Seaman Angelina Petra Resendiz, 21, was last seen May 29, 2025, at the Miller Hall barracks at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service announced June 10 that they found the body of Resendiz about 9 miles from the base. (Photo courtesy of the Resendiz family)
WASHINGTON — An advocacy group on Wednesday drew parallels between the recent death of a Navy sailor and that of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen, whose killing in 2020 led to Defense Department policy reforms on sexual harassment and sexual assault.
“What happened to [Seaman Angelina Resendiz] was not just a tragedy, it was a preventable failure. We are here to demand justice for Angelina,” said Juan Proano, who leads the League of United Latin American Citizens.
Resendiz, a 21-year-old culinary specialist, was found dead June 9 about 10 miles from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., where the sailor went missing 12 days earlier. At about the time Resendiz’s body was found, a fellow sailor who could face charges in connection with her death was detained. A missing adult alert was issued five days after Resendiz was last seen because the Navy initially considered her absent without official leave — a move her family said indicated a lack of urgency.
Proano said during a news conference in Washington that the case is strikingly similar to that of Guillen, a 20-year-old small arms repairer. Guillen was initially considered absent without official leave when she disappeared in 2020 from Fort Hood in Texas. After her body was found along a river near base, investigators determined she was killed by a fellow soldier after being sexually harassed months earlier.
Guillen’s story captured international media attention and led to the passage of military justice reforms and changes to how the military investigates and manages sexual harassment and sexual assault cases.
“These reforms were supposed to ensure that no family ever goes through what the Guillen’s went through, and yet, here we are. The spirit of the law must now be honored,” Proano said.
The league, which advocates for civil rights protections for Latin American citizens, said Resendiz’s case was mishandled, which Proano described as “unacceptable.”
Resendiz’s disappearance prompted a state-wide missing adult alert on June 3 — five days after she was last seen or in contact with family and friends. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service shared on social media a missing person flyer for Resendiz on June 6. Naval Station Norfolk shared the NCIS flyer the next day, June 7 — more than a week after she disappeared from the base.
“Too often we hear we leave no one behind, yet the system left Angelina behind. Enough is enough. We are here to say no more stalling, no more secrecy. Angelina’s family deserves the truth,” Proano said.
The league issued formal letters in mid-June to Navy Secretary John Phelan and lawmakers calling for an investigation into how the Navy handled Resendiz’s disappearance and a public timeline of the service’s actions. The league is also calling for criminal accountability for any command personnel who failed to take appropriate action and a review of the naval base’s sexual assault and harassment procedures.
One in five active-duty service members are Latino and women make up more than 17% of the military, according to the league.
“They — like Angelina and Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen before her — volunteered to defend this nation. We owe them nothing less than a safe and respectful environment in return,” Proano said.
Esmeralda Castle, Resendiz’s mother, said the Navy failed to notify the family of Resendiz’s disappearance through “proper channels.” The family learned Resendiz was missing from fellow sailors, Castle said. When Castle reached out to Resendiz’s chain of command, she said Navy leaders provided false and conflicting information about the sailor’s wellbeing.
After NCIS got involved, the family was not provided any information about Resendiz, Castle said. The family still does not know what happened to Resendiz between May 29, when she was last seen, and June 9, when her body was found.
The Norfolk Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy. The cause and manner of death were still pending, the examiner’s office said Wednesday.
“Her command failed her. The military failed her,” Castle said.
Resendiz’s body was returned to her family in Texas over the weekend with full military honors, according to a local news report. A funeral for Resendiz will be held Thursday in her hometown Brownsville. Resendiz reported to the USS James E. Williams, a Norfolk-based destroyer, in February 2024. She enlisted in the Navy in August 2023.
