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

[pink angel]

They tracked her cellphone leaving the area? Where does the pinging stop?

[pink angel]

Just because her phone is pinging somewhere doesn't mean she is with the phone....I'm jes' sayin.

[Rob]

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/883670.html

Police scour rivers for missing N.Y. girl
Saturday, May. 02, 2009
By Kelly Marshall Fuller - kfuller@thesunnews.com 

GEORGETOWN -- An intense land and water search near the North and South Santee rivers Friday turned up nothing for police looking for a missing 17-year-old girl from New York.

Police officers from Myrtle Beach were in Georgetown County with officials from several other agencies, searching areas near U.S. 17 and two rivers for Brittanee Marie Drexel, who disappeared while on a visit to Myrtle Beach.

Capt. David Knipes with the Myrtle Beach police said investigators are following all leads, one of which led officers to look into an area of Georgetown County.

Lt. Chuck Capp would not specify what information in the tip led police to the remote river location.

Drexel still is considered a missing person, according to Capp, who said nothing related to her was located during Friday's search.

Officers from the Myrtle Beach Police Department, Georgetown County Sheriff's Office, Charleston County Sheriff's Office, State Law Enforcement Division and North Charleston Police Department were at the river until late Friday.

Also searching were representatives from Community United Effort, a North Carolina-based organization that searches for missing people, and North Carolina Canine Emergency Response Team, a group of retired police officers who assist with searches.

Some searchers used boats with side-scan sonar equipment to check the river for the girl, Capp said.

Monica Caison from CUE used dogs to search a forest nearby. Authorities expect more people to participate in the search when it resumes at 10 a.m. today.

Police have been looking for Drexel since she was reported missing Sunday.

On Thursday, police learned that a reported sighting of Drexel on Wednesday was incorrect. A young woman who fit Drexel's description turned out not to be her, Knipes said Thursday.

Officers found the woman that witnesses reported seeing at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday on a bus from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach and confirmed she was not Drexel, Knipes said.

Police said Drexel, who is described as 5 feet tall and 103 pounds, was last seen wearing black shorts, flip-flops and a multicolored striped shirt. She has shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes.

Anyone with information should contact the Myrtle Beach Police Department at 918-1382 or 918-1952.
Contact KELLY MARSHALL FULLER at 626-0366.

[Rob]

They tracked her cellphone leaving the area? Where does the pinging stop?

pink angel in the article I just posted above - I think the cell phone stopped pinging in the vicinity of the river.

Given that (and it's just speculation on my part) it seems Mrs. Drexel is right to be concerned. She obviously knows more than any of us.

I guess with no credible sightings, Brittanee is most likely no longer alive and either a crime victim or a potential suicide.

I guess there is a chance for suicide, but how would she know how to get to this river? That seems unlikely in my opinion.

I have been holding out hope Brittanee is alive, but with no sightings, her being 17, and the police combing a river - this just doesn't have the makings for a good ending - sorry to say.

I guess if Brittanee is found in that river the question will be how she got there with no car.

[Rob]

Posted at: 05/01/2009 11:32 PM | WHEC.com
By: Linzi Sheldon

Family, friends continue search for missing teen

Nearly a week after a Chili teenager went missing in South Carolina, the search is now focused on two rivers 30 miles south of where she was last seen in Myrtle Beach.
   
Brittanee Drexel, a junior at Gates-Chili High School, went missing last Saturday after she went to Myrtle Beach for spring break.
   
"To think that your daughter could be out there...and maybe being held against her own will or...she may not be alive is a horrible feeling," Dawn Drexel, Brittanee Drexel's mother, said. "A horrible feeling."
   
Dive teams searched the North and South Santee Rivers south of Myrtle Beach on Friday. They combed a two to three mile radius with boats, helicopters and dogs but found nothing.
   
"It's very hurtful to know that they're searching in that kind of way," Chad Drexel, Brittanee Drexel's father, said. "They're searching for...I don't even want to say the words. It's disturbing but at least I know they're doing all they can."
   
Surveillance photos show Drexel last Saturday night leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel where several male friends were staying. It was the last time she was seen.
   
In Rochester, Drexel's friend Casey Capo has raised nearly three thousand dollars. The money goes to Drexel's family and friends to pay for flyers and other search expenses.
   
