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

A special team of missing-person investigators has been dispatched to South Carolina to take a fresh look at the case of Brittanee Drexel, a New York teen who disappeared while on spring break.

The investigators include a retired FBI agent and two former agents from
the Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina and Georgia. The three
men are part of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's
Project Alert.

Calls from AOL News to the NCMEC asking for comments were not immediately returned today. According to its website,
Project Alert is a corps of more than 170 retired federal, state and
local law-enforcement professionals who donate their time and expertise
working as consultants.




Myrtle Beach Police Department / AP


Brittanee Drexel, here in an undated photo, disappeared while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, S.C., in April 2009.



"The average Project ALERT Representative (PAR) has retired after
working more than 20 years within a federal, state, or local
law-enforcement agency. ... Project ALERT representatives are trained by
the NCMEC and participate in a variety of ways on missing child cases,"
the website says.

Project Alert team members specialize in cold cases. In addition to case
reviews, they can recommend investigative strategies, assist with case
interviews and participate in technical meetings, according to the NCMEC
website.

Drexel, a 17-year-old girl from New York, was on spring break in Myrtle Beach,
S.C., when she disappeared in April 2009. She was last seen by friends
on April 25, when she left the Bar Harbor Hotel in Myrtle Beach to meet
some people at the nearby BlueWater Resort.
Surveillance footage shows Drexel arriving at the resort, then leaving
about 10 minutes later. What happened to her after that remains a
mystery.

Drexel's family members did not immediately return calls for comment from AOL News. Speaking with a WHEC-10 reporter in Rochester, N.Y., the teen's mother, Dawn Drexel, said she is happy about the latest developments.

"I'm glad they're keeping the case still active, and they're still
looking," the mother told the news station. "They're still trying to
find some answers about Brittanee's disappearance."


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Myrtle Beach Police Capt. David Knipes said the involvement of Project
Alert was not prompted by any new developments in the case.

"It's always good to have somebody else look at it, give a second
opinion, see if there's something that might have been missed, somebody
else you might want to interview," Knipes told Myrtle Beach's WPDE News Channel 15.

Crime Stoppers of the Lowcountry is offering a reward for information on
Drexel's whereabouts. Anyone with information is asked to call
888-CRIME-SC. Confidential tips can also be submitted via helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com.

http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/11/special-team-of-investigators-review-case-of-missing-spring-brea/

The search for Brittanee Drexel will continue
this weekend as crews head back to McClellanville to look for the missing teenager.
Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mother, will be present
at the search for her daughter who has been missing since 2009. Police
say Drexel was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th
Avenue South in Myrtle Beach on April 25, 2009. Drexel was 17 at the time of her disappearance.
This weekend search will take place Saturday and
Sunday and will center around an area along Old Georgetown Road off
Rutledge Road in Charleston County. Over 200 people are expected to help
in the search. Crews searched parts of this location in November 2010,
but were not able to cover the entire area last time.
"This little girl has just disappeared and we're
going to do everything we can to try to find her," said Monica Caison,
executive director of the CUE Center for Missing Persons. "It's going to
be a successful search either way because we've eliminated one more space if she's not here."
Volunteers spent Friday prepping for the weekend
search. They will use horses and dogs in the search which is centering
around McClellanville because a cell phone tower there received a signal
from her cell phone after Drexel went missing.

Brittanee's mother Dawn Drexel spent
Friday morning talking with Myrtle Beach Police Investigators.
She's hoping this new search will bring new hope.
"It's just been a very, very long road, you know,
enough's enough, we need someone to come forward and talk and let us
know what happened, and get some resolution, and bring Brittanee back home," said Drexel.

The case gained national attention after
the 17-year-old visited Myrtle Beach during spring break of 2009, and was never seen again.

Drexel and her friends were staying in the Bar Harbor Hotel along Ocean
Boulevard that week in April. Drexel was caught on a surveillance camera
around 8:15 p.m., Saturday, April 25, 2009, walking along the boulevard
to visit friends staying at the Bluewater Resort.

Drexel was then recorded on the hotel's surveillance camera some thirty
minutes later leaving the Bluewater Resort, returning to her hotel approximately 20 blocks away.

Somewhere within that 20 block walk, something would go very wrong, leaving
police, family, and friends trying to put together the pieces of how
Brittanee Drexel seemingly vanished.

Police received hundreds of tips concerning Drexel's whereabouts, all of which turned out to be nothing more than a dead end.

http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/13930163/crews-begin-new-search-for-missing-teen

Weekend search for Brittanee Drexel produces new information
nvestigators say they received new information in the case of missing teen Brittanee Drexel during a wide-scale weekend search.Nearly
200 people scoured an area off of Old Georgetown Road in search of the
Rochester, New York teen who disappeared from Myrtle Beach in April
2009."The location was of interest and we had reason to feel it was a worthwhile search," Myrtle Beach Police Lt. Chuck Capp said.Volunteers
and professional search crews used ATVs, horses and dogs to search the
12-mile-radius in McClellanville Saturday and Sunday.While Lt. Capp confirmed that new information has surfaced, though, what new information was discovered has not been released.
He said any new leads must first be confirmed and they haven't done
that just yet. Lt. Capp said Myrtle Beach Police will continue to follow
leads and work with other law enforcement agencies on the case."We have a cold case team and a joint task force with Georgetown, Charleston and SLED. We're constantly working on it."There have been more than 50 active searches for Drexel since her disappearance.

