MISSING: Brittanee Drexel

[00:00] Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock Season 8 now wherever you get your podcasts. [00:31] Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And January 11th was Human Trafficking Awareness Day. And in fact, January is now Human Trafficking Awareness Month. So the story I want to tell you today is all about a girl who is believed to have fallen victim to this modern-day slavery practice. And this is one of the episodes I think is super important for young people to hear. So parents, share with your kids. High school and college students, listen close. [01:01] Labor Association, over 40 million people across the world are exploited, trafficked, and enslaved, with women and girls being disproportionately affected. Human trafficking isn't something that happens far away in poor, isolated regions. It can happen anywhere, at any time, and anyone, including a high school soccer star on her spring break, can fall victim. This is the story of Brittany Drexel. [01:28] Music

[01:59] Brittany Drexel just wanted to have some fun. Her family life in Rochester, New York, was undergoing some dramatic changes during her junior year of high school. Her parents had recently decided to divorce. Her dad, Chad, who had adopted her as a little girl after marrying her mom, Dawn, had just moved out of the house. And 17-year-old Brittany was taking it really hard. Now, she normally enjoyed school and she loved being on the soccer team. [02:29] but also be there for her younger brother and sister through the divorce. Now, her normal spark around this time was just dimmed. But as winter ended and spring break of 2009 got closer, Brittany saw an opportunity to reignite it when a trio of seniors from the high school invited her to go down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with them for spring break. Now, this is a big deal to be invited by the older kids. This is kind of a tradition for the seniors to go to Myrtle Beach and have a good time before graduation. [02:59] to go. There's just one problem. Her parents won't let her. Dawn is not about to let Brittany take a 14-hour road trip six states away with a group of kids that she doesn't know with no parental supervision. And Chad agrees, like, it's not happening. [03:14] I mean... [03:15] I'm sure if I were Brittany, I would be upset, but as a mom, I'm also seeing that it's [03:20] a really good idea not to go. Yeah, but here's the thing. You're right. Brittany is all about this. She doesn't stop asking and pretty soon they're fighting about it all through the weeks leading up to spring break. It's a constant discussion point in their house all the way up until the week of April 20th when Brittany's school let out for vacation. Finally, on April 22nd, Brittany asked Dawn again because this is when they're planning on leaving. Like, Mom, can I

[03:50] ends up storming out of the house. She calls her boyfriend to come pick her up and he takes her over to a friend's house. Now, once she gets there, she calls Dawn to apologize. And of course, along with the apology, ask just one more time. Once again, Dawn says no. Disappeared actually did an episode on Brittany's case called The Secret Journey. And Dawn told the producers of that show that she just got a bad feeling about the whole Myrtle Beach thing. And she was kind [04:20] asking. But she got it. It was spring break. She thinks that, you know, she does need some kind of change of scenery. Some breathing room might not be a bad idea. I mean, it's been a stressful school year with Dawn and Chad separation. It's not easy on anyone. Now that there's this long way to break from school, Brittany suggests a compromise. Brittany says, listen, let me spend spring break at my friend's house. Like I will call you all the time. I'm going to be around if you need anything. [04:50] all the way to South Carolina with a bunch of people Dawn didn't know. [04:54] Dawn says, yes, let me talk to your friend's parents first, and this should be fine. [04:58] So Brittany hands the phone over to one of her friend's parents so Dawn can talk to them for a few minutes. And by the time she hangs up, Dawn feels a lot better because now both she and Brittany can relax. As the days go by, Brittany keeps up her end of the bargain. She regularly calls Dawn on her cell phone to chat, tell her what she's up to. She says that her and her friend just, you know, taking it easy, hanging at home, watching movies. They even got to go to the beach one day. There was this beach near Lake Ontario, like where they lived. And one afternoon it hit like 80 in Rochester. So they went to the beach.

