WMBFNews.com | Myrtle Beach/Florence, SC | News, Weather, Sports6 months later, the search continues for missing NY teen

6 months later, the search continues for missing NY teen

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - October marks the six-month anniversary since a New York teen vanished while on spring break in Myrtle Beach, and despite any substantial leads, the search continues for Brittanee Drexel.

Wednesday marked the teen's 18th birthday, one she won't be spending alongside her friends and family in Rochester, NY.

The family says they were in Myrtle Beach this past weekend shooting an episode for the Maury Povich Show, along with a psychic. The Drexel family hopes the psychic will provide some answers as to where Drexel might be.

Drexel's stepfather, Chad Drexel, says the psychic believes she got in a car with a group of young men.

"We had a lot of plans for her 18th birthday, and she's not here. So it's very difficult," said Dawn, the teen's mother.

Monica Caison of the Cue Center for Missing Persons says they are planning a large scale search this month to try and find any more answers about Drexel's disappearance.

Drexel was last seen in the area of 11th Avenue South and 20th Avenue South in Myrtle Beach on April 25 after meeting up with friends from her hometown.  Drexel, 17, was in Myrtle Beach on spring break, against the will of her mother.

Contact was lost with Drexel and family in New York on Saturday evening, when authorities say she disappeared.  

Since her disappearance, a number of leads have been investigated by the Myrtle Beach Police Department and regional law enforcement agencies, but so far, all have turned into dead ends. Myrtle Beach Police suspended an active search for Drexel in June, following several weeks of no progress in the case. Investigators extended their search as far as Charleston County, along the Santee River and Coastal Reserve.

Now, in the months following her disappearance, billboards spanning from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach bear Drexel's description and picture, in hopes of jogging the memory of someone who might know what happened to her.

"It just keeps everything out in the open, so that she's seen everywhere. We know Brittanee's out there, and we're going to get her back," said Carol Wagner, the teen's grandmother.

CrimeStoppers of the Lowcountry continues to offer a reward for any information on Drexel's whereabouts.  Anyone with information regarding the disappearance of Drexel is urged to contact the agency at 1-888-CRIME-SC.

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