Found Deceased SC - Brittanee Drexel, 17, Myrtle Beach, 25 April 2009 - #17

[Canaille]

BBM

"Dawn Drexel
First of all, I want to thank all of the law enforcement that is assisting on Brittanee's case. After seven long years of waiting and praying for the return of my daughter, we know she isn't coming home alive. Brittanee's life was stolen from her in a brutal and senseless fashion. I need your help in bringing the people responsible for her death to justice. They needed to be held accountable for taking the life of our precious young daughter. She had her whole life ahead of her. She had a lot of dreams and aspirations. They could have done this to anyone's child but they did it to mine... so I am here now asking for your help. I know there's a mother, father, sister, brother, son, or daughter in the North Charleston County and South Georgetown County areas that has information that will help solve the murder of my daughter Brittanee. Please help us to bring these killers to justice. Help us to put them in prison where they belong for the rest of their useless lives. They will never again take one of our children away in such a brutal fashion. We need your help so we can find Brittanee's remains and bring her home... to lay her to rest and make sure that monsters like this can no longer victimize this community or kill anyone else's child."

Post #737
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...rexel-17-Myrtle-Beach-25-April-2009-17/page50

How does law enforcement determine someone is deceased without a body?

I followed Mickey Shunicks case, and remember nearly the same thing. IIRC, LE searched the perps trailer, and I think it was after that search that they determined Mickey was dead. But, I don't remember any info released on how they knew.

 

[wvredhead]

Long time lurker, first time poster to this thread. I am not as well versed in this case as many of you so I have a question-what do you make of LE's answer when asked in the press conference if anyone from the NY group was involved. LE didn't say No.
On one hand LE is appealing to locals to tell what they know. If this crime was committed by locals why wouldn't they clear the NY group publicly? RocNy's post above explains how the friends could have mingled with some locals to some degree.
Where is the Rochester group now? Have any of them been seen searching, helping Brittanee's family in the past few years? Sorry if that has been discussed recently but I don't see too much about them. I know the one guy left MB at 1 am the night Brittanee disappeared but I don't know much else concerning the group. The press conference leads us to believe local people are responsible but yet the friends haven't been cleared? What do you all think?

I am also of the belief these 'friends' have not been cleared of suspicion. Too many oddities on their part. And they could be totally innocent & I hope they are but what galls me the most, and this has been my feelings from day one, is they have shown themselves to be - at least publicly- incapable of expressing even a semblance of caring for her. Nothing. Nada. Whether or not any of them were involved one thing is for certain: that being none of them exemplify the word 'friend'.

 

[cujenn81]

So I have spent most of the day reading the time line and the information released and I think I have developed a pretty good map to share with everyone. If you see anything wrong please let me know! I'm looking forward to every ones thoughts on this. I was unable to pin point exact cell phone towers but was pretty accurate with locations. Her hotel was pretty far from the 2nd ping and If memory serves me correctly the area that is circled in grey is the one that the FBI is focusing on now?

Good work!

The only thing I might add:
news reports indicate the last signal from Brittanee's cell phone was sent out the following night near the South Santee River

http://www.kptv.com/story/12317760/details-limited-on-drexel-investigation-to-protect-case

 

[cujenn81]

http://wpde.com/news/local/brittanee-drexel-talk-of-the-town-in-mcclellanville-concern-growing

From article,

"The rumors I've heard from some of the local teachers," Larry Mellichamp, born and raised there, explained. "Kids in the school brag about knowing who did it."

I hope those teachers have reported whoever these bragging students are...

 

[CuriousinNY]

YouTube video of a new lead from 3 years after Brittanee's disappearance.

[video=youtube;TayxCw9vczQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TayxCw9vczQ[/video]

 

[katydid23]

How does law enforcement determine someone is deceased without a body?

I followed Mickey Shunicks case, and remember nearly the same thing. IIRC, LE searched the perps trailer, and I think it was after that search that they determined Mickey was dead. But, I don't remember any info released on how they knew.

I have been trying to think of possible ways they could 'know' she was deceased, w/out having remains.

--maybe they found blood/crime scene?

--maybe someone had a picture or a video?

--maybe there is an informant?

--maybe there is a witness statement /confession from someone and they need to corroborate it?

what else?

 

[Southernbelle824]

Someone saw the dead body before it was moved.

 

[otto]

If I had to guess, I suspect that the man who brought her to that South Carolina deathtrap is the same man who raped her first and killed her.

What is wrong with people in that small South Carolina community that they allowed this to happen?

<modsnip>

Reading from afar, the fact that Brittany Drexel was abducted from her hotel and transported to a location where she was held against her Will for several days, and then killed ... and no one saw anything for five days.

