What happened to Anjellica “AJ” Hadsell?

Anjellica Hadsell Missing

This case has been a little bit crazy. She’s been missing from the Norfolk (VA) area since March 2. It seems like she was “on alert” and/or “scared” about someone she knew in the weeks leading up to her disappearance. There are some competing timelines on what happened the day she went missing, but it appears she was driving home — potentially “with purpose” — and being closely followed by a white car, and said white car was later seen at her home. There’s a Facebook page set up around her disappearance, and this page has a bit more information too.

In a situation seemingly straight out of a Liam Neeson movie, her dad broke into the house of the person he suspects of being involved — and was subsequently arrested. When he broke in, he claimed to People Magazine that:

“I found my daughter’s jacket in the couch, rolled up behind the cushion,” he said. “I was just trying to make the evidence come to light. It’s not like I had the jacket. I didn’t plant the jacket, I didn’t know anything about that. It was the fact of the overwhelming information that led me there.”

The immediate speculation from some was that he planted evidence.

So we have two weird things, right? The timelines are off — some articles you find say the gap for her to disappear could have been only 22 minutes, and others think it’s closer to 2 hours — and her dad clearly has a leading suspect (PS it’s her adoptive father we’re talking about, if that matters to you at all), as do (you’d assume) her friends, since she was clearly texting and avoiding one specific person in the examples above.

Here’s the third weird thing: police searched a local park, declined further comment, and said they don’t suspect foul play. Thing is, AJ Hadsell’s family told Dateline NBC that pieces of her debit card and the jacket she was wearing on the day of her disappearance were recovered in the search.

So now you’ve got a fourth weird thing: the jacket was theoretically recovered in the park, but the adoptive father is saying the jacket was rolled up behind the cushions of the couch in the No. 1 suspect’s (to him, at least) house. Those basically contradict.

Your likely options here are:

  • Whomever she was texting with/afraid of (No. 1)
  • Someone connected to the family (No. 2)
  • Current boyfriend (No. 3, and I’ve read she has a boyfriend)
  • Random encounter (No. 4)

If you live in the area and know more, feel free to leave comments.

Ted Bauer