17-year-old Brittanee Drexel, a seemingly normal teen from the state of New York, disappeared from a resort on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach on the 25th of April 2009. She was last spotted at around 9:00 p.m. on that day, in front of the Blue Water Resort where she went for a Spring Break trip.
Drexel’s whereabouts remain unknown even today. Several questions have sprung up since her disappearance and they remain unanswered to date. The FBI got involved in the investigation as the case gained national attention and they are still offering a quarter of a million dollars as a reward for plausible information on Drexel.
Who Was Brittanee Drexel?
Brittanee Drexel, the teen in question here, was born in Rochester, New York, on October 7, 1991. Her mother is Dawn Drexel and she has a substantial role in making this case one of the most talked-about true-crime incidents from the late 2000s. Not much is known about her father except that he was a man of Turkish descent.
A little after Brittanee’s birth, Dawn got married to Chad Drexel. Chad adopted Brittanee’s girl at the time and the couple brought her up as their own. Chad was in the military and after his service got over, the family of three stayed in the Rochester suburb of Chili. Little Brittanee Drexel showed promising skills in soccer, and on being interviewed, people who knew her claimed she was fast, agile, and talented at the sport.
She wanted to pursue studies to become a nurse, a cosmetologist, or a model. She had a congenital birth defect, known as persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous in her right eye. This required her to undergo many surgeries. Ultimately, it made her blind in one eye. Brittanee Drexel used lenses to not let people who about her defective eye.
Did the Family Situation Make it Worse for Brittanee Drexel?
Brittanee’s mother Dawn and her adoptive father Chad Drexel headed into some familial difficulties and got divorced in 2008. This degrading family situation has its toll on Brittanee. Her academics were affected and this trauma also heightened the depression that plagued her for a long time.
Brittanee Drexel remained in her mother’s custody but visited Chad a couple of times. As a teenager, Brittanee became rebellious and she asked her mom if she could go to Myrtle Beach in California in April 2009.
Her mother turned her down as she was unsure of her daughter’s safety. Brittanee did not take this lightly and there were several altercations between the mother and the daughter until Brittanee left for South Carolina on 22nd April without telling her mother.
Investigations on the Brittanee Drexel Disappearance Case
The morning after Brittanee was reported as missing, the Myrtle Beach police force started searching for her. Their investigation was backed with local CCTV footage from the resort they were staying at and they also questioned some friends who went with her. The only person who saw Drexel the night she disappeared was a 20-year-old nightclub promoter called Peter Brozowitz. He and Brittanee were acquaintances and they had met up the night before at a nightclub.
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