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

[Tracygirl]

It is in North Carolina, sorry I put Florida. My head was in Nadia's forum. This is heading north, I don't know much as this case, not sure of any of the key players but isn't there some concerns about the people she was with? Didn't they go north that night?

Anyway, if it is not here, I hope they identify who it is so some family somewhere will get the closure they need.

[Nut44x4]

NEW YORK (CBS) Almost a year after 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel disappeared while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, S.C, the mother of the missing girl says she's not giving up hope - and she's not at all happy with South Carolina police.

Pictures: Where is Brittanee Drexel?

Dawn Drexel told CBS News' Crimesider Tuesday she won't stop looking for her daughter, and says she is "appalled" police are now saying they believe Brittanee is dead, even though "they don't have a body or remains." Authorities in Georgetown County, S.C. recently said prospects of finding the Rochester, N.Y. girl alive do not look good.

Police said Friday they have identified "persons of interest" in the case, and hope to find evidence that will lead to an arrest. Asked by Crimesider what she knows about those "persons of interest," Drexel said, "We weren't told much by the police at all... they told us that they also have a location of interest. They aren't saying anything about that either."

Pictures: Where is Brittanee Drexel?

Citing the reported new leads in the case, Brittanee Drexel's family has postponed a safety awareness event in her honor, which was intended to mark the one-year anniversary of her disappearance.

The family also announced on its website, www.helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com, that they will travel to Myrtle Beach for a pre-planned march and candlelight service in honor of the anniversary. .

Brittanee Drexel hasn't been seen since leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel April 25, 2009.

Dawn Drexel said that although it's been a year, she "will never stop looking... we need to find her."

If you have information concerning this case, please contact the Myrtle Beach Police Department at (843) 918-1963.


http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20002400-504083.html

[Nut44x4]

Well that's okay. I have 45 UID's across the USA that have not been identified just since April 1st. A few in FL and NC...so I was confused too.
Lehigh Acres  FL is the one I thought you meant, lol.

Julian, NC to Myrtle Beach, SC = 200 miles apart

[trimmonthelake]

   

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=443431
Vigil for Brittanee Drexel planned in Myrtle Beach
By Tracy Vreeland
Tuesday, April 13, 2010 at 10:38 p.m.

Read more: Local, Brittanee Drexel, Missing, Spring Break, Myrtle Beach, Bar Harbor Motel, March, Vigil

Next week marks one year since spring breaker Brittanee Drexel disappeared from Myrtle Beach.

NewsChannel 15 broke the news last week that investigators are getting closer to solving her disappearance and possibly making arrests.

In rememberance of Brittanee, her family is holding a march Saturday, April 24, from the Bar Harbor motel in Myrtle Beach where Brittanee was staying.

It's set to start at 6:00 p.m.

The marchers will walk 20 blocks to Hurl Rock Park, which is near where Brittanee Drexel was last seen.

The march will be followed by a candlelight vigil at 7:30 p.m..

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20100416/NEWS01/100415029/1002/NEWS/Brittanee-Drexel-s-mom-says-police-focus-on-3-4-people-
Brittanee Drexel's mom says police focus on 3-4 people

Victoria E. Freile • Staff writer • April 16, 2010

Nearly one year after her daughter disappeared while on spring break, Dawn Drexel appeared on Today in New York this morning and spoke with show co-host Matt Lauer about her daughter’s case.

Gates Chili High School student Brittanee Drexel was 17 when she traveled to Myrtle Beach without her parents’ permission last year. She was last seen on hotel surveillance cameras on April 25, 2009. Brittanee’s family and friends have traveled to South Carolina countless times to search for the teen.

Myrtle Beach and Georgetown County, S.C., police investigators said last week they are closing in on several persons of interest in the case. They also indicated that they believe Brittanee is no longer alive.

Dawn Drexel today told Lauer that police have not shared many details about the recent developments in her daughter’s case. She said they told her they are focusing on three or four persons of interest and a location of interest.

