said they have identified three, and possibly four, people of interest in the case, but no arrests have been made, Lt. Neil Johnson said. The people were identified a while ago through tips that came in about the case, and Johnson said he could not provide any other details.

It is not clear when an arrest could be made in the case, Johnson said.

Investigators continue to work on the case, and they plan to meet with Dawn Drexel when she returns to town later this week, Johnson said.

Searches began about nine months ago after officials learned Drexel's cell phone gave off its last known signal on April 26 around U.S. 17 Bypass and the South Santee River in the Georgetown County.

To mark a year since Drexel was last seen, friends and family of the teen plan a march and candlelight vigil on Saturday from the Bar Harbor Hotel to the Blue Water.

video here:
http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/04/19/1429985/myrtle-beach-police-release-video.html

That video gives me the CREEPS!! Who is behind that Camera??? Who ever it was, was obviously infatuated with her.. Could this be the killer?

btw, Wrap for the Link to the Video ;)

That sounds like a young man's voice, calling her "Brit"! She had gone there with girls. This was taken in a hotel room. I know she visited a boy acquaintance at another hotel and this could have been his video clip, otherwise, what other boy would have possibly been in a hotel room with her? This is puzzling, unless one of the girls has a masculine voice?

Almost a year after Chili teen Brittanee Drexel went missing on spring break, her family is returning to Myrtle Beach.

"When this first happened and when I went down there, I thought I would be able to go down there and get her and bring her back," mother Dawn Drexel said.

Tuesday night, Dawn Drexel left for Myrtle Beach.

She and Brittanee's father Chad will be meeting with Myrtle Beach police for the first time since they announced a possible break in the case.

Eighteen-year-old Brittanee disappeared while on spring break in Myrtle Beach last April.

This coming Sunday, it will be one year since Brittanee disappeared, and her mother is hoping that a march and candlelight vigil will encourage someone with information to come forward.

"It's hard going down there," Dawn Drexel said. She has packed for Myrtle Beach too many times in the search for her daughter, but this trip is different.

It is a terrible anniversary, marking one year since Brittanee left a hotel in Myrtle Beach and disappeared.

This weekend, her mother says they will retrace her steps.

"We're going to travel the same way Brittanee traveled down to that hotel," Dawn Drexel said. "We're going to walk from the Bar Harbor Hotel down to the Blue Water Hotel."

There, she says, they'll hold a candlelight vigil, something she says is difficult but important to do.

"When your child goes missing, you have to keep them in the media no matter what," she said.
"You have to because then people will still be looking for them."

Brittanee's younger brother Camden and younger sister Myrissa will be a part of that march. It will be their first time in the city where their sister disappeared.

"It may help them to feel a little bit closer to her," Dawn Drexel said.

The family will also meet with Myrtle Beach police and the Sheriff's office for the first time since they announced they were investigating this case as a homicide.

Earlier this month, police said they had three to four people of interest and an area of interest along the Georgetown/Charleston County line.

"We'll be going in there with a lot of questions," Dawn Drexel said. "We both have questions, Chad and I."

It's been a year of questions for the Drexel family, and now they are ready for answers.

"I just want to find her, you know," Dawn Drexel said. "I want to find her and bring her back home."

Dawn Drexel says local police will be holding a press conference on Friday afternoon to talk about Brittanee's case.

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S1522326.shtml?cat=566

One year later, Brittanee Drexel's family honors the missing spring breaker in MB
By Graeme Moore
Saturday, April 24, 2010 at 9:29 p.m.

Sunday will mark one year since missing spring breaker Brittanee Drexel disappeared from Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.

Saturday night, friends and family held a march and vigil in her honor.

It was a chance for Drexel's loved ones to show they haven't given up hope. This past year has been filled with painful ups and downs and still one year later they have very few clues into her disappearance.

It was Saturday, April 25th of last year - this very weekend - when the Brittanee Drexel, then 17, vanished.

The teen, from Rochester, New York, was on spring break. She was last seen leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard.

In the beginning, detectives tracked her cell phone signals to an area in Georgetown County.

It made a b-line for that area shortly after leaving the hotel last year.

Dozens of searches yielded little in the way of finding Brittanee.

