Investigators remain tight-lipped as latest search for Brittanee Drexel ends

The search ended on Sunday, but investigators remain tight-lipped about what they found in their search for Chili native Brittanee Drexel, who disappeared seven years ago in South Carolina.

It was at the Bluewater Resort in Myrtle Beach where Brittanee Drexel was last seen. The weekend’s investigation, however, was in a wooded dead end dirt road 35 miles from Myrtle Beach. On Sunday, the FBI completed their search of that area, saying it provided new leads.

It was a three day search, as federal agents and local police cleared the woods along Foxfire Court in Georgetown, South Carolina.

By mid-afternoon on Sunday, authorities declared their work done, but remained guarded in tell what they had uncovered.

"We’re not going to discuss what we found or did not find, but I’m confident in telling you that the investigation was advanced," said Agent Don Wood of the FBI.

"We have progressed. We have made strides in bringing those responsible for Brittanee’s death and disappearance to justice."

Authorities also did not say what led them to that specific location. Last summer they announced that they had developed information that Brittanee had been held captive and killed in nearby McClellanville. In court papers, they identified DaShaun Taylor as a possible suspect.

The FBI, however, was vague in connecting the dots.

Brett Davidsen, News10NBC: "Is there a connection between the information you got from McClellanville and this location?"

Don Wood, FBI: "I won’t get into details, but obviously work in McClellanville did have dividends."

After the work was completed, media was able to get access to the search area. At the end of a street, litter was scattered about… abandoned shacks and trailers nearby. It is a place where neighbors say illicit activity often occurs.

Reached by phone briefly, Brittanee’s mother Dawn Pleckan reiterated what she told Davidsen yesterday, equating the searches to a roller-coaster ride.

"You have your ups and downs, and it’s just… it’s part of a missing person’s case."

Kevin Ryan is Director of Investigations for Brittanee’s Little Angels, a foundation founded by Pleckan to support and advocate for families of missing people. He flew down to South Carolina on Sunday hoping to hear anything that would give them some answers.

"It’s been eight years," he says.

"It’s one of those things where, let’s wait and see what happens. It could go either way at any point in time. It could change by the minute… it could change by the hour."

The FBI says it now has more work to do based on the leads it discovered, and they say they will continue to do what they can to reunite Brittanee with her family in any way they can.