FRANKLIN
At 7:57 a.m. on Thursday, the Norfolk Police contacted the Southampton County Sheriff’s Office about a body found outside of a house on the 34000 block of Smith’s Ferry Road (Route 258), one mile from the North Carolina state line.

Public information officer Sam Shenouda said that the Norfolk Police’s investigative efforts into the whereabouts of Anjelica “A.J.” Hadsell, a college student who has been missing since March 2, led them to the location. A freshman at Longwood University in Farmville, Hadsell was home on spring break when she disappeared.

The remains have not been identified and will be sent to the Norfolk Office of the Chief Medical Examiner upon removal from the property in the next few days.

“We still have to comb through everything, piece-by-piece, before it is sent to the chief medical examiner’s office,” Shenouda said.

The agencies assisting the Norfolk Police Department’s investigation are the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Virginia State Police and Southampton County Sheriff’s Office. Southampton Detective Camden Cobb was on the scene and also provided details into the investigation and time of first contact.

The investigation reportedly came to Southampton County when Brian Potts of Riverdale Drive, adjacent to the property, called in a suspicious vehicle visiting the property three or four weeks ago. He said that a blue or black Dodge Caravan drove onto the vacant property, turned its lights off and went through the carport into the backyard. Potts also said that the home has been unoccupied for more than two years.

This past Friday, dive teams from the Norfolk Police Department searched a retention pond on Joyner’s Bridge Road near Route 258 in Carrsville in Isle of Wight County. Nothing was found, however.

The Tidewater News will provide more information as it becomes available.