[05:28] Now, on April 25th, Brittany calls Dawn and says she'll be home tomorrow, just like a greet. She says she and her friends are watching more movies. All going to stay in. Nice and relaxing spring break. [05:40] Dawn told Eddie Newlands of My Whoring News that Brittany told her she loved her and she would see her tomorrow before they hung up the phone. She didn't think anything of it at the time. Just says bye. Love you too. [05:50] Later that night though, Dawn gets a phone call. [05:54] not from Brittany, but from Brittany's boyfriend, John. And he's a little panicky, and he tells Dawn something that infuriates her. Brittany isn't at her friend's house in Rochester. She's actually down in Myrtle Beach at the Bar Harbor Hotel with her older friends, Jen, Phillip, and Alana, right where she's not supposed to be. [06:14] Now, right away, Dawn is so angry. However, her rage melts away when John tells her not only is Brittany in Myrtle Beach, but... [06:25] He can't get ahold of her. She stopped responding to his texts over an hour ago, and no one can get ahold of her now on the phone. [06:32] When Dawn realizes that no one knows where Brittany is, an immediate fear sets in. This isn't right. Frantic, Dawn calls Chad and then tries multiple times to call Brittany, only to have her calls go unanswered before eventually they go to voicemail. [06:48] Once John gets off work, he goes right to Brittany's house and confesses everything to Dawn so she can tell the Rochester police. Now, there's not a lot that police can do from upstate New York. So John and Dawn also call a family friend that they have in North Carolina who instantly head south to file a missing persons report with the Myrtle Beach police because that's who they have to file it with since that's where she went missing.

[07:10] Dawn spends an anxious night on the phone with Chad and her parents as they try to coordinate a plan. They're all too worried to even get any rest, but there's still reason to hope. And so they try to focus on the potential positives instead of all of the negatives. The next morning, Dawn, John, and a small group of Brittany's loved ones get up early to begin the long drive from Rochester to Myrtle Beach to try and bring Brittany home. [07:40] hanging out with her friends, until they started partying too hard and left her isolated. As nice as the weather was, as much as she wanted to be on that trip, John says that Brittany was ready to come home. [07:51] Now, none of this is really setting in for Dawn by the time they get to Myrtle Beach. It is surreal and awful to think that her baby is missing, yet here they are, hundreds of miles away from home and desperate for answers. Now that she's in South Carolina, though, she lets the Myrtle Beach police take over in hopes that they'll be able to find Brittany fast. Now, one of the first things police do is they talk to Jen, Alana, and Phillip, those same people that she went down there with. [08:21] We'll be right back. [08:22] Between the four of them, they want to try and track Brittany's last movement. And here's what they learn. John says that when he was texting her, she tells him that she's not with her group anymore. She'd actually been doing her own thing that day. And she met up with a guy named Peter who she knew from back home. Now, in the last moments that John was texting her, she told him that she was at the Blue Water Resort hanging out with Peter.

[08:52] hotel and bring some shorts back that she had borrowed. So Brittany leaves the Blue Water Resort to go return the shorts to her friends, except [09:00] She never made it back to their hotel. Knowing that Peter is potentially one of the last people now to have interacted with Brittany, the police naturally want to find him and talk to him. Now, Peter's a little bit older. He's actually already graduated from high school, and he is down in Myrtle Beach with a group of buddies for a spring break trip of his own. And he's actually pretty well known back home in Rochester for being a club promoter and knowing like the best spots to have a good time. Here's the scoop, though. [09:26] When they go, look for him. [09:28] There's a problem. He is gone. According to the Myrtle Beach police report, investigators go to the Blue Water Resort to talk to Peter and his friends only to find that they left in a hurry at about two o'clock on the morning of April 26th, just hours after Brittany went missing the night before. Their stuff is still in their room and they didn't even bother to get their deposit back. Yeah, that's super sketchy, especially if you don't have anything to hide. [09:58] Peter had actually gone right back home to Rochester, so they were able to track him down. But as soon as he got home, he immediately got a lawyer, which raises some eyebrows for the friends and family and everyone involved. [10:12] Now, that Blue Water Resort where he was at, though, isn't a total dead end. Since Peter was staying with a group of friends, the hotel is able to pass all of their names and contact information over to police, who can get in touch with them before they lawyer up like Peter did. Now, Peter's four friends are named in the police report as Anthony,

