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!!

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!

Police say they are close to solving Drexel case

Posted at: 10/29/2010 8:11 AM

Police in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina say they are one good lead away from solving the case of a missing Chili teenager. Brittanee Drexel disappeared while on spring break in April of last year. Investigators say they are still conducting interviews with persons of interest.

They think those interviews will eventually lead to a suspect and the police captain says he's expecting several people to be arrested. The department isn't going into detail while the investigation continues.

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S1813869.shtml?cat=565

That has to be wonderful news for her family and justice for Brittanee.

I would guess if they are putting that much information out they must have their men.

I have always thought it suspecious how that group left in the middle of the night. I wonder.....

The recent show on Investigation Discovery about Brittanee Drexel gave a lot of info I don't remember hearing in the news. They know exactly where she was when she went off the radar because she was on the phone with her boyfriend back home. There was more, and it sounded like they were getting very close to finding her, or more probably, her remains. LE doesn't seem to think that the guys who left in the middle of the night had anything to do with it.

Right, Lilone. Apparently, there is a group from the area where her cell pinged that have a bad rep. with LE.

Myrtle Beach Police investigators are releasing new information in the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel, saying that they are looking at even more people who may have been involved.

Captain of Investigations, Joe Vella, says the number keeps growing.

"There's a couple more we're looking at now," Captain Vella explained. "One will lead to another to another to another, so we know that during the experiences of investigations, it's going to lead to you know, several more at some point, and they'll be people that will be questioned."

Captain Vella says they are just one good lead away from making an arrest.

"One more [person of interest] could break the case," Captain Vella explained.

A team of investigators has been working on this case, some of them even wear "Help Find Brittanee" bracelets. They say they have to be tight-lipped about it all, because it is an active investigation, but Detective Vincent Dorio says they are getting closer.

"I think in the end, they'll be several arrests, but it's going to start with one, and then the domino effect will occur and one right after another, people will start talking," Detective Dorio said.

However, there could be yet another part to this story - an attempted abduction in the same area of Ocean Boulevard where Drexel was last seen.

In July, 20 year old Randa Massey was walking alone along Ocean Boulevard, when police say men in a blue van pulled up, grabbed her, and tried to take her.

Days later, Shaun Taylor of McClellanville turned himself in to police.

Taylor is facing attempted kidnapping charges and is out on bond. Investigators say they've compared this case and the Drexel case closely - to see if there are any similarities.

For the first time, investigators are revealing that Taylor is also a person of interest in the Drexel disappearance.

Captain Vella says even though Taylor is a person of interest in the case, it doesn't mean the cases are directly related.

"We have no idea what happened to Brittanee so we can't connect that to say that's how it happened to say that somebody, you know, jumped out of a van and grabbed her, we don't have anything that says that, in this case we know what happened," Captain Vella explained.

A task force has now been formed across several law enforcement agencies to work to solve this case.

Anyone with information is asked to call 1-888-CRIME-SC.

http://www.live5news.com/Global/story.asp?S=13409534

Prosecutors have dropped charges against a man who had been charged with an attempted kidnapping in Myrtle Beach.
Prosecutors dropped the attempted kidnapping charge against 37-year-old Timothy Shaun Taylor of McClellanville.
Taylor had been arrested in a July attempt to kidnap a Tennessee woman in the same area where a New York teen disappeared in April 2009.
Myrtle Beach Police Capt. David Knipes says investigators have determined there was no link between the July attempt and the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel in the spring.
Dawn Drexel says she’s not really surprised there was no connection between her daughter’s disappearance and the July case.
Investigators determined Taylor was not where the July abduction attempt occurred.

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2010/11/04/1546525/attempted-kidnapping-suspect-cleared.html#ixzz14qHHQK3J

Friday, Jan. 07, 2011

Tonya Root - troot@thesunnews.com

Myrtle Beach police have asked a specialized team of law enforcement professionals to review the case of a New York teen last seen in Myrtle Beach on Spring Break in 2009.

Members of Project Alert, a group of retired law enforcement professionals who are trained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, will arrive Monday to review the case with Myrtle Beach police investigators.

Brittanee Drexel, whose 19th birthday was Oct. 5, was last seen on April 25, 2009, on video surveillance leaving the Blue Water Hotel at 2001 S. Ocean Blvd., police said. She was 17 at the time and had come to Myrtle Beach with some friends and without the consent of her parents.

More than 170 people from across the nation are Project Alert members, according to the center’s website. The group will go over the entire Drexel case with investigators next week and then provide suggestions about the case to local authorities.

“Their expertise is in so many different areas with them being retired law enforcement that we thought we should take advantage of this system,” Myrtle Beach police Capt. Joe Vella said of the group. “Our chief is focused on it . . . they will assist us and give us ideas and suggestions. We’ll use their expertise along with ours to continue to work the case.”

The consultation by Project Alert members is funded through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Drexel has been profiled on dozens of local and national television shows, billboards and websites. Authorities say they will continue to profile her case with the hope that someone with information regarding her whereabouts will come forward with details.

