This first part of DD and CD (BD parents) on ISSUES,this was April 12th
A teen vanishes during spring break. A year later, no arrests. Will lie detector tests finally blow this case wide open? We`re talking to Brittanee Drexel`s parents next.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: A possible break in the case of missing Brittanee Drexel. This beautiful teen vanished nearly a year ago, vacationing with friends in Myrtle Beach. Now the case cops once feared was going cold has heated up with new...
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: A possible break in the case of missing Brittanee Drexel. This beautiful teen vanished a year ago vacationing with friends in Myrtle Beach. Now the case cops once feared was going cold has heated up with new tips leading to three or four persons of interest. Are police about to make an arrest? We`ll talk to Brittanee`s desperate parents.
Tonight: a family`s desperate quest to solve a grim spring break mystery. What happened to Brittanee Drexel? It has been nearly a year since the New York teenager vanished in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. She went there for spring break without her parents` permission. We`re now learning that police are looking at three possibly four people from South Carolina who they are calling persons of interest.
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VINCENT DORIO, MYRTLE BEACH DETECTIVE: People that we`re looking at, I feel really good about because all of our little pieces of evidence haven`t been tied in yet, but they`re all pointing in the same direction, towards certain people.
CHRIS BAILY, GEORGETOWN COUNTY INVESTIGATOR: They are suspected of being present with Brittanee, knowing her whereabouts or possible whereabouts.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is a huge break in this case. Detectives told us today that two of those people have taken lie detector tests, but police would not tell us the results or whether they were close to making an arrest. So after countless searches and interviews, police still cannot give Brittanee`s family any hard answers as to what happened to her.
Investigator John Lucich is back with us, but I want to get straight to my very, very special guests, Brittanee`s parents, Dawn and Chad Drexel.
I just want to say first of all, from everyone here at ISSUES, our hearts go out to you and your family. Our thoughts are with you. We`ve thought of your case often in this last year. And we don`t want to let the story of your child -- your precious daughter`s disappearance -- die out. Thanks for joining us.
DAWN DREXEL, MOTHER OF BRITTANEE DREXEL: Thank you.
CHAD DREXEL, FATHER OF BRITTANEE DREXEL: Thank you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tell us -- I`ll start with you, dawn, what has this last year been like for you, not knowing what happened to your daughter? And what`s your impression of the three or four people detectives are now focused on?
D. DREXEL: Well, the past year has been hell. You know, we -- we`ve been going on with our lives, you know, as far as taking care of our children. But, you know, someone in our family is missing. And we have no idea what happened to her.
When the police called us the other day, we were a little surprised when they called us because we weren`t sure, you know, what they were calling us in reference to. But, you know, after we had watched the footage that they had put out, we were a little appalled, you know, when they had stated that the -- that they didn`t think that Brittanee was alive because there was nothing that points to Brittanee not being alive.
They have no evidence. They don`t have a body. You know, and -- I mean, the family has just been -- we`ve gotten phone call after phone call. We have friends that are upset, family that is upset. You know, and -- you know, how dare they, you know, do this to us? Do you know what I mean?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s -- it`s rough. It`s terrible. Again, we have no comprehension of what you must be going through. What we want to do is be a force for positive change and hopefully help solve this case.
Brittanee and her friends drove about 700 miles from Rochester, New York to Myrtle Beach. Like so many teenagers, they had no adult chaperons.
Police say hours after Brittanee vanished, her cell phone sent out a ping in Georgetown County, South Carolina. Unfortunately, that clue did not generate any solid leads.
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DORIO: We could use that one person or that one piece of evidence that comes forward and tie everything in together to make a solid arrest, which leads to a solid conviction.
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VELEZ-MITCHELL: Chad, what are authorities telling you about these three or four persons of interest? The fact that her cell phone was found inland to me would indicate that somebody down there in South Carolina is responsible as everybody else was at the shore and they were from New York. So it would make it -- it would make more sense that somebody who lives in South Carolina would go inland. What do you know?
C. DREXEL: Well, when the authorities told us about these suspected people, I asked specific questions.
First off, you say you`re treating it like a homicide. Why are you treating it like a homicide? There`s a couple of things they told us. Number one, they`re trying to keep the investigation and utilize their references and all their tools by using that word. They`re able to do so. Number two, it upsets the family. I told them that. We don`t know if she`s dead or alive. That was my question.