She also said she believes one of three things has happened to Brittanee.
“She’s being held against her will, she’s been trafficked or she’s not alive,” Drexel told Lauer this morning.

Also during the news segment, which aired shortly after 8 a.m., NBC aired video images of Brittanee texting, smiling and laughing in a hotel room in Myrtle Beach on April 24, 2009, one day before she disappeared. Police apparently received the footage from a person she met in South Carolina, whom they did speak with. That person was not considered a suspect.

Dawn Drexel said she wants to find her daughter, first and foremost, and remains positive about the recent developments.

“We either wanted to find her, or get some closure,” she said.

Today’s appearance starts off a full day of events involving Drexel family members, including a news conference in Florida and a candlelight vigil in Myrtle Beach. S.C. Another candlelight vigil and march for Brittanee is planned in Myrtle Beach next week.
Drexel asks that anyone with information that could help the investigation into her daughter’s disappearance to go to www.helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com

Video  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/18424824#36594525

[trimmonthelake]

The video listed above contains photos from April 24th,2009

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com/
Wilmington, NC - On Friday, April 16, 2010 the mother of Brittanee Drexel, Dawn Drexel and CUE's founder Monica Caison will appear on the Today Show in New York concerning Brittanee's case between the morning news hour of 7:00 am and 8:00 am
 
Keri Drexel will attend a press conference at 10:00 am in collaboration with Brittanee's awareness campaign in Florida to reveal a new deck of cards featuring her niece, Brittanee Drexel ( 2 of clubs) along with others who are missing such as Terrance Williams (5 of Spades) and Emily Hoyt (4 of Spades)
Florida Press Conference
14470 Harlee Road Palmetto, FL "off Hwy. 41"
10:00 am, Manatee County Jail
 
The number 2 was chosen for Brittanee by her family to honor her lengthy love for the sport of soccer and that represents her last known jersey number. 
 
On Friday, April 23, 2010  an additional new deck of cards will be released and will display numerous of unsolved South Carolina missing person cases and unsolved homicides; to include (10 of diamonds) Crystal Soles, missing from Andrews, and (2 of diamonds) Brittanee Drexel, missing from Myrtle Beach.
Myrtle Beach Police Department Annex at 2:00 pm

ABOUT THE PROGRAM  Effective Playing Cards cards are currently being distributed to every inmate in the Florida State Prison System along with many other states that have signed up with the program, including South Carolina. Jails are the Internet of unsolved crimes, prisoners talk and information is often revealed which would never come to light. Inmates spend countless hours playing cards, so the idea to have them looking at unsolved homicides while passing the time was born. Crime Stopper decks produced by Effective Playing Cards and placed into many local jails in the State have already led to the arrest and conviction of murderers who were completely unknown to law enforcement.

Many of these cases are decades old. Law enforcement has no leads to follow. Family members are left grieving with little hope of bringing a murderer to justice or of finding closure in their sorrow. By offering these cards to the general public we keep these cases alive. We offer hope to families that someone will recognize their loved one who may have the smallest bit of information that they thought insignificant but would provide new leads to solve the case.
Note: On the behalf of the Drexel family they would like to inform the public that the recent planned event to be held in Rochester, NY April 25th in honor of missing Brittanee Drexel will be postponed; the family will be traveling to Myrtle Beach, SC to join other family members in a pre-planned March and Candle light Service in honor of their loved one.
 
South Carolina Event: April 24, 2010
Meet at 5:30 pm
Bar Harbor Motel, 100 North Ocean Blvd. Marching to Hurl Rock Park, Northside of Blue Water Resort located at 2001 South Ocean Blvd. where the candle light service will begin at 7:30 pm

[KittyMom]

I hope there is an arrest in this case soon.