Dozens of searchers have scoured Myrtle Beach and wooded areas in Georgetown and Charleston counties looking for clues in Drexel's disappearance, police said.

Searches began in Georgetown and Charleston counties after officials learned Drexel's cell phone gave off its last known signal on April 26, 2009, around U.S. 17 Bypass and the South Santee River in Georgetown County.

Various rewards are available from law enforcement and a New York based church for information about Drexel.

Anyone with information regarding Drexel are asked to call Myrtle Beach police at 918-1382 or they can submit information online at http://helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com.

Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/01/07/1908109/missing-children-investigators.html#ixzz1AVMXp9HP

Posted at: 01/10/2011 10:41 PM | Updated at: 01/10/2011 11:26 PM
By: Nikki Rudd | WHEC.com

The case of missing Chili teen Brittanee Drexel is getting some new attention. A specialized team of investigators started reviewing the case Monday in Myrtle Beach where Drexel went missing nearly two years ago.

The three retired law enforcement officials are experts in the field of missing kids. They're part of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's "Project Alert." One is a former FBI agent. The other two are retired agents in charge of the Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina and Georgia.

We spoke with Dawn Drexel as she starts another year without her daughter.

"It never gets any better," said Dawn Drexel. "Not until we have resolution. Not until we know where Brittanee is."

Brittanee Drexel disappeared in April 2009 while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She was there with friends without the permission of her parents. She was 17 at the time. Now she would be 19 years old.

"Right now, I mean pretty much every thing's at a standstill," said Dawn Drexel. "There's not really much going on down there."

That's why Dawn Drexel is happy about a fresh set of eyes looking at the case. The three retired law enforcement officers trained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will review the entire case and give suggestions for the investigation.

"I'm glad they're keeping the case still active, and they're still looking," said Dawn Drexel. "They're still trying to find some answers about Brittanee's disappearance."

Over the past year and a half, we've seen large and small-scale searches. Last April, police announced they had three to four persons of interest. And this summer: a case that sounded all too familiar. A young woman was nearly abducted in the same area as Drexel was last seen. The charges against the suspect were eventually dropped. But still, there have been no arrests in the Drexel case. Police continue to investigate it as a homicide.

"We just know that somebody knows something, and I hope that they would come forward," said Dawn Drexel. "I mean if it was one of their family members I think they would want the same."

Anyone with information about Brittanee Drexel's disappearance is asked to call Myrtle Beach Police at (843) 918-1382. You can also call 1-800-THE-LOST.

Click here to see the official Help Find Brittanee Drexel website.

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S1918735.shtml?cat=565

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Searchers are going out again to try and find a New York teen reported missing in Myrtle Beach nearly two years ago.

The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reports as many as 200 searchers could be out in Georgetown County on Saturday and Sunday looking for Brittanee Drexel.

Monica Caison with the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C., estimated there could be 100 people on foot as well as all-terrain vehicle teams, 40 horse teams and 11 dog teams.

Dozens of searchers have looked around Myrtle Beach as well as Georgetown and Charleston counties since the teenager disappeared April 25, 2009 after leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel.

Drexel's cell phone transmitted its last known signal the next day near the South Santee River in Georgetown County.

http://online.wsj.com/article/APdf41cbe6a28347cca73558ca009e6cfb.html

They just have to come up with some kind of solar hovercraft that they can do these searches with.

I know they have it for the water but what about land. Heck a girl could be laying right next to where people are searching. God bless searchers.

A robot dog that could take the scent and go with it.

Where are the scientists that can develope these things?

I hope these fathers that have started searches can lobby for some good equiptment to find these missing people..loved ones.

Maybe we could get "balloon boy"'s father to come up with something. He is wacky but he set that thing off.

LMAO on this:

Maybe we could get "balloon boy"'s father to come up with something. He is wacky but he set that thing off.

Sorry, I know this is serious but Jeanne, you got me on this one!

I often wonder if BD was taken and killed far away from where she was for Spring Break.

I was thinking. We send men to the moon. We invent computers.

We need a Bell or an Edison to come up with something.

Posted: Feb 01, 2011 3:22 PM CST
Updated: Feb 01, 2011 3:27 PM CST

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Investigators with the Myrtle Beach Police Department have confirmed they received a new tip during a weekend search for missing New York Teen Brittanee Drexel.

Capt. David Knipes, spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department said the tip was not any physical evidence found at the scene, rather someone who reached out to investigators.

Detectives also have yet to determine whether or not the new tip is legitimate and stress that they are always looking into new leads.

Over 150 people searched a wooded area in Charleston County, looking for any sign of Drexel.

Drexel went missing back in April 2009 from Myrtle Beach's Ocean Boulevard. Since then, hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officers have searched for Drexel.

A cell phone tower in Georgetown Co. last picked up a signal from the teen's cell. Since then, several searches have occurred around the area where that cell signal was last detected.

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/13949658/new-tip-arrives-in-drexel-case-after-weekend-search

That poor mother. Wouldn't it be wonderful if they could find Brittany.

