Brittanee Drexel(Photo: Provided photo)
A New York teen who vanished from Myrtle Beach, S.C., in 2009 was kidnapped, sexually trafficked then fatally shot and her body dumped in an alligator-infested swamp, according to an FBI agent, citing a claim from a prison inmate.
The FBI suspicions are based on a jailhouse informant who claims he witnessed the crimes and another man who heard the allegations second-hand, court transcripts show.
The informants say that Brittanee Drexel, 17, was killed in McClellanville, S.C., a town about an hour south of Myrtle Beach, S.C. The last signal from Drexel’s phone came from McClellanville.
In June, police and federal authorities held a news conference in McClellanville, saying they believed Drexel was dead and making clear that they had some information, beyond the telephone signal, leading them to suspect she had been murdered.
The jailhouse informant, Taquan Brown, claims that he was in a McClellanville “stash house” in the days after Drexel’s disappearance and saw her there, being “sexually abused” by suspect Timothy Da’Shaun Taylor, then 16, and others, according to the transcript of an Aug. 15 federal court hearing in Charleston, S.C. Taylor’s father, Shaun Taylor, was also at the house, Brown allegedly said.
Drexel escaped, ran from the home, but was caught, Brown allegedly claimed.
“She was then described as pistol-whipped and brought back into the house,” FBI Special Agent Gerrick Munoz testified about Brown’s allegations.
Brown said he was outside but heard two shots. “And then Brittanee Drexel was then wrapped up and taken away from the house,” Munoz said. Brown suspected that Shaun Taylor shot Drexel, Munoz testified.
Drexel’s body has not been found.
Timothy Da’Shaun Taylor of South Carolina, is the focus of the investigation into the possible “kidnapping, human trafficking and murder” of the Chili, N.Y., teen, the court transcripts show.
Taylor is suspected of kidnapping Drexel, FBI Special Agent Gerrick Munoz testified at an Aug. 15 bail hearing for Taylor in Charleston. No one, including Taylor, has been charged with a crime in connection with Drexel’s disappearance.
“We’ve had several people have come up and give us testimony, outlining Mr. Taylor’s involvement in this particular case, “ Munoz said at the hearing for Taylor, who is facing charges in an armed robbery in South Carolina.
Taylor’s attorney, David Aylor, declined comment Monday.
In an online posting, Drexel’s father, Chad Drexel, claimed there is other evidence that the family cannot reveal.
“We know Timothy Da’Shaun Taylor was witnessed by others (Witnesses not in jail) with my daughter — we are just praying that they do the right thing and (step) forward with what they know. Additionally he has been seen and followed to the exact area where my daughter’s DNA was found,” Chad Drexel wrote.
In 2011, Taylor, then 18, was the getaway driver in an armed robbery of a South Carolina McDonald’s, during which the fast-food restaurant manager was shot in the leg.
Taylor cooperated with police and received a sentence of probation. However, this year a federal grand jury in Charleston indicted Taylor on a federal criminal charge connected with the robbery.
Typically, federal prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against an individual already convicted in state court, but did so in this instance. The Aug. 15 bail hearing was to determine whether Taylor should be free as he awaits trial for the robbery. Munoz testified that Taylor’s suspected role in the Drexel disappearance proves he is dangerous and should not be released.
At the hearing Munoz acknowledged that Brown’s allegations have not been substantiated by other eyewitnesses. The second informant said he heard of Drexel’s murder from an eyewitness to the crimes, Munoz said.
At the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday said that the suspicion that Taylor was involved in Drexel’s disappearance was partly the reason prosecutors pursued federal charges for the 2011 robbery.
“Of course, you have the McDonald’s case, but then you also have that he’s a target in this abduction and murder of Brittanee Drexel,” he said.
Court records show that prosecutors and Taylor’s defense lawyer filed court papers under seal on Aug. 22 — papers that U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Gordon Baker requested before deciding Taylor’s bail status.
On Aug. 22, she ruled that Taylor could be released on $10,000 secured bond. He also is confined to his home on electronic monitoring, records show.
In other developments Monday, The Post and Courier of Charleston, which first reported on the court transcript Friday, said investigators are exploring possible connections between the Taylor family and two other unsolved crimes in South Carolina involving young women.
One case was an attempted abduction and the other a murder, according to The Post and Courier. Randall Keith Taylor, a brother of Shaun Taylor, was accused of raping and fatally shooting Shannon McConaughey, 19, in 1998, but murder charges were ultimately dropped against him because of a lack of evidence, The Post and Courier reported.
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Report: Missing teen Brittanee Drexel raped, shot and thrown into alligator pit
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