"I really truly am honestly begging everyone to continue," Capo, who has collected money for The Brittanee Drexel Fund at Wal-Mart and a local restaurant, said. "Don't give up. It's not something you can give up on."
   
As police return to the rivers Saturday morning, Drexel's mother will keep searching too-- determined to bring her daughter home.
   
"I have to find her," Dawn Drexel said. "We'll keep handing out flyers, keep going down the boulevard...go to places that we think she may be...looking down streets. We're going to do whatever we can. I'm not leaving my daughter here."

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S910694.shtml?cat=566

[cookie]

Keep the hope and the faith...I know that things don't look good...but there is a chance that Brittanee will be found alive...I am very concerned but I can't give up on her yet.....1 week today...right?
Her poor family....this has to be horrible for them, as it is for every family with a family member missing...
heartbreaking...

Klaas, thanks for the pictures...thanks to everyone for the news articles..

[Kat_Gram]

Where they were searching is south of MB. Too far to walk.
...
I am curious as to how they ( police ) got on to this Peter guy so soon.
That they asked him to call and keep calling her phone says to me they has the ping technology up and running. For him. If it was for her phone, they could have called the number themselves. Was he in that car by himself ?     

[cookie]

Where they were searching is south of MB. Too far to walk.
...
I am curious as to how they ( police ) got on to this Peter guy so soon.
That they asked him to call and keep calling her phone says to me they has the ping technology up and running. For him. If it was for her phone, they could have called the number themselves. Was he in that car by himself ?     

good point Kat...perhaps they were seeing if the phones were hitting on the same pings at the same time...you are right, it does seem odd that they would have him call her phone vs them calling her phone....hmmmmm

[always 1]

If there were 5 guys in the hotel room, when did the others leave.  20 blocks is about three miles, right?  I dont understand how anyone (the girls in the their hotel or the boys in theirs ) would let a friend walk  that far alone at night, (not putting the blame on anyone)

[Rob]

Where they were searching is south of MB. Too far to walk.
...
I am curious as to how they ( police ) got on to this Peter guy so soon.
That they asked him to call and keep calling her phone says to me they has the ping technology up and running. For him. If it was for her phone, they could have called the number themselves. Was he in that car by himself ?     

I'm thinking at this point - how did her cell phone get thirty miles away?

Let's face it - this isn't a random search. This is based on something case specific to Brittanee.

I think (to possibly answer your question Kat_Gram)... Mr. Brozowitz was also pinged somewhere along the route and area.

I think they have possibly triangulated him. When disposing of a body and being 20 years old - things like cell pings slip your mind - if ya know what I mean.

[Kat_Gram]

If I am not mistaken, this man left after he knew the girl was missing or there was some questions as to her location. Her friends ? also knew she was unlocated. Yet, they all just left MB. Left her clothes in the hotel room and left.
..
No wonder her Mumma is confused and things aren't adding up for her because they aren't adding up for me either.   

[Rob]

Where they were searching is south of MB. Too far to walk.
...
I am curious as to how they ( police ) got on to this Peter guy so soon.
That they asked him to call and keep calling her phone says to me they has the ping technology up and running. For him. If it was for her phone, they could have called the number themselves. Was he in that car by himself ?     

good point Kat...perhaps they were seeing if the phones were hitting on the same pings at the same time...you are right, it does seem odd that they would have him call her phone vs them calling her phone....hmmmmm

cookie, what I find interesting is this may have occurred before his attorney showed up on the scene. His attorney, if competent and I have no reason to doubt he is nothing but an upstanding member of the Bar and legal profession, would have told the police to conduct their own investigation and to leave his client out of it.

I think the LE were looking for his cell signature. A nice tricky move on their part.

Why not ask her mother, her girlfriends, or even her dad to place those calls?

I think they had a cell signature and needed a match.

In a sense - they had Brittanee's cell pings and her phone's signature, and also had a corresponding time line for another cell phone, but who's was it? But asking the last person to admit he saw her to place those calls - they can tighten the time line and confirm if it was indeed Mr. Brozowitz.

[Rob]

If I am not mistaken, this man left after he knew the girl was missing or there was some questions as to her location. Her friends ? also knew she was unlocated. Yet, they all just left MB. Left her clothes in the hotel room and left.
..
No wonder her Mumma is confused and things aren't adding up for her because they aren't adding up for me either.   

