Stepdad sentenced to life for lethally injecting teen with heroin
In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: Anjelica “AJ” Hadsell was back in Norfolk, Virginia, for spring break when she disappeared March 3, 2015. She was reported missing March 5, and eventually found in a drainage ditch at an abandoned home five weeks later. Her body was covered by plywood near a shed on the property.
The medical examiner determined AJ died from acute heroin poisoning and homicidal violence. She reportedly had three times the lethal amount of heroin in her system.
Her stepfather, Wesley Hadsell, was arrested and charged in connection with her murder. Investigators found a shovel, gloves, duct tape, and GPS in his car that linked him to the murder scene. The address of the abandoned home where she was found had even been programmed in the GPS.
Wesley Hadsell initially went on trial in 2020, but the judge declared a mistrial because attorneys for the two sides reportedly could not agree on evidence to show to the jury. He went back on trial in February 2022. His attorneys argued she committed suicide with headache medicine, but prosecutors said during the trial, “He abused her, he beat her, and then he poisoned her with heroin.”
Hadsell was convicted of first-degree murder and concealment of a corpse. The jury reached their verdict in just 40 minutes.
In April 2022, Wesley Hadsell was sentenced to life plus 15 years in prison for AJ’s death.
Let’s take a look back at the unfortunate death of a young woman who was poisoned by a member of her own family.
