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Mystery and Murder: Analysis by Dr. Phil

Deadly Spring Break: What Happened to Brittanee?

Mystery and Murder: Analysis by Dr. Phil

Dr. Phil McGraw

News, True Crime, Society & Culture

4.210.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 May 2026

⏱️ 45 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Seventeen-year-old Brittanee Drexel thought a secret spring break trip to Myrtle Beach would give her a taste of freedom. Instead, she vanished after a brief walk alone and would not be found for 13 years.

In Deadly Spring Break: What Happened to Brittanee?, Dr. Phil examines the final hours before Brittanee disappeared, the emotional vulnerability that left her isolated from her group, and the narrow window predators need to strike. He breaks down the psychology of teenage risk-taking, why her disappearance may have been underestimated at first, and how early assumptions in missing-person cases can shape an entire investigation.

As investigators chase phone records, witness accounts, and disturbing jailhouse claims, Dr. Phil analyzes the behavior, blind spots, and heartbreaking uncertainty that surrounded one of the most haunting spring break disappearances in America. 

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

When you think about a town like Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, what comes to mind?

0:10.0

The ocean, family, sand, music, the boardwalk.

0:15.0

If you've never been there, it is really delightful.

0:20.0

Sometimes you don't think about South Carolina and the beach, but it is really something.

0:27.0

It's beautiful.

0:28.2

It feels safe.

0:30.4

But the truth is, sometime, there's a hidden darkness lying even in the sunniest of places.

0:40.5

Back in April 2009, a 17-year-old named Brittany Drexel went to Myrtle for her spring

0:49.7

break along with her two girlfriends, Alana Feldman and Natalie Moran.

0:56.6

There was only one problem.

1:00.2

She had asked her mother for permission to go on the trip,

1:03.8

and her mom had said, no, no way.

1:10.6

Don Plekin told her daughter

1:12.8

she was too young to travel without adult supervision.

1:17.2

Plus, her grades had been slipping.

1:22.0

But, surprise, surprise, Brittany did not listen.

1:27.6

She went anyway.

1:30.6

Now, we know spring break can really turn into chaos,

1:35.1

especially in those big southern beach towns.

1:39.9

They can turn into parties, underage drinking.

1:43.6

It just seems like there are no rules when kids are in charge.

1:49.0

But according to Brittany's boyfriend, John, Brittany wasn't really into that kind of thing.

...

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