[10:30] Matthew, Keith, and Philip. And they all say that they met Brittany at a club on the 24th, and then they saw her again the next day at the beach. And she walked to their hotel later that night to hang out with Peter. But according to them, she only stayed about 10 minutes and then left to go return Jen shorts, which matches the story police were hearing from Brittany's friends. [10:49] So the Myrtle Beach police request the Blue Waters security footage to look for timestamps and to see if the boys' story matches up with the footage. Now, once they're able to get the tapes, they see Brittany leaving the resort at 8.48 p.m. on the 25th, right in line with the boys' time frame. Now, the police keep combing over the tapes. There's Brittany going in. There she is again, going back out. Timestamp 8.48 when she leaves. Then... [11:14] Just... [11:15] Nothing. [11:16] You said that she's going from one hotel to the other, right? Yes. Was there any sign of her on, like, traffic cams or... [11:23] you know, security between the two places? No, not really. So there's this shot of her from 8.15 p.m. when she's heading south on Ocean Boulevard on her way to the Blue Water Resort where Peter and his friends stayed. Now, Brittany left Peter's hotel to go back to Bar Harbor, drop Jen's shorts off, and then turn around and go back to the Blue Water Resort. But she never made it to Bar Harbor in the first place. So sometimes somewhere along that mile and a half stretch between the two hotels,

[11:53] have ever released. [11:54] So to continue to find her, police pull her cell phone records because they knew she was using her phone like up until the time she went missing. So they're eager for any scrap of information about who else she might have talked to or what she might have been doing or even if they can track it. And what they find takes Dawn down a much darker path. [12:15] you [12:16] You guys, we are finally rolling into summer, and I am ditching the sweaters, packing away the coats, but I am still wearing quince. Because quince is quality I wear all year round, in the field, on stage, at the office, quince, quince, quince. Their clothing and accessories are timeless and long-lasting because they focus on high-quality, beautiful everyday essentials, like 100% European linen pants, dresses, and tops with styles starting at $32. [12:46] 80% less than similar brands. No lie, I have a silk skirt from a big department store and I have a silk skirt from Quince. And dead serious, my Quince one has held up way better and was way cheaper and machine washable because ain't nobody got time or money for dry cleaning, but I want to look like I do. So elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to Quince.com slash crimejunkie for free shipping on your order [13:16] Crime Junkie for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash Crime Junkie.

[13:23] Once police get a hold of Brittany's cell phone records, they're able to trace its last ping, not to Myrtle Beach, where she was last seen, but to a cell tower over 50 miles to the south near McClellanville. This is down in Georgetown County, South Carolina. Now, this is a super rural area near the South Santee River that's covered in swampland. Like, it's hot, it's muggy, full of alligators, snakes, wild boars, like, you name it. [13:50] And there's no way, like, her family's like, you're not going to find some upstate teenager from New York on spring break hanging out here on her own unless she had been brought there against her will. [14:00] And this is when a darker thought crosses the mind of Britney's mom and those close to her. Perhaps she had become a victim of human trafficking. And at first, it didn't seem possible. Like, that doesn't happen here. It doesn't happen to people like us, like other people, other places far away. But that's the thing, you guys. It can happen everywhere. [14:19] everywhere, to every type of person, and no one is immune. [14:24] Like, it's so interesting telling this story... [14:27] I feel like I'm smack dab in the middle. Like when I tell it, I feel like I was Britney five minutes ago. I was 17. And I remember I wanted to do everything. And like, I was so mature. And my mom used to say this thing to me all the time. She was like, it's not that I don't trust you. I don't trust anybody else. I don't trust people I don't know. I don't trust strangers. I don't trust anyone else. And it used to infuriate me. And it's so weird being on the other side of this. Like I don't have kids, but I am now in my 30s. And I so side with her mom. And

