A U.S. sailor who killed a fellow service member will spend 44 years behind bars after pleading guilty at a general court-martial, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service announced Tuesday.
Culinary Specialist Seaman Petty Officer Jermiah Copeland admitted Monday to the unpremeditated murder of Culinary Specialist Seaman Angelina Petra Resendiz, whom he strangled to death in a barracks building after a disagreement.
The verdict for his prison sentence arrived Tuesday.
“Seaman Copeland deserves to be held fully accountable for his heinous actions that resulted in the tragic murder of Petty Officer Resendiz,” said Special Agent in Charge Emily Schmid of the Norfolk Field Office.
Copeland will also receive a dishonorable discharge, forfeit all pay and allowances and must register as a sex offender when he is eventually released in nearly half a century.
Angelina Resendiz, 21, went missing on May 29, 2025, after being last seen at her barracks in Miller Hall on Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia. She was found dead nearly two weeks later on June 9, 2025, by NCIS agents in a wooded area in Norfolk.
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Shortly after, Copeland was placed in pretrial confinement in connection with Resendiz’s death and was charged Aug. 22 with premeditated murder.
It was not the first time Copeland faced serious allegations.
Copeland had allegedly assaulted several other individuals since he enlisted in the Navy on July 13, 2023.
He was charged with aggravated sexual contact, abusive sexual contact and aggravated assault through strangulation for a crime that occurred in the summer of 2024 on board the USS Harry S. Truman, according to a charge sheet provided to Military Times by a Navy Region Mid-Atlantic spokesperson.
Copeland was charged with two other counts of sexual assault for two separate incidents that happened while he was assigned to the USS James E. Williams, one of which took place in November 2024 and the other in May 2025.
He was also charged with two counts of domestic violence for an incident that occurred in April 2025.
As part of the plea agreement, Resendiz’s mother, Esmerelda Castle, asked to meet with Copeland one-on-one Monday, an unusual request given the grim circumstances of the case.
Marshall Griffin, Castle’s lawyer, was astonished by the level of compassion Castle showed her daughter’s killer during that meeting. She challenged him to live a better life and offered forgiveness for taking her child’s, Griffin said.
The conversation occurred at the end of the findings portion of the trial, prior to sentencing.
Copeland apologized to Castle during the meeting, but otherwise remained silent and listened to Castle, Griffin said.
After delivering his unsworn statement in court Tuesday, in which he apologized to the Resendiz family, and receiving his lengthy sentence, Copeland asked to speak to Castle one more time.
As people began filtering out of the courtroom, Griffin said, Castle approached Copeland, and he apologized again.
Castle hugged him, forgave him and asked that he live a more positive life. He promised to do so and get as much help for himself as he could.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
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