Rachael Stein, friend of Brittanee Marie Drexel, hangs a missing poster across the street from the Bar Harbour Motel on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach. Drexel was staying at the Bar Family braces for Brittanee Drexel's 18th birthday
Monday, October 5, 2009
By Kurt Knapek - kknapek@thesunnews.com
The pain and uncertainty of the last 163 days have been agonizing enough for the family and friends of Brittanee Drexel, the New York teen who has not been seen since leaving a Myrtle Beach hotel room in April.
But Wednesday - Drexel's 18th birthday - will likely be the most difficult of all, her mother said.
"Brittanee loved birthdays, and she loved a big deal being made about her birthday," Dawn Drexel said. "She couldn't wait until her 18th. We had a lot of plans ... a lot of things she really wanted to do."
Brittanee Drexel is still missing. She was last seen April 25 leaving the Blue Water Hotel on Ocean Boulevard, and investigators remain puzzled as to her whereabouts. Another search will take place later this month, according to the Community United Effort Center for Missing Persons in Wilmington, N.C.
Family members and investigators were encouraged to learn in late August that a missing California girl was found 18 years after she was abducted at a bus stop.
Drexel's family is planning a balloon launch next week in Rochester, N.Y., to coincide with her 18th birthday and the six-month anniversary of her disappearance.
While Drexel has missed several family holidays - Mother's Day, Father's Day and her brother's 6th birthday - along with her high school's homecoming this past weekend, Wednesday will be one of the toughest for family and friends, said Monica Caison, who has been the Community United Effort group director for 16 years.
BRITTANEE, COME HOME!
http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1101901.html