Going West: True Crime - Anjelica Hadsell // 488

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

In March of 2015, an 18-year-old college freshman in Virginia went missing after returning home for spring break. Weeks later, her body was found on an abandoned property, proving that her death was a murder. When suspicions turned on her grieving loved ones, and toward the erratic behavior of one person in particular, a shocking suspect revealed themselves. This is the story of Anjelica, or “AJ,” Hadsell.

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T. And I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west He is back in the house finally back from my nasty little shitty cold that I had and ready to go on this case today. And we are so glad. It wasn't the same without you, you know, cause I couldn't talk to anybody. There's nobody to bounce off of and talk about the crazy newspaper clippings

I discussed in the last episode. But thank you guys for your patience. Welcome back, Keith. And thank you everybody for tuning in today. Yes, I'm very glad to be back because there's going to be quite a few POS bombs that are going to be dropping today in this episode because, wow, it is unbelievable. Truly a shocking recent story, so make sure that you share this one. Appreciate everybody tuning in, and without further ado.

Oh, and before we get into today's episode, a big thank you to Abby for suggesting today's case. Oh yeah, sorry, Abby. Really appreciate you sending that in. If any of you want to send us a case, please do so. We still get so many questions on socials of how to send them in. Again, please just send them to our email. That is the easiest way that we're going to see it really. please just send them to our email. That is the easiest way that we're going to see it really. goingwestpodcasts at gmail.com. All right, guys, without further ado, this is episode 488 of Going West.

So let's get into it. In In March of 2015, an 18-year-old college freshman in Virginia went missing after returning home for spring break. Weeks later, her body was found on an abandoned property, proving that her death was a murder. When suspicions turned on her grieving loved ones and friends and toward the erratic behavior of one person in particular, a shocking suspect revealed themselves. This is the story of Angelica or AJ Hadzell, who went by AJ, was born on August 9, 1996, in Chesapeake, Virginia, to parents Jennifer Wright and Mel Langer. According to her father, Mel, his relationship with AJ's mom fell apart

shortly after AJ was born. So he was largely absent from her life and upbringing, which is good to remember for later as we talk more about the other father figures to come. And actually when AJ was only about a year and a half old, her mom, Jennifer married Zach Hoffer, who proudly stepped into the role of AJ's father. Jennifer and Zach went on to have two more daughters, Justice and Gracie, giving AJ a

couple loving siblings, and Zach remembers many happy years for their family. But obviously with AJ's surname being Hadsall, and her biological dad Mel's surname being Langer and her stepdad Zach's being Hoffer, you're probably wondering where Hadzel comes from. Well, from the point in time when her mom and stepdad Zach were married, AJ actually went by AJ Hoffer after Zach. But around the time she was turning eight years old, persistent problems popped up between Jennifer and Zach,

and they decided to divorce. Then a few years later, in 2010, Jennifer met a 32-year-old man named Wesley Hadzell in a bar, and within a month, they got married. So this would make AJ around the age of 13 or 14 when they met, and she ended up taking his last name. So the family of five was then joined by Wesley's kids Abby and Timothy, giving AJ two more loving siblings. According to her first stepdad, Zach, AJ was deeply affected by the divorce from her mom,

and as AJ grew into her teen years, she really started separating herself from the man that she considered her father, you know, him, Zack. And thus, her relationship with her new stepfather blossomed, and AJ asked Wesley to adopt her officially. That is when she requested to, you know, take his surname. He called this the honor of a lifetime. Though naturally, Zack was incredibly upset at this development, and he still loved AJ as if she was his own. And I promise, all this dad talk is extremely relevant, I know there's a lot of dads, we're gonna talk more about the dads, but it matters a lot. Well let's talk a little bit more about AJ as a person.