For her mother, Dawn, the hope hasn't faded and neither, though, has the pain.

"Just for her to go through something like that just kills. I mean as a parent, you'd rather have it done to yourself than your child. Nobody, I mean nobody wishes that on anybody," said Dawn.

The friends and family marched down Ocean Boulevard, Saturday, ending at the Blue Water Resort, where the vigil began.

Monday and Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. on NewsChannel 15, Graeme Moore will have a special report an in-depth look at the Drexel case from the perspective of both police and Brittanee's mother.

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=448154

This is SO sad, I remember when I first heard she went missing. Please bring this family closure, and bring justice for Brittanee

Did anybody hear what LE said at the news conference on April 23? I never heard anything about it.

By Jake Spring - jspring@thesunnews.com

Chad Drexel walked down Ocean Boulevard on Saturday night and pointed across the street, angling his Blackberry to take a picture.

"That's the camera over the visitors center board that got Brittanee," Chad Drexel said.

The camera produced some of the last pictures of Brittanee Drexel, Chad's daughter, before the New York teen disappeared on April 25, 2009.

One year later to the day, the Drexels and a crowd of supporters gathered to march the same length of road where Brittanee was last seen in an event to both remember and raise awareness of missing persons. They marched on Ocean Boulevard from Bar Harbor Motor Inn, where Drexel was staying on a trip to Myrtle Beach, to a candlelight vigil next to the Blue Water Hotel, where she was last seen leaving.

Although one year has passed, the Drexels still speak of Brittanee as if the disappearance was yesterday.

"I drive down the street sometimes and I just start crying," Chad Drexel said. "Because I hear a song or something that just pops in, and 'Oh my God, me and Brittanee used to laugh to this,' or, 'I remember what Brittanee said when this song came on.'"

The family said the march drummed up mixed feelings. Chad Drexel alternately joked about working off their dinner by walking and speculated whether she was snatched while walking the same path he was on.

"Being in this environment makes me feel closer, but it also makes me in pieces," Chad said.

Several other families of missing people joined the march. Signs told of the missing: Megan Maxwell, Brandy Hanna, Bryce Tartar, Jamie Fraley, Crystal Soles and Drexel.

The Drexels have found some solace in joining with these other families, they said. Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mother, said it helps to talk to people who know what it's like.

"They all have the same hope as the family, as me. Support, love and care," Chad Drexel said.

Gail Soles, the mother of an Andrews woman who went missing, said she has become close with the Drexels. Crystal Soles went missing in 2005 when she was 28, and her mother continues to organize searches for her five years later.

Gail Soles said it helps to talk to people who have experienced the same pain, so she and Dawn talk sometimes. The Soles family also offers simple support, for example, if one of the Drexels' two children, ages 6 and 12, need a place to stay for the night.

Another mother, Christy Davis, had her 26-year-old son Mike Davis go missing in Florida in 2007. Davis befriended the Drexels not long after Brittanee's disappearance. The most important thing is to not give up hope, she said.

"There's always a hole in your heart until you know what happens. It's always my hope to bring him home, alive ... or his remains," Davis said. "Every time you find out remains have been found, you hold your breath."

Davis founded the nonprofit organization Finder's Hope to offer support to families. If she can't bring her child home, she said she hopes she can help bring others home.

The Drexels have also found support from Amber Ready, a company that makes systems to speed police response to missing children. The company also takes on individual cases, offering private investigators and support for events like vigils, said Chief Executive Frank Del Vecchio, who attended the event. The Drexels must keep searching because that's their only hope of moving on, he said.

"When we talk about bringing a resolution, it can either be a happy return of the family member (or) a family member could have had a tragic outcome ... but the family could move on," he said.

Until the family knows what happened, they have to hope she'll be found because that's all they've got, he said.

Dawn Drexel said she thinks of new possibilities every day, she said, from human traffickers to predators. Not knowing what has happened to her daughter has begun to take its toll, she said.

"Emotionally, I mean, we were very upset when she became missing," she said. "I guess you become numb to it."

Chad Drexel said the family continues to experience an emotional roller coaster every day.

"Every day is a nightmare. When I wake up, I don't want to wake up not knowing where my daughter is," Chad Drexel said. "I pray a lot more now, not just because my daughter is missing, but who else am I going to turn to?"
Contact JAKE SPRING at 626-0310.

Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/04/25/1440817/sharing-in-sadness.html#ixzz0moVvKx65

By Jake Spring - jspring@thesunnews.com

Chad Drexel walked down Ocean Boulevard on Saturday night and pointed across the street, angling his Blackberry to take a picture.

"That's the camera over the visitors center board that got Brittanee," Chad Drexel said.

The camera produced some of the last pictures of Brittanee Drexel, Chad's daughter, before the New York teen disappeared on April 25, 2009.

One year later to the day, the Drexels and a crowd of supporters gathered to march the same length of road where Brittanee was last seen in an event to both remember and raise awareness of missing persons. They marched on Ocean Boulevard from Bar Harbor Motor Inn, where Drexel was staying on a trip to Myrtle Beach, to a candlelight vigil next to the Blue Water Hotel, where she was last seen leaving.

Although one year has passed, the Drexels still speak of Brittanee as if the disappearance was yesterday.

"I drive down the street sometimes and I just start crying," Chad Drexel said. "Because I hear a song or something that just pops in, and 'Oh my God, me and Brittanee used to laugh to this,' or, 'I remember what Brittanee said when this song came on.'"

The family said the march drummed up mixed feelings. Chad Drexel alternately joked about working off their dinner by walking and speculated whether she was snatched while walking the same path he was on.

"Being in this environment makes me feel closer, but it also makes me in pieces," Chad said.

Several other families of missing people joined the march. Signs told of the missing: Megan Maxwell, Brandy Hanna, Bryce Tartar, Jamie Fraley, Crystal Soles and Drexel.

The Drexels have found some solace in joining with these other families, they said. Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mother, said it helps to talk to people who know what it's like.

"They all have the same hope as the family, as me. Support, love and care," Chad Drexel said.

Gail Soles, the mother of an Andrews woman who went missing, said she has become close with the Drexels. Crystal Soles went missing in 2005 when she was 28, and her mother continues to organize searches for her five years later.

Gail Soles said it helps to talk to people who have experienced the same pain, so she and Dawn talk sometimes. The Soles family also offers simple support, for example, if one of the Drexels' two children, ages 6 and 12, need a place to stay for the night.

Another mother, Christy Davis, had her 26-year-old son Mike Davis go missing in Florida in 2007. Davis befriended the Drexels not long after Brittanee's disappearance. The most important thing is to not give up hope, she said.

"There's always a hole in your heart until you know what happens. It's always my hope to bring him home, alive ... or his remains," Davis said. "Every time you find out remains have been found, you hold your breath."

Davis founded the nonprofit organization Finder's Hope to offer support to families. If she can't bring her child home, she said she hopes she can help bring others home.

The Drexels have also found support from Amber Ready, a company that makes systems to speed police response to missing children. The company also takes on individual cases, offering private investigators and support for events like vigils, said Chief Executive Frank Del Vecchio, who attended the event. The Drexels must keep searching because that's their only hope of moving on, he said.

"When we talk about bringing a resolution, it can either be a happy return of the family member (or) a family member could have had a tragic outcome ... but the family could move on," he said.

Until the family knows what happened, they have to hope she'll be found because that's all they've got, he said.

Dawn Drexel said she thinks of new possibilities every day, she said, from human traffickers to predators. Not knowing what has happened to her daughter has begun to take its toll, she said.

"Emotionally, I mean, we were very upset when she became missing," she said. "I guess you become numb to it."

Chad Drexel said the family continues to experience an emotional roller coaster every day.

"Every day is a nightmare. When I wake up, I don't want to wake up not knowing where my daughter is," Chad Drexel said. "I pray a lot more now, not just because my daughter is missing, but who else am I going to turn to?"
Contact JAKE SPRING at 626-0310.

Read more and see video here: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/04/25/1440817/sharing-in-sadness.html#ixzz0moVvKx65

I have just posted on the American Heroes thread about the attempted abduction of a little girl at Myrtle Beach, S.C. and her big brother of only 8 years old fighting off the big tall man to rescue his little sister. He watches CSI and knew that scratching the man's arm deep with his fingernails would get the cops DNA evidence, so he did just that and has given fingernail clippings to LE. Chances are there are many abductions and other crimes in this Beach Resort town that they hush up because it is not good for business, but, in this foiled attempt, LE has the DNA of at least one person who would commit (and probably has committed) these sorts of crimes. Will this help find Brittanee?----Who knows?

