112901 PROM MOM'S SLAIN BABY ‘FORGOTTEN' 

                  By MARK STAMEY 

                         JOHN DREXLER:
                        Daughter out of prison. 

                  November 29, 2001 -- Prom mom Melissa Drexler remained holed 
                  up in her modest suburban New Jersey home yesterday, but her 
                  exhausted dad ventured out - and insists the baby-killing 
                  nightmare is "a forgotten incident." 
                  "Enough is enough - she wants to get on with her life," John 
                  Drexler, 51, told The Post. 
                  A small army of reporters began camping out at the Drexler 
                  home in Forked River, N.J., Monday to cover her return from 
                  prison, where she served three years of her 15-year term for 
                  strangling her newborn son in a bathroom stall at her senior 
                  prom. 
                  But yesterday, the army had retreated and John Drexler walked 
                  outside to rake leaves. 
                  For a short while, he chatted about world events and the 
                  town's upcoming Christmas Parade on Dec. 3. But he refused to 
                  talk about his daughter at length. 
                  "She has her plans, and she will follow through with them," 
                  Drexler told The Post on Tuesday. "But there's one thing she's 
                  very stubborn about: No interviews." 
                  Melissa Drexler was initially charged with murder after giving 
                  birth to a 6-pound, 6-ounce boy at her senior prom, cutting 
                  the umbilical cord on a sanitary napkin disposal bin, choking 
                  the baby to death and then throwing his body in the trash. 
                  She pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter.