http://www.wbtw.com/news/state-regional/sentencing-for-man-connected-to-brittanee-drexel-case-delayed/945702920
CHARLESTON, SC (WCBD) — Sentencing for Timothy Taylor has been delayed due to a matter of law, according to officials.
The 24-year-old was scheduled to be sentenced for his role in a 2011 robbery in Mount Pleasant on Tuesday. It will be the second time Taylor has faced sentencing for the crime.
In 2011, Taylor participated in an armed robbery. He was charged on a state level, pled guilty and completed the terms of his sentence in 2015. In 2016, an inmate sent a letter to prison officials saying he saw now 24-year-old Taylor participate in the 2009 rape and murder of Brittanee Drexel.
Drexel, a Rochester, New York, teen was last seen leaving a hotel on Ocean Boulevard in Myrtle Beach in April 2009. The 17-year-old was in Myrtle Beach on Spring Break.
According to state agents, Drexel was likely held against her will and killed in the McClellanville area.
Drexel’s cell phone transmitted its last known signal the day after she disappeared near the South Santee River, between McClellanville and Georgetown.The FBI reports witnesses told investigators that Drexel’s body was placed in a gator pit after she was pistol-whipped and shot.
Soon after the inmate's letter was sent to officials, federal prosecutors launched a second case against Taylor for the 2011 armed robbery for which he served time in jail on the state charges. Taylor was scheduled to be sentenced on Tuesday, but a press conference announced a delay in the sentencing.
Following the news conference, civil rights activist John Barnett said that the delay will give the justice department more time to review their case.
WCBD, sister station to News13, reports a private investigator has been hired to find out who killed Brittanee Drexel. Barnett added that there’s no proof that Drexel is dead. He says no bones have been found in an alligator pit.
Taylor pleaded guilty to the federal charges for the robbery in July. Taylor faces at least ten years based on his guilty plea. He has not been charged in the Drexel case.
Taylor’s delay in sentencing could be as long as six weeks.