[14:56] It's so hard. I don't know how you communicate that to teenagers. I don't know how I would have gotten it through my head. And that's why I hope like anyone listening, like your mom isn't crazy. It is real. Like, it's not you. It is this whole world of other people out there. [15:22] Getting older really does make me side with the mom 100% more than I did with my own mom growing up. Yeah. And I just want to like grab all of our like young listeners in like a bear hug and be like, let's just please listen to your moms. Listen to us. Like it's no one wants you to have a bad time or not be a part of things. This is such a scary world we live in. And it really is. What we're talking about today is happening everywhere. It's happening in people's backyards. Like I'm not kidding when I say it's not far and away. It happens here in Indiana all the time. [15:52] And it can happen to you. So please just be smart out there, kids. So now Dawn is faced with this new reality. Like her daughter is in a completely foreign place. Maybe something happened to her and maybe someone took her against her will. Did Dawn think that Britney just got like scooped up off the street? Like it was in the middle of the day, right? Yeah, and that's actually not what she thought, but it totally could happen like that. I mean, again, we have to get away from what we think is normal or not. [16:22] mom thinks it was maybe more subtle. She wondered if Brittany had been deceived into willingly going with a trafficker. Dawn told MyHoryNews that maybe she thought someone had offered Brittany a modeling job as a lure. Because according to Dawn, Brittany had thought about modeling in the past, and she thinks maybe that would just be like an easy way to get her to go with them. And this is interesting because the more I was reading up on human trafficking, I found the Polaris Project. And they're this huge nonprofit whose mission is to fight and end modern slavery. And their

[16:52] site says that making a fake job offer is a really common trafficking tactic. [16:58] So while Dawn is becoming more and more convinced that this is what could have happened to her daughter, the Myrtle Beach police are pretty adamant that Brittany wasn't trafficked because they say on that Disappeared special, quote, We've got no history. We've had nothing prior or since. [17:17] But that is not the reality of human trafficking. Even though this episode first aired in 2010, just a year after Britney vanished, human trafficking is very much an in-plane sight crime that is chronically underreported. And as Tori Gessner reported for WTW News in 2019, not only is South Carolina one of the country's top 20 trafficking hubs, but Horry County, where Myrtle Beach is, is one of the state's most affected trafficking locations. [17:47] I mean... [17:48] It didn't happen because it doesn't happen here. [17:50] is not a good excuse. Yeah, and also like kind of burying your head in the sand to say, like you're saying, it never happened. So it definitely could have happened here. And you know, since then, nothing has happened like that. [18:01] clearly not accurate. I know it's probably kind of weird to say, but it [18:05] also makes sense for a really touristy area like Myrtle Beach to be, you know, a trafficking hotspot. No, it totally does. There are more people coming in and out of town. There are like different behavior patterns. So it's easier. You don't have regulars. You don't have locals. Yeah, it's easier not to stand out. And also the heightened demand for labor and like the hospitality sector brings like a bunch of people to the town. And I was also reading in the UN's International Labor Association website that trafficking victims are forced into all kinds of stuff like participation

