Kriti Mehrotra
When college freshman Anjelica “AJ” Hadsell suddenly went missing from her Norfolk, Virginia, home in early March 2015, it sent shockwaves across her entire community. The 18-year-old reportedly had no known enemies, so no one could have ever imagined she would ultimately be found murdered outside an abandoned house in a remote rural area. That’s precisely what NBC’s ‘Dateline: The Jacket’ explores, right along with the complex twists in the investigations and how the local authorities eventually identified her assailant.
Anjelica “AJ” Hadsell’s Childhood Was Marred By Instability
Although Anjelica “AJ” Hadsell was born on August 9, 1996, in Chesapeake, Virginia, she was primarily raised in Norfolk by her affectionate and supportive mother, Jennifer Wright. She reportedly never knew her biological father, but she did have a devoted father figure in her life from the age of 2: her stepfather, Zach Hoffer. She thus proudly grew up as AJ Hoffer, alongside her loving mother, kind stepfather, and 2 younger half-sisters, but things changed a few years later as her parents’ marriage crumbled.
It was not long after that Jennifer found love again with Wesley Hadsell, who made sure to adopt all her little girls after they tied the knot, making them a complete family. According to records, he also had a couple of children of his own, so AJ had a total of 4 siblings by the time 2015 rolled around – Justice, Gracie, Abby, and Timothy Hadsell. Despite the ups and downs in her personal life, the teenager was an “overachiever” because she had clear ambitions to become a strong, independent young woman. In fact, not only was she a student-athlete in both field hockey and softball, but she also aimed to graduate from Longwood University in 3 years with a double major.
Anjelica “AJ” Hadsell Was Found Dead in a Ditch 5 Weeks After She Disappeared
Everything turned upside down in March 2015 when rising philanthropist and volunteer AJ returned home for Spring Break as she felt more stressed than ever before. That’s because her courses were hard, and she knew that her mother had kicked out Wesley because she had found him abusing drugs, as per the show. She was definitely struggling, so her family grew genuinely concerned when she was nowhere to be found on March 2 after they returned home from either school or work. The fact that the front door was unlocked, there was half-folded laundry in the living room, and her wallet with money still inside was on the couch also made them panic.
A handwritten note was left behind, and AJ seemed to be responding to texts indicating she had left for good, but she was reported missing because neither sounded like her. An extensive search for her thus began, but it was only her badly decomposed remains that were found in a drainage ditch behind an abandoned-looking remote home. This location was in a rural area around 7 miles west of Norfolk, but what really baffled investigators was that her pants seemed to have been pulled down. It could not be ascertained whether or not she had been sexually assaulted due to decomposition, but her autopsy report was able to identify her cause of death as heroin poisoning.
The Investigations Initially Led to Several Potential Suspects
While officials reportedly believed there was a chance AJ had run away from home, they still launched a full-scale search and questioned her loved ones for more insight. That’s when they learned there were more stressors in her life than just her studies and her second stepfather, as she had recently split with ex-boyfriend Josh Campbell. The fellow teenager provided detectives with a solid alibi, so they shifted their focus to others who might’ve harbored ill will towards her. Even Zach Hoffer was looked into early on as part of standard procedure, but he was reportedly cleared after establishing a solid alibi.
Zach was interrogated several times over a few weeks, during which it became clear to investigators that he had no hand in the matter and truly only had fatherly feelings for AJ. He also had an alibi that made it explicitly evident he was nowhere near his former stepdaughter when she went missing, following which he was able to freely join her search. It’s important to note officials had continued to look into different angles throughout this period, so they also had the victim’s middle school ex-boyfriend, Corey French, in the hot seat. That’s because not only was he the one to find a piece of her credit card along a road 3 days after she vanished, but a friend also reported him later on for having her jacket in his home.
Corey vehemently maintained he had no idea how AJ’s university jacket, embroidered with her name, ended up in his apartment, but he seemed to cooperate in other ways. He admitted he had asked his ex-girlfriend and longtime friend to meet up via text message a few days before the fateful day, but had received no response. So, with no concrete physical evidence against him and the victim’s remains still missing at the time, detectives could not charge or detain him for any particular crime. It was then that Andre Barr, the friend who reported Corey, came under the microscope because he had also come across other pieces of AJ’s clothes along the side of the road.
Wesley Hadsell is Currently Incarcerated in State Prison for Murder
Andre was subsequently interrogated and revealed that Wesley had tipped him off that AJ’s jacket was in Corey’s house. He claimed Wesley had contacted him and revealed that he had broken into Corey’s home after the credit card pieces were found because he was suspicious. According to police records, Andre said the elder noticed the jacket and urged him to find a way to get there, find it, and contact the officials, which he did. He added that Wesley told him he was afraid to do so himself because he did not want to get arrested for breaking and entering, following which it came to light that he had a criminal past. Investigators were already a little weary of Wesley because he seemed too eager and interested to know updates in the case, so they shifted their focus to him. His initial statement to them had reportedly been a lie.
Wesley claimed he last saw AJ shortly after noon at a gas station, spoke with her for half an hour, and gave her $200, adding that she was wearing her university jacket. However, surveillance footage showed no signs of either him or the victim being there on the fateful day; instead, cameras from a nearby 7/11 captured him going to her home around noon and leaving after 1:30 pm. Then, a search of the hotel room he had been living in for weeks yielded ammunition and heroin, whereas his van’s GPS data revealed some strange movements from him on the fateful day. Authorities then investigated Wesley’s movements and discovered the abandoned house in a remote rural area, which led them to AJ’s remains. Not long after, Wesley was arrested for the murder of his adopted daughter. Furthermore, his dealer also confirmed he had bought heroin sometime in the afternoon of March 2.
Later on, he was officially indicted on one count each of first-degree murder, second-degree felony murder, felony concealment of a dead body, robbery, kidnapping, and felony federal possession of ammunition. In December 2016, he was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for the ammunition charge against him. Then, in 2022, after over 6 years, a mistrial in 2020, and the dropping of the second-degree murder charge, he was convicted of all other counts. The jury agreed with the prosecution’s argument that Wesley likely had an unhealthy attraction towards AJ, killed her with an overdose after an argument, texted the family from her number for a couple of days, and planted the jacket in Corey’s home. So, today, at age 48, he is serving his life term plus 15 years at the Buckingham Correctional Center in Dillwyn, Virginia.
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