[Lovinlife]

Me too, KittyMom, me too.  Prayers for Brittanee and the Drexel family, one year is much too long...

http://www.bradenton.com/2010/04/17/2212746/authorities-target-manatee-cold.html

News - Local - Crime & Courts
Published: Saturday, Apr. 17, 2010
Updated: Saturday, Apr. 17, 2010
Comments (2) |  Recommend (0)
Playing cards target Manatee cold cases
By ROBERT NAPPER - rnapper@bradenton.com Buzz up!
 
MANATEE — The brutality of the crime shocked the community: A 42-year-old woman was shot to death in front of her 13-year-old daughter, who the gunman then pistol-whipped.

Machelle Brinson’s Nov. 19, 2007, killing during a home invasion in Palmetto remains unsolved — a source of great frustration for Manatee County Sheriff’s Office detectives. There is very little forensic evidence and no cooperation from the public on the case, Manatee Sheriff’s Brad Steube said.

Now Steube is hoping that Brinson’s case profile — included in a new deck of playing cards outlining details on cold cases across Florida — will lead to tips in the case.

On Friday, the Florida Association of Crimestoppers announced a fourth edition of the cards, which will be sold to inmates in Florida’s prisons in an effort to generate leads on 52 missing persons and homicide cases.

The deck also includes a double fatal shooting more than three years ago in Oneco.

Sheriff’s detectives are still searching for whoever shot two men sitting in a GMC Yukon parked outside the Tia Oli Restaurant, at 6320 15th St. E., on Jan. 21, 2007.

Brinson is the three of diamonds; Fortino Hernandez-Ramirez and Jose Bautista-Guzman share the four of clubs.

“It only takes the smallest piece of information sometimes that we can verify that can crack a case,” said Steube.

All of the 52 cards feature a profile of the victim, and most have a picture of the person unless they are juveniles.

FAC president Steve Rowland led the news conference at the Manatee County jail attended by Steube, officials with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and family members of victims on the cards. Rowland explained that inmates often have the most knowledge of crimes that occur on the street, including who committed them. Criminals also tend to discuss their crimes with other inmates, he said.

“This puts these cases in front of that knowledgeable criminal base that may provide crucial information,” Rowland said.

The search for information is not only sought by law enforcement. Behind the faces on the playing cards are family members desperate for clues about their loved ones, according to Drew Kesse, whose 24-year-old daughter is the seven of diamonds.

Kesse’s daughter, Jennifer, has been missing since Jan. 24, 2006, from her condominium in Orlando. Over the years, numerous leads on her disappearance have dried up, but hope has not faded for the Kesse family, who live in Bradenton.

“Our love for Jennifer will always keep us going. This is just another tool in the war chest to try to get any information we can use. Maybe the lucky number seven will get something,” Kesse said, staring at the card holding his daughter’s picture.

Like Kesse’s case, the disappearance of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel has made national news with the first anniversary of her disappearance coming up April 25.

Drexel left her home in Rochester, N.Y,, last April and traveled to Myrtle Beach, S.C., where she was last seen near a hotel where she was staying. Drexel’s grandfather John, of Ellenton, and aunt Keri, of Bradenton, attended the press conference Friday. Brittanee Drexel is the two of clubs.

“Her father lives in Tampa, so she has ties to Florida,” Keri Drexel said. “These cards are just another thing that gives us hope to find her. Awareness is power.”

That power has already been successful in Manatee, as a deck issued to inmates in 2007 led to the conviction of Brian Curry, who is now serving a life sentence for killing his ex-girlfriend Ingrid Lugo in Manatee.

Curry had been in prison on another offense and told two other inmates he killed Lugo. They called Crimestoppers after seeing her card in the deck, according to Rowland.

“We know it works,” he said.

The cards will be sold in prison commissaries in the coming days, and inmates are eligible for rewards for information, or can call anonymously. The public can also report information on crimes to Crimestoppers locally by calling (866) 634-TIPS.



