184 replies to this topic

[Jenn]

http://online.wsj.co...be8bd696c7.html

Special team called in for SC missing teen case

Associated Press    * JANUARY 10, 2011, 4:02 A.M. ET

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Myrtle Beach officials have called in a special team of investigators to review the case of a New York teenager who went missing nearly two years ago while on spring break in Myrtle Beach.

The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reports that members of Project Alert are expected to arrive in South Carolina on Monday to review the case of Brittanee Drexel.

Project Alert is made up of retired law enforcement professionals trained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Drexel was 17 went she traveled to Myrtle Beach with friends and without her parents' consent. She was last seen outside a Myrtle Beach hotel in April 2009.

[Jenn]

http://www.whec.com/...5.shtml?cat=565

Experts review Brittanee Drexel case

Posted at: 01/10/2011 10:41 PM | Updated at: 01/10/2011 11:26 PM
By: Nikki Rudd | WHEC.com

The case of missing Chili teen Brittanee Drexel is getting some new attention. A specialized team of investigators started reviewing the case Monday in Myrtle Beach where Drexel went missing nearly two years ago.

The three retired law enforcement officials are experts in the field of missing kids. They're part of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's "Project Alert." One if a former FBI agent. The other two are retired agents in charge of the Bureau of Investigation in North Carolina and Georgia.

We spoke with Dawn Drexel as she starts another year without her daughter.

"It never gets any better," said Dawn Drexel. "Not until we have resolution. Not until we know where Brittanee is."

Brittanee Drexel disappeared in April 2009 while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She was there with friends without the permission of her parents. She was 17 at the time. Now she would be 19 years old.

"Right now, I mean pretty much every thing's at a standstill," said Dawn Drexel. "There's not really much going on down there."

That's why Dawn Drexel is happy about a fresh set of eyes looking at the case. The three retired law enforcement officers trained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children will review the entire case and give suggestions for the investigation.

"I'm glad they're keeping the case still active, and they're still looking," said Dawn Drexel. "They're still trying to find some answers about Brittanee's disappearance."

Over the past year and a half, we've seen large and small-scale searches. Last April, police announced they had three to four persons of interest. And this summer:  a case that sounded all too familiar. A young woman was nearly abducted in the same area as Drexel was last seen. The charges against the suspect were eventually dropped. But still, there have been no arrests in the Drexel case. Police continue to investigate it as a homicide.

"We just know that somebody knows something, and I hope that they would come forward," said Dawn Drexel. "I mean if it was one of their family members I think they would want the same."

Anyone with information about Brittanee Drexel's disappearance is asked to call Myrtle Beach Police at (843) 918-1382. You can also call 1-800-THE-LOST.

[Jenn]

http://www.carolinal....aspx?id=565472

Missing persons experts to aid police in Drexel case

by Joel Allen Posted: 01.10.2011 at 6:02 PM

A team of experts in missing persons cases is in Myrtle Beach this week, to review information in the Brittanee Drexel investigation.

Drexel was 17-years-old and on spring break in Myrtle Beach when she vanished in April, 2009.

Two members of the Project ALERT team from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children arrived in Myrtle Beach Monday, to provide fresh insight into the Drexel case.

"It's always good to have somebody else look at it, give a second opinion, see if there's something that might have been missed, somebody else you might want to interview," said Capt. David Knipes of the Myrtle Beach Police Department.

Knipes said how long the team would remain in Myrtle Beach depends on the amount of time it takes them to get through all the information. He said the team members are retired law enforcement investigators who have been involved in high profile cases and have received additional training from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

According to the center's web site, Project ALERT consultants "perform a wide range of functions including case review, organization and analysis, recommending investigative strategies."

Knipes said the wintry weather may have been a factor in preventing more investigators from coming to Myrtle Beach.

Knipes said the team members won't be gathering new information about Drexel's disappearance, but will take a good look at the investigation to date.

"How long it's going to take, we're not 100 percent sure. It just depends on how long it takes them to go through everything."

Drexel was last seen leaving a friend's hotel the night before she was supposed to return to her home in upstate New York.

[Kelly]

http://www.postandco...ssing-teenager/

150 continue search for missing teenager

Sunday, January 30, 2011

MYRTLE BEACH — At least 150 people searched three miles of wooded road in Georgetown County on Saturday in the hopes of finding a clue to the whereabouts of Brittanee Drexel.

The search will continue today with at least 30 more people, said Monica Caison, with the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C., which organized the search.

