Found Deceased SC - Brittanee Drexel, 17, Myrtle Beach, 25 April 2009 - #8

[waltzingmatilda]

Going back to mid-January (thread 7), a poster claims some acquaintances know that a break was made in Britt's case and that LE had been on scene near a barn for some time. When more develops, it'll be interesting to see how near to this area the case is solved. The alleged barn was in Charleston county, and the poster claimed that their source had heard a person confessed.

Hambone, I am bring forward this post from LLLindsayy becasue the original post was removed. Please note this is only a rumor and not confirmed officially.

 

[vajrapan]

http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=12298443

 

[LLLindsayy]

One thing I found interesting on JVM (other than the above post I made earlier) was the fact that JVM told them to talk about the NY 'friends' without mentioning their names.

I found this strange too. The only thing I can think of is trying to avoid controversy of singling PB out.

 

[SeaNymph]

http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=12298443

Interesting vajrapan. I'd like to repeat what I posted at the very beginning of this case.

If GPS/cell phone tracking has come so far...ok, fine, Britt's cell phone pinged that tower, we know that. But why don't these towers log ALL pings they get? If those towers logged ALL pings, then it could go a long way in cases such as this for investigators to track, for instance, who ELSE'S phone pinged that same exact tower around the same time Britt's did. Follow me?

 

[mlatta]

http://www.wmbfnews.com/Global/story.asp?S=12298443

this article is a little misleading...

from all accounts i have read, the detection of her last cellular activity was a cell radio network "ping" ...

[[ in this context a ping is basically a method of establishing communication and measuring signal strength *FROM* a transceiver (tower) via its antenna *TO* a handheld transceiver (Your phone!), which also is also has an antenna, using the protocols of CDMA or GSM... ]] i tried to keep that brief

Why am I rambling about this??

(Quoted from above linked article)
"GPS tracking aids investigators in Drexel case"
"Ryan Graham with HTC says GPS tracking technology has evolved over the last 10 years and continues to get better."

Here it comes folks...

IT HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING IN THIS CASE!

A cell phone ping is not GPS logged coordinates... If it were a GPS signal that was tracked and logged, it would have indicated her location within a few feet! A GPS uses a satellite to gather location info, not towers.

Ok, enough of that... This is a story that should have never made it by the editor...

(disclaimer - this is me voicing my (strong and somewhat coarse) opinion)

a little bit of nerdy slightly-OT stuff for anyone interested:
(conspiracy theorists are going to love this) The govt doesn't track and log our every move with our cell phones, nor does our cell phone companies. What is logged is the association via the cellular network with nearby transceivers/towers. It is logged with a relative consistency and is still used to an extent for billing purposes - hence the term "roaming".

UNDER PROPER AUHORITY cell phone companies can activate GPS in some phones to provide location

IIRC Brittanee's last cell signal hit only 1 tower located just north of G-C line near hwy 17... It was all that was within range... unfortunately this leaves the entire maximum radius of the tower. sucks!

From what I have gathered, tower similar to one that may be used in an area such as this, has a radius of up to 11 miles.

For those who watch CSI and heard the term (passive or active) Triangulation? Triangulation is when you communicate (ping) with 3 (or more) transceiver/towers, you are then narrowed down to a smaller area - the area in which these transceiver/tower's signal strength overlaps. the more transceivers your phone "talks to" (or pings) the more precise can your phone be located)

This is how "google maps" works on a cell phone that is NOT GPS equipped, but of course it is going to be MUCH more erroneous than GPS location.

 

[mlatta]

One thing I found interesting on JVM (other than the above post I made earlier) was the fact that JVM told them to talk about the NY 'friends' without mentioning their names.

hmm... liability? John Parrinello?

 

[RoseC]

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/artic...aker-brittanee-drexel-nearing-an-end/19435668

 

[RoseC]

Keri Drexel... THIS FRIDAY APRIL 16TH DAWN AND CHAD WILL BE ON THE TODAY SHOW IN THE MORNING!! STAY TUNNED FOR MORE DETAILS! WE LOVE YOU BRITTANEE!! XOXOXO

 

[redcar1]

Thanks LLLindsayy. I had never seen the 'other' video of her walking along the street. It appears as though she is tagging along after a male in white shorts who turns around to look at her just as the video ends. Did anybody else get this impression? MOO

wm

I thought that at first, but I stopped the video and THAT female has very dark hair. I ended up believing they were describing the 2 people coming from the opposite direction. Although the video cuts off before you can actually see their heads/faces.

JMO

 

[Hambone1480]

I didn't ever see this, but this Georgetown Times article (at the end of the story) states that a Georgetown H.S. student was questioned last year at his high school. Supposedly, he told LE he knew of someone who was with Drexel during the weekend. It supposedly took place May '09, so I don't know how significant it is considering that LE said the case was basically cold until December. Just thought I'd post it here, though. Just in case.

http://www.gtowntimes.com/local/Police-believe-Drexel-was-killed---persons-of-interest--questioned

 

[ilovemew]

I thought that at first, but I stopped the video and THAT female has very dark hair. I ended up believing they were describing the 2 people coming from the opposite direction. Although the video cuts off before you can actually see their heads/faces.

JMO

Can someone do a still shot? I've watched that video like ten times now and I don't see her at all. I see the dark haired girl walking with a male and two people walking the opposite direction but they seem to be together. I think they would have said if she was walking with someone. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you

 

[-Doc-]

Some thoughts this evening. According to LE, the 3-4 guys live in SC. So, the people in ROC are almost cleared, pending the question if any of them, specifically PB and CO. know them.

