Mother of murdered sailor demands Navy change how it handles sexual assault cases : NPR

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A Navy sailor in Norfolk, Virginia, recently pleaded guilty to premeditated murder in the killing of Petty Officer Angelina Resendiz. Her mother is demanding the Navy change how it handles missing persons and sexual assault. With that, we will warn the story contains details about a sexual assault. Steve Walsh with WHRO in Norfolk has the story.

STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Esmeralda Castle is convinced the Navy bears some responsibility for her daughter’s death.

ESMERALDA CASTLE: They could have stopped this. That’s where they failed. He already had a history, and he harmed the first woman. He harmed the second one. They moved him. They could have done something. The first command could have done something.

WALSH: Petty Officer Jeremiah Copeland confessed to strangling and killing Castle’s daughter, Petty Officer Angelina Resendiz, on May 29, 2025, in his barracks. He’s been sentenced to 44 years in a military prison. The Navy had allowed Copeland to transfer to Resendiz’s ship, the USS James E. Williams in Norfolk, from the USS Harry S. Truman a few months earlier, even though he was under investigation in connection with two cases of sexual assault, including one where he allegedly strangled a woman, according to the charging documents.

CASTLE: Then you have the second one. So you have two. You have to protect him – right? – and everybody else.

WALSH: During Copeland’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors said that to give himself time to conceal Resendiz’s death, he wrapped her body in a blanket and pretended to be sleeping with her in his barracks. Incredibly, a chief petty officer saw the staged scene the morning after the murder but left without checking on her. Rachel VanLandingham is a former Air Force lawyer who teaches at Southwestern Law School. She says a conviction doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

RACHEL VANLANDINGHAM: But where’s the accountability for his command chain who failed to protect this young service member from a fellow service member that they were already on notice was dangerous?

WALSH: It would take 11 days to find Resendiz’s body. Advocates find similarities between Resendiz’s case and Vanessa Guillen, an Army specialist murdered by a fellow soldier in 2020. The Army treated Guillen as if she were AWOL, which delayed the search. The publicity led to changes in how the military handles sexual assault cases and missing troops. The Army disciplined 21 people after Guillen’s death, says VanLandingham.

VANLANDINGHAM: There were supposed to be lessons learned across the board, including what you do when a soldier goes missing, and the Navy here missed the memo on what to do.

WALSH: Copeland and his military defense team haven’t spoken outside the courtroom. Prosecutors say Naval Criminal Investigative Service agents invested more than 4,000 hours in the case. Last September, then-Navy Secretary John Phelan announced that the Navy was reviewing some of the circumstances surrounding the case, including how and why Copeland was transferred to Resendiz’s ship. The review began roughly a year ago, but the results haven’t been released. Castle, Resendiz’s mom, is calling on the Navy to set up an independent panel, similar to what the Army did after Guillen’s death.

CASTLE: We’re still not done. This isn’t justice. This is a process, and justice is when everyone is safe and that this doesn’t happen again. And if it does happen again, they have an avenue for accountability.

WALSH: For NPR News, I’m Steve Walsh in Norfolk, Virginia.

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