Brittanee Marie Drexel, missing since 4/25/09 from Myrtle Beach, SC

[Lovinlife]

National group joins search for missing N.Y. girl
Kurt Knapek - kknapek@thesunnews.com
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Officers, family members and a national organization are continuing to look for a New York girl who went missing April 27 (Brittanee has been missing since April 25th this is a typo) in Myrtle Beach.

Carol Wagner said Monday her granddaughter, Brittanee Drexel, 17, has been dealing with depression for about the past year because her parents are divorcing, the family house is being sold and the teen learned she may have to switch high schools before her senior year.

``It has just been one thing after the other,'' said Wagner, who came to Myrtle Beach with her husband soon after learning of the disappearance. ``Brittanee keeps it all bottled up inside. Between the fights with her parents and school and a boyfriend, it probably just ate her up inside.

     Myrtle Beach Police officers follow Bonnie Laidlaw on a dirt road in northern Charleston County during the search for the 17-year-old missing from a Myrtle Beach resort. Laidlaw is with S.C. Search Dogs from the Charleston area. The search dispersed from Pole Yard Landing at the Santee River in southern Georgetown County on Saturday. Brittanee Drexel is from Rochester, N.Y. She was last seen at the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard on April 25. Photo by Janet Blackmon Morgan / jblackmon@thesunnews.com
 Searching for Brittanee Drexel

  ``She said, `I have to get away for a while.' We didn't know she was going to come down here. We thought she was at a friend's house back home. ... She's never done anything like this before.''

Police did not receive any new leads to the girl's whereabouts Monday, according to Capt. David Knipes, spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department.

``We're still looking for her,'' Knipes said. ``She could be a runaway, a missing person or an abduction. We don't have a label on it.''

Also Monday, two representatives from the Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children arrived in Myrtle Beach to assist in the search, according to Bob Walcutt, executive director. The Texas-based group's mission statement is to ``prevent abductions and runaways and to recover missing children by fostering a Triangle of Trust among law enforcement, community and a missing child's family.''

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/886345.html

[Lovinlife]

Myrtle Beach Police officers follow Bonnie Laidlaw on a dirt road in northern Charleston County during the search for the 17-year-old missing from a Myrtle Beach resort. Laidlaw is with S.C. Search Dogs from the Charleston area. The search dispersed from Pole Yard Landing at the Santee River in southern Georgetown County on Saturday. Brittanee Drexel is from Rochester, N.Y. She was last seen at the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard on April 25. Photo by Janet Blackmon Morgan / jblackmon@thesunnews.com

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/886345.html

[always 1]

The bike rally will be in town on May 8 thru the 17th, maybe they can help look for her.

[always 1]

What did Knpes mean when he said Brittnee could be a danger to "others"?

[AZSunny]

What did Knpes mean when he said Brittnee could be a danger to "others"?

I didn't see this quoted any where.  Where did you see this?

[Lovinlife]

Missing Chili teen: new video released by police 
 
Police released new surveillance video Monday believed to be Brittanee Drexel.

It was taped the night the Chili teenager disappeared.
That was over nine days ago while the 17-year-old was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for spring break. 


The video shows what investigators believe is Drexel walking down Ocean Boulevard.

Her boyfriend, just back from Myrtle Beach, spoke publicly for the first time with News 10NBC.

He believes Drexel was abducted.

"My gut is telling me she's out there. She's alive, and somebody has her and is doing horrible things to her," said John Grieco.

He last spoke to his girlfriend April 25th.

"The last text that I sent her, it had the sentence, 'You better be safe. I really miss you,'" recalled Grieco. "And she assured me that she was being safe, and now this is national news."

CNN's Nancy Grace picked up the story as Drexel's mother and Grieco have been in Myrtle Beach searching for any signs of the teen.

"I dropped school, I dropped work, I dropped my sanity," Grieco said. "Everything's really been devoted to Brit, so I'm hoping this pays off."

On Monday, the surveillance video was released by Myrtle Beach Police.

Investigators believe it shows Drexel walking along Ocean Boulevard at around 8:15 the night she disappeared.

A half hour later she was seen leaving the Blue Water Resort alone.

"No friend should ever let their other friend walk alone," said Grieco. "I was down there with a group of guys. We wouldn't let a single person walk towards the beach alone just because the area it was in."

News 10NBC also obtained photos of Drexel taken in Myrtle Beach.