 

[RoseC]

Is this video you asking about of BD walking after leaving PB room? heres link i have of her,its very dark and if look good the video has light on BD as shes walking,you see few ppl pass her then looks as if its 2-3 with dogs walking few feet behind her heres link look to your right click on it it start
link>>>
http://www.whec.com/article/stories/s914066.shtml?cat=565

 

[rd_jfc]

Interesting vajrapan. I'd like to repeat what I posted at the very beginning of this case.

If GPS/cell phone tracking has come so far...ok, fine, Britt's cell phone pinged that tower, we know that. But why don't these towers log ALL pings they get? If those towers logged ALL pings, then it could go a long way in cases such as this for investigators to track, for instance, who ELSE'S phone pinged that same exact tower around the same time Britt's did. Follow me?

It's a network. The pings go back to central servers, which tells them where to send a call if one is made to the cell phone, where what is stored (pings versus calls, etc.) and how long they are stored are highly dependent on the carrier, from what I have gathered through the years checking into various cell phone locating situations for various missing women. (Plus I cut my teeth on long distance telephony software back when digital was first invented and also on first PC based calling. Am not an EE though and haven't written telephony software for 25 years so have background to understand but this cell stuff varied by carrier far more than I expected, especially the various pseudo-GPS schemes.)

I posted at the time that I commended Myrtle Beach LE on this on how quickly they got the information about Brittanee's pings. You may have seen various comments in news articles about the difficulty in determining location in the sparse and linear layout of the cell towers in that area. Same thing was true in the 911 operator Theresa Parker's disappearance in remote NW Georgia. So location from the tower is not known due to no triangulation data from other cell towers but of course the cell tower is known especially due to their quick action.

And yes, of course, they should know all cell phones that pinged that tower in same time frame. However, calls/texts attempted are actually recorded while pings only are kept much less in general as far as I can tell. It's lots of data, if you can imagine eveyone's cell phones blinking on and off if you will pinging.

Still, lots of that data is kept for some time, and due to national security laws stemming from 9/11 probably have been asked to keep more longer. In general the only real disappointment I can recall off the top of my head has been Jennifer Kesse where nothing has been revealed if they have any ping data, and I'm assuming they don't have any because of that.

rd

 

[candi123]

Thanks LLLindsayy. I had never seen the 'other' video of her walking along the street. It appears as though she is tagging along after a male in white shorts who turns around to look at her just as the video ends. Did anybody else get this impression? MOO

wm

Has anyone else seen this video? I hadn't this is the first time.

 

[ilovemew]

Has anyone else seen this video? I hadn't this is the first time.

I hadn't either but had heard of it since the beggining.

 

[ilovemew]

That's the "dark haired" girl from the other link. Also in the news story it says this was taken a half an hour before (8:15 p.m.) she was caught on the BlueWater Hotel security camera. I thought this was of her after she left PB's hotel?

 

[LLLindsayy]

Yes, I had seen the video. It was out at the beginning of the case.

 

[SeaNymph]

That's video of her walking to BW.

 

[SeaNymph]

It's a network. The pings go back to central servers, which tells them where to send a call if one is made to the cell phone, where what is stored (pings versus calls, etc.) and how long they are stored are highly dependent on the carrier, from what I have gathered through the years checking into various cell phone locating situations for various missing women. (Plus I cut my teeth on long distance telephony software back when digital was first invented and also on first PC based calling. Am not an EE though and haven't written telephony software for 25 years so have background to understand but this cell stuff varied by carrier far more than I expected, especially the various pseudo-GPS schemes.)

I posted at the time that I commended Myrtle Beach LE on this on how quickly they got the information about Brittanee's pings. You may have seen various comments in news articles about the difficulty in determining location in the sparse and linear layout of the cell towers in that area. Same thing was true in the 911 operator Theresa Parker's disappearance in remote NW Georgia. So location from the tower is not known due to no triangulation data from other cell towers but of course the cell tower is known especially due to their quick action.

And yes, of course, they should know all cell phones that pinged that tower in same time frame. However, calls/texts attempted are actually recorded while pings only are kept much less in general as far as I can tell. It's lots of data, if you can imagine eveyone's cell phones blinking on and off if you will pinging.

Still, lots of that data is kept for some time, and due to national security laws stemming from 9/11 probably have been asked to keep more longer. In general the only real disappointment I can recall off the top of my head has been Jennifer Kesse where nothing has been revealed if they have any ping data, and I'm assuming they don't have any because of that.

rd

Thank you. I think I understand what you are saying that certainly if a call is made near that tower then the tower logs it, but just a general ping would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. I don't know - seems worth it to me in cases like this. As remote as the area is, even though I understand it may/probably does cover some amount of the city of Georgetown and there would be a lot of pings, seems simple enough to be able to identify when her phone pinged it and see what others phones pinged it at the same general time frame. You'd have a jump off point instead of waiting a year for a phone to show up through POI's and then hopefully make that connection.

Of course, I understand not every single person in the world has a cell, but most do. And if it is a case of "3 or 4" actually being on scene, certainly one would. Only problems I can see with what I propose/wish would be as mlatta mentioned, people up in arms over their privacy and what would no doubt be seen as 'government tracking'...which, doesnt make sense; it tracks it now, you just have to know the phone you are looking for right now and it has to come to LE to track.

Maybe this sounds stupid but perhaps that could be 'Brittanee's Law', some legislation to require that on towers. No one could argue it would not have helped in this case for them to have concise records of all other phones that pinged that tower around the same time hers did to have a good starting point of who else was in the area at the time...and to take that thought further, remember her phone also pinged a tower in Surfside, I think it was around 9:15PM, having the same cell record of the 'suspect' phone pinging that one, then the one in Georgetown...etcetera.