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This Friday's Dateline episode, titled The Jacket, will have Andrea Canning report on the disappearance and murder case of Anjelica "AJ" Hadsell on NBC at 10:00 p.m. ET.
The Norfolk Police Department stated that in March 2015, the 18-year-old Longwood University freshman mysteriously disappeared during her spring break while visiting her parents' home in Tarrallton, Norfolk. It was only about five weeks later that her body was discovered half-buried at a deserted site in Southampton County.
When GPS pinpointed his whereabouts, Wesley Hadsell, the victim's stepfather, was identified as a suspect in Angelica's murder. Earlier this year, almost seven years after the murder, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder as well as concealment of the dead body. Wesley went on trial for the second time for the murder.
Who was Anjelica "AJ" Hadsell and how did she die?
On March 2, 2015, Anjelica "AJ" Hadsell, who was 18 years old at the time, disappeared from Norfolk, Virginia. AJ went missing during her freshman year spring break while visiting her parents' house.
When word of her disappearance first broke, it was reported that she was last seen by a neighbor, leaving the area in a car from her mother's Millard Street house. It took five weeks for her dead body to be discovered, partly buried in a drainage ditch behind an abandoned home in Southampton County, near the North Carolina border.
As per the reports of the medical examiner, along with "homicidal violence", an acute heroin overdose was also the reason behind 18-year-old Anjelica's death. Her eyes and chin were blackened and damaged, and the quantity of heroin that was present in her bloodstream was three times the fatal level. As a result of the damage caused to her body by animals and insects, the examiner was unable to identify whether she had been s*xually abused.
Wesley Hadsell, AJ's adoptive father/ex-stepfather, was instantly suspected of being directly involved in the case. It was approximately noon on the day of AJ's disappearance when Wesley left his workplace in a rush, informing his coworkers about a meet-up with his daughter. His co-workers reported that around two hours later, he came back to the office, seeming anxious, and took a leave for the remainder of the day.
According to reports, prosecutor Toni Colvin stated that there were bruises found on the victim's chest. The prosecutor explained that the bruising on her chest was probably caused when someone forcefully held their arm across the victim’s chest, while the bruises on the chin were likely caused by forcing the fatal dose of heroin into the victim's system.
Reports also state that the accused, indicating that the victim killed herself, made an attempt at asserting his innocence to which Judge L. Wayne Farmer responded, saying,
"To blame her — it’s offensive. You took a beautiful life and dumped it like trash."
In an NBC Press news release, Andrea Canning questioned Wesley Hadsell, Norfolk police investigator David Benjamin, and Anjelica's close friends, Corey French and Andre Barr, for Friday's Dateline episode.
Catch Anjelica "AJ" Hadsell's story on June 3, 2022, at 10:00 p.m. ET on NBC's Dateline.