They were posted on a Facebook page dedicated to finding her.

"Something happened that she has no control over the situation," said Grieco. 

He has two words for his girlfriend: stay strong.

"I'm going to put in every last bit of energy that I have to find her," said Grieco. "If that puts me in the grave I'll do it 'cause I want her back home."

Grieco will be heading back to South Carolina with his father to keep on searching for Drexel.

He says his instincts are telling him she's not in Myrtle Beach anymore, but says it's better being down there searching rather than being in Rochester talking about it.
 
http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S914066.shtml?cat=565


I'm trying to find the link to the video, if I find it I will post. 

[klaasend]

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/886752.html

Posted on Tue, May. 05, 2009
N.Y. teen's family stays hopeful, investigation still on
By Kurt Knapek
kknapek@thesunnews.com

Family and friends are holding out hope that a missing New York teenager is still alive and are continuing to plan for Brittanee Drexel's prom this weekend.

Carol Wagner took a few minutes Monday to speak to a business that is making her granddaughter's dress for the junior prom at Gates-Chili High School in Rochester, N.Y., on Saturday.

"It was for a fitting appointment for the dress," Wagner said from her hotel room in Myrtle Beach. "It's just, if we do find her, she'll be able to go to the prom. We bought everything for her. It's just ... you never think this would happen to your family."

Drexel, 17, was last seen on April 25 near the Blue Water Resort in Myrtle Beach. Several groups spent the weekend in Georgetown County near the South Santee River, where Drexel's cell phone last gave off a signal, police said.

Police did not receive any new leads to the girl's whereabouts on Monday, according to Capt. David Knipes, spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department.

"We're still looking for her," Knipes said. "She could be a runaway, a missing person or an abduction. We don't have a label on it."

Also Monday, two representatives from the Laura Recovery Center for Missing Children arrived in Myrtle Beach to assist in the search, according to Bob Walcutt, executive director. The Texas-based group's mission statement is to "prevent abductions and runaways and to recover missing children by fostering a Triangle of Trust among law enforcement, community and a missing child's family."

Knipes said the police department has a "good number" of missing persons reports that it investigates every month. But because of Drexel's reported history with depression, the case has been handed over to investigators.

Wagner said Drexel has been dealing with depression for about the last year because her parents are divorcing, the family house is being sold, and the teen learned she may have to switch high schools before her senior year.

"It has just been one thing after the other," said Wagner, who came to Myrtle Beach with her husband soon after learning of the disappearance. "Brittanee keeps it all bottled up inside. Between the fights with her parents and school and a boyfriend, it probably just ate her up inside.

"She said, 'I have to get away for a while.' We didn't know she was going to come down here. We thought she was at a friend's house back home. ... She's never done anything like this before."

Wagner said she knew something was wrong when Drexel did not call her grandfather on his birthday, April 27.

"Brittanee used to call us every night to say good night until the last year," Wagner said. "I went to see her three times a week. She would always say, 'Grandma, can you take me shopping, can you take me to find a dress.' My husband would give the last dime out of his pocket for her."

Tara Friedman, a friend, said she talked to Drexel about three to four times a week for the past four years. Friedman said she did not know Drexel was coming to Myrtle Beach and said she didn't see a "big change" in Drexel's emotions in the last year.

"When I was her age, I was all stressed out, too," said Friedman, 19. "It's kind of a crazy time for a teenager. I remember going through it. I remember getting in fights with my parents and grandparents 'cause I was so stressed.

"But she was still having a lot of fun and was still smiling."

Drexel has played soccer for about 10 years and is one of the top players on her team in Rochester, Wagner said. She also was taking cosmetology classes in her hometown, Friedman said.

"She is a very fun-loving girl, always smiling," Friedman said. "She is very strong-minded, very independent."

Anyone with any information about Brittanee Drexel is asked to call the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office at 546-5102 or the Myrtle Beach Police Department at 918-1382 or 918-1952.

[Lovinlife]

Brittanee's missing person's report:  http://blogs.discovery.com/files/drexelreport1.pdf

At least she's been entered in the NCIC.

[cookie]

giving a lot of credit to her boyfriend in being so determined to find her...sounds like a nice young man..
I feel really sorry for her family...I could not imagine if one of my grand kids were missing...has to be horrible ..

