BRITTANEE DREXEL - 17 yo (2009) - Rochester NY / Myrtle Beach SC

Lt. Neil Johnson of the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office said
this morning there are no new areas of interest in the case of Brittanee
Drexel, a New York teenager who disappeared last year when visiting
Myrtle Beach.But searchers are still looking, said Monica Caison
of the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C., which has
organized searches for the missing teen since she disappeared about a
year ago. Drexel was last seen on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.Caison
said her organization searched an area in Georgetown County two weeks
ago, one of several that have been on CUE's search plan from the start.
She said the areas were scattered in Georgetown and elsewhere that she
didn't want to identify.
"These are very small areas that need to be looked at just because,"
Caison said today.

Poster's Note: When putting this story up, I wondered what page she was on in "Missing Children". Then, using the search tool, I was reminded that it has been over a year since Britt went missing. As she was a "neighbor from just up the road a piece" I am as saddened today. perhaps more than, when this first happened.



She vanished without a trace more than a year ago,
and now one New York high school will be honoring the disappearance of
Brittanee Drexel with an honorary diploma.

Drexel was to graduate alongside her friends and
classmates from Gates Chili High School on June 23, but instead of
accepting a hard-earned diploma herself, the teen's family will be
doing it for her.

"[The school] called last week to inform me that they would honor my daughter with an honorary diploma," Dawn Drexel, the
teen's mom, said. "This entire ordeal is so real. I miss my daughter
and ache for her to come home."

The teen, who was 17 at the time of her
disappearance, was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th
Avenue South in Myrtle Beach. Drexel was in the Grand Strand against the
will of her mother.

Contact was lost between Drexel and her family in
New York on April 25, 2009, the same night authorities said she
disappeared. The last signal ping from her cell phone came the next
night near the South Santee River.

Since Drexel's disappearance, several search
efforts for the teen have been executed from Horry County to Charleston
County. Despite the efforts fronted by area police and the CUE Center
for Missing Persons, each search effort has fallen short.

Both the Myrtle Beach Police Department and
Georgetown County Sheriff's Office have full-time investigators working
only on the Drexel case, according to authorities.

In April, authorities publicly pinpointed three or
four persons of interest who have all been previously questioned by
authorities in connection to the case. Lt. Neil Johnson, spokesman for
the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office at the time, could not confirm a
time frame in which the suspects were questioned.

Two of the suspects, according to Johnson, were
subjected to lie detector tests. Johnson, however, would not comment on
the results of the tests.

"At this time, there is no reason to believe these
people [the persons of interest] know Drexel directly," Johnson said.

Myrtle Beach Police Det. Vincent Dorio said the
recent advancements in the case in April developed from a tip, and
detectives are confident the information is leading them in the right
direction to finding who might be responsible for Drexel's
disappearance.

CrimeStoppers of the Lowcountry continues to offer
a reward for any information on Drexel's whereabouts. Anyone with
information regarding the disappearance of Drexel is urged to contact
the agency at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

Hundreds donned the cap and gown Wednesday evening, graduating high
school and entering a new chapter in their lives. But for one Chili
family, they can't even turn the page.
Brittanee Drexel was supposed to graduate Wednesday night with her
friends. Instead no one knows where she is or if she's even alive.
"We just wish she was here, and I know a lot of graduates wish she
was here too," said Brittanee's mother Dawn Drexel.
She says it was a tough night. After all the graduates' names were
called, one last name was read: Brittanee Drexel. The entire Class of
2010 stood up and gave the missing teen a standing ovation.
Gates-Chili High School honored Brittanee with an honorary diploma.
Brittanee's parents Chad and Dawn Drexel accepted the diploma along with
Brittanee's little sister Myrissa Drexel.
"It's hard not seeing her cross that stage," said Myrissa. "She would
have been right up there being like, "Yeah! I graduated!"
Brittanee's disappearance has been hard on the Drexel family and the
Gates-Chili community. She hasn't been seen since April 25th, 2009 when
she left a hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She had been there on
Spring Break against her parents' wishes. Now, everyone just wishes she
was with the rest of her classmates at graduation.
"Had she had been here, she would have been holding it," said Dawn
Drexel as she held her daughter's honorary diploma. "She would have been
so proud."
Some of Brittanee's best friends are still keeping hope alive.
"She was such a strong person," said Mike Caruso. "I have no doubt in
my mind that she's still out there. She's one of the bravest people I
ever met in my entire life, and I'll always miss her."
The Drexel family will continue their search.
"We're trying to find her and hopefully when she comes back home I
can go ahead and dry her rose and give her this," said Dawn Drexel
speaking of the diploma.
Dawn Drexel says she spoke with Myrtle Beach Police this week. Right
now, they don't have any new leads. Back in April, police announced they
had several persons of interest in the case and were investigating her
disappearance as a homicide. So far, no arrests have been made.

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.

A team of detectives looking to crack the case of
a missing New York teen is investigating the attempted abduction of a
20-year-old woman along South Ocean Boulevard late Wednesday afternoon.

Myrtle Beach Police were called to the 2200 block
of South Ocean Boulevard after a woman claimed the occupants of a pale
blue van attempted to abduct her near 22nd Avenue South.

The victim told police she was walking to a nearby
mini-mart when the van approached her. Two men inside of the vehicle,
the woman said, grabbed her by the waist and arms in an attempt to pull
her inside of an open van door.

The 20-year-old's brush with danger has sparked
the curiosity of many who are familiar with the 2009 disappearance of
Brittanee Drexel.

The teen, who was 17 years old at the time,
vanished while on Spring Break in Myrtle Beach. Drexel, according to
investigators, was in the Grand Strand against the will of her mother.

Police said Drexel was last seen in the area of
11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South, in close proximity to
Wednesday's latest attempted abduction.

The related incident locations have sparked a
large amount of speculation, but Myrtle Beach Police aren't quick to tie
the crimes together.

"At this time, we are not saying that the cases
are related; however, we must exercise due diligence and properly review
the cases and see if there are any similarities," Capt. David Knipes,
spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department, said.

Knipes said in a prepared statement that the only
similarities between the two cases are the approximate locations and the
fact that the two victims are younger women.

As investigators continue to mull through the two
cases, Myrtle Beach Police are asking the public to be on the lookout
for two male suspects believed to be tied to Wednesday's attempted
abduction.






Police are actively searching for two black males,
one of which has been described by the 20-year-old victim as a heavyset
man with a moustache and goatee. At the time of Wednesday's attempted
abduction, the man was wearing a white T-shirt and blue jean shorts.

The second suspect, according to victim reports,
was described as a tall, slender black male. He was said to have been
wearing a white T-shirt and blue jean shorts at the time of the
incident.

The two were traveling in a pale blue, older-model
box van with a large number of rust spots during the attempted
abduction. The victim said she remembered a square, yellow sticker
located on the rear-passenger window.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call the Myrtle Beach Police Department immediately.

A 37-year-old man has been arrested in connection
to the attempted abduction of a 20-year-old woman along South Ocean
Boulevard on July 21.

Capt. David Knipes, spokesman for the Myrtle Beach
Police Department, said Timothy Shaun Taylor, 37, of McClellanville,
SC, turned himself into police Wednesday morning.



Taylor was charged with attempted kidnapping and
first degree assault and battery for his role in the attempted abduction
of a Tennessee woman in the 2200 block of South Ocean Boulevard.

The victim, identified as Randa Massey, told
police she was walking to a nearby mini-mart when a pale blue van
approached her from behind. Two men inside of the vehicle, Massey said,
grabbed her by the waist and arms in an attempt to pull her inside of an
open van door.

The 20-year-old managed to successfully escape her
potential abductors, after throwing an elbow at one of the suspects and
hitting him in the face. After injuring the man, he and two others fled
the area by van.

Massey's brush with danger has sparked the curiosity of many who are
familiar with the 2009 disappearance of Brittanee Drexel.

Chad Drexel, Brittanee's father, said Wednesday
she became familiar with Taylor's name at the time of her daughter's
initial disappearance.

Drexel, who was 17 years old at the time, vanished
while on Spring Break in Myrtle Beach. The teen, according to
investigators, was in the Grand Strand against the will of her mother.

Police said Drexel was last seen in the area of
11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South, in close proximity to the
latest attempted abduction on July 21.

Contact was lost between Drexel and her family in
New York on April 25, 2009, the same night authorities say she
disappeared. The last signal from her cell phone came the next night
near the South Santee River.

Since she went missing, multiple search efforts
for the teen have been executed from Horry County to Charleston County.
While investigators have searched throughout three counties, each search
effort has left police empty handed.

The Drexel case has led the Myrtle Beach Police
Department, Georgetown County Sheriff's Office and State Law Enforcement
Division to dedicate a handful of detectives to investigate leads in
the teen's disappearance.

The related incident locations have sparked a
large amount of speculation, but Myrtle Beach Police aren't quick to tie
the crimes together.

"At this time, we are not saying that the cases
are related; however, we must exercise due diligence and properly review
the cases and see if there are any similarities," Capt. David Knipes,
spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department, said.

Knipes said in a prepared statement that the only
similarities between the two cases are the approximate locations and the
fact that the two victims are younger women.

Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mother, said she has
placed a call into police requesting further information on Taylor's
arrest, but has not been contacted by authorities.

Myrtle Beach Police say investigators are
continuing their search for two other suspects tied to Massey's
attempted abduction, in addition to leads in the Drexel case.

