A U.S. Navy sailor pleaded guilty on Monday to killing a fellow sailor back in May 2025, after taking a plea agreement that will send him to federal prison for a minimum of 40 years.
“Culinary Specialist 3rd Class Jeremiah Copeland appeared for a general court-martial in a courtroom right across the street from where he admitted to killing CS3 Angelina Resendiz,” according to the U.S. Naval Institute.
The two had been stationed together on the USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) when Resendiz was killed. She was only 21.
Resendiz was a culinary specialist as well, who was last seen on May 29, 2025, in her barracks at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia.
“The Naval Criminal Investigative Service found her body two weeks later in a wooded area 10 miles from the base,” the Naval Institute article stated.
“While the Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the cause of Resendiz’s death ‘undetermined,’ investigators believe Copeland murdered Resendiz in his barracks room and hid her body in his closet for four days before hiding her body in the woods.”
Copeland, 21, affirmed the investigators discoveries and told the judge, “I killed CS3 Resendiz on May 29, 2025 … I strangled her with my hands.”
In addition the the murder charge, he was hit with charges of making a false official statement during the case, along with aggravated assault of a second victim, and “indecent recording of a third victim.”
On top of that he was charged with aggravated sexual assault against Resendiz, and domestic violence involving the strangulation of an alleged fourth victim.
Prosecutors will now withdraw those charges, to which Copeland had plead not guilty, and he must register as a sex offender as part of the plea deal.
Copeland is facing a minimum of 40 years in prison at Leavenworth, a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay, and a reduction of rank to E-1.
The plea deal also helped him avoid a full-court martial, WVEC-TV reported.
Copeland claimed he and Resendiz were kissing and drinking alcohol, before Resendiz saw something on Copeland’s phone that greatly upset her.
She was so disturbed that she fell on the floor. Copeland claimed he was trying to keep her quiet so no one would hear them, but ultimately strangled her.
Fox News Digital spoke with Resendiz’s mother, Esmi Castle, who told the outlet that she now has “peace of mind,” adding, “Now that I know, I don’t have to think about it anymore.”
Castle did, however, question Naval leadership for their inability to spot the various red flags from Copeland’s checkered past.
“If they would have dealt with him when he started harming women, he would never have gotten to Angie,” she concluded. “There were four other women before he harmed Angie in the military.”
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