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=575071

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Relatives are planning fundraisers to mark the
two years since a New York teen was reported missing in Myrtle Beach.
Carol Wagner says she hopes the events in Myrtle Beach on April 21
and 23 will raise money for search efforts and lead to new information
about the disappearance of her granddaughter, Brittanee Drexel.
Dozens of searchers have fruitlessly searched Georgetown, Horry
(oh-REE) and Charleston counties since the Rochester, N.Y., teenager
disappeared April 25, 2009, after leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel. Drexel's
19th birthday was Oct. 5.
Wagner says she is holding out hope her granddaughter will be found
alive. Drexel's cell phone transmitted its last known signal the day
after she disappeared near the South Santee River in Georgetown County.http://online.wsj.com/article/AP84445880863b4fdba31d56a51f19ed62.htm

Police in Myrtle Beach say they have a new tip in the case of missing
Chili teen Brittanee Drexel that may lead them to the teen. The tip came
in early Tuesday morning.
Crews have already been planning a new search in the Myrtle Beach area,
as the two-year anniversary of Drexel's disappearance approaches.

Drexel was last seen April 25, 2009. Her cell phone transmitted a final signal near the South Santee River the next day.

http://www.irondequoitpost.com/latestnews/x1274034088/Police-follow-new-leads-in-Brittanee-Drexel-case

The mother of missing spring breaker Brittanee Drexel says she's encouraged by a new lead in the case.Brittanee was 17-years-old when she went missing during a trip to Myrtle Beach on April 25th, 2009.Dawn Drexel, who's visiting the Grand Strand to
mark the second anniversary of her daughter's disappearance, says
police often get new tips when the family comes to Myrtle Beach."I'm
not surprised that there has been more leads starting to come in.
Normally when we come down and we do something for Brittanee, they do
get some leads called in to them," Dawn Drexel said.Drexel says she's hoping someone who saw something the night Brittanee disappeared will come forward."I
don't want to find my child not alive. We do need resolution, but we
need her back and whoever's done this, they need to step up and let
somebody know."Searchers from the CUE Center for Missing Persons
are working in the Myrtle Beach area this week. Police will not say
where they're looking, but they did say Wednesday's search didn't
provide anything of value.The Drexel family is holding fundraisers this week to pay for more searches.Max & Erma's restaurant
in Carolina Forest is hosting a fundraiser Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10
p.m. Twenty percent of all proceeds will go to the Cue Center for Missing Persons, but you must present a flyer for the donation to be made. For more information, call (843) 903-1030.The Beaver Bar in Murrells Inlet is hosting a fundraiser Saturday,DR April 23, along with Harley Davidson and the Myrtle Beach Corvette Club.
From 9 a.m. to 11:15 a.m., there will be coffee and doughnuts at the
Harley Davidson of Myrtle Beach. They'll caravan to The Beaver Bar for
lunch and a remembrance. There will be drawings and giveaways. For more
information on this fundraiser, call Robin Holley at (843) 455-9645.
http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=608111

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – Investigators conducted a
new search Thursday for missing teen Brittanee Drexel, who vanished
nearly 2 years ago along Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach.
Thursday, a crew of about 15 volunteers searched a
wooded area in Myrtle Beach. Police do not want to release the exact
location, in order to keep the investigation intact.
Myrtle Beach Police, the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, and the CUE Center For Missing Persons conducted the search.
Monica Caison of the CUE Center says the area searched Thursday is a new spot for them to search.
"The area we're in, we've not been before," said
Caison. "We have searched several areas in Myrtle Beach and Surfside
area, but in this particular area, we've not been here before."
Caison is hopeful this new search will encourage people to come forward with information about the case.
"It's sad that we're still here two years later,
and that somebody in this community hasn't reached out to law
officials," she said.
Monday marks 2 years since Drexel's disappearance.
Lieutenant Chuck Capp of the Myrtle Beach Police Department says he
does see an end coming to this case, eventually.
"We still have evidence that's being analyzed, and
waiting for the results of that evidence, so I think it will be solved,
I don't know if it will be solved soon," he explained.
Lieutenant Capp says they conducted a similar search on Wednesday.
So far, he says they have found nothing of significance in their searches this week.
Drexel's family is back in the Myrtle Beach area
and planning an event on Saturday to remember her, and others who have
gone missing.http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/14494186/crews-conduct-new-search-for-missing-teen

There are new developments in the Brittanee Drexel case.

WCBD-TV in Charleston, South Carolina is reporting that police and
investigators are at the Sunset Lodge in Georgetown County, South
Carolina.