Ok, you have suspects or persons of interest. Did they tell you that -- or is the story they`re telling you or the story that you got to get these people, is that leading you to believe that my daughter is dead or is my daughter -- do they have her somewhere or do they know where she is?
And they were being very, very generic and not answering those questions. And they said the reason -- and I asked them, why aren`t you answering my questions specifically? They said because we don`t want to hinder the case.
That`s when I know -- I`m her father. Her mother, her parents need to know what -- where you are on the investigations. If anyone is not going to hinder the case it would be the parents. Anyone else, I could see holding information from. But we`re the parents. It`s our daughter that`s missing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I agree with you 100 percent. I mean, you -- all they have to say to you is we`re telling you this but don`t tell anybody.
D. DREXEL: Exactly.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Are you frustrated, Chad, that they didn`t give you the specifics that you were asking for?
C. DREXEL: Well, of course. I mean, I want closure for not only myself but for her siblings; my 12-year-old daughter and her -- and Brittanee`s 6-year-old brother. I mean, I want closure for everyone so at least give us some hope. That`s the only word that I`ve got to teach both my children is hope.
And I try to instill that in everyone I talk to on every media I talk to, phone, Internet, whatever. You`ve got to have hope.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: So suffice it to say that the authorities have not told you anything about these three or four persons of interest?
C. DREXEL: Not at all. They`ve been very generic. They told us just trust us, to believe. The reason they want us to trust them in this is because they want a solid --
D. DREXEL: Conviction.
C. DREXEL: -- conviction to arrest them. I said, ok. Then that kind of made me feel better. However, I`m still -- I would like to know the specifics. And I won`t tell anyone. It`s my daughter. Why would I hinder my own daughter`s case?
D. DREXEL: Exactly.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: John Lucich, you`re a former criminal investigator. Briefly, any reason why the cops wouldn`t tell the parents what they know?
JOHN LUCICH, FORMER CRIMINAL INVESTIGATOR: They never injure a case intentionally. It`s always by accident. They`ve got brothers and sisters they`re close with. They`ve got siblings. They`ll tell them. It will spread.
And by accident, someone says something on the media and it`s out. And then that might hinder the investigation because real quick, if someone knows that a -- let`s say -- let`s talk about a different case of homicide that a person was stabbed to death and then the cops never released that and while they`re talking to a suspect, somebody says that to them, they know they`ve got a suspect.
They cannot release -- and these cops, they`re not trying to hurt the family --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok. All right. I hear you. We get your point. Thank you, John.
Brittanee was captured by surveillance cameras the night she vanished. Take a look at it. Here she is walking into the Blue Water Resort on Ocean Boulevard. It`s about a mile from the hotel where she was staying.
She went there to see a friend from New York who was staying there with three or four other teens. Ok. Here`s Brittanee leaving a short time later around 8:30 at night. This, I think, is one of the last times along with on the road that she was seen. She vanished after this.
Police interviewed each of those young men and said none of them are suspects. Now, one of them, however, Dawn, did leave at 1:00 in the morning to go back to Rochester, New York, which you found to be quite odd. Tell us about that. No names, please.
D. DREXEL: Well, the person that she was last seen with --
C. DREXEL: He left with a few people.
D. DREXEL: He left with the people that he came there with, that he was rooming with. And had -- came back to Rochester at 1:30 in the morning. Well, left for Rochester at 1:30 in the morning.
C. DREXEL: Dawn and I both believe that he knows something. It`s not that he knows something specifically, it`s not that the guys that went with him know something. We believe one of those kids that went with my daughter or were affiliated around my daughter down there know something or someone or something that would help this case. What hurts us the most is that none of them has stepped up to help anything.
D. DREXEL: Yes. They`ve never come forward.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We want to say that we`re not letting your story go. We`re going to stay on top of it. We`re going to call the cops. We`re going to make sure that your daughter`s case stays out there.
D. DREXEL: Jane?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. We have two seconds.
D. DREXEL: I just wanted to let you know if anybody has any tips or anything, they can go ahead and, you know, send them over to the Q Center for Misses Persons and also on Brittanee`s Web site which is
www.helpfindbrittaneedrexel.com.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you both. Our hearts are with you.
D. DREXEL: Thank you.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
C. DREXEL: Thank you.
D. DREXEL: All right, thank you.
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