She was known for being bubbly and outgoing, yet soft-spoken and gentle. Her stepdad, Wesley, later said proudly that she was responsible and never got into trouble. She was also a talented athlete, and she especially excelled at softball and field hockey, which she continued to play in college. Now, after graduating from high school, AJ had big aspirations for herself and set the goal to graduate with a double major in just three years. So in 2014, she enrolled at Longwood University for her fall semester, majoring in both computer programming

and information technology. Though she did live on campus, Longwood University is located in Farmville, Virginia, which is only about 150 miles, or 241 kilometers, inland from Norfolk, Virginia, where her parents and siblings actually lived. So she was able to, you know, go and visit them whenever she wanted. But her freshman year was kind of proving to be a little bit of a challenge, because in addition to the workload and being away from her family, she and her boyfriend, this guy named Josh Campbell, were in the process of a breakup. Despite the fact that it was mutual, AJ was kind of taking this hard, you know, she was

still a young teenager who hadn't gone through a breakup like this before. Her stepdad, Wesley, later claimed that she had assumed that they would, you know, be together for the rest of their lives. So obviously, this decision to split up was a complete shock. Now, on top of things, her family was going through a lot at this time because in February of 2015, so months into AJ starting college, her mom Jennifer actually caught Wesley using drugs and she kicked his ass out of the house. So he kind of moved into this like local roadway inn hotel where he tried to get his act together. Jennifer even tried to hold an intervention for her husband

alongside his mom and nephew, hoping to just get him back on track. So this was a really big deal in the family. Also, because AJ was super disappointed in her stepdad, this guy that she looked at as a role model. He remembered that when he went to apologize to her, she looked at him with tears in her eyes, and she just refused to talk to him. Yeah, remember, AJ is a very good girl. She doesn't do this kind of stuff She's not caught up in that so even though she's in college and you know of the age that maybe that kind of thing wouldn't really

Bother her she did have young siblings at home, and she kind of thought like what the hell are you doing? Why are you throwing our family away? Yeah, and also just to mention We're not talking about like her stepdad using marijuana or something smoking a little weed. Yeah, this guy's doing fucking heroin Yeah, this is like this is a big deal So while this was going on on February 27th 2015 Jennifer Justice and Gracie remember Justice and Gracie are AJ's stepsisters from Zack Drove the two hours and 40 minutes to Farmville, Virginia

Zach drove the two hours and 40 minutes to Farmville, Virginia to pick 18 year old AJ up for her spring break. And she seemed to be in very good spirits and she had her upcoming week filled with plans. That weekend, you know, she was picked up on Friday. So that weekend she met up with her friend Andre and also scheduled a doctor's appointment for a couple days later on Tuesday, March 3rd, and she made plans to meet up with her ex, Josh, on Wednesday, March 4th. But before these plans, on the morning of Monday, March 2nd, 2015, AJ's mom, Jennifer,

left the house at about 7am to take her younger two daughters to school, and then she headed to work. Jennifer recalled that AJ seemed completely normal that morning, nothing was wrong. So keep that in mind because this day is very crucial. Now around the time, the very same time that Jennifer was leaving to go to work and to drop the girls off, her husband Wesley told her that he was gonna swing by the house to switch out his red Ford F-150 pickup truck for his white work van. Which he used at his job at an HVAC repair company. So while Jennifer's gone, he's saying, I'm gonna, you know, leave my hotel and I'm gonna pop over to change out my car just so you know.

Or my vehicle vehicle rather. And AJ planned to be home for the day, so she would be there when her stepdad came home from the hotel that he was staying at. And remember, by this point, Wesley has been her stepdad for about five or six years. But at 2.30 p.m., AJ's little sister Justice arrived home to an empty house and found it strange that their family dog had been left outside in the backyard and That the front door was unlocked

She surveyed the house and noted that her sister AJ's cell phone was gone as well as her black van's shoes But that she had left her coat behind despite the chilly temperature outside. Because I know I said that AJ was on spring break, but it was still winter for another three weeks and Virginia was cold. It was like 40 degrees Fahrenheit that day or five degrees Celsius. So she definitely would need a coat if she was going out. Now AJ's Bluetooth speaker was still on in the house and her wallet was laying on the couch complete with cash inside. There was also clean half-folded laundry left out in the living room, so really, it seemed

as if she had gotten up and walked out of the house in the middle of this chore of doing laundry. But the most alarming detail of this scene was the note that she had scribbled on pink paper and left in the kitchen presumably for her family to read It read quote dear Madre with everything going on It's a lot to deal with that that is all it said and although it was clearly in AJ's handwriting Scrolling a note like this was eerily out of character for her She you know if she was gonna go somewhere, she would have just texted her mom.

