The Disappearance of Brittanee Drexel

The case of Brittanee Drexel has always resonated with me for a few reasons. She was only 17 at the time of her disappearance, a young and vulnerable age. For her parents this had to be an absolute nightmare. They never granted her permission to travel from NY to SC for spring break so for them to be notified that she was missing in the Myrtle Beach area must have been devastating, as she wasn't even supposed to be there in the first place. It was your classic case of teenage rebellion. She left to have a good time and deal with the consequences of her parents when she returned. But she never made it home.

It was late April in 2009. Brittanee was a 17 year old high school junior living in Rochester, NY. She asked her mother to go to Myrtle Beach for spring break but her mother said no. Instead they agreed she could stay with a friend locally. In spite of what her mother said, Brittanee went against her wishes and embarked on a road trip to South Carolina with her friends. During her trip, she spoke to her mother frequently but instead of telling her she was in SC she lied and said she was still in NY. It has been said the trip wasn't particularly enjoyable for her. She wasn't getting along with her friends at the time and was often confiding in her boyfriend back in NY during her time there.

Brittanee was last seen on April 25, 2009 at around 8:30 pm. Security cameras captured her entering and then leaving the Blue Water Resort hotel at that time. Afterwards, she walked to visit friends at another nearby hotel. A traffic camera spots her after leaving her friend's hotel. By about 9 pm that night she sent a text message to her boyfriend in NY. After that, all communication from her cell phone abruptly stopped. No further calls or text messages came from Brittanee's phone. The traffic camera she initially walked passed should have captured her image as she walked back, but she never did. She was gone, never to be seen again.

Years later, the case remains unsolved. Searches have yielded nothing as to her whereabouts, though a pair of sunglasses that may have belonged to her were found in a swampy area south of Myrtle Beach.

Based on her cell phone pings, at approximately 9:30 that night her phone hits a tower in Surfside Beach, 7 miles south of Myrtle Beach. By Midnight her phone pings a tower in Georgetown County, which is 50 miles south of the Myrtle Beach Hotel she was staying at. After that her cell phone did not communicate with any other towers, as it was either turned off or the battery died.

In terms of Brittanee's disappearance, there's a few trains of thought as to what happened. Initially, one of her friends from Rochester, NY, that went with her to SC, was considered a person of interest. He and some other friends in the group abruptly checked out of their hotel around 1 am the following morning and headed back to NY. Alternatively, it is believed Brittanee may have simply been abducted by a stranger(s). Though, her mother on the other hand, thinks it might be a case of human trafficking.

Other than following the cell phone trail, we don't have a lot to go on here. However, there are a few things that stand out to me. First, the sudden loss of communication is telling. Around 9 pm, when she sent her last text message, something undoubtedly happened that rendered her unable to use her cell. No calls made or even a simple text message of "help". She couldn't access her phone, yet it remained on for about 3 more hours, making contact with several towers. That very much seems to suggest she was going about her business and was taken by surprise. If she perhaps met a group of strangers, decided to hang out with them and left by car, you would think at the first moment she felt uneasy, she would send a text indicating it. It doesn't seem like it was a slow culmination of danger, rather she immediately was in trouble and had no way of communicating it.

Being a young girl staying in Myrtle Beach, it is very likely she met new people and I do think it is a possibility she may have simply met a bad group of people. But, going back to the abrupt lack of cell use, I tend to think she would have at the very least sent a text indicating she felt uneasy with any new people she met. We know she was walking from hotel to hotel, in a relatively busy area, yet she still managed to vanish. She didn't make it back to her hotel and presumably there are no unaccounted for incoming calls from other people who might be involved (unless police are withholding that info). So it doesn't seem like she had a planned meeting with anyone.

To me it seems unlikely she voluntarily went off with someone, without telling anyone. But - it is is not impossible. She was having a bad time there, she wasn't really getting along with friends and maybe that could have been the catalyst to take a chance and venture off with some new people she may have met while walking home. She went there for fun, and perhaps a chance for fun presented itself while she was heading back to the hotel. Maybe a car full of younger guys invited her to a party and against her best judgement she got in the car and joined them.

However, in the case of Brittanee Drexel I tend to believe she was abducted against her will. The area is generally busy and one would think an abduction on a busy street would be seen by others, right? We don't know her exact path of travel but she didn't necessarily have to travel on a busy street. In fact she could have used side streets, cut through dark parking lots and managed to avoid busy areas with more pedestrians. I keep coming back to the fact she so quickly lost contact with everyone and that leads me to think she was quickly taken by surprise and forced into a vehicle. Based on the timeline of her phone, it seems very possible she could have been taken to Surfside Beach and was subsequently murdered there. After that she was transported south to a more remote area to be disposed of. Likely her
phone was either destroyed or the battery simply died at that point, but that general area seems likely to be where she was taken to hide the crime that was committed.

Sure, it is possible maybe her friends were involved. Maybe she met some seedy characters while at Myrtle Beach. For me, the most likely scenario is that she was seen walking at night, a petite girl, all alone in a desolate area off the main strip and viewed as an easy target. Unfortunately for Brittanee, she never made it back to her hotel.