I'm not sure that an argument over a skirt could escalate to a murder, but stranger things have happened. And then again, how would any of the girls no where to dispose of the body?

In order to dispose of a body in this location (if this is where she is located and it's all speculation at this point) you need some knowledge of the land and roadways. The other option is you just drive until you find a place you think is suitable and just hope for the best and you don't get caught.

At this point with none of the girlfriends under any kind of scrutiny - I go back to the last person seen with the missing person and he seems to be the only one with an attorney and a time line that has him leaving the area almost immediately. 

I've been wondering (naturally) why Mr. Brozowitz is not under POI status, did not return to speak to the MB police and did that via conference call with his local LE in the presence of his attorney - and then it dawned on me - He IS THE SUSPECT.

The MB police know where he is and can have him extradited upon the retrieval of a body (presuming Brittanee is deceased) and I don't think he's going to return voluntarily due to the death penalty in South Carolina.

Mr. Brozowitz knows he's the suspect - his own action have affirmed that in my mind. His family and attorney can place a positive spin on it all they want - but his own actions speak louder than words.

He won't be the first young man with no record, and a loving kind boy to kill a little girl, nor will he be the last.

With Brittanee now missing almost a full week, no clothing, not much money, and no contact with anyone - I think it's safe so assume she can not communicate on her own voluntarily.

just my opinion of course

[Kat_Gram]

I just have a very bad feeling about the entire situation. Her cell being south of MB, her so called friends, the driver of the car she went down there with just leaving, and this Peter guy leaving the way he did so suddenly. There was a " fight " about some shorts, but leaving your friend in MB over a pair of unreturned shorts seems pretty callous.
..
I did read last night how pings worked. I remember when Geo Ant went mising and how they found him by calling his cell and the pings. They didn't get the exact location, but they were pretty close. They knew the approximate location and drove around the very small area until they found his car.

[Kat_Gram]

I agree with you Rob. He left before the MB LE could speak to him and now it is all thu his high powered attorney.
And if they want to search his car, the car in in Rochester with this guy and they would need a search warrant and probable cause. In the meantime, time is passing and the guys who were there with him, were they glued to Peter after she left their hotel room ? 

[Rob]

Cell-phone signal led searchers to river to look for missing N.Y. girl

Saturday, May. 02, 2009

A cell-phone signal led authorities to the North and South Santee rivers in Georgetown County this weekend to search for a missing New York girl, but neither the phone nor the girl has been found, authorities said as they resumed their efforts this morning.

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources has joined in the search for 17-year-old Brittanee Marie Drexel, and rescue dogs are assisting. Fliers with a picture of Drexel are being distributed nearby.

Drexel was reported missing Sunday after she was last seen leaving one Myrtle Beach hotel on foot but failed to show up at another one. She is still considered a missing person, police have said.

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/884102.html

[always 1]

No body, no sign of a struggle in the motel room, no motive.  I am still holding out hope that she will be found alive.

[Rob]

ARUKddingme wrote on May, 2 1:22 PM:

Could someone please ask who took her to the last hotel from hers? That is who she was with last. NO ONE is going to walk 20 blocks by themselves on this beach when they do not have to!!!

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/884102.html

Wonder if she hopped a cab? Iran hung a cabbie convicted of multiple rapes and assaults on women and girls. Just making the point. And the lady in the above quote makes a good point - how does someone walk twenty blocks - in a strange town - and not get lost. My first thought is to get a cab.

[Rob]

Cell-phone signal led searchers to river to look for missing N.Y. girl

This also explains why LE thought she might be on that bus. Same direction as the pings apparently.

[Rob]

ARUKddingme wrote on May, 2 1:22 PM:

Could someone please ask who took her to the last hotel from hers? That is who she was with last. NO ONE is going to walk 20 blocks by themselves on this beach when they do not have to!!!

http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/884102.html

Wonder if she hopped a cab? Iran hung a cabbie convicted of multiple rapes and assaults on women and girls. Just making the point. And the lady in the above quote makes a good point - how does someone walk twenty blocks - in a strange town - and not get lost. My first thought is to get a cab.

sorry to quote myself - but if Brittanee did indeed walk the twenty blocks, she had to pass by several cameras and it goes back to the point I made yesterday - check all the cameras in the vicinity.