What? Do the people in that community think the world is as stupid as they are?

 

[otto]

I was digging around what was happening in the few days before Brittanee was murdered. This lead in the Georgetown County area (I assume) was investigated on Tues. April the 29th and the next day she was murdered.

Update:She is now listed as an Endangered Runaway at the NCMEC. Is it because she was in Myrtle Beach without permission or is she now considered missing because she ran away while there? NY teen still missing after Myrtle Beach spring break

Myrtle Beach Police say they&#8217;re working with SLED and other agencies on several leads, but they aren&#8217;t speculating. NewsChannel 15 confirmed the Georgetown County Sheriff&#8217;s Department assisted Myrtle Beach in investigating one lead on Tuesday, though they wouldn&#8217;t elaborate.

Cpt. David Knipes with Myrtle Beach Police Department couldn&#8217;t answer many specifics on Tuesday but said they aren&#8217;t ruling anything out.

&#8220;Until you actually have a person and know they&#8217;re OK, you can&#8217;t rule anything out. You know, it could be anything from being a runaway to an abduction. We just don&#8217;t know right now,&#8221; said Knipes.

https://missingchild.wordpress.com/tag/brittanee-marie-drexel/

​

BBM

We've now heard that she was not murdered the next day, or the next. Five days after being abducted, she was still alive, and then brutally murdered. Her remains have not been found. There's no question that she was abducted from the hotel by someone she may have willingly gone with to a party ... and the party was a death sentence.

Who did she meet at Myrtle Beach that caught her attention, who lives in S.C., and who could Brit have easily turned to when rejected by "friends"?

 

[otto]

I cannot imagine the pain that Dawn Drexel feels at the loss of her daughter.

 

[LLLindsayy]

BBM

We've now heard that she was not murdered the next day, or the next. Five days after being abducted, she was still alive, and then brutally murdered. Her remains have not been found. There's no question that she was abducted from the hotel by someone she may have willingly gone with to a party ... and the party was a death sentence.

Who did she meet at Myrtle Beach that caught her attention, who lives in S.C., and who could Brit have easily turned to when rejected by "friends"?

OP says "the next day" after referring to investigation of the tip the following Brittanee's disappearance. They do not say "the next day" referring to the day after she was abducted. Also - that Tuesday was the 28th. Wednesday was the 29th (reportedly the day she was killed).

 

[RoChEsTeR Paul]

This beautiful girl was in your town for five f-ing days and nobody noticed her? Her captors had to sleep, eat, run errands, etc.. so other people had to come in and help. Women's clothes, toothbrush, various items may have been purchased or borrowed for her. Think back people. Remember seeing the Taylor boys around town while those news stories of the missing girl were on your TV screens? Did you happen to see a petite blonde girl hangin with these scumbags? Did something not look right? Did you perhaps say to yourselves 'hmmm.. why would a girl like that be with them?' Do you people have souls? Well you might want to think about saving them. You sure the hell didn't save her! SPEAK UP!!

 

[LLLindsayy]

I have been trying to think of possible ways they could 'know' she was deceased, w/out having remains.

--maybe they found blood/crime scene?

--maybe someone had a picture or a video?

--maybe there is an informant?

--maybe there is a witness statement /confession from someone and they need to corroborate it?

what else?

Do we think it's possible that they have obtained someone's email/text message records? Potentially they obtained these records without a warrant hence the reason they cannot use them in a trial. Maybe they are looking for the person that was the recipient of these messages to come forward which is why they are saying that they KNOW someone knows something. I could see how if this were the case then they might also have a timeline for the exact day she was killed. Additionally, if the recipient comes forward this may give them probable cause to obtain a warrant and "find" the messages they've already found and then make their arrest.

Just thinking of all the options.

 

[LLLindsayy]

Can we please brainstorm ways that people in McClellanville would have seen Brittanee and "may not have known what they saw" ?

I suggested by chance that she was presented as someone else ("mom, dad, this is my coworker _______, we are heading out to the bar tonight I just had to come home and change.") or that she was in a disguise (wig?). But no one really latched onto the suggestion so I'd like to know what you guys are thinking. Perhaps the person who saw something is reading here and they might need their memory jogged a little bit.

 

[Owutatangledweb]

My guess is that someone came forward indicating that they last saw her alive at So-and-so's house/location on Wednesday of that week and that is how they know she was alive at least through Wednesday. I am also assuming that some further investigation such as forensics at that location or statements from another person verified that lead. As to LE's statements that she at this point was being held against her will, they either found forensics to verify that (chains, cuffs, etc ) or the informant saw that directly, or they found video or photographic evidence to conclude that, or the informant did not really understand that to be the case but described statements by the captors or Brittany or some other circumstsnces that led LE to conclude this.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

BBM

We've now heard that she was not murdered the next day, or the next. Five days after being abducted, she was still alive, and then brutally murdered. Her remains have not been found. There's no question that she was abducted from the hotel by someone she may have willingly gone with to a party ... and the party was a death sentence.