This is some tough kid!!! 8 years old and taking on a pedophile. How fantastic is that, a happy ending!

We're getting ready to go to Myrtle Beach next week and my mind turned to Brittanee...
I don't understand what happened with this case...LE was talking like they knew who got Brittanee and sounded like they were close to making an arrest, but then..Nothing! I hope they didn't spill too much info too soon and caused these suspects to clam up and lawyer up...I just couldn't understand why they were broadcasting the community,etc., and doing everything but call names before they made an arrest...Hope they didn't blow this one...

Have fun, lisette, and enjoy that beach----It might be full of oil before long, but, as of now, it should be great! I agree with your thoughts, I hope they didn't blow it. When we see what the likes of Vandersloot (sp?) did for 5 years, traveling around and allegedly murdering 2 young women, we have to wonder how many of him are out there doing these things and not getting caught.

by Continuous News Desk
Posted: 06.21.2010 at 2:21 PM

The CUE Center for Missing Persons says Brittanee Drexel will be honored at Gates Chili High School in Rochester, NY on June 23, the date she would have graduated with her class.

Press release: Wilmington, NC - Brittanee Drexel remains missing and should be graduating this Wednesday from her Gates Chili High School; however her family will attend in her vacancy to accept the school's honor. "They called last week to inform me that the school would honor my daughter with an honorary diploma" said, Brittanee's mother, Dawn Drexel. This entire ordeal is so real; I miss my daughter and ache for her to come home, "she added". The ceremony will be held at 7:00 pm at the RIT Gordon Field House, 1 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, NY.

Brittanee Drexel vanished on April 25, 2009 from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina almost immediately after exiting the Blue Water Inn to return to her hotel; she has not been seen since. Brittanee went to South Carolina with a group of teens from Rochester, New York against her parent's wishes for a spring break trip planned by the group. In April of 2010 South Carolina law officials announced to the public that they had three persons of interest in her disappearance but would not elaborate any further; the teen has still not been located nor have any arrest been made in the case.

Over the past year the CUE Center for Missing Persons lead several large scale search efforts in collaboration with law officials and hundreds of volunteers from around the country to no avail, finding no sign of the missing girl. "We remain hopeful that Brittanee will be found and will continue all efforts necessary to help locate her and provide aid to her family for a resolution" said, CUE's founder, Monica Caison. The group pleas to the community for information concerning Brittanee Drexel and encourage them to contact law enforcement or visit her web site and submit a confidential tip.

Missing: 04/25/09 Missing from: Myrtle Beach, SC

Classification: Missing Endangered Age at disappearance: 17 Date of Birth: 10/07/91

White Female Hair: Brown Eyes: Blue Height: 5'0" Weight: 103 lbs

Her ears and nose are pierced. Brittanee has blonde highlights in her hair (note her hair can be any color). She was last seen wearing a white, black, teal, and gray top, along with black shorts, similar to the outfit pictured below. Brittanee was also wearing white flip flops. Since her disappearance Brittanee has turned 18 years old.

If anyone has information please contact the CUE Center for Missing Persons at (910) 343- 1131 or the 24 hour tip line at (910) 232-1687 or the Myrtle Beach Police Department at (843) 918-1963 or visit this site.

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=472888

Yet another sad case that the main-stream media has forgotten. I am glad the school made it a point to remember Brittanee and acknowledge her family.

What happened to those "persons of interest" from a few months ago!? I'm afraid LE let the cat out of the bag too soon, the perps "lawyered up", and we will never know what happened and who did it! I hope I am wrong...

by Graeme Moore
Posted: 1 hr, 3 mins ago

Brittanee Drexel vanished April 25, 2009, from Ocean Blvd.

The task force of investigators on the case of missing spring breaker Brittanee Drexel now includes an agent from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.

A source close to the investigation confirmed SLED Cpt. Kin McKenzie joined the investigation last week after receiving a full briefing.

Drexel, 18, and from Rochester, NY, vanished from Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach on April 25, 2009.