Read more: http://www.bradenton.com/2010/04/17/2212746/authorities-target-manatee-cold.html#ixzz0lP2SjbGE

[Lovinlife]

Sorry Trimm, I didn't see that you had already posted about the playing cards.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.thestate.com/2010/04/19/1250069/parents-hope-for-clues-to-missing.html
Monday, Apr. 19, 2010
Parents hope for clues to missing daughter
By PRENTISS FINDLAY - postandcourier.com
CHARLESTON - Although she has been missing for nearly a year, the family of Brittanee Marie Drexel hopes one day she will return.

"I just want to get her back," said her father, Chad Drexel.

The missing Rochester, N.Y., teen, who was then 17, was last seen April 25, 2009 on a hotel security camera in Myrtle Beach. She had gone to the Grand Strand on spring break without her parents' permission.
 "Brittanee was my life. She did everything with me, and I did everything with her," Chad Drexel said. Her mother, Dawn Drexel, said Brittanee is either dead, she is being trafficked or she is being held against her will. Chad Drexel doesn't want to consider the trafficking possibility.

"If that happened, she's being tortured. I would not want my daughter to go through that kind of torture," he said.

Dawn Drexel appeared on the "Today" show Friday to discuss her daughter's disappearance. She has worked tirelessly to keep attention focused on her daughter. "They're not telling us much. I don't think they're close to an arrest. Who's to say that she is not still alive? We're remaining hopeful that she is still out there," she said.

Brittanee's aunt, Kerri Drexel of Bradenton, Fla., said police are apparently treating the case as a homicide. "How can they even say that when they don't have anything and nobody has been arrested?" she said.

The Georgetown County Sheriff's Office has identified at least three persons of interest in Georgetown and Charleston counties in its investigation of Brittanee Drexel's disappearance, said Lt. Neil Johnson. The department feels that the persons of interest are responsible for whatever happened to the teen, Johnson said.
"We didn't develop these guys last week. We've been looking at them for some time," he said.

The department has executed search warrants and conducted polygraph tests in its investigation of the teen's disappearance. Johnson gave no indication of how close investigators are to having enough evidence for arrest warrants. "We can make an arrest immediately. We can make an arrest next year," he said.

Johnson said he hopes that Drexel is alive, too, but the evidence so far does not support that thinking. "This is solely based off what we have right now," he said.

Brittanee's parents are divorced but have united in their efforts to find their daughter. The family plans a candlelight service Saturday in Myrtle Beach to draw attention to the case.

Staying busy helps Chad Drexel keep a positive outlook. "The more you sit around, that's just when the mind goes crazy," he said.

Brittanee Drexel was not allowed to go to Myrtle Beach because of poor grades. She went anyway, telling her mother she was spending the weekend at a friend's house. "I did not know that she had left until I got the phone call that she was missing," her father said.

[trimmonthelake]

Sorry Trimm, I didn't see that you had already posted about the playing cards.

Hey Lovin'     

[Rob]

Last night - that would be April 19th 2010 - I was flipping through the channels and went to Investigative Discovery.

Apparently they run one minute spots updating cases. I must have missed the first 53-55 seconds but I did catch the very end.

Here's what was said - {paraphrased} identified four locals, then showed a pictured of Brittanee.

Like I said, I missed the beginning of the segment, and do not know "who" these "locals" are or if they are local to Myrtle Beach or the Southern area near Georgetown South Carolina where her cell phone pinged. But it looks like the case is moving along. I wish I would have caught the beginning of the segment and been able to add more here.

[KittyMom]

http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/04/20/1431073/police-release-video-of-drexel.html


Police release video of Drexel before vanishing (with video)
 
Teen seen texting; vigil Saturday

[Lovinlife]

http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S1522326.shtml?cat=566

Brittanee Drexel's mom travels to Myrtle Beach 1 year after teen's disapearance
Posted at: 04/20/2010 11:45 PM | Updated at: 04/20/2010 11:49 PM
By: Linzi Sheldon | WHEC.com

Almost a year after Chili teen Brittanee Drexel went missing on spring break, her family is returning to Myrtle Beach.
       
