She was 18, home from college, on spring break.  It was March 2, 2015.  Wesley Hadsell was done pretending to be a husband and a dad and decided this was his time to get what he came for over 4 years ago.  Just after noon, he took off work and drove his work van to the home he no longer lived at, to violently subdue and abduct Anjelica.

He held her captive for two days, assaulting her in his hotel room whenever she would arouse from the heroin that he had shoved down her throat.  She eventually succumbed to her injuries and the heroin, and he took her lifeless body 60 miles away to an abandoned countryside house, where he had likely fantasized about living happily ever after with AJ, and he dumped her face down in a ditch in the backyard, pants pulled down, bra strapped wrong, and one sock bunched up in her Ugg boots.  It was wintertime.  She had no jacket.  He had redressed her, meaning she had been undressed during her captivity.

He was no stranger to crimes against young females.

In 1998, when he was 20 years old, he took his 15-year-old girlfriend out of state, against her parents' wishes.  He did 3 1/2 years in prison for that.  In 2005, he violently assaulted and abducted his estranged wife, holding her captive for two weeks, running from police across the country, robbing stores and a bank along the way.  He was finally caught after a high-speed chase south of Chicago.  When it was all said and done, he was only charged with one robbery for that violent crime spree, despite a grand jury out of Delaware, Ohio, finding a true bill against him for Rape, Assault, and Kidnapping.

His crimes in prison were numerous, violent, and demented.

He was released from Victorville Penitentiary on February 17th, 2010.  On April 9th, 2009, Wesley Hadsell met Anjelica's mom at a bar outside Norfolk, VA.  Anjelica Marie Hoffer was almost 14 at the time, and her two younger sisters were age 7 and 9.  Mother and father had shared equal custody since separating February 14, 2005.  

Sadly, Anjelica had chosen to stay with her mom several months prior to Mr. Hadsell moving into the picture.  This had broken her father's heart who had pleaded with her to come back.  

Despite a body full of tattoos, including the words "Game" and "Over" on his eyelids, and his recent release from maximum security prison, this single mother immediately invited him into her home with her daughters.

On May 12, they were married.  On May 25, they went on their honeymoon out of state, taking Anjelica with them.

Mr Hadsell, a wolf in wolf's clothing and a cunning predator, saw an opportunity in Anjelica.  The grooming began immediately.  

Mr. Hoffer filed with Family Court on June 2, to get full custody of the girls after learning about Hadsell's history.

So many red flags, but every court official failed.  The Norfolk, Virginia Family Court  judge (Joseph P. Massey) ignored the law in his decision to take Anjelica from Mr. Hoffer. The Guardian ad litem, Charles Johnson, took sides with Mr. Hadsell and went out of his way to speak out against Mr. Hoffer.  The hired attorneys could have cared less about the well-being of the children.  They were focused on money.  And worst of all, the probation officer for Mr. Hadsell (Tomas Ramirez), chose not to testify in Family Court about Mr. Hadsell's criminal history, for fear of violating his privacy.

And let's not forget all the jurisdictions who chose not to prosecute him for the violent crime spree in 2005, especially Marianne Hemmetter, of Delaware, OHIO, where a grand jury had found a true bill for Rape, Assault, and Kidnapping (those charges were FINALLY pursued AFTER Anjelica's murder - 11 years later).

Anjelica was on her own, without any protection, without a real father, tangled up in the web of a psychopath playing an evil game, pretending to be a father, and her mother, so blinded by control or spite or jealousy or childhood trauma, or whatever motivated her to insist that this lunatic be a father to her daughter.  

As Anjelica turned 16, Mr. Hadsell adopted her and she became AJ Hadsell, within one year of the final ruling of the failed attempt in Family Court.

Ironically, Mr. Hoffer had named one daughter Justice, and gotten his master's degree in legal studies, because he felt so strongly about the subject and thought so highly of the American judicial system.  That same system betrayed him and took the life of his eldest daughter.