Yeah, I was going to say that you just text somebody. Yeah. So also it was so short with everything going on. It's a lot to deal with. Like, OK. And what does that mean? Are you going somewhere? Like what's happening? It was extremely vague. So as soon as her mom, Jennifer, got home and read this note, she started calling all of their friends and family to see if anybody had heard from AJ. She reached out to both AJ's former stepdad Zach, who had not heard from her, and her

biological father Mel, who now resided in Florida, and he said that he hadn't talked to AJ in a year. But when Jennifer talked to Wesley, he told her that he had met up with AJ around noon that day at a gas station. She had allegedly asked for money, but didn't say what it was for. He said that he had given her between $100 and $200 in cash, and that they talked for about 30 minutes. Well, here's the thing.

AJ's phone was minorly active. She, or somebody using her phone, replied to her parents text intermittently, saying that she wanted time and space, but that she was safe and that she was with friends, yet not exactly saying where she was or who she was with. And this kind of makes sense because if she had seen Wesley that day, in the same month where he was kicked out of her family home for doing heroin, maybe being back home and seeing him and being amongst their own or their old home that they shared together, maybe that was hard.

So her going to hang out with friends, which is what she was doing during her spring break anyway, maybe wasn't that weird. Yeah. And that's, you know, it's pretty normal for people that they come home from college their first semester they want to catch up with some old high school friends so not totally out of character. Well then by the next day which was Tuesday the day of her doctor's appointment texts stopped coming from her phone all together. Her parents continue to contact her friends to see if anybody had heard from her, but

nobody had. And she missed her doctor's appointment. So no one, none of her friends are coming forward and saying, yeah, she's been staying at my house, we were hanging out last night, and nobody knows where she is. Yeah, so obviously very suspicious here. So by that afternoon, on Tuesday, March 3rd, her parents finally reported her missing. The Norfolk Police Department entertained the idea that AJ was overwhelmed and possibly frustrated at the situation with her stepdad's drug use while in the throes of a painful breakup with

her boyfriend Josh, and they wondered if maybe she could have run away. But of course, her family and friends said that they didn't entertain this at all. She had no history of suicidal ideation, nor use of illicit drugs, and she was also as responsible as any 18-year-old could be. Her college roommate claimed that she rarely went out, was extremely organized, and was hyper-focused on her studies and the completion of her degree, so it just didn't really seem like something that AJ would do. If there's a runaway type, she wasn't it. So detectives took a closer look at the note she left behind and the text messages that were sent from her phone. Now, her family did admit that neither sounded like they were written in her voice. You know, even, you could tell when a note or a text

or an email for that matter, a comment, is written in the voice of the person that you know very well. Yes, we talk about this a lot in this show, how a lot of times family members can just tell because they know your type of texting, they know the way that you say things. Yeah, and this just didn't feel like AJ it was it was really kind of strange to them so

when officer spoke with Josh Campbell you know her recent ex-boyfriend they were instantly suspicious alleging that his behavior was cagey and noting that he wasn't particularly involved in the search efforts. I'm sorry, go ahead. I was gonna say, yeah. I mean, this isn't, you know, out of the ordinary as well. Like people do this and especially the fact that they're going through a breakup right now. So he's kind of like already not super involved in her life anyway.

Yeah, it's hard because you can see it from that way or you can see, oh, well they had plans to hang out on Wednesday and see each other. So were they friends? Is it weird that I mean if you think about it his ex-girlfriend that he just recently broke up with somebody he cared about dearly is missing. You kind of might put that aside and look for her right? But maybe not. Well and of course you know detectives have to do their due diligence they have to look at Josh. And they did. And he was actually able to provide an airtight alibi for the day that she was last seen. So it didn't really seem like he was involved.