"When this first happened and when I went down there, I thought I would be able to go down there and get her and bring her back," mother Dawn Drexel said.
     
Tuesday night, Dawn Drexel left for Myrtle Beach.

She and Brittanee's father Chad will be meeting with Myrtle Beach police for the first time since they announced a possible break in the case.
     
Eighteen-year-old Brittanee disappeared while on spring break in Myrtle Beach last April.
     
This coming Sunday, it will be one year since Brittanee disappeared, and her mother is hoping that a march and candlelight vigil will encourage someone with information to come forward.
     
"It's hard going down there," Dawn Drexel said. She has packed for Myrtle Beach too many times in the search for her daughter, but this trip is different.
     
It is a terrible anniversary, marking one year since Brittanee left a hotel in Myrtle Beach and disappeared.
     
This weekend, her mother says they will retrace her steps.
     
"We're going to travel the same way Brittanee traveled down to that hotel," Dawn Drexel said. "We're going to walk from the Bar Harbor Hotel down to the Blue Water Hotel."
     
There, she says, they'll hold a candlelight vigil, something she says is difficult but important to do.
     
"When your child goes missing, you have to keep them in the media no matter what," she said.
"You have to because then people will still be looking for them."
     
Brittanee's younger brother Camden and younger sister Myrissa will be a part of that march. It will be their first time in the city where their sister disappeared.
     
"It may help them to feel a little bit closer to her," Dawn Drexel said.
   
The family will also meet with Myrtle Beach police and the Sheriff's office for the first time since they announced they were investigating this case as a homicide.
     
Earlier this month, police said they had three to four people of interest and an area of interest along the Georgetown/Charleston County line.     
     
"We'll be going in there with a lot of questions," Dawn Drexel said. "We both have questions, Chad and I."
     
It's been a year of questions for the Drexel family, and now they are ready for answers.
     
"I just want to find her, you know," Dawn Drexel said. "I want to find her and bring her back home."
     
Dawn Drexel says local police will be holding a press conference on Friday afternoon to talk about Brittanee's case.

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

[onereddoxie]

New site in Brittanee Drexel search
Local News – April 26, 2010 - 5:00am
South Carolina law enforcement officials have identified a “location of interest” in the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel, a South Carolina news station reported this weekend.

WBTW-TV reported Saturday that police had pinpointed another location to search for the 17-year-old junior from Gates Chili High School. A specific location has not been released and investigators could not be reached Sunday night.

Drexel disappeared during a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach last year.


http://rocnow.com/article/local-news/20104260328

[klaasend]

http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/local/grand_strand/article/myrtle_deck_of_cards_to_feature_missing_teen_brittanee_drexel_and_crystal_s/130408/



Prison playing cards feature missing teen Brittanee Drexel

MYRTLE BEACH - Authorities believe a new deck of cards featuring missing persons could help locate missing New York teen Brittanee Drexel.

Monica Caison with the CUE center for missing persons said the cards will be distributed throughout state prisons in hopes that clues will surface in the missing persons’ cases.

Drexel is featured on the two of diamonds.

According to helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com, “Effective Playing Cards” are released to every inmate in the Florida State Prison System.

The decks are also released in other participating states, including South Carolina.

“In the prison system guys talk, and Florida had a case solved because one inmate heard a guy bragging about it,“ said Thomas Lucas, President of Spartanburg Crime Stoppers, the group that brought the cards to South Carolina. “These cards came out and [the inmate] said, ‘I know who did this’.“

The Drexel family is on the Grand Strand for a series of events this weekend that mark the one year anniversary of the disappearance of Brittanee.

They attended the unveiling of the deck of cards Friday.

Saturday, a march down Ocean Boulevard will start at 5:30 at the Bar Harbor Motel and will end at the Blue Water Resort, the hotel where Brittanee was last seen.

At 7:30 there will be a candle light vigil to raise awareness and mark the anniversary of Brittanee’s disappearance.

Caison said there are still constant searches going on for Brittanee, and believes the new playing cards could aid in those search efforts.

