Thursday marked the 10th anniversary of Brittanee Drexel’s disappearance. A candlelight vigil was held in her honor Thursday night, in front of the tree standing in her honor in Market Common in Myrtle Beach.
“I never, in a million years, thought this would happen, but when it did, it took a piece of our heart,” said Carol Wagner, Drexel’s grandmother.
“When the world says give up, hope whispers one more time,” is the quote found on the stone under the tree honoring Drexel.
At Thursday night’s candlelight vigil, people gathered to pray and sing for Drexel, who has been missing since 2009.
“It makes us feel good about doing it because Brittanee was very special,” said Wagner.
Tears rolled down the cheeks of several who may not have ever met Brittanee, and those who have memories that flood back to their minds.
“When you can’t go to bed at night, you can think of her face and the hotel she was in, but her brother will always talk to me and I’ll always pray for him, so it’s kinda hard,” said Meghan Hoffman, one of Brittanee’s friends.
Hoffman says she lives in Myrtle Beach and can’t bear to pass the hotel Drexel last stayed in when she vanished.
“I[‘ve] live[d] here for a long time, so I pass it like all the time, and it’s just, too scary,” she said.
Brittanee’s mother Dawn Drexel Pleckan says the case is still open. Click here to watch News13’s interview with Pleckan, 10 years after her daughter went missing.