But of course, they're keeping him on the back burner a little bit until they they learn a little bit more about her last movements. Well, then in the first major piece of evidence to come forward in the case, a friend of AJ's named Corey French spotted a piece of something on the ground on the side of the road as he walked to work. And this is really weird because he's walking to work and he happens to see something on the ground and he happens to look at it. And when he looked at it more closely, he was shocked to that it was the cut-up shards of AJ's debit card

I mean, what is the what are the chances of him? I'm something up off the ground and it just happens to be his friends cut up debit card. Yeah, I don't know It's it's very bizarre. So police were called to the scene and Subsequent searches found more plastic pieces of her card in the area. So then suddenly, of course, Corey was on police's radar because AJ and Corey had dated casually back in middle school and they broke up amicably. You know, if you can even really say broke up when you're in middle school, it probably wasn't that serious. But they did remain friends for the next few years until she went missing. So wondering if maybe he was harboring some kind of feelings

or resentment towards her, investigators zeroed in on him as a potential suspect, despite him being cordial and friendly with AJ and years having passed since they split up. Corey was very cooperative with police from the beginning, but told them that he hadn't seen AJ in months, and swore to police that he had nothing to do with her disappearance.

But then, another shocking development shed even more doubt on his story. Andre, you know, the mutual friend of theirs that AJ had seen over the weekend, stopped by Corey's house to hang out and while he was there, he spotted AJ's dark blue softball jacket complete with her name on it, which Wesley claimed she had been wearing at the gas station on the day that she disappeared. But then remember what I just said, Corey said he hadn't seen her for months, but now

suddenly her jacket that she was supposedly wearing the day she went missing is in his home. So panicking, Andre left his home and immediately reported this to the police. Meanwhile, AJ's parents were raising awareness with flyers and billboards, as well as an established Facebook group and a GoFundMe. Dateline also featured her on their Missing in America segment, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children aided in the search efforts, too. Now through it all, Wesley became the self-appointed captain of the investigation, placing himself

front and center of figuring out what happened to his stepdaughter. Like, he conducted the press and media interviews on and off camera, while Jennifer preferred to stay out of the spotlight as she looked for her daughter kind of more behind the scenes. Which is fair and makes a ton of sense. She is probably absolutely freaking out and just wants to focus on finding her daughter and not talking to the news. And this also happens a lot. Usually there's a de facto spokesperson for the family, while the family is behind the scenes kind of putting in more of the work. Yeah, so that is Wesley.

Well, all three of her fathers mourned her deeply, with her biological father speaking out with his regrets about not being an active participant in her life. In an interview from Jacksonville, Florida, Mel Langer said sadly, quote, I just regret not being part of her life. I guess I didn't try hard enough. Her stepdad, Zach, aided in the investigation from the start, even putting up a reward for information. He also offered up his home, car, and phone to be searched, and he also provided his DNA

to the police to rule himself out. With the discovery of AJ's debit card attributed to Corey French, and now this shocking development that her jacket had been recovered from Corey's house, Wesley seemed to have made up his mind about who was responsible here. Corey was brought in for questioning, and when detectives presented the discovery of AJ's jacket, Corey literally leaped up from his seat in shock. He told the interviewers that he didn't know how it had gotten into his possession, and that he hadn't even known that it had been in his home.

Like he seemed genuinely dumbfounded that he was being suspected. But others had already made up their minds here. Wesley even positioned himself in his car across the street from Corey's family home, watching him vigilantly, and periodically blowing an air horn just to bother him. On top of this, he even sent a pizza delivery with a message scribbled on the box that read, I know what you did. Wesley also teamed up with AJ and Corey's friend, Andre, who had started to suspect Corey

after finding the jacket inside Corey's house. While scouring wooded areas for clues, Wesley and Andre actually found a few items of AJ's clothing, including her shorts and bra, discarded alongside a road. Now though this seemed like another lucky break for the investigation, it was really becoming a little suspicious to investigators that Andre had now been the one to spot the jacket at Corey's house as well as the clothes on the roadside.

