When news of Brittanee Drexel's remains being discovered in Georgetown County reached an Horry County family still searching for their loved one, several emotions moved to the forefront that they weren't necessarily expecting.
"I didn’t think it would impact me, because it wasn’t my sister," Morgan Elvis said. Her sister, Heather, was last seen in the Socastee area of Horry County in 2013.
"Any missing person who has a family left behind, their families are interconnected in ways that nobody can understand," Morgan said. "We were able to get really close with the Drexel family."
Drexel was on spring break in Myrtle Beach when she went missing in 2009. On May 16, 2022, a man confessed to killing Drexel and led investigators to her body in Georgetown County.
"It made me physically ill," Morgan said. "Because I not only could see it from the outside but from the inside. And that is my wildest dream, that my sister is brought home one way or another."
Heather's mother, Debbie Elvis, shared a similar feeling.
"I didn’t understand why my reaction was the way that it was, and why it upset me so much. I wasn’t expecting that," she said.
And when I realized, that this is hope. This is what everybody needed," said Debbie.
That hope, and empathy, revolve around what the discovery means for the Drexel family.
"I have not been able to grieve Heather," Debbie Elvis said. "I have grieved the fact that she’s not with us. That we’re not experiencing life with Heather—I have grieved that, but I can’t grieve Heather, in a loss. And they couldn’t do that with Brittanee either."
"It just awakened all of these emotions," Morgan Elvis said. "This hope that you think you still have, but really has diminished over time. And diminished, and diminished, the more that people around you start to sound like they’re giving up."
She said that's a direct result of people sharing theories of what happened to her sister.
And it doesn’t matter how hard you try, and it doesn’t matter if you don’t believe them at all, when someone continues to tell you that someone is gone forever, your subconscious latches onto that. It’s excruciating, it’s painful, and it’s downright disrespectful for people to say those things," she said.
The discovery brought hope to the forefront that they could end one of the worst parts of this process: the unknown.
"People say the ocean is their biggest fear because they don’t know what’s underneath. The unknown is a scary thing for everybody. But the unknown relating to a person? It’s a completely different ball game," Morgan said, describing the emotional pain that comes with not knowing.
"People are finally talking again about someone who has been missing for 13 years. Because every day we watch as people slowly start to teeter off the conversation. And finally, it’s in the news, and someone has been brought home," she said.
It really is like—I hate to say it—like a dream a come true. It is answers. And that’s all you really are searching for," she said.
"Now they know. Now they have her back," Debbie Elvis said. "I am very, very glad for the Drexel family that this horrific part of this process is over for them. This one, horrific part."
The two hope that the discovery opens the door to the next steps for their family.
"This is like someone just came to them, and told them: ‘Brittanee has passed.’ And it’s hard," Debbie said. "My hope for Brittanee’s family is they can now start living their life in a better way."
Debbie said she hopes it also encourages someone who knows something to help the Elvis family end the "unknown."
Even if they tell a friend, and say, ‘take this to the police department for me.’ Or, send me an anonymous letter, or an unknown number phone call—anything to get me the information about where Heather is," said Debbie.
"I hope that it brings them some minuscule touch of peace," Morgan said. "That they’re able to breathe again. That they’re able to sleep a little better at night. That they’re able to look at themselves in the mirror and feel a little more whole."
She said the discovery also does a lot to help families with missing loved ones.
"Everyone says ‘well, we should forget about them, because they’re never coming home.’ And we have a reason to say: ‘no, we shouldn’t. No we should not,'" Morgan said.
We have so many missing people just in our front yards here. And we really need to be looking at that, and keep hope alive for those people as well," she added.
She said that's the purpose of their June 30 event for Heather's birthday.
“This year on Heather’s birthday, we want to bring awareness to all of these missing persons. I want people to look at all of these posters, and think ‘Did I ever see this person?’" Debbie said.
The event will be at the Cooper House in the Socastee area, starting at 6:30 p.m.
The Elvis family said it's for anyone in the community who is missing someone and will offer education, prevention techniques, and community support. The event fundraises for CUE for Missing Persons.