[klaasend]

http://www.wmbfnews.com/global/story.asp?s=10302505

Drexel case could hurt MB tourism

Posted: May 4, 2009 09:02 PM PDT

Updated: May 5, 2009 05:33 AM PDT

By Trey Paul - bio | email

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Could the case of a missing 17-year-old girl hurt Myrtle Beach's economy?

According to Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce president Brad Dean, the case does have the potential to hurt the economy, but right now he says it's too soon to tell.

"People are probably wondering if our children our safe," said Carnivale Motor Inn Manager Randy Thompkins.

Thompkins, who is also a father, says he understands how the Drexel case could hurt his business: "So far, it has not. We haven't noticed it here."

Thompkins told WMBF News a person can go missing anywhere, and before anyone should become nervous, they need to know the facts.

What happened to 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel is still under investigation.

"It doesn't scare me, only because if I was on the beach, I wouldn't be walking around by myself," said Liliana Glover, 18, who visited Ocean Boulevard Monday and saw the fliers for Drexel. "I don't think it's going to impact the people that come here. I think what it's going to impact is parent's decisions to let their kids come by themselves."

Thompkins added, "If someone else turns up missing, then I think we've got a problem."

[Lovinlife]

I'm trying to find the link to the video, if I find it I will post. 

It is horrible quality.  I hope someone else can get a better one.  It looks like there were many people/cars around.
 http://www.13wham.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=206435@wokr.dayport.com&navCatId=5

[Rob]

There are some new links - well, not exactly new, but I didn't copy them over yesterday.

Here is today's first new info.

Search resumes Wed for missing spring breaker; reward offered
By Graeme Moore
Tuesday, May 05, 2009 at 11:59 p.m.

Search crews on Wednesday will go door to door in Georgetown County trying to develop new leads in the case of the teenager who vanished while on spring break in Myrtle Beach.

Volunteers with out-of-state missing persons agencies will work with local law enforcement to re-canvass the area where the teen's cell phone last gave a signal.

It will be the 11th day since 17-year-old Brittanee Marie Drexel was seen leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard.

Drexel disappeared around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, April 25th, and according to Myrtle Beach Police, a signal from Drexel's phone was beamed to a tower near the Santee rivers in Georgetown County a few hours later. There was an additional signal beamed to the same tower on Sunday, but there has been no activity since.

For the better part of last week and weekend, crews searched a seven-mile radius around that tower but came up empty-handed.

Since then The Laura Recovery Center has joined forces with the CUE Center for Missing Persons, Myrtle Beach Police and Georgetown County Sheriff's Office.

In addition to knocking on doors in the area, volunteers from all of those agencies will research the areas and communities surrounding the Santee Rivers.

"We're just going to continue to scout the area for other possibilities," Monica Caison with the CUE Center in Wilmington said.

Meanwhile, Drexel's mother, Dawn, continues her efforts in Myrtle Beach to find her daughter.

"My heart is broken, I want my daughter to come home."

Dawn arrived in Myrtle Beach two days after her daughter was reported missing, and she hasn't stopped since.

"Day in and day out we look for Brittanee. Either we're passing out fliers or going to meetings or talking to the media. It's very exhausting. It's very tiring," Dawn said.

Despite the restless nights and long days, Dawn isn't giving in to her mental and physical exhaustion.

"We need to get that information out there. We need to find my baby, so we can bring her back home."

Police continue to investigate Brittanee's case as a missing person, and they are not ruling anything out -- including the possibility that Brittanee may have run away.

Dawn, however, says she knows better.

"The amount of pain it would cause ... she would not put anyone through this. ... I don't believe she ran away. I believe someone took her."

The Myrtle Beach Police Department has a tip line set up and asks anyone with information to call 843-918-1963.

Crimestoppers of the Lowcountry announced Tuesday night it's offering a reward of up to $1,000. Here's some information the organization released through a press release:

"The public is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers if they, or someone they know, have any information regarding the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel, or of any other crimes, by phone at 1-888-274-6372 (1-888-CRIME-SC), or on the web at www.5541111.com."

[Rob]

Drexel disappeared around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, April 25th, and according to Myrtle Beach Police, a signal from Drexel's phone was beamed to a tower near the Santee rivers in Georgetown County a few hours later. There was an additional signal beamed to the same tower on Sunday, but there has been no activity since.

For the better part of last week and weekend, crews searched a seven-mile radius around that tower but came up empty-handed.