[18:35] sex industry, domestic servitude. So it's not even just like this one type of thing. Now, Dawn told Disappeared in 2010 that she worried Britney was being forced into non-consensual sex work. But she kept searching, helping Britney's father, Chad, pass out flyers, talking to police, and praying that the searchers turn up a single clue in their efforts to find her daughter. [18:56] So, though they may have disagreed in the early days about why Brittany was missing and who took her, the police and the family had the common goal of finding her. Investigators started to search the cell tower that her phone pinged on. [19:10] They thought basically they could use that as a range to give them some kind of guidelines about where to look. [19:16] Now, despite the miserable search conditions, this is a big operation. And lots of volunteers and multiple counties like came together, like pooled their resources to try and do anything they could to find Brittany. But days go by in those swamps and eventually the searchers are forced to admit the truth. There's no sign of Brittany here. And the case begins to cool off slowly and eventually gets ice cold. [19:42] Then, in mid-December of 2009, eight months after Brittany vanished, an anonymous tip gets phoned in. Police are reluctant to give the media any details about the tip's specifics, but they take it seriously enough to resume the search in the swamp areas close to where they were looking months before. But this time, they're looking on the banks of the Santee River, just north of their original search radius. And this time, they catch a break.

[20:12] the riverbank. Now, Dawn and Chad don't recognize the glasses, and neither does Brittany's boyfriend, John, but that doesn't mean she didn't buy a pair when she was down there, so they're hoping that maybe they can get some kind of DNA off of them. But heartbreakingly, [20:25] There's nothing on the sunglasses. It's just another dead end and the case goes cold again. It takes a couple of more months until something happens. April 9th, 2010, Dawn's hopes are lifted when seemingly out of nowhere, police announced they have several persons of interest. Now, they're deliberately vague on the details in the media and they withhold names even from the Drexel family. But... [20:51] No arrests are ever made. So once again, it leads nowhere but to disappointment. Now in 2012— Wait, I feel like you've glossed over a lot here. Like, who are these people of interest? [21:02] Were there arrests? Like, what's going on? Well, no, they never made arrests. And this is, like, the frustrating part. I don't have answers to, like, [21:10] who they are, how they got on the radar, why they're, you know, being announced as person of interest never led to being called a suspect or an arrest. Dawn says that police are super vague and they've barely told her anything. So she just gets these tiny glimmers of hope and then nothing. So the next glimmer of hope that she got was in 2012. A man named Raymond Moody, who was a South Carolina sex offender with convictions for rape, kidnapping, and lewd acts

[21:40] as a new person of interest. But this is another dead end, and Raymond is never definitively connected to Britney's disappearance. Right? [21:48] Now, the years go by. Brittany's little siblings grow up. Dawn eventually moves down to South Carolina to be closer to the investigation and keep the pressure on police. Then, on June 8, 2016, the FBI confirms the Drexel's worst fears. Okay. [22:05] Brittany is deceased. [22:08] David Lohr reported for the Huffington Post that the FBI special agent in charge of South Carolina makes the announcement at a press conference near where Brittany's phone last pinged, basically saying that the FBI believes that Brittany traveled to that area and that she was killed there. Wait, like how... [22:23] How do they know that she's deceased? Like, there's been nothing for years at this point. [22:28] Well, it turns out that the FBI had new information, and their new information changed everything. [22:38] Starting a new business can be intimidating. I mean, the amount of tasks you have to juggle can get overwhelming quickly. And it's like you have to be an expert in everything all at once. I mean, you think when I started Crime Junkie, I thought I would be running a merch store one day? I know. But when that day came, before I could even hire help, I had to expertly run a merch store. [22:58] And I did it with Shopify. And you know what? It doesn't matter how big we've grown, how many team members we have who are actual experts now. We still use Shopify. Shopify drives e-commerce whether you're a household name like AudioCheckNow or if you're a creator just getting started like I was eight years ago. The platform acts as your built-in business partner and simplifies all your tasks.