Who did she meet at Myrtle Beach that caught her attention, who lives in S.C., and who could Brit have easily turned to when rejected by "friends"?

otto, I've been thinking about this and wondered if perhaps she met and befriended a young hotel worker who may have ties to the T family. Someone in a position like a pool boy, cabana boy, garage attendant, room runner, etc who invited her to a party that fateful evening. Both of my children worked at the Marriott during tourist season here in our beach town when they were in HS/College. The only thing about her willingly getting in a car to go to a party is that she was on her way to 'allegedly' return the shorts to one of the Bs at her hotel. I don't know if that story is even true though and perhaps the person who took her told her he would drop her off first to return the shorts. I still can't believe those mean girls showed no concern when she didn't show up to return the shorts, they in fact, moved to a different hotel and left Brittanee's belongings behind. Who does that? Grrrrrr.

 

[waltzingmatilda]

My guess is that someone came forward indicating that they last saw her alive at So-and-so's house/location on Wednesday of that week and that is how they know she was alive at least through Wednesday. I am also assuming that some further investigation such as forensics at that location or statements from another person verified that lead. As to LE's statements that she at this point was being held against her will, they either found forensics to verify that (chains, cuffs, etc ) or the informant saw that directly, or they found video or photographic evidence to conclude that, or the informant did not really understand that to be the case but described statements by the captors or Brittany or some other circumstsnces that led LE to conclude this.

I agree that there may be video evidence. It makes sense that if people are bragging about knowing what happened that they may have took video and shown it to others. This would explain someone not knowing that they were watching someone having sex with Brittanee in the last days of her life. Just the thought of this makes me sick to my stomach.

 

[Vox_Veritas_JT]

If ,and its a big IF of course, the 'T' brothers and / or associates were involved then the 5 days being held captive would insinuate to me that Brittanee was forced into sexual slavery during that time. Doing some sleuthing around one can see that this correlates with the M.O of that group of people.

Did Brittanee fight her captors, threaten them, perhaps even escape temporarily? Drexel would have been an asset in this scenario so something must have gone wrong for which Brittanee sadly paid with her life. I subsequently wonder if the location of the press conference is to reach out to anyone who may have paid to be with Brittanee or had any other interaction with the people who were holding her, this would tally with holding these people responsible if they do not come forward to tell what they know.

LE stating that Brittanee was held for 5 days before being murdered is IMO designed to rattle the cage of the suspects. Clearly LE know far far more than they are letting on.


(N.B - Just wanted to add a quick edit. I am not referring to the 1998 case mentioned elsewhere in this thread but a more recent case involving perps with the same surname. I do not know if suspects from the 98 case and the recent case are related but it is clear from ages that they are not the same individuals)

 

[stillwatersc]

Still catching up here but yes, and look what he was booked for attempted murder. Also I keep remembering right after her disappearance the interview with a Georgetown High School student. Locals do McClennesville children attend school in Georgetown?

It is not even the same county but it is possible if they used someone else's address. Lots of people do that. Some also get waivers to attend out of district because their parents work near the school.

 

[bestill]

otto, I've been thinking about this and wondered if perhaps she met and befriended a young hotel worker who may have ties to the T family. Someone in a position like a pool boy, cabana boy, garage attendant, room runner, etc who invited her to a party that fateful evening. Both of my children worked at the Marriott during tourist season here in our beach town when they were in HS/College. The only thing about her willingly getting in a car to go to a party is that she was on her way to 'allegedly' return the shorts to one of the Bs at her hotel. I don't know if that story is even true though and perhaps the person who took her told her he would drop her off first to return the shorts. I still can't believe those mean girls showed no concern when she didn't show up to return the shorts, they in fact, moved to a different hotel and left Brittanee's belongings behind. Who does that? Grrrrrr.

A hotel worker really does make sense. Many folks come to the beach to work because of the wages, especially from the rural areas, often using buses for transportation. This person could have bonded with her, knew she was basically on her own, maybe even offered a ride as you suggested. Another way to get her to go party with him/them would be to agree to bring her back, because they had to "work the next day". This would explain her being willing to go at first but then held against her will after that. Another thing to consider is a hotel worker tipped someone off about her and they waited for the right opportunity to grab her. All of these just more possibilities.