The mother of a missing New York teen and the director of a missing persons organization appeared on two national television shows Friday to discuss developments and search efforts in the case.
Dawn Drexel and Monica Caison spoke to Matt Lauer, host of the "Today" show, on Friday morning during a brief segment about Drexel's daughter, Brittanee Drexel, who was last seen April 25, 2009, in Myrtle Beach. Caison is director of the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons located in Wilmington, N.C.
They also were set to appear on "Inside Edition" Friday evening, according to a CUE news release.
Brittanee Drexel was last seen on video surveillance 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.
A week ago Georgetown County sheriff's officials said they have identified three, and possibly four, people of interest in the case, but no arrests have been made, Lt. Neil Johnson said Friday. The people were identified a while ago through tips that came in about the case, and Johnson said he could not provide any other details.
It is not clear when an arrest could be made in the case, Johnson said.
Investigators continue to work on the case, and they plan to meet with Dawn Drexel when she returns to town, Johnson said.
On the nationally televised show, Dawn Drexel said police have not shared much information with her about the people of interest or a location of interest. She said she relies on the support of her family, friends and people involved with other missing persons cases.
There are three scenarios about what could have happened to Brittanee Drexel, her mother said on Friday's broadcast. The teen, who was 17 when she was last seen, is being held against her will, has been part of a human trafficking ring or is dead, Dawn Drexel told Lauer.
The show broadcast photos and a video taken by someone Brittanee had met while on spring break in Myrtle Beach the day before she was last seen. In it, Brittanee can be seen sitting in a hotel room, on the balcony and texting on her cell phone. The person who shot the video, which had not been released before, was not identified.
Searches began about nine months ago after officials learned Drexel's cell phone gave off its last known signal on April 26 around U.S. 17 Bypass and the South Santee River in the Georgetown County.
The first priority for the family and searchers has been to find Brittanee, Caison told Lauer. She said it is important to keep the case before the public to continue to generate tips about it.
"You can't take hope from the families of the missing, that's all they have," Caison said about police calling the case was a homicide. "They have to prove the crime. They have to develop more information to make an arrest."
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.
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