Playing cards seeking lost souls; Brittanee Drexel vigil scheduled for today

The stories and photos of Brittanee Drexel and Crystal Soles are among 52 cases featured in a new campaign to increase awareness about missing people and unsolved homicides in the state.

Drexel and Soles, missing from Myrtle Beach and Georgetown County respectively, are featured in a deck of cards being sold to prison inmates statewide through Crime Stoppers. Drexel also is featured in a deck of cards that has been released in Florida, according to her father, Chad Drexel.

Brittanee Drexel was last seen on video surveillance leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard while on spring break on April 25, 2009. Dozens of searchers have scoured Myrtle Beach and wooded areas in Georgetown and Charleston counties looking for clues in the teen's disappearance.

The 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.

Crystal Soles disappeared about four years earlier. Then 28, she was last seen Jan. 24, 2005, at Shaw's Corner Store in Andrews.

The cards featuring the women were unveiled Friday, and the women's families will gather along Ocean Boulevard today for a march andcandlelight vigil to mark a year since Drexel was last seen in Myrtle Beach.

"It's hard to come back down here, very emotional," said Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mom. "I think it's wonderful to get her name and face out there. We need information about her. We're very thankful to them for putting her in that deck of cards."

Brittanee's dad, Chad Drexel, said he hopes the cards, which are sold in state prisons and in some county detention centers, will generate information that can be left anonymously with state Crime Stoppers.

"We'll do anything to help to bring our daughter home," Chad Drexel said. "Criminals know criminals. Someone knows something out there."

More than 20 people came from the Rochester, N.Y., area where Brittanee lived to support her family. Those supporters included two of Brittanee's friends.

"We came to show her that we care and for support," said Jessica Nice, who has known Brittanee her entire life. "We want to show her we haven't given up yet."

Drexel's father said that in the year since his daughter has been missing, "It's been a roller coaster ride of endless nightmare. I just want to wake up and it's not there, not real."

"The not knowing where she is or is she hurt, is she not alive has been the worse," Dawn Drexel said. "We need someone to come forward with that key piece of information so we can get some resolution to Brittanee's case."

Soles' mother, Gail Soles, said she understands how the Drexel family feels as the anniversary approaches.

"We know what it's like. Lord, I wish I could find my child, just to have closure. It's hard. It's really hard not knowing," Gail Soles said. "Somebody please come forward and give us some more information. Let us bring her home because we really need closure."

Monica Caison, director of the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons, said the cards do generate leads.

"I know it solves cases and it brings forth tips," Caison said. "This is reassurance that no one has forgotten them. This is just another outlet to get their information out there."

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

Anyone with information about Crystal Soles' disappearance can call Andrews police at 264-5223 or go to the website at www.findcrystalsoles.com.