Missing persons center to help in search for McCaffrey

A North Carolina-based missing person center will assist Charleston County sheriff’s deputies in their effort to find a West Ashley woman who disappeared in March.

Representatives from the CUE Center for Missing Persons will be meeting with sheriff’s investigators to discuss what more can be done to find 36-year-old Gayle McCaffrey, whose husband reported her missing March 18, Sheriff’s Maj. Jim Brady said.

“What we’re planning is a face-to-face meeting with them and the detectives to look at the case and see whether some additional things can be done,” he said.

Vicki Porter, CUE’s outreach director for South Carolina, said Adams Outdoors has erected eight billboards around the Charleston area designed to draw attention to McCaffrey’s case and generate tips.

CUE representatives will be meeting with investigators later today to determine how else they can assist in the search for McCaffrey, she said.

“Basically, we come in to work with law enforcement and try to raise awareness about these cases and, hopefully, bring some resolution to these families,” she said.

The center has assisted in more than 8,700 missing-person cases since 1994.

The sheriff’s office has worked with the center before, most recently on the case of Brittanee Drexel, a 17-year-old New York resident who disappeared during a trip to Myrtle Beach in April 2009. Numerous searches have been conducted from Myrtle Beach to the McClellanville area, but Drexel remains missing.

Several searches also have taken place for McCaffrey, but no sign of her has been found.

McCaffrey’s husband, Bob McCaffrey, told the Sheriff’s Office he last saw his wife on March 17 at their Limestone Boulevard home. He said he drove to the Upstate town of Travelers Rest to clear his head after an argument at home, and that when he returned the next morning the couple’s children were sleeping but his wife was gone.

Investigators said Gayle McCaffrey’s car and personal belongings were still at the home.

While in town, CUE representatives also are meeting with the mother of Brandy Hanna, who went missing on May 20, 2005. She worked her shift at Alex’s Restaurant in North Charleston, caught a ride home with a customer, then talked to her mother by phone later that evening. Then, she vanished.

Porter said CUE is looking to generate renewed interest in Hanna’s case in an effort to bring closure to her family.