The CUE Center has organized several searches since the teen was last seen leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard on April 25, 2009.

No significant finds were made on Saturday, but Brittanee’s mother, Dawn Drexel, said she is optimistic.

[Kelly]

http://www.live5news....asp?S=13933455

Hopes of finding Brittanee Drexel continue

Posted: Jan 29, 2011 8:09 PM CST Updated: Jan 29, 2011 8:16 PM CST

McClellanville, S.C. (WCSC) --  A huge search taking place this weekend near McClellanville, all in the hopes of finding Brittanee Drexel. She the 17-year-old New York teenager that's been miissing since April 2009.

"When I come down normally it's very stressful for me," said Brittanne's mom, Dawn Drexel.  Trips to Charleston County for  her  and her family aren't a new thing.  "It's very difficult being here and thinking that you're child can be in a wooded area is just too much for me to handle." Searches for Drexel's missing daughter Brittanee continue,  but this time with the unfaultering help of monica caison,  they're pulling out all the stops.

"We have close to 200 volunteers, professional teams that have come out. We have mounted units as well as canine units, we have numerous ATV teams and we have ground pounders, " said Caison, the executive director of the CUE Center for Missing Persons.

This weekend's search is  the second largest search for Brittanee since her initial disappearance in Myrtle Beach in 2009.

The search covers 12 miles of wooded area near McClellanville, which is the last place authorities say they received a single from Brittanee's cell phone.  Although Dawn Drexel has seen countless searches before, she hasn't given up hope and is confident in Caison and the CUE Center volunteers.

"She's not going to stop searching until she finds my daughter," said Dawn Drexel.

[Kelly]

http://www.thesunnew...xel-search.html

Sunday, Jan. 30, 2011

No clues in Brittanee Drexel search, last seen in Myrtle Beach
150 volunteers search near Strand

By Gina Vasselli - gvasselli@thesunnews.com


At least 150 people searched three miles of wooded road in Charleston County on Saturday in the hopes of finding a clue to the whereabouts of Brittanee Drexel.

The search will continue today with at least 30 more people, said Monica Caison, with the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C., which organized the search.

Search officials from the CUE Center of Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C. along with area and state law enforcment officials searched a wooded area of Charleston County on Sunday for a New York girl teenager who disappeared from Myrtle Beach last year.

Dawn Drexel said police in McClellanville received a tip that the body of her daughter, Brittanee Drexel, could be in a wooded area off Rutledge Road.

"They didn't tell us what the tip was about," Dawn Drexel said this morning. "They do look at all of them. They still are actively searching for Brittanee."

At least 150 people searched three miles of wooded road in Charleston County on Saturday in the hopes of finding a clue to the whereabouts of Brittanee Drexel.

      But no significant finds were made, said Monica Caison, with the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C., which organized the search.


The CUE Center has organized several searches since the teen was last seen leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard April 25, 2009.

No significant finds were made on Saturday, but Brittanee Drexel's mother, Dawn Drexel, said she is optimistic.

"I'm hopeful that they'll get a tip called in or something that will bring us closer to what happened to Brittanee," Dawn Drexel said.

Searches began in Georgetown and Charleston counties after officials learned Drexel's cell phone gave off its last known signal on April 26, 2009, around U.S. 17 Bypass and the South Santee River in Georgetown County.

Caison said the CUE Center was asked by the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office to conduct a search of the area near Old Georgetown Road.

She said the area they are searching is about five miles and she hopes the volunteers will be able to search the remaining two miles today.

Dawn Drexel was on the scene of the search Saturday and said she plans to be there today as well.

Earlier this month, a specialized team of law enforcement professionals spent a week at the Myrtle Beach Police Department reviewing the case.

Members of Project Alert, a group of retired law enforcement professionals who are trained by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, reviewed the case with Myrtle Beach police investigators, but authorities have not released any new information.

Drexel, whose 19th birthday was Oct. 5, was 17 when she came to Myrtle Beach with some friends and without the consent of her parents.

Her case has been profiled on dozens of local and national television shows, billboards and websites.

Authorities say they will continue to profile her case with the hope that someone with information regarding her whereabouts will come forward with details.

Various rewards are available from law enforcement and a New York-based church for information about Drexel. Anyone with information regarding Drexel is asked to call Myrtle Beach police at 918-1382 or submit information online at helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com.