Drexel's cell phone signals were tracked from Myrtle Beach to an area along the Georgetown/Charleston county line the night she went missing.

The investigation has spanned all three counties and prompted the creation of a task force of detectives from Myrtle Beach, Georgetown County and Charleston County.

While the task force has worked closely together, each investigator has jurisdictional restrictions.

McKenzie, however, will not have to worry about jurisdiction since his is statewide, the source said.

McKenzie's presence could help "expedite" certain aspects of the case, though the source could not talk specifics.

In April, the task force announced that they had developed several persons of interest in the case, though no arrests have been made.

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=481213

I would have thought that SLED would have already been involved...

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — An attempted abduction took place in front of the place where missing Chili teen Brittanee Drexel was last seen more than a year ago, according to Myrtle Beach police.



Police said a 20-year-old woman from Kingsport, Tenn., was almost abducted in front of the Blue Water Resort about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The woman is working with the State Law Enforcement Division to come up with a composite sketch.

Police said the woman reported that three men pulled up in a light blue work van, with a sliding side door and a lot of rust. The van is believed to be a late 1980s model.

Police said the location of the attempted abduction heightens their interest in exploring a possible connection between that incident and Drexel’s disappearance in April 2009.http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100722/NEWS01/100722045

Myrtle Beach Police are investigating an attempted abduction of a 20-year-old woman very close to where a Chili teenager was last seen alive.

Brittanee Drexel has been missing since April 2009.

Myrtle Beach Police say a van with two men inside tried to abduct a 20-year-old on Wednesday.

A sketch has been released of one of the suspects.

The failed abduction happened just down the street from the hotel where Brittanee Drexel was last seen. The victim tells police the men grabbed her by the waist and arms and tried to pull her into the van, but she was able to break free.

The ABC News affiliate in Myrtle Beach is reporting that police are very interested in this case because of its proximity to where Drexel was last seen.

News 10NBC will continue to follow this story and bring updates as we get them.

For more Rochester, N.Y. news go to our website www.whec.com.

Thanks mommy for posting this news. I am glad this young woman got away. As I was reading this it made me think of this post.
https://victimsheartland.forumotion.com/victim-s-heartland-lounge-f1/jeffrey-epstein-billionaire-gets-slap-on-the-wrist-for-molesting-girls-sex-trafficking-do-the-rich-get-lighter-sentences-you-bet-they-do-t3293.htm

This should be very helpful if this van and perps can be associated with the location and persons of interest that were mentioned earlier (near Georgetown)...But would they be that stupid, knowing that they were "suspects" in Brittanee's disappearance?

by Mola Lenghi
Posted: 07.29.2010 at 1:26 AM

The family of missing spring breaker Brittanee Drexel is hoping that the arrest of a 37-year-old McClellanville man is the major break their daughter's case has needed.

Shaun Taylor of McClellanville turned himself in to Myrtle Beach police Wednesday in connection with an attempted abduction incident earlier this month. He is charged with attempted kidnapping and first degree assault and battery.

While it's still early and authorities haven't made any official links between the attempted abductions and the Brittanee Drexel disappearance, the Drexel family remains hopeful due to the glaring similarities.

The Drexel's haven't seen or heard from their daughter in more than one year.

"We're tired, you know, we're very tired. Me and (Brittanee's father) want some answers that will hopefully lead us to finding Brittanee. Its been a rough year and three months and this may be a big break in Brittanee's case," said Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mother.

Since Brittanee was last seen leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach in April of 2009, Dawn has made the more than 800 mile trip countless times between the Grand Strand and her home in Rochester, New York, looking for answers.

Now the family hopes that Wednesday arrest of Shaun Taylor may provide those answers.

"I have heard his name before and his brother's and his circle of his friends," said Chad Drexel, Brittanee's father. "So, this is a positive thing for this family... the family and law enforcement feel that it's no coincidence that it's within the same proximity (of Brittanee's disappearance)."

Dawn added, "we don't know if there are any connections between Brittanee, between that case and Brittanee's. There are a lot of similarities but right now at this point we're just waiting to hear back from police."

But the similarities are providing at least some hope.

"I had goose bumps," admitted Chad, "we're getting one step closer to knowing where our daughter is."