Just to comment on this particular portion of the above article. This is an abduction with the use of a vehicle. We now know that Brittanee was seen on at least one video and away from the hotel. That does seem to clear Mr. B. Although he does have a car and could have left the hotel and driven several blocks and encountered Brittanee. For all intensive purposes - Mr. B is seemingly cleared.

In order for Brittanee to have been several blocks from the boys hotel and then triangulated approximately 30 miles away with-in a few hours - there must be a vehicle involved.

Unfortunately, the term "several hours" is not time-stamp specific. It can only be 3 hours and 15 minutes at the max as she left the hotel at 8:45 and it's doubtful she was abducted until sometime after 9 pm if she was in the area indicated by the video. It's also possible that she needed longer to walk that distance.

Also, a seven mile radius is quite large and finding a cell phone in that area will be difficult. The best possibility is that someone just stumbles over it and alerts the authorities.

[Rob]

Father of missing teen to appear on Dr. Phil show
Posted at: 05/05/2009 5:09 PM | WHEC.com
Updated at: 05/06/2009 2:15 AM
By: Lynette Adams

The case of a missing Gates-Chili student is getting more national attention. The father of Brittanee Drexel will be on the Dr. Phil show. The teen disappeared on spring break in Myrtle Beach. She's been missing now for a week and a half.

Chad Drexel says his next step is appealing to a national audience. News 10NBC spoke with Drexel by phone as he was getting on a plane to Los Angeles.

Drexel says he's scheduled to tape an appearance on the Dr. Phil show. The hour-long talk show airs weekdays on News 10NBC. Drexel says he may also appear live on the Today Show.

Brittanee Drexel disappeared last Saturday while she was in Myrtle Beach on spring break without her parents’ permission.

An extensive search of Myrtle Beach has turned up little. Now Chad Drexel says it's time to take the next step. “I need to get the word out and I feel that I need to step as her dad instead of just seeing her mom out there. I feel that I need to step up and be on TV and tell my side of the story on what I believe the thoughts were going through my daughter's mind.”

Drexel is hoping someone who was in Myrtle Beach and walking along that busy street at the same time as Brittanee, will remember something, anything that could help police find her.
Edit to add link: http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S915839.shtml?cat=566
Related articles:
Missing Chili teen: new video released by police

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

[Rob]

Link to above article

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S915839.shtml?cat=566

That gosh darn website hangs and doesn't copy the link for me always. Sorry about that.

[Rob]

Reward offered for information about missing N.Y. teen from Myrtle Beach
Wednesday, May. 06, 2009
Tonya Root - troot@thesunnews.com 



Officials with Crime Stoppers of the Lowcountry are offering up to $1,000 reward for information related to the disappearance of a 17-year-old New York girl missing from the Myrtle Beach area.

Brittanee Drexel was last seen on April 25 near the Blue Water Resort in Myrtle Beach. Several groups have searched in Georgetown County near the South Santee River, where Drexel's cell phone last gave off a signal, but have not found anything related to the girl, police said.

Anyone with information about Drexel or her disappearance can call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-274-6372 (1-888-CRIME-SC), or log on at www.5541111.com. Anonymous text tips can be sent by starting a new text message to CRIMES (274637), and mark the beginning of the message with "CSL".
Quantcast

All contact information with Crime Stoppers remains anonymous and tipsters could earn a reward up to $1000.

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/breaking_news/story/888416.html

[cookie]

Rob or anyone...so if her cell phone could be out in the terrain, could a  specially trained dog perhaps find it from her scent or would that probably be gone by now?
so frustrating..
I agree with you that a vehicle has to be involved...
perhaps there is more than one person involved who forced her into the car...?

[Kimmy53]

Drexel disappeared around 8:45 p.m. on Saturday, April 25th, and according to Myrtle Beach Police, a signal from Drexel's phone was beamed to a tower near the Santee rivers in Georgetown County a few hours later. There was an additional signal beamed to the same tower on Sunday, but there has been no activity since.

For the better part of last week and weekend, crews searched a seven-mile radius around that tower but came up empty-handed.

Just to comment on this particular portion of the above article. This is an abduction with the use of a vehicle. We now know that Brittanee was seen on at least one video and away from the hotel. That does seem to clear Mr. B. Although he does have a car and could have left the hotel and driven several blocks and encountered Brittanee. For all intensive purposes - Mr. B is seemingly cleared.

