Hearing set for suspect in custody in connection with Angelina Resendiz's death
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Months after the death of her daughter, Esmeralda Castle's plea hasn't changed. She hopes to get answers on what led to Angelina Resendiz's death.
“I thought I really wanted to know what happened to her… and now I’m not so sure if I’m ready to hear all that,” Castle said. “But I’m gonna go and I’m gonna sit there and I’m gonna listen."
The body of Angelina Resendiz, a Brownsville native, was found outside of the naval base she was stationed at in Norfolk. Virginia on June 9 after she had been missing for nearly two weeks.
A spokesperson with the Virginia Department of Health told Channel 5 News that Resendiz’s cause of death is undetermined because “despite doing an examination, a specific cause of death could not be determined.”
READ MORE: Angelina Resendiz’s cause of death ruled as ‘undetermined’
A man was placed in pretrial confinement in connection to her death. Channel 5 News learned he will soon go through a pretrial hearing that will serve as a review of charges against the man.
“That will be the first time that I hear what the evidence is, what the theory of the case is of what happened on both sides,” Castle said.
Navy investigators have not publicly identified the sailor, but documents obtained by WVEC-TV, the ABC News affiliate in Norfolk, Virginia, identified the sailor as Jemiah Copeland.
According to those documents, Copeland is facing multiple charges — including murder, making false statements, sexual misconduct, rape, obstructing justice, and “wrongful broadcast or distribution of intimate visual images.”
“That's not a very good feeling there's someone that was on the base that he had to have targeted my daughter and planned this,” Castle said.
The pretrial hearing is set for Thursday, Sept. 18, 2025.
RELATED STORY: Grieving brother pleads for answers after Brownsville sailor found dead in Virginia
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