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=489179

Thursday, Jul. 29, 2010

Suspect's brother charged in 1998 abduction, murder
By Glenn Smith - The (Charleston) Post and Courier

Alleged kidnapper Timothy Shaun Taylor appeared before Judge Scott Long at the City of Myrtle Beach Municipal Court for a bond hearing. Photo by Tom

CHARLESTON -- Investigators are exploring possible links between the disappearance of a New York teen in Myrtle Beach, an attempted abduction there and a 12-year unsolved murder from Charleston County, authorities said Thursday.

Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon said his detectives are looking to see if the 1998 killing of Shannon McConaughey is at all related to the 2009 disappearance of Brittanee Drexel in Myrtle Beach and last week's attempted kidnapping of a young woman, also in Myrtle Beach.

Cannon said the three cases bear some similarities, and authorities would be remiss not to look into possible connections. But he stressed that no definitive ties have been found.
Alleged kidnapper Timothy Shaun Taylor appeared before Judge Scott Long at the City of Myrtle Beach Municipal Court for a bond hearing.

Alleged kidnapper Timothy Shaun Taylor appeared before Judge Scott Long at the City of Myrtle Beach Municipal Court for a bond hearing. Photo by Tom Murray tmurray@thesunnews.com

* Bond set for man charged in attempted kidnapping in Myrtle Beach; Brittanee Drexel family hopes for link

Similar stories:

* Mother of attempted kidnapping victim has heart attack; Charleston sheriff looks for links to Brittanee Drexel case
Mother of attempted kidnapping victim has heart attack; Charleston sheriff looks for links to Brittanee Drexel case

The mother of an attempted kidnapping victim suffered a heart attack as the two were on their way home from a vacation in Myrtle Beach and is now in intensive care, a Myrtle Beach victim's advocate said in court Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Charleston County authorities said they're looking for links between the attempting kidnapping, a 1998 killing in that county and the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel last year.

Josie Hardie with the victim advocate's office told Myrtle Beach Municipal Court Judge Scott Long that the stress of dealing with the recent attempted kidnapping brought on the mother's heart attack and has left the victim unable to sleep.

* Arrest in attempted Myrtle Beach kidnapping may shed light on Brittanee Drexel case

Myrtle Beach police arrested a man Wednesday in connection with an abduction attempt of a 20-year-old woman along Ocean Boulevard last week, Capt. David Knipes said.

Timothy Shaun Taylor, 37, of McClellanville turned himself in to Myrtle Beach police Wednesday to face charges of attempted kidnapping and first-degree assault and battery, Capt. David Knipes said. Taylor is being held at the Myrtle Beach Police Department Jail pending a bond hearing.

The arrest brings hope to the family of Brittanee Drexel, a New York teen who was last seen on April 25, 2009, while on Spring Break in Myrtle Beach, according to Monica Caison with the CUE Center for Missing Person in Wilmington, N.C.

Police arrested a man Wednesday in the attempted kidnapping of a woman last week along Ocean Boulevard, but say they don't know if there is a link to last year's disappearance of a New York teen last seen in the same area.

The arrest, though, has given the missing teen's family something to cling to.

Timothy Shaun Taylor, 37, of McClellanville - a man with an extensive criminal record - surrendered to Myrtle Beach police Wednesday to face charges of attempted kidnapping and first-degree assault and battery, according to Capt. David Knipes. Taylor's bond hearing is today.

Bond was set at $70,000 this morning for a man charged in an attempted kidnapping last week in Myrtle Beach.

Timothy Shaun Taylor, 37, of McClellanville - a man with an extensive criminal record - surrendered to Myrtle Beach police Wednesday to face charges of attempted kidnapping and first-degree assault and battery, according to Capt. David Knipes.

Most of the bond - $50,000 was for the kidnapping charge, with $20,000 for the assault and battery charge. The bond was set by a judge in Myrtle Beach Municipal Court.

The search for a missing New York teen last seen nearly a year ago in Myrtle Beach will continue, as police say they are close to making an arrest in the case.

Brittanee Drexel was last seen April 25, 2009, leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard while on spring break in the area.

Dozens of searchers have scoured Myrtle Beach and wooded areas in Georgetown and Charleston counties looking for clues in the teen’s disappearance.

