http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1101901.html
Monday, Oct. 05, 2009
Family braces for Brittanee Drexel's 18th birthday
By Kurt Knapek -
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The pain and uncertainty of the last 163 days have been agonizing enough for the family and friends of Brittanee Drexel, the New York teen who has not been seen since leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel room in April.
But Wednesday - Drexel's 18th birthday - will likely be the most difficult of all, her mother said.
"Brittanee loved birthdays, and she loved a big deal being made about her birthday," Dawn Drexel said. "She couldn't wait until her 18th. We had a lot of plans ... a lot of things she really wanted to do."
Brittanee Drexel is still missing. She was last seen April 25 leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard, and investigators remain puzzled as to her whereabouts. Another search will take place later this month, according to the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C.
Family members and investigators were encouraged to learn in late August that a missing California girl was found 18 years after she was abducted at a bus stop.
Drexel's family is planning a balloon launch next week in Rochester, N.Y., to coincide with her 18th birthday and the six-month anniversary of her disappearance.
While Drexel has missed several family holidays - Mother's Day, Father's Day and her brother's 6th birthday - along with her high school's homecoming this past weekend, Wednesday will be one of the toughest for family and friends, said Monica Caison, who has been the Community United Effort group director for 16 years.
"The first of everything is the worst," Caison said. "The first birthday, the first Christmas, the first Mother's Day. There's just nothing but questions. That is the torment.
"You just don't know how to treat that day. It's just a reminder of the ugliness of it all."
Caison said that she received "sporadic calls" about Drexel's disappearance after a billboard with her photo was erected in August in the Santee area of Georgetown County.
"Nothing has panned out," Caison said. "We were really hoping to get some information from that."
And the number of tips received by police has decreased during the past few weeks, Myrtle Beach Sgt. Joey Crosby said.
Dawn Drexel said the uncertainty of her daughter's whereabouts or condition has affected her health and has left an emptiness in her other children - sister Myrissa, 12, and brother Camdyn, 6.
"They miss their sister so much," Dawn Drexel said. "For my son's birthday, he released balloons and hoped his sister would get them. They just want her to come home."
Other family members remain optimistic that Brittanee will be found alive and well.
"The hope is not faded because we just don't know where she is," said Carol Wagner, Brittanee's grandmother. "We don't know what happened to her. I have a feeling she's still out there.
"I just think about her every day. I've been sick to my stomach every day knowing she's gone. It doesn't matter if it's her birthday or not. The emotions are still the same."
The CUE is planning another search for Drexel later this month, Caison said. She would not disclose the time or location of the search.
Family and investigators said the story of then-11-year-old Jaycee Dugard, taken from a bus stop in 1991, has provided some extra hope. She was found in August and reunited with her family.
"Those are miracles, but it shows we have to continue to look for people, especially kids," Caison said. "It reminds us to look close to home. I've told Dawn Drexel that we're continuing to look for Brittanee. Without a body, there is always hope."
Wagner said she is happy the Dugard family received "closure," but hopes it won't take so long to find her granddaughter.
"Maybe we'll hear from her on her birthday ... you never know," she said.
Call KURT KNAPEK at 626-0258.
