Petty Officer Jeremiah Copeland pleaded guilty to strangling 21-year-old Angelina Resendiz and burying her body near a Norfolk subdivision roughly one year ago.
Copeland met privately with her mother, Esmeralda Castle, during a recess. She said she forgave him.
“I don't hate him, you know, and he said he was sorry, " Castle said. “All I told him is you have, you have life, right? I'm sorry, it's gonna be behind walls, but you still have life.”
Castle has been outspoken about the Navy’s handling of the case. Castle said the Navy originally said her daughter was reported as an unauthorized absence.
Copeland and Resendiz, a culinary specialist, were stationed on the destroyer USS James E. Williams. Copeland described the night of her death, saying she came to his barracks room on Naval Station Norfolk to hang out. He said she became alarmed when she saw a flash from his camera. He knocked her to the ground and covered her mouth to keep her quiet. He then strangled her with both hands, then hid her body in a suitcase and later buried her in a wooded area.
During the sentencing phase, several of Resendiz’s friends testified that they frantically searched for her starting the night of May 29.
Daniel Rich, her friend and a fellow sailor on the Williams at the time, received a frantic voice mail from Resendiz, asking that he pick her up in the middle of the night. He searched the location of her phone, but could not locate her. He and her other friends searched for days until her body was located on June 9, 2025.
“I felt like I failed. I felt like I should have been faster,” he said, adding that her death and problems with the investigation were a major factor in why he left the Navy.
As part of the agreement, Copeland also pleaded guilty to sexual acts against women while he was stationed on USS Truman in 2024, while the ship was in Oslo, Norway.
Copeland pleaded guilty to unpremeditated murder, which carries a sentence of 40 years. He will be given the lowest rank in the Navy and be dishonorably discharged. The judge is expected to issue his sentence Tuesday.