[23:28] and photo enhancements in seconds. You can even create email and social campaigns with ease. So start your business today with the industry's best partner, Shopify, and start hearing. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash Crime Junkie. Go to Shopify.com slash Crime Junkie. That's Shopify.com slash Crime Junkie. [23:53] This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. For some, summer is their favorite season. Travel picks up, kids are out of school, and adventure is in the focus. For others, juggling it all can lead to overwhelm and counting down the minutes until the kids are back in school. And many worry that they're wasting the days of sunshine. Having someone with you to listen, to understand, to support, can make all the difference. BetterHelp makes it easy to get started with quality, fully licensed therapists in the U.S. who follow a strict code of conduct. [24:23] million people globally. Their therapist match commitment does the initial matching work so you can focus on your therapy goals. A short questionnaire helps identify your needs and preferences and if you aren't happy with your match you can switch to a different therapist at any time. It works. BetterHelp has an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash crimejunkie. That's betterhelp.com [24:53] In 2016, a man named Taquan Brown, who was a convict doing time for manslaughter in a case totally unrelated to Brittany's, tells a story straight out of every parent's nightmares.

[25:05] As recounted by an FBI agent in the U.S. District Court records, Taquan says that back in 2009, he went to a stash house, which is basically someplace to store drugs or cash or other illicit stuff, in this McClellanville, South Carolina, where Brittany's phone last pinged. [25:35] of other men. That girl, Taquan claims, was Brittany Drexel. [25:40] According to the testimony transcript, Dawn's hunch about trafficking was right because not only did Timothy pick Brittany up, but he also offered her a round to his friends, getting into what the FBI called human trafficking situation in court, and he was selling her against her will for sex. [25:57] So Taquan says that he saw Britney a couple of days after she vanished and that while he was at the stash house, he saw her try to escape. And he tells the FBI that she made a break for it only to be brought back and brutally pistol whipped. Now, Taquan says that he then heard shots after Britney was taken back into the house and assumed she'd been killed. [26:27] it. [26:28] Now, of course, hearing this, Dawn is beyond heartbroken. Like, there are things no parent ever wants to hear. And then there's this, you know, like...

[26:37] This is a whole different level of gruesome. And it's all but... It's so horrific. Yeah, and it's all but impossible to cope with. But the images of her oldest child's last days play in her head like a horror movie. Again and again, only reinforcing her need to find answers. Now, the only thing she can take comfort in, though, is that Timothy Taylor, who is sometimes referred to by his middle name Deshaun, is well on police's radar. And they know right where he is. Because Timothy, as it turns out, is already in jail. [27:07] What's he in jail for? Well, this is where things start to get a little murky. So back in 2011, Timothy and a group of guys decided to rob a McDonald's. And Timothy acted as their getaway driver. Now, the robbery didn't go well. They all got caught. And Timothy was given probation. Now, typically, once a sentence is completed, that's that. But in 2016, Timothy's arrested again on federal charges related to the same robbery. [27:37] crime that he already served time for. [27:40] Isn't that double jeopardy? [27:42] That's what I thought, too. And that's what Timothy's lawyer argues. But I was reading Drew Tripp's piece from ABC News 4 about this legal concept called separated sovereigns, which basically says that states are completely separate entities from federal government.

[28:12] so now federal prosecutors are arguing that even though timothy pled guilty for his role in the mcdonald's robbery he got such a light sentence that they want to bring him up on federal charges that carry some much harsher sentences all the way up to life in prison so no deals like nothing that is unless timothy can give them some more information about what happened to britney drexel [28:34] Okay, so... [28:36] Let me get this straight, they're basically threatening to charge him again with a potentially harsher sentence, but it's more than likely just to get more information on... [28:45] Britney's case? Exactly. Now, Timothy claims he has no idea what happened to Britney and that he only knows her from the news because her case was such a big deal. Now, his lawyers, meanwhile, argue that this is all a ploy by desperate law enforcement officials on their last leg of a case that they can't solve. I mean, it definitely feels like they're trying to squeeze some sort of information out of him, but they have to believe that Taquan is credible for them to go through [29:15] And we know from the FBI's testimony that they did talk to other witnesses who corroborate at least some of Taquan's statements. But, I mean, there's still no trace of Brittany's remains, even after renewed search efforts through the alligator habitats in and around this area that they said they left her in. I mean... [29:32] If alligators is what they're thinking, like... [29:35] Would there even be anything to find? [29:37] No, you know, I probably not. I don't think there would be. But I think this is just shows you how seriously that they were taking it, that they would even go go look for them, even if they thought they weren't going to find anything. Now, according to court documents from 2018, part of Timothy's plea bargain for the federal charges involves a reduced sentence if he can pass a polygraph test. So he's hooked up to the machine and the person administering the test asks if he knows who was involved in Brittany's disappearance. Timothy says, no, I don't know.