“Because it was being released at Brittanee’s anniversary, I said, ‘This is the perfect time’,“ said Caison. “So, we were very excited to know that [Brittanee] was going to be in the deck.“

Police said there are four persons of interest in the Drexel case, however no one has been identified and no arrests have been made.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=448770

Mother of missing teen reflects after one year
By Graeme Moore
Monday, April 26, 2010 at 6:00 p.m.
The mother of missing teen Brittanee Drexel calls the past year a living nightmare that won't end.

"It's the most horrible thing you ever want to go through," Dawn Drexel said during a recent interview.

On April 25, 2009, Dawn's first-born child, Brittanee, vanished from Ocean Boulevard while on spring break.

The then-17-year-old was last seen leaving the Blue Water Resort near 20th Avenue South and Ocean Boulevard, and no one has seen her since.

This time last year, Brittanee, from Rochester, NY, was juggling a lot with her mom and dad's divorce, boyfriend troubles and even a bout of depression.

So it was no surprise Brittanee wanted a break and begged her mother for permission to visit Myrtle Beach for her high school spring break.

When Dawn Drexel told her daughter no, Brittanee became angry and the two began to fight. Exhausted, Dawn allowed Brittanee to go stay a couple of nights with a friend in Rochester.

But that was a lie as Dawn found out later, and Brittanee disobeyed her mother and went to Myrtle Beach anyway.

Many have come down hard on Dawn and accused her of being a bad parent -- an accusation Dawn vehemently dismisses.

"You know what? Brit's a teenager," Dawn explained. "We were all teens once. They (Dawn's critics) have done things their parents wouldn't approve of. ... Don't throw a rock at a glass house."
Dawn speaks lovingly of Brittanee and describes her first-born as a "lovable little girl" who loved everyone.

Home videos of Brittanee show a seven-year-old girl on Christmas morning overwhelmed with excitement as she opened a new "Lion King" toy and impersonated one of the characters.

"She would sit there and put a show on for us. She'd sing and dance. She loved to have an audience," Dawn said.

But as most teens do, Brittanee got older and traded in the toys for cell phones and boyfriends.

"As she started getting older, she wanted to be more with her friends," Dawn said. "They didn't want to hang out with their mom and dad. God forbid you kiss them in front of anybody," Dawn said with a laugh.

One of those friends is Tarah Friedman, who's a few years older than Brittanee, but said they two were like sisters.

"When I think of her, I just think of her smile, her laugh. She was always laughing, such a happy person," Friedman said as she described Brittanee.

Besides friends and high school life, Brittanee had bigger plans. She loved cosmetology, soccer and modeling. Just before she vanished, though, she had a change of heart while at a hospital one evening.

"She says 'mom, I think I'm going to go to school to be a nurse ... she wanted to be in the maternity ward and take care of the babies," Dawn recalled.
And Brittanee wanted children of her own one day, and Dawn said she talked about "Mr. Right" often.

"She was always talked about how she was going to make her husband cook and how many kids she was going to have."

But all of those big plans came to a halt last year with Brittanee's disappearance, and the news has rocked Brittanee's friends and family.

"It's like something is missing from you. And then you see it on TV, and it's just a reminder that she's really, really gone, and nobody can find her," Friedman, the best friend, explained.

No one knows that better than Dawn who holds on to hope that her daughter will come home alive, but who also knows that may not be reality.

"For her to go through something like that just kills. I mean as a parent, you'd rather have it done to yourself than your child," Dawn said. "Nobody, I mean nobody wishes that on anybody."

Recently, this reporter broke the news that police have developed people of interest and a location of interest in Brittanee's case, and the detectives have said they are close to offering closure.

"It's just a matter of time now before everything gets put together, and we can say yes, here's a solid arrest," said Myrtle Beach Detective Vincent Dorio.

