Family in Grand Strand for Drexel vigil - WSMV Channel 4

By Brandon Herring - bio | email

MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - The family of Brittanee Drexel is planning to publicly mark the one-year anniversary of when she disappeared.

Drexel was on Spring Break from the Rochester, NY, area when she was last seen at a Myrtle Beach resort on Ocean Boulevard on April 25, 2009.

A gathering will begin Saturday at 5:30 p.m. at the Bar Harbor resort where Drexel was staying during her trip to the Grand Strand. People will then join in a march of about 20 blocks to the BlueWater Resort where she visited a friend and was last seen.

Just beside the BlueWater, a vigil will begin at the Hurl Rocks Park at 7:30 p.m.

"You need to keep her face out there," explained Drexel's younger sister Myrissa Drexel. "She needs to be found."

Myrissa Drexel is one of several family members and friends who are already in town for the march and vigil. This is her first trip to Myrtle Beach. She said she hopes the events will help lead to new information in the search for her sister.

"When she first went missing, it felt like I was missing half of me, and I still do," Myrissa Drexel said. "The vigil will help because it sends up to what God can take care of, and He takes care of everything."

Drexel's grandmother Carol Wagner has also returned to Myrtle Beach. She and her husband stayed in the area for months after their granddaughter's disappearance.

"It's not like I like going down where Brittanee went missing because it brings back too many memories, but with all the family here we all have hope she's going to be OK," Wagner said as she began to cry.

Wagner said newly released cell phone video of the teenager on Spring Break in Myrtle Beach only helps keep interest alive, as does new developments that there may be suspects in the case.

Wagner said about 20 family members and friends will participate in the march and vigil. It is open to the public.

Copyright 2010 WMBF News. All rights reserved.