[30:06] The administrator moves on. Did you, Timothy, ever see Brittany in person? Again, Timothy says no. Both times, the machine registered deceit, indicating that Timothy is lying and he failed the polygraph. As a result, there's no incentive for the court to lower Timothy's sentence. And now there's nothing for Dawn to do but wait, since this feels like the most tangible lead they've had in seven long, miserable years. [30:36] more information emerges with some truly disturbing connotations. [30:44] you [30:45] Starting a new business can be intimidating. I mean, the amount of tasks you have to juggle can get overwhelming quickly. And it's like you have to be an expert in everything all at once. I mean, you think when I started Crime Junkie, I thought I would be running a merch store one day? I know. But when that day came, before I could even hire help, I had to expertly run a merch store. [31:05] And I did it with Shopify. [31:07] And you know what? It doesn't matter how big we've grown, how many team members we have who are actual experts now. We still use Shopify. Shopify drives e-commerce whether you're a household name like AudioCheckNow or if you're a creator just getting started like I was eight years ago. The platform acts as your built-in business partner and simplifies all your tasks.

[31:37] seconds. You can even create email and social campaigns with ease. So start your business today with the industry's best partner, Shopify, and start hearing. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash crimejunkie. Go to shopify.com slash crimejunkie. That's shopify.com slash crimejunkie. [31:59] When Taquan Brown tells the FBI he'd witnessed what happened to Brittany Drexel, he specifically mentions both Timothy Taylor and his dad, Sean. Now, what he doesn't mention and honestly probably doesn't know is Sean's criminal history. [32:29] What? Not only that, but as Graham Moore reported for ABC News 15, Sean's brother, Randall, who would be Timothy's uncle, was also arrested and charged back in 2001 for connections to the death and disappearance of yet another missing young woman. Oh, my God. 19-year-old Shannon McConaughey. [32:51] Now, she vanished in January 1998 after leaving a Cracker Barrel restaurant in North Charleston, South Carolina. And she was found dead in March of 98 after being raped, murdered, and dumped in the woods near McClellanville, where Brittany's phone last pinged. [33:07] Now, the charges against Sean and Randall were eventually dismissed in both cases. But I am seeing a creepy family trend here. The fact that you're even connected to multiple cases like this is very bizarre. Right. And not only that, if Taquan's story is to be believed, then his own family is full of its own deep dysfunction. Because according to interviews that he gave to Brett Davidson and others at WHEC News 10, in the spring of 2019, Brittany wasn't murdered.

[33:37] in McClellanville. She was murdered about 130 miles south of Myrtle Beach in the woods near Jacksonboro, South Carolina at a trailer belonging to Taquan's uncle Herman. [33:49] So he's basically saying that this... [33:51] Poor girl got passed around from place to place to place. Yeah. And, you know, the more I researched about this story and was writing the story, it kind of reminds me of like the Lloyd Lee Welch thing where, I mean, they're different scenarios, but how... [34:06] It's like this whole family who seems... It's like a network almost. Yeah, who seems to be involved. Now, Taquan says that the last time he saw Britney alive, she was at Herman's. And this is a few days after he saw her at the Taylor Stash house. [34:21] He said when he saw her, it seemed like she'd been drugged. So in total, he says he saw her four times, both the stash house and out of his Uncle Herman's trailer before she was killed. [34:31] Now, here's the thing. He says he's not the only one to have seen her, and that a group of his acquaintances had all seen Brittany when she was alive being held captive. I guess, who is he, like, accusing of killing her? Like, there's so many people involved at this point. So... [34:45] he's actually not accusing his family. So like not Sean, not Timothy, not Herman, [34:52] According to Taquan, [34:53] It's actually one of these acquaintances who'd seen her. He says it's a guy named Nate. Just Nate. No last name. And no one, anyone has ever been able to track down. So according to Taquan, Nate shot Brittany in May of 2009. And her body was buried before being retrieved and tossed to alligators.