Check back Tuesday on CarolinaLive.com and NewsChannel 15 at 6:00 p.m. for part two of this story that'll take a closer look at the latest on the investigation.
Video  http://www.carolinalive.com/news/video.aspx?id=448770

[Lovinlife]

http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?id=449393

A year in review: The Brittanee Drexel Case

By Graeme Moore
Tuesday, April 27, 2010 at 5:58 p.m.

Read more: Local, Brittanee Drexel, Missing Spring Breaker, Myrtle Beach


One year ago, scores of police officers and volunteer searchers traipsed through rural parts of Georgetown and Charleston Counties looking for a teen who had vanished in Myrtle Beach.

It was unusually warm, and the bugs were aggressive. Wild boars and alligators lurked just out of sight. The dangers to searchers and their dogs were real. It was no place for a 17-year-old girl to be.

But there were reasons to believe Brittanee Drexel, the spring breaker from Rochester, NY, may have been there, and detectives were running against the clock as they tried to find her.

Just before 9:00 p.m. on April 25, 2009, surveillance video caught Drexel leaving the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard. She was heading back to where she was staying, the Bar Harbour Motel, but she never made it.

By Monday, the search for her concentrated in that rural area around the Santee Rivers because detectives tracked her cell signals there.

They had determined Brittanee, who was a fervent cell phone user, sent her last text message at 8:58 p.m. on Saturday while still in Myrtle Beach. She never made another call or text, and by 10:18 p.m., her cell phone was pinging on a tower along the Georgetown/Charleston County line.

Not only did that alarm detectives, but it sent her mother into a panicked frenzy.

"I was frantic because you never think this is going to happen to your child. Ever," said Dawn Drexel during an interview on the anniversary of her daughter's one-year disappearance.

Brittanee had gone to Myrtle Beach, against her mother's will, with a group of friends, and she had met up with other Rochester kids while on spring break.

In fact, she was with a group of guys at the Blue Water Resort just before she vanished. In the beginning, police homed in on one of those men, Peter Brozowitz, a nightclub promoter from Rochester.

In the court of public opinion, Brozowitz was eyed suspiciously when he hired a lawyer and when it was found out he drove back to Rochester just hours after Brittanee vanished.

However, as the weeks dragged on, detectives ruled out Brozowitz and dropped the "person of interest" label he had been assigned from the beginning.

Meanwhile, the searches continued for Brittanee or any evidence of her along the Santee Rivers and even back in Myrtle Beach, but after weeks and months of intense searching, nothing turned up.

By early Fall, detectives had classified the case as becoming cold, and Drexel began to fade from the headlines. then something changed in late December when some sunglasses were found along a riverbank.

They resembled a pair of glasses Brittanee was wearing the day before she vanished. After being sent off for forensic testing, detectives said they were unable to determine if, in fact, they belong to Brittanee.

New People and Location of Interest

In January 2010, after no major breaks in the case, there was a task force formed, made up of detectives from Myrtle Beach, and Georgetown Charleston Counties.

They have worked out of Georgetown County Investigator Chris Bailey's office since the beginning of the year, and they say the case is heating up.

Bailey credits an early December tip as the one that turned the case around and generated new leads. He wouldn't elaborate on the tip, but says it's been enough to obtain search warrants which have led to several people of interest.

"They're suspected of being present with Brittanee (and) knowing her whereabouts or possible whereabouts," Bailey said of the people of interest during an interview a few weeks ago.

No names were released nor was information on what was searched, but Bailey and the other investigators said they feel confident they're looking at the right people.

"All of our little pieces of evidence ... they're all pointing in the same direction towards certain people," said Myrtle Beach Investigator Vincent Dorio.

Detectives said they feel they're handling a homicide investigation and fear Brittanee is dead, but her mother, Dawn, holds out hope and refuses to accept her daughter is dead.

"I just hope, when I'm at home or sitting down or just doing something, that Brittanee is going to walk through that door."

If you've got information on the case, you're asked to call the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office at 843-436-6058 or Myrtle Beach Police at 843-918-1382. You can remain anonymous.