All she wants to know is "where is my daughter"?

I know, Jeanne. She has been through hell. NG covered this case on Monday on her 50 missing in 50 days. I really wonder if she is in a human trafficking situation. :scratch:

Britanee Drexel is always in my mind, whether it be local out and about or a long distance vacation such as Myrtle Beach. I always have an eye open to spot her, if I can. Her story has touched me very much. That location is such a beautiful place, and, to have her go missing from there, possibly meeting with tragedy there, has continued to bother me. If her mother ever reads this thread, please know that, even after all this time, some of us have not forgotten and we still intensely desire to see Britanee reunited with her family.

TerryRose,
I think of Britanee all the time, too. She is not forgotten here.

Two fundraisers are planned for next month in the Myrtle Beach area marking the two years since a New York teen was last seen in the area while on spring break.
Brittanee Drexel was last seen leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach April 25, 2009.

“We always got to keep Brittanee’s face out there. No one knows where she is,” said Brittanee’s grandmother, Carol Wagner, who is in Myrtle Beach with her husband and Brittanee’s grandfather, Al Wagner, until April 25. “You can never give up hope on a child missing. You always got to have hope that you will find them.”

The first fundraiser will be held from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. April 21 at Max & Erma’s Restaurant at the corner of U.S. 501 and Carolina Forest Boulevard. The restaurant will donate 20 percent of its sales from individuals with a flyer to the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C.

The second one - hosted by the Myrtle Beach Corvette Club along with Harley Davidson and The Beaver Bar- will be held from 9 to 11:15 a.m. April 23 at the Harley Davidson of Myrtle Beach. From Harley Davidson, riders will caravan to The Beaver Bar in Murrells Inlet where there will be a noon prayer and lunch, and Monica Caison, with the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, and Dawn Drexel, Brittanee’s mother, will speak, said Robin Holley, who is chairperson of the fundraisers. All proceeds will go to the CUE center.

Holley said they have received a lot of donations, but still are looking for food, including water, chips, and meat for barbecue sandwiches, to be donated to the Beaver Bar for the April 23 event.

Raffle tickets for the April 23 fundraiser can be purchased the day of the event at The Beaver Bar, 3381 U.S. 17 Business, Murrells Inlet, Holley said. Each raffle ticket costs $25, which includes lunch, and entering one’s name in a drawing for a cash prize.

Holley said hopefully the fundraisers will also lead to the possibility of someone coming forward with information regarding Brittanee’s disappearance.

Drexel, whose 19th birthday was Oct. 5, was 17 when she came to Myrtle Beach with some friends and without the consent of her parents. Her case has been profiled on dozens of local and national television shows, billboards and websites.

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

Searches began in Georgetown and Charleston counties after officials learned Drexel's cell phone gave off its last known signal on April 26, 2009 in Georgetown County.

Carol Wagner said area police get leads all the time and follow up on those leads.
“We need the right one,” she said.

For more information about the fundraisers, raffle tickets, and/or obtaining a flyer , please contact Robin Holley at 455-9645.

Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/03/10/2031458/fundraisers-to-be-held-marking.html#ixzz1GGTX58KR

The 25th of this month it will have been two long years.
Reports of a fire in the area of Brittanee's last cell phone pings have been reported. Someone destroying evidence?

http://www.heraldonline.com/2011/03/24/2934566/150-firefighters-battle-massive.html

Maybe, just maybe, this fire was set as a sign from Brittanee herself as a reason for firefighters and investigators to come back out to the area to search for her?

I so hope Brittanee is found during this search, one way or another so her Mother (and family) can have some peace.

Myrtle Beach police work new lead in Brittanee Drexel case

YRTLE BEACH, SC -- As the disappearance of spring breaker Brittanee Drexel nears its second anniversary, Myrtle Beach police have what they're calling a substantial new lead in the case.

"We are doing another search this week," said Myrtle Beach detective Lt. Chuck Capp. "We're gonna have a larger group of people come in to assist us and complete another search in an area of interest."

Capp does not want to reveal the exact location of the search, but says it will not be in Georgetown County, where the teenager's cell phone transmitted its last known signal the day after she went missing.

"It's a little closer to home and closer to our jurisdiction, but we'd rather remain vague at this point."

Drexel was last seen leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard April 25, 2009, the night before she was supposed to return home to New York. Drexel was 17-years-old when she went missing.

Capp says the case remains active and police are constantly follow new leads, but the tip that came in Tuesday was more substantial than even the tipster was aware.

"We got a call from someone that had met a person that made some unusual statements and gave some information that they thought was unusual and suspicious. They contacted us and with our knowledge of the case, we were actually more interested than that person even realized."

Capp says a task force involving investigators from Myrtle Beach, Georgetown County, Charleston County and the State Law Enforcement Division is assigned to the case, following leads that he says on occasion come in clusters and at other times, follow a long dry spell.

Capp and other investigators met with Brittanee's mother Tuesday, to update her on the status of the investigation.

Dawn Drexel says she is still hoping and praying every day that someone will come forward with information about her daughter's whereabouts.

