Family of slain sailor Angelina Resendiz contacted about possible plea agreement, family attorney says

Emma Rose Brown, The Virginian-Pilot on May 27, 2026

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NORFOLK, Va. — The family of slain sailor Angelina Resendiz has been contacted by the Navy regarding a possible plea deal for her accused killer, her family’s attorney confirmed Wednesday.

The Navy’s docket for the case has been updated to reflect a two-day hearing on June 8 and 9, rather than the three-week trial that had been scheduled to begin on the same day.

Resendiz disappeared from the barracks at Naval Station Norfolk on May 29, 2025. Her body was found 11 days later in a wooded area in the Broad Creek neighborhood of Norfolk.

Another sailor, Seaman Jermiah Copeland, was charged with premeditated murder along with several other counts related to alleged assaults on Resendiz and four other women between 2024 and 2025.

Marshall Griffin, the attorney for Resendiz’s family, said the victims and their families would benefit significantly from a plea agreement.

“This would be an incredibly labor-intensive trial that would be very difficult for both parties and would take an emotional toll on the victims,” said Griffin. “So if there’s a plea agreement, everybody wants an efficient resolution to this trial, especially if there’s a willingness on the part of the accused to take responsibility and guilt and resolve this without the burden and expense of a trial.”

Plea agreements in the Navy aren’t finalized until they have been presented in court and accepted by a judge.

Resendiz’s family, which would not be a party to such an agreement, was not provided a copy of the potential deal. But Griffin confirmed that the possible deal involved charges related to Resendiz’s death and included “substantial confinement” time for Copeland.

At an earlier hearing, Copeland’s attorneys alluded to him facing life in prison at trial.

“Seaman Copeland is on trial for essentially his life at this point,” defense attorney Todd Mihill said March 5.

Griffin said the evidence of Copeland’s involvement in Resendiz’s death was “overwhelming.” Her mother, Esmeralda Castle, has been advocating for an independent investigation into the institutional failures that contributed to her daughter’s death.

Navy Region Mid-Atlantic was not immediately able to comment.

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