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Missing teen to be on cover of People magazine

HelpfindBrittanee.com

Brittanee Drexel’s family set up a Facebook page, and is planning another search in South Carolina before the end of the year.

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By NATALIE SHEPHERD

nshepherd@wfla.com

Published: November 12, 2009

A missing teenager with ties to the Bay area will be featured on the cover of People magazine out on Friday. Her story is one of six being featured in an article called "Vanished."

Brittanee Drexel, 18, disappeared from a spring break trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C.. on April 25. She'd left her home in Rochester, N.Y., without her parents' permission. Surveillance video shows her at her hotel and on Ocean Drive. A cell phone tower 35 miles away in Georgetown, S.C., picked up a signal from Drexel's phone hours after she disappeared, but she hasn't been seen or heard from since.

"Brittanee had gotten chosen to be one on the front cover because we don't have anything, it's without a trace," said her aunt, Keri Drexel of Bradenton.

Law enforcement and volunteers searched a 435-acre area near Georgetown last month using horses, all terrain vehicles and cadaver dogs. Keri Drexel traveled from her home in Manatee County to be part of the search.

"It hit my heart like you can't believe," Drexel said, with tears in her eyes. "It was very hard to think, could she be out there? When I was there, I felt like I was leaving her behind."

The search didn't turn up any clues in Drexel's disappearance.

Keri Drexel wears a pin with her niece's picture on it. She put magnets with Brittanee's picture on the side of her car. She hasn't stopped looking for her niece since she disappeared six months ago.

"There are ties in three different states," she said. "That's why we're keeping it very active."

Brittanee Drexel's family set up a Facebook page, and is planning another search in South Carolina before the end of the year. In the meantime, they hope the article in People will help generate new leads in her case.

"It's very hard because the holidays are coming up, so that's what's making it real hard for the whole family," Drexel said.

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