[35:14] It takes the FBI several months to go out and search Herman's trailer after these new revelations, and Dawn is... [35:21] furious at the delay. Like, what is the holdup? Now, Herman died back in like 2016 and the property was still vacant. So she's like, [35:30] You know, has no idea why. Like, why aren't we just going there? I don't feel like you'd have to get a warrant. Right. Like, there's no reason for delay. Yeah. But as NBC News 10 reported last summer, the FBI might not be so confident about Taquan Brown anymore. Because while some of his story checks out, there are still big gaps missing. Like the other witnesses that he claims saw Britney. Now, there's also his most recent polygraph test, which he took in May of 2019. [36:00] investigators telling him he's holding back information. You know, this raises a lot of questions for me, and I'm sure it raised even more for the FBI. And it kind of might be a big contributing factor as to why, as of this recording, Timothy Deshaun Taylor has never been charged with any crimes related to Britney's disappearance. He was finally sentenced on December 9th of 2019 to 18 months probation and time served for that 2011 McDonald's robbery. But what Don hoped would [36:30] the truth seems to be stalling yet again and the resolution she craves appears to be no closer even though she spent the last few years advocating in the fight against human trafficking the pain of britney's loss and the questions left behind are still as present as ever without having found any tangible trace of britney and she is still very much a missing person to this day and i really want her story to be for something like dawn has taken to advocacy and it's so important because

[37:00] I'm telling you guys, this stuff is happening all around you. It could be happening to someone you know right now. Because here's the other thing, too. People don't just get picked up and swooped away. You never see them again. Like in Brittany's case, sometimes people can be trafficked and you still see them every day and they're under someone else's control. And looking at Brittany's case, I think we think of trafficking, too, as like, okay, you get trafficked. [37:21] Like, [37:22] picked up off the street or someone finds you by like running into you on the street or somewhere where you're not supposed to be or whatever. But that's not how it happens at all. Like, first of all, we see trafficking in kids as young as 12 years old. And according to the New York Post, many of these traffickers are contacting kids and young adults through social media. Like they'll actually make a profile, request a bunch of kids all from the same school so it looks legit. And [37:52] or craving something from a relationship. Some validation, yeah. Yeah, they flatter them. They make them feel important. And then slowly and methodically, they brainwash them right there in their own home, sometimes at the dinner table with mom and dad. Like, these bad guys aren't just out there on the streets anymore. They're in our pockets. And I know we think this could never happen to us, but it happens to so many of us. And I'm going to link out to that New York Post article because it's really good and it outlines some of the tactics used by traffickers. [38:22] to link to the organization Polaris, who has a ton of resources for victims of human trafficking and even for people who haven't been trafficked because it's just as important that we know what to look for. Additionally, we're going to make a donation to Polaris to continue to fund their work and we would encourage all of you to find a local organization of your own that is working to put an end to trafficking or to support the victims. I think you will be shocked to find that it really is happening in your own backyard.

[38:50] If you'd like to donate to the Polaris Project or to learn more about how you can help in the fight against human trafficking and modern slavery, check out polarisproject.org. And if you want to see any of the pictures or sources we use for this case, you can find all of that on our website, crimejunkiepodcast.com. [39:20] us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. [39:44] you [39:46] you [39:49] you [39:52] Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? [39:59] Okay, Crime Junkies, you know, I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? [40:18] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and I've been listening for years.

[40:22] I think you'll love it too. [40:23] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.