[Jenn]

http://www.wmbfnews....h-of-georgetown

Volunteers search for Brittanee Drexel south of Georgetown

Posted: Jan 30, 2011 6:55 PM EST Updated: Jan 30, 2011 10:12 PM EST

CHARLESTON COUNTY, SC (WMBF) – Over two hundred volunteers combed a rural road in Charleston County this weekend to find evidence that could lead to missing teen Brittanee Drexel's whereabouts.

Organized by the CUE Center for Missing Persons, a non-profit group based out of Wilmington,  searchers and law enforcement personnel scoured the dense woods along Old Georgetown Road for anything that could give investigators a lead into the girl's disappearance.

Brittanee Drexel disappeared almost two years ago, when she was 17 years old, after leaving a resort along Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. Drexel came to the Grand Strand without her parents consent.

Officials search the McClellanville and Santee Coastal Reserve area south of Georgetown because that was the region where the last signal from Brittanee's cell phone was received.

Search parties combed the woods by ATV, horseback, and on foot both Saturday and Sunday. But even with over two hundred sets of watchful eyes, finding evidence in the heavy brush was difficult.

"Nothing significant that's been located has anything or any direct tie with Brittanee Drexel," says CUE Center director and founder Monica Caison. "But we still have a little over two miles and a couple areas that we're going to look into while we're here as well." The CUE Center has played a major role in the search efforts since Brittanee first disappeared.

Dawn Drexel, Brittanee's mother, has made countless trips to the Myrtle Beach area since her daughter went missing in 2009, and it's the dedication of these volunteers that give her hope that she'll find answers to Brittanee's whereabouts. Dawn has also found strength in families who also have loved ones who have disappeared.

"When your child goes missing, you go through hell. And they really know what you're going through. They've been dealing with the same thing that you've been gong through, and their's have been a lot longer."

[Jenn]

http://www.longislan...issing-ny-teen/

Brittanee Drexel: Search Continues for Missing NY Teen

By Jaclyn Gallucci on January 31st, 2011

Hundreds of volunteers and police resumed a large-scale search, by foot and by horseback, over the weekend for missing Rochester teen Brittanee Drexel who disappeared in 2009, but no new evidence has been made public.

Drexel was reported missing in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina while on spring break. On Saturday and Sunday more than 200 people came out to search a 12-mile radius near McClellanville, where a cell phone tower received a signal from Drexel’s cell phone after she disappeared.

Drexel’s cell phone transmitted its last known signal the next day near the South Santee River in Georgetown County.

Dozens of searchers have searched Georgetown, Horry and Charleston counties since Drexel disappeared on April 25, 2009, after leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel.

Police say Drexel, 17, was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South on April 25, 2009.

Drexel was walking alone at the time and had gone back to her hotel to return a pair of her friends shorts before meeting up with another group of friends that evening.

Screenshot taken of Brittanee Drexel from a video at the Bar Harbor Hotel

Drexel was staying at the Bar Harbor Hotel on Ocean Boulevard when she went missing. She can be seen leaving the hotel on surveillance video at 8:15 p.m. She was on her way to visit friends at the Bluewater Resort, 20 blocks away. She was was then recorded 30 minutes later on video leaving Bluewater Resort presumed to be heading back to Bar Harbor, but never arrived.

Brittanee Drexel is 5 feet tall and weighs about 103 pounds. She has brown, shoulder-length, straight hair and blue eyes and was last seen wearing a multi-colored striped shirt, black shorts, and flip-flop sandals.

The video below was taken on a cell phone in a Myrtle Beach motel room the day before Drexel disappeared.

If anyone has the information on her disappearance, the Myrtle Beach Police Department tip-line is 843- 918-1382. www.helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com

[Kelly]

http://www.wmbfnews....-weekend-search

New tip arrives in Drexel case after weekend search

Posted: Feb 01, 2011 3:22 PM CST Updated: Feb 01, 2011 3:27 PM CST


MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Investigators with the Myrtle Beach Police Department have confirmed they received a new tip during a weekend search for missing New York Teen Brittanee Drexel.

Capt. David Knipes, spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department said the tip was not any physical evidence found at the scene, rather someone who reached out to investigators.

Detectives also have yet to determine whether or not the new tip is legitimate and stress that they are always looking into new leads.

Over 150 people searched a wooded area in Charleston County, looking for any sign of Drexel.

Drexel went missing back in April 2009 from Myrtle Beach's Ocean Boulevard. Since then, hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement officers have searched for Drexel.

