Search for Brittanee Drexel to continue; police say arrests are possible

The search for a missing New York teen last seen nearly a year ago in Myrtle Beach will continue, as police say they are close to making an arrest in the case.

Brittanee Drexel was last seen April 25, 2009, leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard while on spring break in the area.

Dozens of searchers have scoured Myrtle Beach and wooded areas in Georgetown and Charleston counties looking for clues in the teen’s disappearance.

Drexel’s family plan to return to the area April 24 to mark the anniversary the last time she was seen and they hope to generate new leads about her.

“I fell I need to return now to where my daughter was last seen in an effort to ask people not to give up looking for her”, said Dawn Drexel, the teen’s mother. “I cannot focus here in light of the new released information regarding my daughter.”

Police identified at least three people of interest a while ago through tips that came in about the case, but the information was not made public until Friday.

Lt. Neil Johnson with the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office, said he could not provide any information about the people of interest in the case because it would release too many details.

“We’ve been looking at these guys for a while,” Johnson said. “We’re waiting for that key piece to make an arrest.”

It is not clear when an arrest might be made in the case, Johnson said.

With or without an arrest, the search for Drexel will continue, said Monica Caison, director of the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C. The organization conducts nationwide searches for missing people.

No large scale searches have been conducted since December, but Caison said she and a few others have searched several areas including a search conducted a week ago. The searches have been concentrated in an area around U.S. 17 Bypass and the South Santee River in Georgetown County after officials learned learned Drexel’s cell phone gave off its last known signal on April 26 there.

“We’re going to continue to look; I’m going to continue my efforts to look for her,” Caison said.

Even though police have concluded that the search for Drexel is a recovery, Caison said she will remain hopeful that the teen will be found alive.

“I’ve had numerous families contact me and they hate it when people announce a person is dead. Families have a hard time digesting that,” Caison said. “Although it may be true that she may not be alive, it still dashes any kind of hope. I know it’s been devastating not only to the Drexel family, but mothers of missing kids and loved ones.”

On Friday, Drexel’s mother and grandmother said they remain hopeful that the teen has been held against her will.

"I'm still hoping she's out there and they haven't done anything to her," Carol Wagner, Brittanee Drexel's grandmother, said Friday night.

The news of police looking at potential suspects also was not new information to Caison or Drexel’s family, she said.

“Everybody knows that something bad happened to Brittanee Drexel one way or another, and I know they have an investigation and they think one way. This is nothing new to us,” Caison said. “But without a body you still have hope. You can’t close your mind. I hope they do make an arrest in the case.”

Even with an arrest in the case, Caison said they still need to find Drexel. She said renewed efforts around the anniversary of the teen’s disappearance could generate new leads and information.

“In Brittanee’s case you have her disappearing and no one reported any kind of struggle or . . . crime scene,” Caison said. “I’m not going to ignore a miracle here that she could have been trafficked. I do believe in miracles and things like this have been proven wrong more than one time. I want to encourage people to call in any tips.”

Many people, who vacation annually in the area at this time of year, may have key information about the circumstances of the missing teen and not know of her disappearance until they return this year.

“There are many, many cases that are solved years later because someone didn’t know the information they had was valuable,” Caison said.

Officials also are using the Internet to solicit information about the teen.

An official Web site for the missing teen was launched earlier this year after officials and family members learned about several people posing as Drexel on the Internet. Last month officials investigated a social networking account in which the person used Drexel’s photo.

To mark a year since Drexel was last seen, friends and family of the teen plan a march and candlelight vigil on April 24 from the Bar Harbor Hotel to the Blue Water.

Anyone with information about Drexel's disappearance can call Myrtle Beach police at 918-1300 or go to the Web site at www.helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com.