Anyone with information on the two incidents is asked to call
the Myrtle Beach Police Department immediately.

Authorities in South Carolina are investigating possible links
between the attempted kidnapping of a young woman, the disappearance of a
New York teen and an unsolved homicide.The Post and Courier of
Charleston reports that Timothy Shaun Taylor, 37, of McClellanville,
S.C., turned himself in Wednesday, accused of trying to kidnap a woman
in Myrtle Beach last week.The incident occurred near where
Brittanee Drexel, 17, of Rochester, N.Y., disappeared in April 2009.
That disappearance led to extensive searches along the South Carolina
coast.
Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon says detectives are now also
comparing the cases to the 1998 killing of Shannon McConaughey.Taylor's
brother, Randall Keith Taylor, was originally charged in the
McConaughey case, but those charges were later dismissed. McConaughey's
body was found in Charleston County, near the last location of Drexel's
cell phone signal.Drexel was last seen leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel
with a group of friends who had traveled with her from Rochester, N.Y.
Cannon said the three cases have similarities and officials would be remiss if they did not investigate."It's
just a natural evolution when you are dealing with cases like these,"
the sheriff said. "If you've got something that suggests a pattern of
similar incidents, it is the responsible thing to do."Myrtle
Beach Police Capt. David Knipes said no connections have been found
between last week's attempted kidnapping and the Drexel case.
Taylor could be sentenced to 40 years if convicted of attempted kidnapping
and first degree assault and battery.He told authorities at a bond hearing Wednesday
he tried to contact police when he heard he was wanted.
"I didn't try to hide anything because I know it wasn't me," he said.

The Wilmington-based Cue Center for Missing Persons made a stop in
Rochester, N.Y. Monday night with this year's "On the Road to Remember
Tour." The team attended a rally hosted by the family of Brittanee
Drexel, the New York teen who was last seen in Myrtle Beach in April of
2009. The goal of the tour is to help renew interest in missing persons cases."You
have to keep your child's face out there in case someone sees them or
someone may know some info about them," said Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's
mother. "If it was someone else's child, I think they would do the same
thing."The 10-day, 11-state tour ends Saturday in Wilmington.

The case of a missing Chili teen will be the topic of a nationally televised show premiering Monday. “Disappeared”, airing at 10 p.m. on Investigation Discovery, will feature the story of Brittanee Drexel. Drexel was 17 years old when vanished during a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C. on April 25, 2009. She was last seen leaving a hotel with a group of friends.



- A show that follows the unpredictable path of a missing person's case will be highlighting the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel during its season premiere, schedued to air Oct. 4 on Investigation Discovery.The episode of "Disappeared" will attempt to piece together exactly what happened to the New York teen who vanished in April 2009 while on Spring Break in Myrtle Beach.Drexel, who was 17 at the time of her disappearance, was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach. Drexel was in the area against the will of her mother when she disappeared.Investigators report contact was lost between Drexel and her family in New York on April 25, 2009, the same night authorities believe she disappeared.The last signal ping from her cell phone came the next night near the South Santee River.Since Drexel's disappearance, several search efforts for the teen have been executed from Horry County to Charleston County. Despite the efforts fronted by area police and the CUE Center for Missing Persons, each search effort has fallen short.Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Drexel is urged to contact the agency at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

'Disappeared' is back on Investigation Discovery at 10 p.m. 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. 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 the shorts. But she never made it.

Investigators release new information in Drexel disappearance
Posted:

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Oct 27, 2010 7:21 PM CDT Updated:

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Oct 28, 2010 5:30 PM CDT


MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - 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.

Copyright 2010 WMBF News. All rights reserved.

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/13400141/investigators-release-new-information-in-drexel-disappearance

Another search was held Sunday in Charleston county for missing teen Brittanee Drexel.17-year-old Brittanee Drexel disappeared while she was in Myrtle Beach on spring break with friends, April 25th 2009.Around 50 people from the CUE Center for Missing Persons and members of law enforcement searched in McClellanville. CUE Center founder Monica Caison says they searched an estimated two mile area near Rutledge Road, off of Highway 17. She says the search lasted from 8 a.m. to around 6 p.m.Britannee's mom, Dawn Drexel was also a part of the search. Caison says they did not find anything, and she's not sure if they will be coming back. She says there have been nearly 50 search efforts so far.

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.
Brittanee Drexel profile to air on TV; Teen last seen in Myrtle Beach


A television show will air a profile tonight of the case of a New York
teen who was last seen in Myrtle Beach during spring break last year.


Brittanee Drexel, whose 19th birthday is Thursday, 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.


The show will join dozens that have profiled Drexel. Her family, friends
and those who have searched for her have made many appearances on
various national television shows seeking information about her.

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#ixzz1ANFtKJpV