A cell phone tower in Georgetown Co. last picked up a signal from the teen's cell. Since then, several searches have occurred around the area where that cell signal was last detected.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.wmbfnews....georgetown-area

New Drexel tip leads K-9 unit to Georgetown area
Posted: Feb 05, 2011 4:09 PM EST
Updated: Feb 05, 2011 4:22 PM EST

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, SC (WMBF) - Investigators with the Myrtle Beach Police Department searched with dogs Saturday morning in response to a tip concerning the disappearance of missing teen Brittanee Drexel.

Lieutenant Capp with the MBPD said the search was conducted in a concentrated area after a tip came in after the last search.  K-9 units based in Columbia assisted in the search, but no clues were reported.

The MBPD does not plan to conduct another search soon unless new leads are brought forward.

Brittanee Drexel disappeared almost two years ago, when she was 17 years old, after leaving a resort along Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. Drexel came to the Grand Strand without her parents consent.

[Kelly]

http://www.thesunnew...ld-marking.html

Thursday, Mar. 10, 2011

Fundraisers to be held marking 2-year anniversary of Brittanee Drexel's disappearance

Janelle Frost

Two fundraisers are planned for next month in the Myrtle Beach area marking the two years since a New York teen was last seen in the area while on spring break.

Brittanee Drexel was last seen leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach April 25, 2009.

The first fundraiser will be held from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. April 21 at Max & Erma’s Restaurant at the corner of U.S. 501 and Carolina Forest Boulevard. The restaurant will donate 20 percent of its sales from individuals with a flyer to the CUE Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C.

Read more: http://www.thesunnew...l#ixzz1GPFIZjul

[Kelly]

http://www.wmbfnews....rittanee-drexel


MBPD: Nothing of value found during new search for Brittanee Drexel

Posted: Apr 19, 2011 3:54 PM CDT Updated: Apr 20, 2011 3:36 PM CDT
By Rachel West, WMBF News Online Journalist - bio | email

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) – The Myrtle Beach Police Department continues in its diligent search for missing New York teen Brittanee Drexel.

Capt. David Knipes, spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department, said police continue to receive tips and information on a routine basis in regards to Brittanee's case, with all tips investigated fully.

The latest tip came into the Myrtle Beach Police Department Tuesday morning around 2:30 a.m. and is being followed up on as the rest are.

A new search for Drexel began in the Myrtle Beach area Wednesday morning around 7 a.m. involving about 25 people from MBPD, the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office and the CUE Center for Missing Persons.

Knipes said nothing of value was found during Wednesday's search.

According to Knipes, that search was not related to any tip that has come into the precinct.

Another search could be conducted in the same area Thursday depending on what areas the group covers Wednesday.

[Kelly]

http://www.whec.com/...0.shtml?cat=566

New developments in the Brittanee Drexel case

Posted at: 08/01/2011 11:07 AM | Updated at: 08/01/2011 5:56 PM
By: Berkeley Brean | WHEC.com

There could be a break in the case of missing teen Brittanee Drexel. Police searching an apartment connected to her disappearance left with bags of evidence. It happened late Monday morning in South Carolina.

Police in Myrtle Beach searched an old apartment of man who police consider a person of interest. They got a tip that the person lived in the apartment at the same time Brittanee went missing.

"Anything that comes up could be something.  So it's kind of a roller coaster ride.  They say one thing, it doesn't pan out, but I think we just have to be thankful and grateful that they're still working on it," Brittanee's mother Dawn Drexel said.

The search is over now but when police left, they were seen carrying away what's described as evidence.

The owner of the apartment -- which is really a hotel -- told our NBC affiliate that records show a person of interest in the Drexel case began living at the Sunset Lodge one day before Brittanee disappeared. The man stayed at the unit for six months before leaving.

Drexel's cell phone pinged for the last time in the same area.

Brittanee's mother Dawn Drexel said, "We have a lot of faith in Brittanee's task force and also that they've kept this as an active investigation and that they've been working on all the tips and leads that come in. So we're hoping that it can bring some sort of resolution."

Drexel, 17 at the time of her disappearance and would turn 20 this October, was last seen leaving the Blue Water Hotel along Ocean Boulevard on April 25, 2009.

Drexel's family was in Myrtle Beach earlier this year to mark the two-year anniversary of the teen's disappearance and to ask the public to continue to call in their tips to authorities in the case.

Inspector Mike Hull with the Myrtle Beach Police Department said, "It is a large case. There is a lot to look into. There are a multitude of leads that have to be tracked down and just waiting on getting enough evidence."