"We know that the law enforcement and also the CUE Center for Missing Persons is not giving up. Her case has remained active and we're very fortunate for that," Drexel said.

As the second anniversary of Brittanee's disappearance nears, Dawn Drexel made the trip to Myrtle Beach this week from her Rochester, New York home to attend fundraisers and raise awareness about missing children.

She says the people of South Carolina have been wonderful to her and have come to love Brittanee without ever knowing her. Now, Dawn Drexel is asking for their help in finding her daughter.

"If you have any information, please come forward. We need Brittanee back."
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=607478
There is a video at the above link, I can't embed.

Please let this girl come home to her family.

Local groups recognize anniversary of Drexel disappearance

Posted: Apr 23, 2011 5:31 PM CDT
Updated: Apr 23, 2011 6:10 PM CDT

MURRELLS INLET, SC (WMBF) – Monday marks the two-year anniversary of New York teen Brittanee Drexel's disappearance from Ocean Boulevard. To mark the anniversary, members of Brittanee's family and friends held a fundraiser in Murrells Inlet Saturday.

Held in part with Harley-Davidson of Myrtle Beach and the Myrtle Beach Corvette Club, riders cruised along Kings Highway from Harley-Davidson to the Beaver Bar in Murrells Inlet. Event continued with a blessing, a speech by Brittanee's mother, Dawn, and a release of doves into the sky.

Those close to Brittanee were pleased with the large turnout of the event, but what amazed them the most about the turnout was how many complete strangers came together to show their support.

"None of these people even knew Brittanee," said close friend Jessica Nice. "To see what they have done for this family is wonderful."

Members of the Myrtle Beach Corvette Club said it was the least they could do to show that the Myrtle Beach community supports the search for Brittanee. John Grover, the club president, finds his love of his own children gives the search for Brittanee extra meaning.

"Nobody wants to lose a child. It hits close to home. We all have children, and recognize that this type of thing can happen and all of us want to help."

All the proceeds Harley-Davidson, the Corvette Club, and the Beaver Bar raised went to the CUE Center for Missing Persons, the organization that has kept the search for Brittanee going for the past two years. Support for the center gives Brittanee's family further reinforcement that she will be found.

"It gives me hope," said Myrissa, Brittanee's sister. "I just want her to come home."

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/14502798/local-groups-recognize-anniversary-of-drexel-disappearance

video I cannot embed shows Brittanee's sister speaking.

No drama. Clean funding.
Brittanee needs to come home.

Where are you Brittanee?

I hope these new tips and searches bring this beautiful girl home to her Momma and Family!!!

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Monday marks 2 years since Brittanee Drexel vanished from Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.

Myrtle Beach Police say they do have several persons of interest they're looking at. They say they are monitoring these people, and the new leads, to try and find the last missing piece that will solve this case.

Myrtle Beach Police have a new lead investigator for the Drexel case, Investigator Mike Hull. He's certainly not new to the department; he's been with them for more than 20 years. He's been working with the Drexel case on and off, since the teen disappeared.

more here and a very interesting video I cannot embed.

http://www.wect.com/story/14511835/2-years-later-search-for-brittanee-drexel-continues

I really think that LE knows who got Brittanee and maybe even what they did with her (from informants, maybe), but they don't have any proof and can't pursue a case based on hearsay from unreliable witnesses. I know that several months ago, they mentioned that they had some Persons of Interest...I just pray that they'll get what they need to bring justice for Brittanee and her family soon.

lisette wrote:I really think that LE knows who got Brittanee and maybe even what they did with her (from informants, maybe), but they don't have any proof and can't pursue a case based on hearsay from unreliable witnesses. I know that several months ago, they mentioned that they had some Persons of Interest...I just pray that they'll get what they need to bring justice for Brittanee and her family soon.

Amen to that, lisette. And I am thinking the same way as you are about what they know but cannot prove. Unfortunately, when I start to think along those lines, the hope of her still being alive diminishes.

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - It's now been more than two years since New York teen Brittanee Drexel vanished along the Grand Strand.

The Drexel disappearance is a very complicated case. Drexel went missing back in April of 2009 in Myrtle Beach, but searches have taken the case as far as Georgetown and Charleston counties.

Now a group of people very close to this investigation is coming forward for the first time, to talk about what they say could be holding this case back.

Because this was such a huge case, back in 2009 each law enforcement agency assigned a lead investigator to be in charge of it, and to communicate with the other departments.

For Myrtle Beach Police, it was Vincent Dorio. For the Charleston County Sheriff's office Rocky Burke, and for the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, the lead was Chris Bailey.

Several months later, a private group called Merrill's Investigations was brought in to help.

Steve Pickering of Merrill's, says they had additional resources that law enforcement needed, and they were volunteering those resources and time.

"Merrill's had started working down here with their canine team, and while they were down here working, they were presented with a unique opportunity to work hand in hand with the Georgetown Sheriff's Department to try to work this case," explained Pickering.