Police are investigating the apartment of a man who lives in room 22 at
the Sunset Lodge. Authorities say the man lived in the apartment around
the time Drexel went missing.

Drexel, a Chili teen, disappeared April 25, 2009, after leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel on spring break.

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

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2222850.shtml?cat=566

Law enforcement officials put up crime scene tape Monday after
executing a search at a Georgetown County motel room to hopefully learn
more information regarding the disappearance of New York teen
Brittanee Drexel who went missing on spring break in Myrtle Beach in
2009.

Officials searched room 22 at the Sunset Lodge
Hotel—where it is believed someone who stayed there was connected with
her disappearance—for more than three hours, according to The State.

Investigators
left the room around 2 p.m. with a box of brown paper bags filled
with evidence that might lead to more clues regarding Drexel’s
location.

Drexel, who was 17 at the time of her disappearance,
was last seen leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard in
Myrtle Beach on April 25, 2009.

Search efforts were launched in
Georgetown and Charleston Counties after officials learned the last
known signal sent from Drexel’s cellphone was from Georgetown County
on April 26, 2009.

http://www.wtma.com/rssItem.asp?feedid=134&itemid=29702149

New information on missing Chili teen Brittanee Drexel
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 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.
evehttp://www.whec.com/news/stories/S2226052.shtml?cat=566n

New billboard will be unveiled in Myrtle Beach, Brittanee Drexel disappearance

Aug 11, 2011 8:56 AM



Brittanee Drexel



MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) – A new billboard regarding the search for a missing teen will be unveiled this week.

Brittanee Drexel's family and the Kristen
Foundation are expected to hold a press conference Friday in regards to
recent developments in the case of the 16-year-old.

Drexel was last heard from on April 25, 2009.
She was last seen leaving a hotel in Myrtle Beach. The Rochester, New
York teen was on spring break with friends.

The billboard is located near the spot Drexel
was last known to have been. It was personally designed by Brittanee's
father, Chad Drexel.

The latest developments led State Law
Enforcement Division (SLED) agents to an efficiency apartment at the
Sunset Lodge in Georgetown on Highway 17. Myrtle Beach police would only
say that a tip led them to search the room regarding Drexel's
disappearance.

Brittanee's family and friends are appealing
to the public and ask the media for help in generating leads as to her
whereabouts. Anyone with information or leads regarding this missing
person is asked to contact the Myrtle Beach Police Department at (843)
918-1382 or the Kristen Foundation at (704) 996-5066.
http://www.abcnews4.com/story/15245108/new-billboard-will-be-unveiled-brittanee-drexel-dissaperance

The adopted father of missing New York teen
Brittanee Drexel is back in the Grand Strand just days after
investigators announce a new search in the case.
"I want to show the public that I'm here, if
you know anything please come forward," said Chad Drexel, just hours
after returning to Myrtle Beach from Rochester.

Chad Drexel and other family members are back
in Myrtle Beach for an event on Friday that will unveil a new billboard
meant to raise awareness about the ongoing search.

"I want more numbers out there, I want more people helping, I want to be able to talk to father to father." Mr. Drexel added.

The billboard, which is designed by Chad, is
sponsored by the Kristen Foundation, a non-profit group aimed at raising
awareness about missing adults. However, that decision is drawing
criticism from some members of the Drexel family.

"I feel like you know a lot of people out
there are just trying to get publicity from Brittanee, and I don't want
anyone using my daughter for that." Dawn Drexel told WMBF News during a
phone interview on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Brittanee's father fired back and defended the billboard as a chance to seek new leads in the case.

"I wish I could have 30 more groups helping,
it's our daughter not just mine or Dawns, and I wish I could have more
helping." Chad Drexel added.

Drexel was 17-years-old at the time of her
disappearance and would turn 20 this October. She was last seen leaving
the Blue Water Hotel along Ocean Blvd. on April 25, 2009. Drexel's
family was in Myrtle Beach earlier this year to mark the two-year
anniversary of the teen's disappearance and to ask the public to
continue to call in their tips to authorities in the case.


http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/15254465/missing-teens-father-returns-to-grand-strand-in-hopes-of-raising-awareness

My thoughts~
After reading the report how Dawn was upset about the new group's involvement I came to the conclusion that her words were prompted by the "original" group.
There is no point in ANY group trying to Bogart the limelight and be THE "official" search group.
I am staunchly behind Chad on this one. If 100 groups want to put up billboards, bring 'em on!

TomTerrific0420 wrote:My thoughts~
After reading the report how Dawn was upset about the new group's involvement I came to the conclusion that her words were prompted by the "original" group.
There is no point in ANY group trying to Bogart the limelight and be THE "official" search group.
I am staunchly behind Chad on this one. If 100 groups want to put up billboards, bring 'em on!

Tom, I'm with you. Wonder why the mother doesn't want the additional publicity???

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Crews have again searched a coastal South
Carolina area for a New York teen who went missing more than two years
ago.

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