In order for Brittanee to have been several blocks from the boys hotel and then triangulated approximately 30 miles away with-in a few hours - there must be a vehicle involved.

Unfortunately, the term "several hours" is not time-stamp specific. It can only be 3 hours and 15 minutes at the max as she left the hotel at 8:45 and it's doubtful she was abducted until sometime after 9 pm if she was in the area indicated by the video. It's also possible that she needed longer to walk that distance.

Also, a seven mile radius is quite large and finding a cell phone in that area will be difficult. The best possibility is that someone just stumbles over it and alerts the authorities.

ITA - The way these high rise hotels are set up, most have parking decks at the street level, or are seperate parking decks.  Walking down the roads, you pass by these parking decks, that can be dark and isolated. Kinda creepy, as I have walked by alot of these types of hotels in the area, and felt that this would be the type of area that someone could easily snatch someone undetected and be gone.  All it takes is a "nice" looking guy offering a naive girl a ride or an invitation to a party.  Alot of these young girls don't need to be "forced" into a car, they get in on their own free will, and this would not call attention to anyone who may be a witness.

There are probably people who are witnesses who may not realize they saw something important.  The problem is, Brittanee looks like about every other girl there on Spring Break.

 I certainly hope there is survelance video in these parking decks.  In all probability, she could have just voluntarily gotten into a car and disapeared.

[cookie]

^^^^^could be...

[klaasend]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,519116,00.html

Missing New York Teen's Mom 'Not Satisfied' Police Cleared Boys
Wednesday, May 06, 2009



ADVERTISEMENTThe mother of a Rochester, N.Y., teenager who disappeared on spring break said she has doubts about why police have already cleared a group of boys her daughter Brittanee Drexel visited the night she vanished.

Dawn Drexel told FOX News that she is "not really satisfied" about the fact that authorities have ruled out involvement on the part of Peter Broswick and his male friends, whose Myrtle Beach hotel room Brittanee went to just before she disappeared the night of April 25.

"I'm going by what police officers are telling me, and they are going by what evidence they do have," Drexel said Wednesday. "Someone may have been watching her and may have abducted her."

Drexel thinks someone knows something about where her daughter is.

Click here for photos.

At about 8 p.m. on April 25, Brittanee left the Bar Harbor Hotel, where she was staying with some girl friends, to go to the nearby Blue Resort Hotel to see Broswick.

Surveillance camera footage captured 17-year-old Brittanee entering and leaving the Blue Resort lobby.

Hours later, at about 1 a.m., Broswick left Myrtle Beach to return home to Rochester. Authorities there and in Myrtle Beach have questioned him several times, but say is isn't a suspect.

Brittanee's mother finds it suspicious that he left the South Carolina resort town in the middle of the night, only hours after her daughter vanished.

Detectives believe Broswick may have been the last person to see Brittanee, a student at Gates-Chili High School in Rochester, alive.

The missing teen's boyfriend, John Grieco, said Brittanee had never told him about Broswick and his friends.

"She didn't make me aware of that because she was friends with them and she knew that I didn't necessarily like the fact that she was hanging out with a whole group of guys," Grieco told FOX News on Tuesday.

But he doesn't think the group of boys is involved in her disappearance, he added.

"I don't believe he had anything to do with Brittanee's disappearance," Grieco said. "I do believe there are people out there who know what happened to her."

Brittanee took the trip against her mom's wishes because she wanted the getaway, Drexel told FOX.

"She's 17," the girl's mother said. "She felt like she needed to get away for a little bit. She wanted to hang out with her friends. It really didn't matter [what I said]. Kids are not naive, but they don't know what's out there."

Drexel has said Brittanee suffers from depression and may have been upset because she and her husband are getting divorced. But she insists the girl would never run away.

"I know my daughter and she is not like that," Drexel told FOX. "She's not that type of person to leave her clothes behind. She is always done up and she is not going to stay in the same clothes for five days."

Brittanee has blue eyes and shoulder-length brown hair with blond highlights. She's 5 feet tall, weighs about 100 pounds and was last seen wearing a multi-colored shirt, black shorts and flip-flops.

Those with any information are asked to call Myrtle Beach Police at (843) 918-1300, 1-800-CRIME-TV or 1-800-THE-LOST (843-5678).