Family troubles surround disappearance of Nokesville teen

Sadler frequented online forum 

The case of missing 14-year old Nokesville teen Thomas James “T.J.” Sadler is apparently much more complicated than it seems.

Sadler went missing from his home on June 3, leaving the property with his grandfather’s blue Ford pickup.

Potomac Local reported earlier today that Sadler had been a frequent poster on a community forum called Fairfax Underground – and that he had been involved in several heated exchanges with other posters online, according to site owner Cary Weidemann.

Currently there is no concrete evidence of foul play, and Prince William police spokesman Jonathan Perok stated they are treating the incident as if he left of his own.

Complicated family life at home

According to Weidemann, a lot of T.J.’s posts on the site have been related to a family dispute.

“[T.J.] was involved in a very public extra-familial dispute with the ‘Hickersons’ and ‘O’Laughlens’ chronicled in threads,” said Weidemann.

Nancye Hickerson, Sadler’s grandmother, confirmed that the family dispute had been a large source of strain for her grandson, and that it had been posted on the Internet – not only Fairfax Underground, but several other social media sites as well.

Deceased father

Sadler’s disappearance comes about the same time as the anniversary of the violent death of his father,  Thomas Jeffrey Sadler,  in 2013.

“T.J.’s father was killed by the police in Raleigh, North Carolina,” said Hickerson.

According to news reports on the incident, Thomas Sadler was naked and creating a disturbance and was restrained by Raleigh police officers before being tasered several times, which led to the cardiac arrhythmia that caused his death.

Lynn Sadler stated that he had been upset about it.

His own problems with the law

Sadler may have had troubles of his own with the law.

“He’s no stranger to the criminal justice system,” said Prince William County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Ebert.

According to Hickerson, Sadler was on probation with the Prince William County Juvenile Court.

“Thomas was supposed to go back to court [last] Friday. He broke his probation…he had numerous charges against him – cyber harassment. I don’t know all of the charges, because he’s a minor. We had charges against him – which if he had kept his probation – would not have been processed,” said Hickerson.

Prior to his disappearance, an online account associated with him, stating he was arrested for a shoplifting charge on May 30.

Lynn Sadler did not comment on her son’s previous run ins with law enforcement. Criminal records for minors are not made available to the public.

Others could be involved

As stated in our earlier story, Sadler had been involved in several exchanges on Fairfax Underground.

One of the posters that Sadler spoke with on the site – Michael Josef Basl (who goes by the username ‘eesh’) – stated that Sadler most commonly represented himself as being 18 years old, four years older than his actual age. 

Basl stated he had no involvement or knowledge of the disappearance.

“I don’t know if someone else got angry with him,” Basl commented. Basl stated that he spoke with Prince William police with information related to Sadler’s online activities.

Where is T.J. Sadler?

Prince William police continue to look for Sadler.

Hickerson stated that T.J. left his mother a note before leaving on June 3, that may contain information that will lead to his whereabouts. Lynn Sadler declined to comment about the note.

O’Laughlen commented that he was doubtful Sadler could have left the area in the pickup on his own.

“I wouldn’t think T.J. would be able to drive a vehicle out of the town of Nokesville without some kind of help. Because the boy’s never driven out on the road…if he did leave, I can’t imagine him going far, not unless he met somebody and they helped him get out of the area,” said O’Laughlen.