They say things were going great. Chris Bailey describes the momentum and chemistry they had from the very beginning.

"You took strangers," said Bailey, "I had never met Rocky before, never met Vincent before, and never met Steve or anybody else from Merrill's before the case, and in a short time, they were able to build a bond and trust."

With the help of Merrill's Investigations, Chris and Rocky say all the agencies were working side-by-side, gaining ground. They lived and breathed this case, working and developing new leads and getting very close to making some arrests.

In the summer of 2010, however, they say that all changed.

In June, Bailey was taken off the case completely for the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office. Just a few months later, the same thing happened to Burke at the Charleston County Sheriff's Office.

"Some new task forces were formed and my role was diminished," said Burke.

Around that same time, Merrill's Investigations was told, their services were no longer needed, says Pickering.

"I was told, our involvement had run its course, very much, and if we need you, we'll call," Pickering explained. "No one's called me."

That's where they say the problem now lies. These guys who have been with the case from the beginning say they have now been shut out of the investigation.

"Compared to where this case was at the end of April, last year, I feel bad it hasn't progressed beyond that. We were going. We had a focus. We had a direction. We had everybody on board," said Pickering. "Everybody was in it because they could see the end, and then, it ended."

Bailey says he wishes there could be more communication between the old and new set of eyes on the case.

"The biggest problem that I see is when you do bring in a new set of eyes, you still should have some contact with the ones that was from the start, that has the knowledge of what's going on in the case," said Bailey. "The more information you have, the better off you are, in the long run of it."

Shortly after Bailey and Burke were taken off the case, they both retired, and are now employed by Merrill's Investigations.

This interview is the first time this group is coming forward to talk about it all. They say they are serious about solving this case - so serious that Pickering flew in from Maine, just to talk with WMBF News.

"We were invited to help, we wanted to help, and now we're vested in it," said Pickering. "We don't want to walk away from something. We don't want to leave it undone."

They don't want to point fingers, or place blame on anyone, but they want everyone involved to know – they're available, and willing to give of their time, their resources, and their knowledge of the case.

"You've got to at least be able to communicate with the other people that have done it for so many months prior to you even coming into it," said Bailey. "I mean when you look back to a year ago, they were a year behind already when they got reassigned to the case, so they're already trying to play catch-up now. Here we are another year later, and they're still playing catch up. It's there, it's right there."

Pickering agrees, saying more communication between Merrill's and other agencies could help solve it.

"Rocky and Chris probably know more about this case than anybody, and for them not to be a resource does hurt the case," said Pickering.

They say that if more would be done, the family might already have those answers. Bailey says an arrest in the Drexel case is possible.

"When you lay it out and you start looking at things, it's a lot easier to start connecting dots, and you just got to make the final connection on it," said Bailey," but everything is there."

Merrill's Investigations says they are still working this case and anything they find out they will pass along to law enforcement.

They wish everyone could work together, to gain back that momentum that they say was there during the early days of this investigation.

Myrtle Beach Police say they are working the case as hard as ever, and say they've never been shy about asking for help, if they were to need it.

The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office says they still have an investigator assigned to the case, and are still working very diligently on it.

The Charleston County Sheriff's Office says they no longer have a lead investigator in charge of the Drexel case.http://www.wbtv.com/story/14561614/former-cops-speak-out-case-of-teen-missing-in-sc

Umm, not sure how the little emoticon came up in my above post (LOL)

Does anyone else find it strange that once these guys got close to an arrest they just got taken off the case??? Seems VERY suspicious!! Could someone in LE be involved and they are trying to cover up for them?? JMO, of course!

mommyof3kids wrote:Umm, not sure how the little emoticon came up in my above post (LOL)

Does anyone else find it strange that once these guys got close to an arrest they just got taken off the case??? Seems VERY suspicious!! Could someone in LE be involved and they are trying to cover up for them?? JMO, of course!

I totally agree, except it could be some family very powerful and influential in the area also.

TerryRose wrote:

mommyof3kids wrote:Umm, not sure how the little emoticon came up in my above post (LOL)

Does anyone else find it strange that once these guys got close to an arrest they just got taken off the case??? Seems VERY suspicious!! Could someone in LE be involved and they are trying to cover up for them?? JMO, of course!

I totally agree, except it could be some family very powerful and influential in the area also.

with what both of you say. This is real suspicious and I'm glad that this has been brought to the public! At first I thought I was going to read that it was because of budget cuts that this team was broken up and taken off the case but that's not mentioned. I truly hope that whoever is responsible for shutting these guys down is exposed. It sounds like finding Brittanee wasn't the most important thing to everyone.

I am so touched to read about Rocky Burke and Chris Bailey commitment to find Brittany.

A room at the Sunset Lodge on Highway 17 South in Georgetown County is cordoned off with crime scene tape as investigators make their next move in the Brittanee Drexel investigation.

Then 17, Drexel was last seen leaving the BlueWater Resort on Ocean Boulevard on April 25, 2009.

State Law Enforcement Division agents were walking in and out of room 22 Monday. A crime scene truck is also backed up to that room. They have not said what they're looking for.