[Kelly]

http://www2.scnow.co...//bit.ly/oY02iG

Georgetown apartment searched in Brittanee Drexel case

By: SCNow Staff
Published: August 01, 2011

GEORGETOWN, SC - Georgetown County Sheriff's deputies and SLED agents conducted a search at the Sunset Lodge Apartments in Georgetown Monday morning in connection with missing New York teen Brittanee Drexel.

Officers placed crime scene tape around the door of apartment 22.  The search happened around 10 a.m.

According to a press release from Myrtle Beach Police, the investigation revealed that a person(s) of interest may have stayed in this room on or around the time of the disapearance of Brittanee Marie Drexel.

While authorities have noe released any person(s)' of interest names, SLED told News 13 Monday that a man with a lengthy criminal background lived at the apartment around the time Drexel went missing.

That man's name is Raymond Douglas Moody.

According to SLED, Moody had previously been charged with committing a lewd act with a minor under the age of 14, sodomy with a child under the 14, rape, and kidnapping to commit rape.

News 13 spoke with Moody at his place of employment, but Moody declined to answer any questions.

Moody had not been name a suspect nor a person of interest as of Monday.

Meanwhile, Drexel went from a Myrtle Beach hotel on April 25, 2009.

Her search has lead investigators to Georgetown, Horry and Charleston counties since her disappearance.

Volunteer search crews, family members, a variety of law enformenet agencies have been looking for clues that may explain her disappearance.

Numerous tips have come in since Drexel's disappeared, but nothing has lead to a break in the case.

In June of 2010, a young woman told police someone tried to abduct her where Drexel was reported missing.  Police arrested a man, but later dropped the charges.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.thesunnew...p-conducts.html

Missing persons group conducts new search Friday for missing New York teen Brittanee Drexel

Friday, Nov. 18, 2011
By Janelle Frost

The CUE Center for Missing Persons conducted a search Friday afternoon in McClellanville for Brittanee Drexel, a New York teen last seen more than two years ago while on Spring Break in Myrtle Beach, according to authorities.

Myrtle Beach Police spokesman Capt. David Knipes said the department had an officer there more so as a courtesy during the search done by the Wilmington, N.C.-based CUE Center and Charleston County authorities.

CUE Center founder Monica Caison could not be reached for comments.

Drexel was 17 when she was last seen on April 25, 2009, leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. The teen came to Myrtle Beach with friends from her home in Rochester, N.Y., without the consent of her parents, for Spring Break.

[Lori Davis]

Volunteers launch new search for missing teen Brittanee Drexel

Posted: 11/18/2011
By Rachel West, WMBF News Online Journalist

MCCLELLANVILLE, SC (WMBF) After fisherman alerted them to an odor of decay, investigators in the case of missing teen Brittanee Drexel have taken to the water in their search.

About 30 volunteers and investigators spent about four hours Friday searching an island seven miles off the coast of McClellanville with K-9 units for human remains that could have been those of Drexel.

Searchers spent a lot of time on the sand and a few will continue to search through the evening, though a majority of those searchers are already returning to the mainland.

The island is an area investigators have spent time in before and Friday's search is one of many investigators have conducted in the Charleston, Georgetown and Horry County areas since Drexel went missing in 2009.

Investigators say their search efforts have been productive, but no new information has been found at this time.

Read more: http://www.wmbfnews....arch-for-drexel

[Lori Davis]

Slideshow on Jesse Ross Missing: Student's Mysterious Disappearance Chronicled In New Book

January 6, 2012 08:47:00

[Excerpt..]

Brittanee Drexel

Brittanee Drexel, 17, was last seen by friends on April 25, 2009, when she left the Bar Harbor Hotel in Myrtle Beach, S.C., to meet friends at the nearby BlueWater Resort. Surveillance footage shows Drexel arriving at the resort, then leaving roughly 10 minutes later. What happened to her after that remains a mystery. For more information, visit Helpfindbrittanee.com.

Read more: http://www.huffingto...1187018/201936/

[Lori Davis]

Convicted sex offender named person of interest in Brittanee Drexel case

Posted: Feb 16, 2012 6:06 PM EST
Updated: Feb 16, 2012 6:29 PM EST

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - Six months after staying tight lipped about who they were investigating as a person of interest in the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel, investigators in Myrtle Beach are releasing names.

Capt. David Knipes, spokesman for the Myrtle Beach Police Department, confirmed to WMBF News that investigators are now naming Raymond Moody, 51, of Georgetown County as a person of interest in the 2009 disappearance of New York teen Brittanee Drexel.

