Anjelica ‘AJ’ Hadsell’s stepfather turned killer is Wesley Hadsell. “Dateline” features the homicide case in a new episode titled “Jacket.”
Andrea Canning will report on the disappearance and murder case of Anjelica “AJ” Hadsell on Friday’s “Dateline” episode, titled “The Jacket,” on NBC at 10:00 p.m. ET.
According to the Norfolk Police Department, the 18-year-old Longwood University student went missing during her spring break in March 2015 while visiting her parents in Tarlton, Norfolk. Only five weeks later, her body was discovered half-buried at a deserted spot in Southampton County.
Wesley Hadsell, the victim’s stepfather, was identified as a suspect in Angelica’s murder after GPS tracked his activities. Nearly seven years after the killing, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder and concealment of the deceased body. Wesley was charged with murder for the second time.
AJ Hadsell
Dateline: AJ Hadsell Murderer Wesley Hadsell Is Sentenced To Life In Prison
Wesley Hadsell, AJ’s adoptive father or stepfather, was instantly accused of being intimately involved in the crime.
In February, Wesley was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of AJ. He was sentenced to life in prison in April, with the judge describing his crimes as the cruelest, most heinous behavior imaginable.
AJ went missing, and her body was discovered a month later on an abandoned site in Southampton County. Investigators used the GPS data from Wesley Hadsell’s work van to trace down her remains.
On March 2, 2015, Anjelica “AJ” Hadsell, then 18 years old, vanished from Norfolk, Virginia. She vanished during her freshman year’s spring vacation while visiting her parents’ house.
When the news of her kidnapping first broke, it was reported that she was last seen driving away in a vehicle from her mother’s Millard Street house. Five weeks later, her body was discovered half-buried in a drainage ditch behind an abandoned property near the North Carolina border in Southampton County.
According to the medical examiner’s conclusions, Anjelica’s death was caused by an acute heroin overdose combined with homicidal violence. Her chin and eyes were blackened and bruised, and she had three times the legal limit of heroin in her bloodstream.
Due to the damage inflicted on her body by animals and insects, the examiner was unable to ascertain if she had been sexually raped.
Wesley Hadsell Age Disclosed
Wesley Hadsell will be 45 years old in 2022. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and hiding the body of his stepdaughter Angelica “AJ” Hadsell in March 2015.
In 2022, Wesley Hadsell was interviewed on an episode of NBC’s “Dateline” regarding his step-murder daughter’s in 2015.
What Was Wesley Hadsell Motive Behind The Murder?
According to the commonwealth, the murder may have been motivated by sexual desire.
The victim’s body was recovered behind an abandoned home in Southampton County, weeks after she vanished in Norfolk. The medical examiner linked her death to a heroin overdose. Prosecutors believe Hadsell bought heroin from his drug dealer after kidnapped AJ and forced her to inject it.