Members of Myrtle Beach Police Department and the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office are also involved.

Police say their investigation revealed a person of interest may have stayed in the room on or around the time Drexel disappeared.

We'll continue to post updates to this story throughout the day.

Family members and search crews have been looking for her ever since she went missing, accounting for more than 50 searches, many of them conducted by the CUE Center for missing persons. http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=646594#.TjbXAq0qQVx.facebook

God bless Brittanee and her family.

Drexel case prompts search
By Allyson Bird
abird@postandcourier.com
Tuesday, August 2, 2011

GEORGETOWN -- More than two years after 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel's disappearance, investigators in her case converged on a roadside apartment complex where a man convicted of raping a child once lived.

Officials declined to say anything about what they found inside Monday. But Myrtle Beach Police Lt. Chuck Capp said he didn't expect an impending arrest of the man who had stayed in unit 22 at the Sunset Lodge just outside of Georgetown.

"We've continued to follow numerous leads, and they're doing a search warrant of a person of interest," Capp said. "We think it's getting blown out of proportion."

Drexel, a Rochester, N.Y., teen who snuck away to the Grand Strand on spring break, was last seen April 25, 2009, on a Myrtle Beach hotel security camera. She told her mother she was spending the weekend at a friend's house after her parents told her she couldn't go to Myrtle Beach because of poor grades.

They learned that she had disobeyed their wishes at the same time they learned she was missing.

Drexel's cell phone gave off its last signal near the South Santee River in Georgetown County the day after her disappearance. Searchers on horseback and with teams of dogs have concentrated on the woods near there.

A manager at Sunset Lodge said the man in unit 22 moved in the day before Drexel disappeared. He left six months ago.

The man, as identified by the manager, was convicted of kidnapping and raping a child younger than 14 in 1983 in California. He was released from prison in 2004, according to federal records. He is a registered sex offender.

When approached by a reporter at his job site, he said, "I don't know anything about it, and I don't have anything to say."

Capp said police have several such "persons of interest" in the Drexel case. A task force composed of investigators from his department, the State Law Enforcement Division and the Georgetown and Charleston county sheriff's offices are working the case.

"It is certainly not a cold case," Capp said. "It has been an active case from Day One."

Monica Caison, founder and director of the North Carolina-based CUE Center for Missing Persons, said the task force continues to work new tips in the case. She said the ongoing effort means the public might see some of the work unfolding, as with Monday's search, but that much of it stays off the radar.

Although she didn't give any extra weight to the Sunset Lodge lead, Caison said, "I think anything that happens in Brittanee's investigation gets one more step closer to the truth.

"I'm grateful that there's information still circulating," she added. "A lot of cases can fall cold, but you have to remain hopeful."

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/aug/02/drexel-case-prompts-search/

charminglane wrote:God bless Brittanee and her family.

Amen.

Posted at: 08/03/2011 12:01 PM | Updated at: 08/03/2011 6:32 PM

There is new information in the case of missing Chili teen Brittanee Drexel. It involves police in South Carolina searching the apartment of a man that police are interested in.

Drexel is the Chili teen who went missing in April 2009 while she was on spring break in Myrtle Beach.

Investigators in South Carolina spent three hours gathering evidence in that apartment in Georgetown County in South Carolina and reportedly left with bags of evidence. It's not known yet what they found.

News 10NBC has learned from South Carolina State Police that a man who was staying at the Sunset Lodge is a registered sex offender.

Police say Raymond Moody may have stayed in Apartment #22 around the time Drexel disappeared. Moody was convicted in 1983 in kidnapping and raping of a child younger than 14-years-old in California.


Our NBC affiliate in Myrtle Beach was allowed inside Apartment #22 at the Sunset Lodge. The manager of the hotel told reporters police sprayed some sort of substance on the curtains, the fridge, the sink, and even took pieces of wallpaper from the bathroom possibly looking at old blood stains in the room.

Myrtle Beach Police are not commenting on the investigation. We have learned that Moody lived at the Sunset Lodge, but the manager says he moved about six months ago.

Police are not calling Moody a suspect or even a “person of interest”. As you may recall, Brittanee disappeared from Myrtle Beach two years ago on Spring Break. Police have told us the last signal from her cell phone came from Georgetown County, where the Sunset Lodge is located.

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

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2226052.shtml?cat=566

Father of missing NY teen searches Lowcountry for answers
Posted: Aug 12, 2011 4:03 PM CDT
Updated: Aug 12, 2011 4:13 PM CDT

New billboard in Myrtle Beach (Natalie Caula/WCIV)

By Natalie Caula
ncaula@abcnews4.com

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) -- The Rochester, New York father of a missing teen is in the Lowcountry tonight looking for answers.

Chad Drexel walked around McClellanville Friday afternoon in hopes of getting information from the public. It's the area where his daughter, 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel's last cell phone ping came from. She went missing from Myrtle Beach on April 25, 2009.

Earlier Friday, Chad and his sister Keri joined the founder of the Kristen Foundation, an organization that helps families of the missing in Myrtle Beach. They stood in front of the newest billboard, designed by Chad Drexel.

"I wish I could have another 100 of these billboards done and get some closure for my children from my family. I'm down here to do what I can. To do what I can to find something, find something for my daughter," Drexel said.

Drexel thanked the Kristen Foundation for their involvement, as well as Merill's Investigations.

"They are doing anything a parent would want in their expertise to find his daughter," Drexel said during a press conference Friday.

But at least one family member is not pleased by the new billboard because another billboard already stands in Georgetown, with a different photo from a different organization, the CUE Center for Missing Persons.

Brittanee's mother Dawn says she's worried two different billboards from two different organizations will only cause confusion.

"I don't want another organization coming in that hasn't be there since day one, knows nothing about the case, and putting a billboard and getting tips or leads off of that," Dawn Drexel said.

Chad and his sister Keri says they want everyone to work as a team and get to the goal they all share -- to find out what happened to Brittanee.

Anyone with Information or leads regarding this missing person is asked to contact the Myrtle Beach Police Department at (843) 918-1382 or the CUE Center for Missing Persons at (910) 343-1131 / (910) 232-1687, or the Kristen Foundation at (704) 996-5066.

http://www.abcnews4.com/story/15259038/father-of-missing-ny-teen-wants-answers-in-the-lowcountry-searching

Associated Press

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. —

About 30 volunteers and investigators spent several hours Friday searching an island off the coast of McClellanville for Brittanee Drexel. Searchers say they combed the area after fishermen reported an odor of decay.

There have been dozens of searches in Georgetown, Horry and Charleston counties since the then-17-year-old Rochester, N.Y., girl was last seen leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel on April 25, 2009. In August, authorities searched a motel near Georgetown where a person of interest in the case was thought to have stayed.

Drexel's cell phone transmitted its last known signal the day after she disappeared near the South Santee River, between McClellanville and Georgetown.

http://online.wsj.com/article/APf5361184f0de4132b8b64d34eb08a108.html

http://www.live5news.com/story/16077703/odor-of-decay-leads-investigators-on-new-search-for-drexel

Video I cannot embed

Decay scent after 2 years?

:scratch:

Drexel impostors on Facebook
BY ALLYSON BIRD
abird@postandcourier.com
Sunday, December 18, 2011

Monica DeFilippo lives in Staten Island, N.Y., vacations in Myrtle Beach and has a 20-year-old daughter named Brittany, who became captivated by the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel.

The missing woman not only shares Brittany's name but also her age and that same petite frame with blonde hair and blue eyes. Drexel, like Brittany, lived in New York. She stole away to Myrtle Beach on spring break in 2009, the last time anyone saw her.

DeFilippo took her daughter to an event to raise awareness about Drexel, and they followed her case in news reports. So it particularly chilled the family when DeFilippo's daughter received a Facebook friend request from a person who gave a different girl's name, but the photo was Drexel.

"She wasn't going to accept the friendship, but I made her," DeFilippo said. "Because you never really know."

Brittany asked the stranger in a message why she used Drexel's photographs on the Facebook page. The person replied that those pictures were her own, DeFilippo said.

When a reporter sent a message to the person communicating with DeFilippo's daughter, the person did not respond and blocked the reporter from any further interaction.

Monica Caison, founder and director of the North Carolina-based CUE Center for Missing Persons, said she has seen more than 35 false profiles using Drexel's image on social media websites since Drexel went missing in April 2009.

"This is the new wave of social media with missing person cases. The exploitation level is so high," Caison said. "It's not just happened to Brittanee. It's all the high-profile cases, especially the young girls."

One person used Drexel's photo to participate in an online promotion, and the picture wound up on a commercial that ran during the Super Bowl, Caison said. She reports the phony profiles to law enforcement officers, and they generally disappear within a week.

The fleeting impostors only light up tip lines and distract from more promising leads, Caison said. In some cases, strangers go so far as to set up websites that take donations for a missing person.

Caison worries that tips could come to those people with no law enforcement experience or connections, so she presses to get the websites taken down. On top of the investigative risks, the impostors place an extra emotional burden on family members, Caison said.

"I don't know what it is that people want to do this type of thing, but they don't understand how it destroys a family," she said.

Drexel's mother, Dawn Drexel, said she gives every tip a close and hopeful look and wonders what prompts the fake pages. She said some teenagers contacted her younger daughter, 14, saying they had locked Brittanee in a basement.

"She has a hard enough time, day by day, dealing with being a teenager and having her sister missing," Dawn Drexel said on Friday. "It's pretty sick that people do that and think nothing of it."

Drexel hopes that anyone with true information about her daughter would come forward instead of hiding behind a webpage. And she hopes that someone does.

"I've been working on her case for over two and a half years, and the holidays are very, very, very difficult for me," Drexel said.

This week, while decorating her Christmas tree, she placed a new ornament on the branches for each of her three children. While hanging Brittanee's ornament, she broke down.

