Wesley Hasdell pleaded not guilty to the 2015 murder of stepdaughter and Longwood student Angelica “A.J.” Hadsell. Hadsell pleaded not guilty to the murder of his stepdaughter and dumping of her body on Tuesday, Feb. 26 in court.
The 40-year old was indicted on Nov. 19 for first degree murder, second degree felony homicide and felony concealment of a dead body during a grand jury meeting in Southampton County, according to the City of Norfolk Police Department.
The judge set a motions in hearing date for May 21 in which he will then receive his trial date. Hadsell is asking for a trial by jury.
Hadsell had been serving a 10-year sentence for illegally possessing ammunition that law enforcement officers found in his motel room during the search for AJ.
An inmate who was rooming with Hadsell told authorities Hadsell shared details with him on how he was involved in AJ's death while in jail, Cpl. David Benjamin said in an affidavit seeking a search warrant.
AJ disappeared from her home in Southampton County, Va. on March 2, 2015 with remains of her body found on April 9, 2015. The body was found in a ditch about ten miles south of Franklin Virginia. The then Longwood freshman was later said publicly to have died from heroin poisoning, according to NBC News.
When the body was first identified Wendy Gunter of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner publically said the cause was a heroin overdose, but found she had also she had died from “homicidal violence,” according to the Virginian Pilot.
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Wesley Hadsell, stepdad of AJ Hadsell.