You know, like, what are the odds here? And Wesley was on their radar for how verociously he had been inserting himself in the investigation as well. Yes, he is the stepdad, but it felt like, again, he's the face of everything. He's sitting outside Corey's house doing all this stuff instead of out looking for AJ. He's kind of focusing on some weird things and investigators are taking note of it. And in addition to Corey French, Andre Barr was also questioned extensively. And he too swore that he wasn't involved. But he did reveal a new key piece of evidence to the police.

key piece of evidence to the police. Wesley, the stepdad of AJ, had actually been the one to spot AJ's jacket in Corey's house in the first place. And I know that sounds insane because how the hell, but Andre told them that he had broken into, when I say he, I mean Wesley, had broken into Corey's home acting on suspicions of his involvement, obviously before Cory was even suspected by police. And that's when he had seen the jacket. But knowing that he would be on the hook for breaking and entering, he asked Andre to drop in and see Cory under these kind of like false pretenses,

and told Andre where to find it. Now, if this doesn't seem like some sort of setup, kind of like false pretenses, and told Andre where to find it. Now, if this doesn't seem like some sort of setup, I don't know what does. Truly. So, Wesley did come clean that he broke in to conduct his own investigation into his stepdaughter's disappearance,

but then, to the shock of everyone in the Hadzills inner circle, the tide of suspicion turned toward Wesley himself. And guess what? A quick search of his records revealed a criminal past and not a light one. He had 10 prior convictions for a myriad of charges like burglary, bank robberies, and felonist restraint, but most serious was

a rape charge from 2005 alleging that he restrained, kidnapped, beat, and then raped his ex-wife Michelle. Well, unfortunately, this rape case was dismissed after he was indicted on the bank robbery charge for which he served 54 months in prison so four and a half years so with Wesley and Jennifer meeting and getting married in 2010 he would have just gotten out of prison but it's unclear if Jennifer knew about his history of domestic and sexual assault or not or if he kind of just was able to pull the wool over her eyes and act like this nice guy who never did anything wrong. But either way, this new information made detectives

believe that there was way more to Wesley's story hidden behind the portrait of this helpful, grieving father dead set on finding the person responsible for his stepdaughter's disappearance. Now, after detaining 36-year-old Wesley Hadsall for breaking and entering, the Norfolk Police Department obtained a search warrant to go through his hotel room and also his work van, which would soon lead them to AJ herself. Inside the vent of his hotel room were concealed bullets, which he was barred from possessing as a felon. The search also confirmed Jennifer's fears that he was using again when they were covered a plastic bag of, you guessed it, heroin. From inside his work van, investigators removed a Garmin brand GPS device which laid out his movements in the days surrounding AJ's disappearance. So, the GPS's map data from the day that she disappeared revealed directions to a remote location in South Hampton County, Virginia, which is an hour southwest of where AJ disappeared

from. The trail led them to an abandoned ranch-style home in a rural part of Franklin, Virginia, just a few minutes up the road from the border of North Carolina. The home was unoccupied and overgrown, and there was absolutely no plausible reason that Wesley would have needed to visit this place. But as detectives walked the property, Detective David Benjamin spotted a piece of plywood that was plopped over a muddy ditch. So acting on a hunch, he nudged the plywood and spotted human remains beneath the wood. On April 9th, 2015, so just a month after she went missing, 18-year-old A.J. Hadsell

was found lying face down in the mud, badly decomposed with her pants around her ankles. By that point, police had seen what they needed to see in order to convince them that Wesley was the person responsible for his stepdaughter's death. Detective Benjamin stated, quote, "...his GPS led us to her body. There's no getting around this whatsoever." Now, hoping to string together his final movements, as well as when he abducted his stepdaughter, police painstakingly come through hours of surveillance footage from a 7-Eleven near

the Hadsall's home, just hoping to find the exact moment when Wesley drove by in his white work van to ambush and abduct AJ five weeks prior. That morning, Monday, March 2nd, the morning that she went missing, Wesley's red Ford F-150 pickup truck passed by the 7-Eleven on Harpin Road near the home of the Hadsals at 7-01 a.m., which is when Wesley told Jennifer that he was picking up his van. Remember, he's switching out the red Ford F-150 for the white work van. At 7.07 a.m., so six minutes later,

the camera recorded him driving away from the Hadsall home, passing through the only route in and out of the neighborhood. Wesley arrived to work later that morning and his coworkers claimed that he was acting totally normally. But within hours, he claimed that he received a text message from AJ that really disturbed him and that she seemed in distress. At 11.45 a.m., he told his co-worker, Julia

