‘Community healing needs to take place’; NCMEC reflects on Brittanee Drexel on National Missing Children’s Day

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WMBF) - May 25 has been recognized as National Missing Children’s Day since 1983. For almost four decades, the goal of the day is to spread awareness on the thousands of missing children there are across the country at all times.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 419 children were missing in South Carolina alone in 2021. Three hundred and sixty cases were resolved, but right now in South Carolina, there are 92 missing children.

Brittanee Drexel was a missing child for 13 years. NCMEC is very familiar with her case, as the center has a local office in Rochester, New York, near Brittanee’s hometown of Chili. Her remains were found earlier this month in Georgetown, South Carolina.

John Bischoff is the vice president of the missing children division for the center. He says there are many facets that go into missing children, especially when multiple communities are involved, over a long period of time.

“The pinnacle is the family, everyone is concerned about the family and the family’s well-being. But how many visitors went to Myrtle Beach and saw her pictures for years? How many people in Rochester, New York know the family, know what the family has gone through? There is also some community healing that needs to take place as well,” said Bischoff.

According to Bischoff, the NCMEC continues to support the Drexel family. For more information on current missing children in South Carolina and across the country, click here.

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