"It's just a natural evolution when you're dealing with cases like these," he said. "If you've got something that suggests a pattern of similar incidents, it is the responsible thing to do to look at those."

The interest comes in the wake of Wednesday's arrest of a 37-year-old McClellanville man accused of trying to kidnap a woman July 21 on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. The 20-year-old victim told police Timothy Shaun Taylor was one of three men who grabbed her and tried to drag her into a van, according to arrest affidavits. She managed to break free and escaped.

The incident occurred just a couple of blocks from the hotel where 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel was last seen before she vanished on a spring break trip in April 2009, Myrtle Beach police Capt. David Knipes said. She has not been found.

Taylor is the brother of a McClellanville man who had been charged with the 1998 abduction and murder of 19-year-old Shannon McConaughey, authorities said. McConaughey's body was found in northern Charleston County, the same general area where investigators last pinpointed Drexel's cell phone signal.

McConaughey, of St. Stephen, was last seen Jan. 29, 1998, leaving the Cracker Barrel restaurant in North Charleston after eating with friends in her Amway sales group. Her car was found abandoned and burned two weeks later in woods near McClellanville. Her body was found March 6 of that year.

Sheriff's deputies charged Randall Keith Taylor, now 42, and four other men in connection with her killing in February 2001. One co-defendant told investigators Randall Taylor raped and shot McConaughey. But prosecutors dismissed the charges against all five suspects later that year, citing insufficient evidence.

Knipes said Myrtle Beach police have not identified any connections between their two cases or Charleston County's unsolved case.

Cannon's department has been assisting Myrtle Beach police and Georgetown County deputies in the Drexel case and last week's abduction. On Tuesday, Charleston County deputies served a search warrant at Timothy Taylor's home and recovered a pickup truck that had been reported stolen from Horry County, Cannon said. He would not say if any other evidence was found.

Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/07/29/1610045/charleston-sheriff-exploring-link.html#ixzz0v98SRY7a

Sheriff's deputies charged Randall Keith Taylor, now 42, and four other men in connection with her killing in February 2001. One co-defendant told investigators Randall Taylor raped and shot McConaughey. But prosecutors dismissed the charges against all five suspects later that year, citing insufficient evidence.

Set free to do the same thing to others (possibly Brittanee and this other recent almost victim)....

God speed the arrests and convictions of these evil serial rapists and murderers who prey upon vacationers at Myrtle Beach and elsewhere. May they all be caught and put away because, if not, they will continue to do it. Thanks for posting this information.

STAFF REPORTS • SEPTEMBER 29, 2010

The case of a missing Chili teen will be featured next week on a cable television show.

Brittanee Marie Drexel was 17 and a junior at Gates-Chili High School when she was last seen April 25, 2009, on a hotel security camera in Myrtle Beach. She had gone to the South Carolina coast on vacation without her parents’ permission.

The last image of the teenager is security camera footage of her walking out of the Bar Harbor Motel wearing a multicolored shirt, black shorts and flip-flops.

Her case will be profiled on the season premiere of “Disappeared” on Investigation Discovery. The show is scheduled to air at 10 p.m. Monday.

No arrests have been made in the case and Brittanee’s whereabouts are still unknown.

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100929/NEWS01/100929005/Brittanee-Drexel-case-to-be-featured-on-Investigation-Discovery

This will be something to watch. Set your DVR's!! I feel so sorry for Mrs. Drexel!!

Is that on the Discovery channel? I can't find it on my Guide.

lisette wrote:Is that on the Discovery channel? I can't find it on my Guide.

Lisette, It is part of Discovery but on my cable (Time Warner) it just says 'I.D.' - hope that helps you.

I just keep thinking of Brittanee's poor mother and how she has searched for her daughter relentlessly.

I hope this will bring somebody that knows something to call the police and help this mother find her daughter.

God Bless Brittanee's family that has no peace until they find their beautiful daughter.

I love Investigation Discovery (ID) channel. One of my favorite channels.
Poor Brittanee. I am starting to wonder if she was sold for human trafficking, with the cell phone pings coming from another direction. I hope not. That would be a fate almost worse than death. My prayers to her family and her mom. Her mom is like a dog with a bone. She wants answers.