At the beginning of August, investigators executed a search warrant at a Georgetown motel room Moody had stayed in around the time of Drexel's disappearance. At the time, MBPD would not name Moody as a person of interest.

Read more: http://www.wbtv.com/...l-disappearance

[Lori Davis]

Offender tied to 2 missing women
'Person of interest' in Drexel, Soles cases

BY ALLYSON BIRD
Saturday, February 18, 2012

Myrtle Beach police confirmed Friday that a registered sex offender identified in August as a "person of interest" in the 2009 disappearance of 17-year-old Brittanee Drexel still holds their attention.

Police Capt. David Knipes identified the man as a 51-year-old Georgetown resident convicted of raping a child decades ago in another state. Knipes released the man's name, but The Post and Courier does not identify people designated as a "person of interest" in a criminal case unless authorities name the person as a suspect.

Georgetown sheriff's investigators confirmed that the man remains a person of interest in their case of a missing woman from 2005.

Read more: http://www.postandco...-missing-women/

[Lori Davis]

http://www.foxnews.c.../#ixzz24nblHaqp

Three years after Brittanee Drexel’s disappearance, a victim of ‘person of interest’ speaks out
By Cristina Corbin
Published April 25, 2012
FoxNews.com

Police say Raymond Moody is a “person of interest” in the disappearance of Brittanee Drexel, the 17-year-old from upstate New York who vanished in South Carolina exactly three years ago today.

But to Kerri Harding, Moody is the monster who abducted and raped her in 1983, when she was just 8, and she’s convinced he should be the prime suspect in the Drexel case.

Harding survived the attack in California, but the terrifying memory of her ordeal has never left her. Drexel disappeared from South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach on April 25, 2009, and is presumed dead. Police told FoxNews.com there are similarities between the two cases, and said they confirmed Moody was in the area near where Drexel was last seen. But authorities don’t have enough evidence to declare him a suspect, and to Harding’s horror, he refuses to speak to them.

“My biggest fear is that he’ll do it again,” said Harding, now 38. “You should never get a second chance to hurt a child.”
Moody, 52, served 21 years of a 40-year prison sentence after admitting to sexually assaulting Harding and six other girls. He relocated to Georgetown, S.C., after his release from the California State Prison in Solano in 2004. The ex-con, who police say works in a woodworking shop, could not be reached for comment.

Harding has monitored Moody’s whereabouts since his release, and knew he had resurfaced in South Carolina. When she came upon a February article on FoxNews.com reporting that Moody is a person of interest in Drexel’s disappearance, she said she had no doubt that her tormentor had struck again.

“That was my very first thought,” she said. “That he’s at it again. It was a gut feeling.”

Harding was walking alone to meet a friend at her elementary school in Vallejo, Calif., when she encountered Moody on Jan. 20, 1983. He forced the young girl into his car, saying he intended to drop her off at a police station because “‘You’re too little to be out here by yourself,’” Harding recalled.

Moody drove to an empty cul-de-sac, where he raped the child repeatedly before she managed to escape after pleading with her assailant to use a bathroom. The young girl was able to tell police she saw a green sticker on Moody’s car, which police determined was needed to gain entry onto a U.S. Navy base in Vallejo. That ultimately led them to Moody, who confessed to the rape and to assaulting six other children. He served slightly more than half of his prison sentence.

“He should have never been released,” she told FoxNews.com. “Why would the courts even take a chance with our children?”

Drexel, a high school junior from the Rochester, N.Y., area, went with friends and without her mom's permission to Myrtle Beach on April 23, 2009. She left a group of male friends from Rochester at the Blue Water Resort to walk back to the Bar Harbor Hotel, where she was staying with other girls, at around 9 p.m. on April 25. But security video confirmed she never made it to her hotel, police said.

Law enforcement sources in South Carolina told FoxNews.com there are striking similarities between the Harding and Drexel cases, though they declined to elaborate on many details. But Moody, a registered Level 3 sex offender, has long been a focus of their investigation. The last signal from Drexel’s cellphone came that same night about 50 miles south of Myrtle Beach and 8 miles from where Moody was living at the time. A traffic ticket also put him in the Myrtle Beach area the same weekend the teen disappeared. Yet most alarming to police was Moody’s refusal to speak with them.