Smith, that he was worried about AJ. So he headed out on his lunch break to meet up with her. And remember that lines up with him saying to Jennifer that around noon that day, he and AJ met up at a gas station. Well, at 12, 16 PM, so 30 minutes after he headed out on his break, the 7-Eleven recorded Wesley's work van traveling toward the Hadsall home.

Again, remember he had already been there hours earlier. Then just over an hour later at 1 27 PM, it captured him driving past again, this time exiting the neighborhood. So this proves that between about 12 16 and 1 27 PM he was in the neighborhood of his home essentially. His former home, yes. His former home, right, where AJ was staying at the time while she was home on spring break. So he was there for over an hour. When he didn't return to work that afternoon, because he certainly did not come back

in time for his, you know, lunch break to be completed, he was MIA, his supervisor actually texted him and called him to be like, Hey, where the hell are you? But he didn't answer. Then at 2 PM, so about 30 minutes after he was seen leaving the Hadsall's neighborhood or so his own neighborhood, you know, he did drive back into work, claiming to have met up with AJ at the gas station during his lunch break to give her money. But this is really weird because according to his coworkers, he was on the verge of tears and claimed that AJ had requested between $1,300 and $1,500. Meanwhile, he told Jennifer that she needed $1 to $200. So this is a lot more money than he said before.

And he also said that he was concerned because she wouldn't tell him why she needed this large sum of cash. Interestingly, Wesley even asked to leave work early that day, that Monday, which his supervisor approved. With the timeline of his movements confirmed, detectives came to the conclusion that Wesley had preyed on AJ because he knew that she had been home alone, and forced her, likely

under threat of violence, to write the note that she left behind for her mom. Then he abducted her in his work van. Well, then at some point between their home and the abandoned house, he killed AJ, and then discarded her remains in the remote location. Hanging onto her phone, Wesley texted her mom, and even himself, to make it seem as if AJ had disappeared willingly. He then began sprinkling a trail of evidence behind him to frame Corey. But obviously, this backfired, leading investigators straight back to him.

And I want to talk about this for just one second, because the jacket being left in Corey's house, I mean obviously, we now know that that was most likely the work of Wesley. Like he broke into Corey's house, planted the jacket, then said, hey, Andre, why don't you go in there and see if you can find this jacket? Yeah, that's exactly what happened. And obviously, you know, as her stepdad and having been her stepdad during those crucial teen years,

he knows who her friends are. So he would know who to frame. And it's just so disgusting that he's doing this. And then we think back to when Corey was questioned and the investigator said, well, you see this? This is her jacket and this was in your home. And he leapt out of his chair because he was like, what? Yeah, he was completely dumbfounded. And for good reason.

Well both Mel Langer and Zach Hoffer were indescribably devastated at the loss of their daughter. I mean, obviously, if you think about this, they're like the two other fathers that AJ has, and to know that the third father was responsible for something like this? I mean, you just can't even imagine it. Oh my god, no. Well, Mel said, quote, I'd like to know, really, who did it, and hopefully get justice for what happened to her. I'm just heartbroken for me and my family is heartbroken,

because we didn't really get to see her, spend time with her, you know, she's gone. I'm kind of happy, really, to put closure on it. Let her rest in peace. We don't have to worry about every day people talking about her missing and all that. Yeah, I mean as unthinkable as all this must be for them, at least they're getting some closure and they have her remains. They don't have to sit every day

