ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The South Carolina attorneys representing the man who the FBI believes is a "main suspect" in the kidnapping, human trafficking and murder of Brittanee Drexel fired back Wednesday.
In a press release titled "The Squeeze Is On," Timothy Da'Shaun Taylor stated he had nothing to do with Drexel, a student at Gates-Chili High School who was 17 and in Myrtle Beach on spring break when she was last seen alive.
An FBI agent testified during a bond hearing that in a jailhouse confession, an inmate at Georgetown Detention Center named Taquan Brown said Taylor was the one who kidnapped Drexel.
I had no involvement with anything to do with Brittanee Drexel. I don't know Taquan Brown and I don't know why he would call my name. I am being prosecuted again for a crime I already helped them solve and already did my time for, all because some guy in prison is trying to cut a deal. It's not fair to be charged for the same crime twice and that's not how our system is supposed to work.
- Statement from Timothy Da'Shaun Taylor
Brown, who said he was at the house to pay Taylor's dad, said he saw Drexel run out of a room, and then pistol-whipped. He told the FBI two gunshots rang out and he saw Drexel's wrapped body taken out of the home. Brown told the agency he assumed the father actually shot Drexel.
The FBI agent also testified another secondary witness said Drexel's disappearance received so much media coverage that she was murdered and disposed of. It's believed the teen's body was dumped in an alligator pit.
Taylor's attorneys said earlier that their client is now out of jail. The FBI or any other department has yet to charge him in connection with Drexel's death.