Police suspect Drexel was kidnapped as she walked along Ocean Boulevard and driven to Georgetown County, some 50 miles away. Her cell phone signal was last detected in a remote boat landing area near the South Santee River and roughly 8 miles from the Sunset Lodge apartments in Georgetown County, where Moody had been living at the time, according to Investigator Phillip Hanna of the Georgetown County Sheriff's Office.

On Wednesday – the third anniversary of Drexel’s disappearance – her mother, Dawn, said her determination to find her oldest child will never waver.

“I won’t stop until I have answers,” Drexel told FoxNews.com. “And I will always be hopeful until I know the worst.”

Harding, meanwhile, said she “won’t rest until the laws are changed.”

“If justice were served correctly, this girl would be alive today,” she said. “That’s hard to swallow.”

[Lori Davis]

http://www.carolinal...36#.UDwbOcFlTIY

Arrest of ski mask rape suspect has police reviewing open cases

by Ryan Naquin
Posted: 06.28.2012 at 5:06 PM

Brooks is being held in J. Reuben Long Detention Center awaiting his extradition hearing.

Myrtle Beach police are checking open cases to see if there's any connection to a man arrested in Surfside Beach this week and charged with 3 rapes in Charlotte, NC dating back to 1979.

On Tuesday, Surfside Beach police arrested Jerry Brooks.

Police in Charlotte say Brooks' DNA connected him to the 30 year old cases.

Myrtle Beach Police captain David Knipes said his department is looking into any possible links between Brooks and unsolved crimes in this area, like the case of missing spring breaker Brittanee Drexel.

Drexel went missing three years ago while on spring break in Myrtle Beach.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.postandco.../PC16/120829943

Missing persons center to help in search for McCaffrey

Glenn Smith Posted: Monday, August 20, 2012 10:17 a.m.
UPDATED: Monday, August 20, 2012 11:30 a.m.

A North Carolina-based missing person center will assist Charleston County sheriff’s deputies in their effort to find a West Ashley woman who disappeared in March.

Representatives from the CUE Center for Missing Persons will be meeting with sheriff’s investigators to discuss what more can be done to find 36-year-old Gayle McCaffrey, whose husband reported her missing March 18, Sheriff’s Maj. Jim Brady said.

“What we’re planning is a face-to-face meeting with them and the detectives to look at the case and see whether some additional things can be done,” he said.

Vicki Porter, CUE’s outreach director for South Carolina, said Adams Outdoors has erected eight billboards around the Charleston area designed to draw attention to McCaffrey’s case and generate tips.

CUE representatives will be meeting with investigators later today to determine how else they can assist in the search for McCaffrey, she said.

“Basically, we come in to work with law enforcement and try to raise awareness about these cases and, hopefully, bring some resolution to these families,” she said.

The center has assisted in more than 8,700 missing-person cases since 1994.

The sheriff’s office has worked with the center before, most recently on the case of Brittanee Drexel, a 17-year-old New York resident who disappeared during a trip to Myrtle Beach in April 2009. Numerous searches have been conducted from Myrtle Beach to the McClellanville area, but Drexel remains missing.

Several searches also have taken place for McCaffrey, but no sign of her has been found.

McCaffrey’s husband, Bob McCaffrey, told the Sheriff’s Office he last saw his wife on March 17 at their Limestone Boulevard home. He said he drove to the Upstate town of Travelers Rest to clear his head after an argument at home, and that when he returned the next morning the couple’s children were sleeping but his wife was gone.

Investigators said Gayle McCaffrey’s car and personal belongings were still at the home.

While in town, CUE representatives also are meeting with the mother of Brandy Hanna, who went missing on May 20, 2005. She worked her shift at Alex’s Restaurant in North Charleston, caught a ride home with a customer, then talked to her mother by phone later that evening. Then, she vanished.

Porter said CUE is looking to generate renewed interest in Hanna’s case in an effort to bring closure to her family.

[Lori Davis]

http://www.13wham.co...ACyoWLww5g.cspx

Brittanee Drexel’s Mom Not Giving Up

Reported by: Kelsie Smith
Story Published: 9/28 5:37 am
Updated: 9/28 6:01 pm

Chili, N.Y./Myrtle Beach, S.C. - The family of a missing girl is hoping for new leads.

Brittanee Drexel disappeared 3 years ago while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and her mother is not giving up the search for her.

Drexel's 21st birthday is next Sunday. Her mother will spend it at a vigil in Myrtle Beach, S.C. - praying for answers to her daughter's disappearance.