and worry if she's out there alive and suffering or if the person responsible for whatever happened to her is just living their life and enjoying. Zach Hoffer was much less positive about the development that Wesley was being arrested for possible involvement in AJ's death, understandably saying, quote, I'm not known as her dad. You all know who is known as her dad, and of course that hurts. With Wesley now detained on breaking and entering and obstruction of justice charges, police could take their time preparing the case against him. And when they were able to make contact with Wesley's drug dealer, a guy named Damon Harriot,

they learned more details about the day of AJ's disappearance. Actually, Damon's was probably the most damning evidence against Wesley so far, because at 2.42pm on March 2nd, 2015, shortly after Wesley left work for the second time, he both called and texted Damon requesting heroin. Shortly after midnight on March 3rd, Wesley drove his white work van to an ATM in Norfolk. The surveillance camera on the ATM recorded as Wesley withdrew cash while frequently looking back towards his truck. This most likely meant all that time, he had his daughter restrained in his vehicle, meaning all day she had been trapped in his van. Then, later that morning, he drove to Damon's apartment and purchased

$800 worth of heroin and cocaine. And this was the exact same day that Jennifer reported their daughter missing to the Norfolk Police Department. The following day, which was Wednesday, March 4th, when police spoke with Wesley for the very first time, they noticed that he seemed dirty, tired, and just kind of out of sorts. They also described his behavior as twitchy and said that he was acting like he was on drugs. Well, while interviewing him that day, Wesley explained to detectives that the family had a security system at their house that would send push notifications to their phones when anybody entered or exited the house.

And he claimed that after meeting up with AJ at the gas station, you know, to give her some cash, he received a notification on his phone that she had returned home because she had tripped the security system. But when detective David LaFleur asked to see the notification on Wesley's phone, because obviously he wants to confirm or deny that this is real, Wesley claimed that the phone had, his phone had factory reset itself and that the notification was no longer

available. Yeah. Because that's exactly what phones do, right? Yeah. My phone, you know, today my phone just reset itself. No. He also mentioned that on Monday, March 2nd, so the day that AJ went missing, he happened to cancel their subscription to the alert system. So not only does he not have proof of it because his phone reset itself, but he also happened to cancel the alert system anyway that day. But here's the thing that wasn't even true, because the alarm company actually established that

it had been canceled back in February, so weeks earlier, because the Hadsals had been delinquent on payment. Well, when the autopsy returned AJ's cause of death, it was a shock to everyone because she had been poisoned with heroin. This is one of the details that makes me so sick to my stomach in this case because here this guy, I mean just picture this. This guy has been her stepdad for like five or six years. This is a person that she trusted. This is a person that she cared about and now it's you're coming to find out that he

drugged his own stepdaughter with a lethal dose of heroin, killing her. After keeping her or holding her hostage in his truck all day, for why? And I do want to mention, obviously, like Keith and I have said before during this episode, she was not one to use drugs, but her official cause of death was acute heroin poisoning, and she was found to have triple the lethal amount in her body. Also, on top of that, horrifically, she had been beaten before her death because the medical examiner found bruising on her chest and jaw and she had two black eyes.

I mean, this guy is just such a piece of shit. Well, her mom, Jennifer, said that those injuries were not present on her, you know, that morning on the morning of March 2nd when she said goodbye to her daughter when she went off to work. So that just proves to us that when Wesley abducted her, he beat her before poisoning her and shooting her up with heroin. AJ's community, but most of all her immediate family reeled from this discovery.

And because Wesley would not admit, nor has he ever admitted, to the charges stacked against him. No one could be sure why he had even done this, but Detective Benjamin believes that the motive was sexual, positing that he had likely come on to her and that she obviously rejected his advances considering she thought of him as her dad. But due to the amount of decomposition, confirmation about whether or not rape had occurred was impossible, but sadly the bruising on her chest was consistent with her having been pinned down.

And just the fact that she had been alive in his presence for hours upon hours before he even secured the heroin suggests that there was another motive than just murder because it's not like he killed her during an argument. Like, this was calculated. And then we also have to take into account the fact that when her remains were found, her pants were around her ankles, it just, it seems pretty clear what the motive was here. But obviously, you know, this could also tie into like it being revenge driven, maybe like he was angry at the women in his life for kicking him out of the house, and also just being the huge disappointment that he was, or possibly both.

