An amendment that was included in the National Defense Authorization Act is expected to bring more accountability to how the military handles cases involving missing service members.

The amendment was added in response to the death of Brownsville U.S. Navy Seaman Angelina Resendiz.

Resendiz’s mother, Esmeralda Castle, said the amendment could have changed the search for her daughter.

Castle is preparing to spend her first Christmas without her daughter, who was found dead in Virginia back in June. The Navy sailor was stationed at Naval Station Norfolk and was reported missing by her friends weeks before her body was found.

READ MORE: Brownsville proclamation honors slain sailor Angelina Resendiz

“The first thing that they said was that she's AWOL, maybe she'll come back, and that is just unacceptable,” Castle said.

WVEC-TV, the ABC News affiliate in Norfolk, Virginia, reported that a sailor identified as Jermiah Copeland appeared in court on Dec. 10 on murder charges in connection with Resendiz’s death. 

Castle said she believes her daughter being classified by the Navy as "Absent without Leave", or AWOL, delayed the search and response.

“It needs to be treated with like it's an emergency,” Castle said. “It is an emergency. They're coming to you saying, ‘our friend is missing, they can't find her.’ But instead they wanted to wait until she didn't show up to work."

The amendment requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a report to Congress on how many service members found deceased over the last 10 years were first designated as “AWOL” or “Unauthorized Absence (UA)” instead of “Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN).”  

The report must also outline how the use of "AWOL" may have impacted response times in these cases.

Congressman Vicente Gonzalez helped author the amendment. 

“There had been warnings from her family and her friends to the base that this was unlike her to leave,” Gonzalez said. “That triggers more immediate investigation into where are they, who are they speaking to, contact family, contact friends and try to get to the bottom of it because we've lost way too many lives."

Gonzalez said the law will increase transparency and allow the military to look at possible patterns and improve procedures in missing service member cases.

Castle says while nothing can bring her daughter back, she hopes the change will protect other service members.

“Something good is going to come out of this. If anything, you can think of her as a catalyst of change,” Castle said.

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