Dawn Drexel believes someone knows what happened to her daughter.  In a letter issued to the media she relives the days after her daughter went missing, the panic of repeatedly calling Brittanee's cell phone only to get the voice mail.  Drexel maintains the friends that were with Brittanee in Myrtle Beach know more then they have ever told officials.

“I want to find my daughter,” said Dawn Drexel, “I'm not going to give up looking for her or find out what happened to her. Somebody had to see something. A lot of people were down there, my daughter is there for 60-hours and all of a sudden she vanishes not seen or heard from again. It's just not right.”

Drexel is traveling to Myrtle Beach next Thursday.  There's a benefit for her daughter on Friday and a vigil will be held Sunday on Brittanee's 21st birthday.  Drexel says she will be meeting with detectives while she's down there.

Raymond Moody, who served time for sexually abusing seven girls, was named a person of interest in Drexel's disappearance, but has never been charged.

[Shannon]

http://www.carolinal....aspx?id=809941

Families remember loved ones that are missing

by Brianna Smith

Posted: 10.06.2012 at 7:01 PM

ANDREWS, SC (WPDE) - Four families gathered Saturday afternoon in Andrews to remember their loved ones that have disappeared.

Crystal Gail Soles of Andrews has been missing since 2005. Her mother organized the event calling it a Walk of Remembrance.

The families of Brittanee Drexel, Brandon Graves, Crystal Soles, and Gabbiee Swainson gathered with posters in hand, hoping to keep hope alive for their loved one's missing person cases.

"You've got to keep their name and their face out there, every missing child, cause it could bring in tips and leads for their case," said Dawn Drexel.

All of these missing person cases have been involved with CUE Center for Missing Persons. Monica Caison is the founder of CUE and says it's important for families who are missing someone to support each other.

"Whenever someone gets missing within our organization, we actually build the base underneath them with other families," said Caison.

Saturday's event was called a walk of remembrance, but the families also say it was one of hope.

There will be a candlelight vigil tomorrow at 7 p.m. for Brittanee Drexel at the site of her tree planted on Farrow Parkway at The Market Common.

On Friday, October 12 there will be an event for Brandon Graves at the halftime of the Dillon High School football game.

[Shannon]

http://www.huffingto..._n_2250960.html

Brittanee Drexel Age-Progressed Drawing Shows What Missing Girl Might Look Like



Posted: 12/06/2012 1:25 pm EST
Updated: 12/06/2012 1:40 pm EST

By David Lohr

Coming up on the fourth anniversary of Brittanee Drexel's disappearance, the CUE Center for Missing Persons has released an age-progressed portrait showing what she might look like now.

"This forensic tool has proven to be a successful in any type of case from a suspect, missing individual and the unidentified," said CUE founder, Monica Caison. "It can also provide families who have stared at the time stamped missing picture for so long an inner peace of something possible, that renewed hope families need."

Brittanee Drexel has not been seen since April 25, 2009. The 17-year-old from Rochester, N.Y., vanished while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Drexel was last seen by friends when she left the Bar Harbor Hotel in Myrtle Beach to meet friends at the nearby BlueWater Resort. Surveillance footage shows Drexel arriving at the resort, then leaving roughly 10 minutes later. What happened to her after that remains a mystery.

Drexel's cell phone gave off its last signal the day after she went missing. Investigators narrowed the phone location to an area near the South Santee River in Georgetown County.

Caison and her North Carolina-based organization have conducted multiple searches for the missing teen.

The new age-progression drawing of Drexel was created by Canadian certified forensic artist Diana P. Trepkov. The portrait shows Drexel at age 21. The missing girl's mother, Dawn Drexel, said she hopes the drawing will help generate new leads in the case.

"I was so overwhelmed by what [Trepkov and Caison] gave us just before the holidays -- the beauty of what I know my daughter would really look like today ... it is a bittersweet gift," Dawn Drexel said.

Drexel said she had Trepkov incorporate her daughter's birth defect in the drawing. Brittanee suffered from Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous; an eye disease which casts shadows in eye sight, causing eye dilation issues and cataracts.

"I wanted the public to know about my daughter's eye ... if she is alive out there somewhere, she would have been in need of another surgery and this drawing helps to show what her eye would look like today without medical attention," Dawn Drexel said.

At the time of her disappearance, Brittanee Drexel was 5 feet tall and 103 pounds. She had blue eyes and blond highlights in her hair. Anyone with information in the case is asked to contact Myrtle Beach Police at 843-918-1963. Confidential tips can also be submitted via helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com.