Well, surprisingly, because this case took time to build, Wesley wasn't charged with AJ's murder until three years after his initial arrest. Because he was a felon in possession of ammunition, he was charged with that first along with the breaking and entering. He pleaded guilty in November of 2015 and was sentenced to the maximum penalty of 10 years. Then, in November of 2018, he was charged with AJ's first degree murder. COVID delays and a mistrial over what evidence should be admissible in court led to significant

setbacks in justice for AJ and her family. But six years after her murder, her case finally culminated in a three-week trial. Wesley chose not to testify on his behalf, but he denied all charges, owning up only to the break-in charges. AJ's mom was the first to testify in court and explained that on the week of her daughter's disappearance and murder, Wesley had attempted to rent a pickup truck in somebody else's name. Suspicious! Despite having access to his own pickup truck, as well as his white work van.

She also added that she didn't believe that Wesley ever sexually assaulted or was inappropriate towards AJ in the years that he, you know, acted as her stepfather. So if he did in the end, it was likely sudden. As autopsy photos flashed to jurors, Wesley turned his head away and began to cry. While his attorney, James Ellinson, argued that it was more likely that AJ committed suicide using her prescription migraine medication, which her autopsy did not test for. So disrespectful. Oh my god, James, you're a fucking idiot. Now, James maintained, quote,

"...Wes is not guilty of these charges, that is for sure." Wesley's defense team claimed that the case lacked both a motive and a cause of death. That she had been poisoned with heroin, but who was to say that she hadn't done it to herself? Again, just so disrespectful, and also, there's only one person in this family that's doing heroin, and it was Wesley. Well, the jurors also weren't buying it. So after deliberating for less than an hour, they returned a guilty verdict in February of 2022. On April 4th, 2022, 43-year-old Wesley Hadzell

was sentenced to life plus 15 years. In his statement to the courtroom, Wesley said stubbornly, quote, I have been wrongly convicted of these crimes, but this fight is not over. The judge scoffed at this though, saying, quote, to blame her, it's offensive. You took a beautiful life and dumped it like trash. Could not agree more.

From prison, Wesley granted an interview with Dateline, of course this guy loves being on camera, and acknowledged the fact that the address of AJ's remains was found in his GPS, yes, but that was the only aspect of her murder case that he would admit to. Wesley casually said, quote, "'It's my GPS.

"'I can't explain why it was there. I can definitely say that I wasn't there. And there's other things against him too. Not only the heroin, not only the GPS, but also Andre coming forward and saying that you broke into Corey's house and you told me where the jacket was. So why would you break into Corey's house? I mean, really, why would you have noticed that jacket? There's so many things leading us to know that this was Wesley.

Well despite being sentenced to life in prison, he maintained his claims of innocence saying, quote, I never did anything wrong to that kid. In March of 2024, he did attempt to appeal his case, but his conviction was upheld. So devastatingly, we can say that Wesley Hadzell in a sick twist took the life of his very own incredible and beloved stepdaughter AJ. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this devastating episode. It always feels so much worse when, you know, the victim and their perpetrator,

their murderer are very close with one another, you know, as in family murders and stuff like that. It just feels so incredibly horrifying. And the fact that somebody who loved her, who says that it was the honor of his life to officially adopt her, won't even come forward and explain what happened. Like, was he high and one thing led to another and he made a pass at her or he just tried to abduct her and then felt like it was too late and he didn't want to get in trouble so he killed her and tried to hide her so that nobody would ever find

out? Like, what did you do and why? Or was this, this you know a scenario in which he had been planning this for quite some time because it seems like you know the fact that he went there that morning to pick up his white work van knowing knowing that she was home on spring break she was gonna be there alone it just feels all too convenient and just sadly fucked up so so true well let us know what you guys think. Big thank you again to Abby for recommending this case.

Yes, thank you, Abby, for recommending this one. We have photos on our socials for you guys to see. So check those out, give us a follow, and we will see you guys again on Friday for a whole new episode. All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. I'm out. Thanks for watching!