I found it, raine. Thanks...I have my DVR set to record it.

Disappeared is back on Investigation Discovery at 10pm tonight, and the second season premiere is this desperately harrowing story about a New York teenager who went missing during spring break…

Brittanee Drexel was just 17 when she went missing on April 25th 2009. She’d gone to Myrtle Beach with her friends to celebrate spring break, but as her parents had forbidden the trip, she’d gone without their knowledge.

So having told her parents she was staying with friends just a few miles away from her home in Rochester, she made the journey to Myrtle Beach to start her vacation. Only her boyfriend knew where she really was.

At first, things seemed to be going well; the weather was good, and Brittanee was having fun. However, things began to sour for her when her friends began taking drugs and drinking, and that wasn’t something Brittanee wanted to be involved in…

She increasingly found things to do on her own, and as her boyfriend says on the show, “A pretty, 100lb teenager doesn’t need to be on her own…”

As the days went on, Brittanee stayed in contact with her family and boyfriend by text, and on the last night of her vacation, she was going to visit with some other friends from back home who coincidentally were vacationing in the same area.

She borrowed a pair of shorts from one of her roommates at her hotel and set off to meet Peter – the friend from back home – at his hotel. However, the girl she’d borrowed the shorts from wanted them back, so Brittanee had to turn round and walk the mile or so back to her hotel to return theshorts.

But she never made it.

CCTV footage shows Brittanee walking to Peter’s motel, then more shows her leaving just a few minutes after she arrived to return her friend’s shorts. But the CCTV that picked her up on the way to Peter didn’t catch her on the way back.

So obviously, police knew that whatever had happened to Brittanee had happened within minutes of her leaving Peter’s motel.

Eventually, the investigation included tracing pings to and from Brittanee’s phone, and those pings placed her phone for the last time in a swamp filled rural area where nature’s predators abound…

But of course, one can’t help but assume that it was a human predator who took Brittanee and either got rid of her phone in that desolate and forbidding place, or it will transpire to be the last place Brittanee was.

However, a very suspect and intriguing clue turned up a year later…

Watch the show tonight for more on that.

The value of shows like Disappeared is that someone, somewhere, may watch the show and come forward with some new information that could at last bring some conclusion to the case…

And of course, that’s all Brittanee’s family want now; an answer.

The agony of not knowing what happened to their daughter must be the worst kind of torture for her parents to endure, day in day out.

They’ve set up a website to help in the search for Brittanee, which you can see here.

I don’t honestly know how parents of missing children survive that, but certainly in the Drexel family’s case, her parents must stay strong for Brittanee’s brother and sister, who of course also need to know what’s happened to their beloved sister.

A truly heart wrenching case this, but bravo to Discovery for highlighting it. Their clear cut, coherent timeline and presentation in The Secret Journey may just be the key to solving what happened to Brittanee.

I really hope it is.

http://unrealityshout.com/blogs/don%E2%80%99t-miss-tonight-%E2%80%93-disappeared-the-secret-journey-investigation-discovery

Her sunglasses were found

Right, that came out awhile back. Can't remember when though.

I just watched the show and it kind of brought everything together.

I still have to wonder about those boys that drove home at 2am and lawyered right up. Something about that is "not right".

I also wonder about the video. Who was he again and how did she end up in his room or he ended up in her room. She didn't seem comfortable with him taping. She was texting. Strange.

I sure hope she is found to give her family some closure. She was a beautiful, young girl.

I wondered the same thing, Jeanne. Who knows what these teens think? Her friend said she was too trusting. Her mother thinks she is alive and is being sold into human trafficking.

My gut says she is dead. They mentioned alligators.

She is dead.
What really had me burning up was her complete unawareness of what was going on around her. I know it was a reenactment, however, with the time lines researched through her texting records, it is a wonder she could text and walk at the same time, let alone be conscious of the world around her personal space until it was too late.
I will not use an iPod or answer the phone with me when I walk the dog. I don't even want to obstruct my view with an umbrella. Bears, coyotes and mountain lions are up here on a daily basis--let alone creeps and killers and poor drivers. I freak out when I see women joggers, actually anyone, walking and wearing an iPod. Your hearing will never let you down!