Family hopes arrest in Brittanee Drexel case will lead to answers in their loved one’s disappearance

GEORGETOWN COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – As the long 13 years searching for Brittanee Drexel come to a close, another family still holds out hope their daughter will come home one day.

Crystal Soles was last seen at Shaw’s Corner Store in Andrews, South Carolina in 2005, according to Gail Soles, Crystal’s mom.

Drexel went missing in 2009.

The suspect arrested in Drexel’s case was also named a person of interest in Crystal’s 2005 disappearance. Following the Georgetown County Sheriff’s Office announcing Raymond Moody’s charges and Drexel’s remains being found, Crystal’s family hopes they might soon find the same closure.

“We miss her very much,” Gail Soles, Crystal’s mother, says.

Crystal, who was 28 at the time, was last seen at Shaw’s Corner Store.

The Monday announcement that Drexel’s remains had been found and a suspect arrested came as a bittersweet surprise for the Soles family.

“I was just hoping somebody would get justice…that [the Drexel’s] would get some closure,” Soles says. “Because it’s very, very hard to wait and wait. Crystal’s been missing for 17 years.”

Soles says it’s been a long 17 years waiting for answers and hoping out hope that Crystal, a daughter, sister and mother, is still out there.

“She has a son named Mitchell. He works a lot, so he stays busy, but he really needs the closure,” Soles says.

When it comes to finding that closure, Soles say they’ve hardly heard anything since 2005. The family was told Raymond Moody was named a person of interest years after Crystal’s disappearance, but since then, they say they’ve heard nothing.

“We hadn’t been told anything,” Crystal’s brother, Robbie Soles, says. “Nobody’s ever come talk to us.”

Through the years-long searches for both Brittanee and Crystal, the Soles family says they’ve stayed close with the Drexel family. Between the similar person of interest and the location of their daughters’ disappearances, they’ve helped each other keep hope alive, Soles says.

“We’ve done over 23, maybe 30 searches just for Crystal. When Brittanee went missing, we went on searches for her,” Soles says. “Me and all my kids. They never missed one either. They did their best to be there.”

While the Drexels can say they’re finding a bittersweet sense of peace, the Soles’ search is not over.

“Please. Anyone that knows where Crystal is, please help us find her,” Gail Soles says. “We really want to bring her home.”

“If anyone knows where anyone is,” Robbie Soles says, “please step up.”

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