This, she said, was her daughter's favorite time of the year.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/dec/18/drexel-impostors-on-facebook/

http://helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com/

Sex offender eyed in cold case disappearances of 2 women in South Carolina
By Cristina Corbin
Published February 16, 2012
| FoxNews.com

A convicted child rapist is being eyed by South Carolina cops in the disappearances of two young women, including a New York teenager who disappeared while on spring break in Myrtle Beach almost three years ago, FoxNews.com has learned.

Detectives say Raymond Moody is the primary “person of interest” in the 2009 disappearance of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel, who was last seen on surveillance video leaving a popular Myrtle Beach hotel along Ocean Boulevard in a case that sparked widespread media coverage. Moody, who served 21 years in prison for abducting and raping a California girl in 1983, is also being looked at in connection with another missing woman, 28-year-old Crystal Soles, law enforcement sources told FoxNews.com.

Both women are presumed dead, though exhaustive searches in the rugged terrain between Myrtle Beach and Moody's home some 50 miles south of the popular destination have been fruitless. Authorities have classified Drexel's disappearance a "cold case," meaning they renew their probe whenever they receive credible, new information. Myrtle Beach investigators have received such information within the last week, though they declined to elaborate.

Drexel, a high school junior from the Rochester area, went with friends and without her mom's permission to Myrtle Beach on April 23, 2009. A video camera at the Blue Water Resort captured her leaving the hotel on April 25 close to 9 p.m., police said. The footage is the last known sighting of her.

Investigator Phillip Hanna of the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office said a signal from Drexel’s cellphone was detected about 50 miles south of Myrtle Beach later that night – in a remote boat landing area near the South Santee River and roughly 8 miles from the Sunset Lodge apartments in Georgetown County where Moody had been living at the time.

Detectives revealed to FoxNews.com that Moody, a registered Level 3 sex offender, was in the Myrtle Beach area the same weekend Drexel disappeared. Capt. Joe Vella of the Myrtle Beach Police Department said Moody was issued a speeding ticket in Surfside on April 26, a day after the teenager was last seen.

Police said Drexel, a petite blonde and avid soccer player, had left a group of male friends from Rochester at the Blue Water Resort to walk back to the Bar Harbor Hotel, where she was staying with other girls.

After leaving the Blue Water hotel, Drexel texted her boyfriend back home to say she was headed for her hotel, but security video confirmed she never made it, police said.

Myrtle Beach detectives said they believe Drexel was abducted as she walked the one-mile stretch of Ocean Boulevard between the two hotels. She may have been snatched off the street, Vella said, or willingly accepted a ride “from the wrong person.”

They also said Drexel was likely alive and with her phone when it gave off its last signal in Georgetown County. No activity was detected on her bank account since her disappearance and Vella said, “We don’t think it was a robbery.”

Moody served 21 years of a 40-year prison sentence after he abducted a girl from a California playground and sexually assaulted her in 1983. His convictions include three counts of rape with force and violence; two counts of lewd behavior on a child under the age of 14; and one count of assault with intent to commit mayhem, according to a state sex offender database on the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division's website.

Moody relocated to Georgetown, S.C., where his parents live following his release from the California State Prison in Solano in 2004. Moody, who police say works as a cabinet maker, could not be reached for comment.

Vella said Moody has refused to speak with authorities. Last August, police searched the unit at the Sunset Lodge apartments, where Moody moved into the day before Drexel disappeared. Investigators have not yet disclosed what clues, if any, they uncovered at the apartment.

“We cannot eliminate him as a person of interest,” said Vella. He also noted that “one, possibly two” other individuals from coastal South Carolina are also “persons of interest,” though he and other law enforcement sources indicated that Moody remains the primary focus.
Detectives with the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division said they are also investigating a possible connection between Drexel’s case and the 2005 disappearance of Crystal Soles. Soles, 28, was last seen Jan. 24, 2005, in Andrews, S.C., and is believed to have been abducted as she walked home in the dark.

“We are checking for any similarities to see if there are any connections between the two [cases],” detective Phillip Hanna told FoxNews.com.

For Drexel’s mother, Dawn, the anguish over her oldest child is as painful now as it was nearly three years ago.
“Every day is a nightmare,” the single mother told FoxNews.com. “I miss her so much.”

Dawn Drexel said she learned that her daughter, a junior at Gates Chili High School, had traveled to Myrtle Beach when she received a phone call April 25 saying the girl was missing.

“Panic set in,” said Drexel. She said she spoke to her daughter earlier that day, believing she was still in Rochester and staying at a friend’s house near Lake Ontario.

“I was buying her soccer cleats,” Drexel said as she recalled their final phone conversation. “I said 'I love you’ and she said ‘I love you, too, I’ll see you tomorrow.’”

Drexel said her daughter, whom she described as “very outgoing,” had aspirations to become a pediatric nurse.
“She just loved children,” Drexel said. “She had a smile that would light up a room.”

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/02/16/south-carolina-sex-offender-eyed-in-cold-case-disappearances-brittanee-drexel/#ixzz1maJcSgeG