Sailor pleads guilty to killing fellow service member

Petty Officer 3rd Class Angelina Resendiz, shown in this undated photo, was found dead June 9, 2025, in a wooded area about 10 miles from Naval Station Norfolk, Va. (Photo courtesy of the Resendiz family)

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. — A military court on Monday accepted the guilty plea of a Navy sailor who admitted to killing a fellow service member last year and dumping her body near a Virginia naval base.

Seaman Jermiah Copeland pleaded guilty to five offenses in the death of Petty Officer 3rd Class Angelina Resendiz: unpremeditated murder; aggravated assault by strangulation; indecent recording; obstruction of justice; and making a false official statement.

Copeland told the court that he killed Resendiz in May 2025 by strangling her with both hands on the floor of his barracks room. He then concealed her body in a black duffel bag in his closet before later disposing of it in a wooded area of a Broad Creek neighborhood.

He pleaded not guilty to some charges, including multiple sexual assault allegations, domestic violence charges and premeditated murder.

Esmeralda Castle, the mother of Resendiz, was present during the plea proceedings. After the court accepted the guilty plea, she and Copeland spoke privately before the sentencing phase began.

“I finally heard about the truth. That’s all I want,” Castle said. “I thanked him for speaking the truth, and how it happened. He said sorry. He cried.”

Esmeralda Castle, the mother of Angelina Resendiz, stands outside the court building at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia on Monday, June 8, 2026. A military court on Monday accepted the guilty plea of a Navy sailor who admitted to killing Angelina Resendiz last year and dumping her body near a Virginia naval base. (Kaylyn Barnhart Batista/Stars and Stripes)

The court at Naval Station Norfolk is expected to formally sentence Copeland on Tuesday after the defense presents its evidence and deliberations have concluded.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, he will serve no less than 40 years and 2 months of confinement at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., receive a dishonorable discharge, forfeit all pay and allowances and be reduced in rank to seaman apprentice. He must also register as a sex offender.

The government presented testimony from five witnesses, including close friends and fellow sailors. Each described their personal relationship with Resendiz and recounted the events surrounding her disappearance and death one-year ago, while reflecting on the impact she had on their lives.

“She’s like a pocket full of sunshine. I’m still struggling with the death of Angie,” said Daniel Rich, Resendiz’s ex-boyfriend and a sailor who was previously stationed aboard the USS James E. Williams. Rich separated from the Navy this month.

An NCIS agent who helped lead the investigation into Resendiz’s disappearance also testified.

Castle has strongly criticized the Navy’s handling of her daughter’s disappearance. She also questioned why Copeland, who is accused of raping two other women and committing other sexual and violent crimes prior to Resendiz’s death, was allowed to continue serving among fellow sailors.

“This situation was absolutely preventable,” Castle said before the trial. Navy leaders also “should be facing criminal charges or be removed from service,” she added.

Resendiz, a 21-year-old culinary specialist assigned to the destroyer USS James E. Williams, was first reported missing on May 29, 2025.

Friends and family members say Resendiz was with Copeland the day she disappeared. Copeland later told investigators that he didn’t know where Resendiz was and that he had dropped her off at her barracks the same day.

Those statements were later determined to be false, according to court records.

It wasn’t until June 3, 2025 — five days after Resendiz was last seen or in contact with family and friends — that a statewide missing adult alert was issued.

That lag occurred because the Navy initially considered her absent without official leave, a response that has drawn criticism from her family and congressional inquiries into the handling of her disappearance.

It has also drawn comparisons to the death of Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen, whose 2020 killing led to Defense Department policy reforms on sexual harassment and sexual assault.

Twelve days after Resendiz was reported missing, her badly decomposed body was found June 9, 2025. The Navy has denied any wrongdoing in the response to Resendiz’s disappearance and death.

A native of Washington state, Copeland joined the Navy in July 2023. He was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in December 2023, serving a little more than a year on the ship before being transferred to Williams in January 2025.

Charges also have been filed in two other cases dating from Copeland’s time aboard Truman. He is accused of raping a fellow sailor in November 2024. He also is charged with sexually assaulting and attempting to strangle another service member in July 2024.

In addition, he is facing rape charges in a case involving a civilian Norfolk woman in May 2025, just days before the disappearance and killing of Resendiz, court records show.

Copeland also faced allegations of sexual assault or misconduct before enlisting in the Navy.

In May 2022, a judge issued a temporary sexual assault protection order against him in a case involving an underage girl, according to Washington state court records. It’s not clear how that case ultimately was resolved.

That same year, he was accused of kissing and groping another underage girl against her will, but no charges were filed in that case, according to media reports following his detention over Resendiz’s killing.

Friends and family describe Resendiz as a friendly, caring young woman who loved being a sailor. She was on the cusp of building a culinary arts career and aspired to cook for high-ranking military officials and dignitaries, Castle previously told Stars and Stripes.

“I don’t think she understood … the impact that she made on other people by just being herself,” Castle said.