(NORFOLK, Va.) — The mother of Angelina “Angie” Resendiz, the 21-year-old Navy sailor whose body was found near her Norfolk, Virginia, base on June 9, days after she was reported missing, is pushing the Navy for accountability as the suspect charged in her daughter’s murder awaits his trial.
Esmeralda Castle spoke with “ABC News Live Prime” from her home in Brownsville, Texas, where she reflected on her grief and healing journey and claimed that the Navy mishandled her daughter’s disappearance and the investigation into her death.
“There is an injustice happening in the way that service members are treated and the way the family is treated,” Castle told ABC News on Thursday, alleging that a culture steeped in silence has prevented her from getting answers about her daughter’s case.
Asked about those allegations, the Navy declined ABC News’ requests for comment.
“I’ve been thinking about Angie and her service. What she represented was something good,” Castle said, reflecting on her fight for justice. “She represented service at its highest. She’s giving herself and all that she is, all her talents and strengths and abilities, her mind, her youth, to the military, to this branch — for us. And that’s an honorable thing.”
Angie’s disappearance
Resendiz, who was from Mexia — a city in central Texas that is located about 30 miles outside of Waco — was a culinary specialist stationed at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
“She comes from a family of service members. My brother and sister, they’re in the Army. Her father was a Marine,” Castle said, adding that her daughter loved to cook and wanted to be a chef, so joining the Navy in a culinary role was a dream.
“It was ‘a calling’ is what she said, like recruiters were at the high school and they talked to her and she felt it,” she added.
About a year and a half after her daughter joined the Navy, Castle told ABC News that on May 29 her daughter’s friends reached out to her to express concern that they could not reach or locate her. According to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Resendiz was last seen at her barracks in Millner Hall at the Naval Station in Norfolk at around 10 a.m. local time on May 29.
Castle said that she immediately called the Navy and reported her daughter missing, but was told that her daughter was located shortly after.
“He’s like oh yeah. … we found her you know, she’s OK, we found her in another sailor’s room. Everything’s OK,” Castle said. “I believed him.”
When Resendiz didn’t show up to work the next day and her family and friends still couldn’t get a hold of her, Castle said she was worried and reached out to the Navy again. Resendiz’s friends reported her missing to police and, on June 3, a missing person’s alert was issued by the Virginia State Police. On June 6 — more than a week after she was last seen — NCIS released a statement announcing that they were investigating Resendiz’s disappearance.
“It felt like, like a punch, like a punch in your gut,” Castle said. “Like, it takes your air away. … It just brings you to your knees.”
Castle noted that after her daughter’s body was found, she “got a few messages apologizing for the silence.”
ABC News reached out to the Navy multiple times, but they declined requests for comment.
“Given the ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to provide amplifying comments on your inquiries,” a spokesperson for NCIS told ABC News.
An individual familiar with the NCIS investigation told ABC News that they “immediately commenced a variety of investigative steps,” including interviewing family, friends and command members, after receiving a notification from the Norfolk Police Department regarding Resendiz’s disappearance on May 31.
“These actions increased in number over the next 10 calendar days and resulted in the recovery of Seaman Resendiz’s remains,” the individual added.
The suspect
Seaman Jeremiah T. Copeland, a culinary specialist in the Navy, was initially held in pre-trial confinement following Resendiz’s death.
On Aug. 22, he was charged with “premeditated murder,” as well as a slew of sexual assault charges related to several alleged survivors, according to charging documents obtained by ABC News. The charges stem from incidents that allegedly took place between July 2024 through June 2025.
Charging documents show that Copeland is also facing charges that stem from alleged actions during the investigation into Resendiz’s death. Copeland is accused of concealing a dead body on June 2, obstructing justice by hiding his cell phone on June 4, as well as making false statements to NCIS investigators on June 1 and June 3.
Copeland appeared in a Naval court in Norfolk on Wednesday for a preliminary hearing. It is unclear if he has entered a plea. ABC News reached out to Copeland’s attorney but requests for comment were not returned.
His trial is scheduled to begin next June.
The names of additional alleged victims, as well as Resendiz’s name, were redacted from the charging documents that the Navy shared with ABC News, but Castle confirmed to ABC News in September that the murder charge Copeland is facing is related to her daughter’s death.
“Heartbreak,” Castle said when asked what she is going through after her daughter’s death. “They call it grief, it’s called a process. Different emotions — overwhelming anger, sadness.”
It is unclear when the investigation into Copeland’s actions was launched. ABC News reached out to NCIS and the Navy to inquire about the timeline and ask whether the Navy was aware of other potential victims ahead of Resendiz’s, but requests for comment were denied.
“Given the ongoing legal proceedings, we are unable to provide amplifying comments on your inquiries,” a spokesperson for NCIS told ABC News.
‘I have to help my kid’
After her daughter’s death, Castle told ABC News that she is turning her pain into purpose by fighting for answers and calling for reform for all military members.
“I have to help my kid,” she said.
Castle announced on Oct. 14 that she is seeking the Democratic nomination for the District 37 seat in the Texas state House of Representatives where she hopes to push for reforms and safeguards to keep women in the military safe.
“This campaign isn’t about politics; it’s about people — about compassion, community, resilience, and hope,” Castle said as she announced her run to ABC News’ affiliate station.
When asked about why she chose to run, Castle echoed her daughter’s sentiment in joining the Navy.
“It feels like a calling,” she told ABC News.
Castle expressed her hope that her daughter’s case will be a “catalyst” for change — and that she will keep fighting at all costs.
She hopes to testify before a congressional committee in Washington, D.C., she said, to push for building protections for all service members and ensuring that the military is held accountable.
“I just remember [Angie] in the best light possible — not a victim,” she said. “She’s a victim, but I want people to remember her as someone who loved her life and lived her life and wasn’t afraid to do whatever she wanted.”
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