WASHINGTON — The mother of Sailor Angelina Resendiz and advocates asserted their belief that the U.S. Navy mishandled her daughter’s disappearance during a press conference Wednesday, accusing Navy officials of reportedly marking her as AWOL and providing misleading information – including allegedly telling the mother that her daughter was “sleeping in her room” while she was missing.
As we’ve previously reported, Resendiz, 21, was a culinary specialist assigned to the USS James E. Williams. She was last seen at her barracks at Naval Station Norfolk the morning of May 29, and nearly two weeks later, her body was recovered in the woods behind a Norfolk elementary school.
Watch full press conference: Mother, advocates call for investigation into Angelina Resendiz' death
Wednesday's press conference was organized by leaders with civil rights organization The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), who are working alongside Resendiz’ mother, Esmeralda Castle. They are demanding an investigation into what they called Resendiz' “preventable” death, which they believe was at the hands of a fellow sailor.
They assert that sailor murdered her.
“What happened is a tragedy. My daughter, her life was taken by another sailor–someone that she knew, someone that worked with her,” said Castle.
Previous coverage: Mother of Navy Sailor Angelina Resendiz believes she was murdered
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) has confirmed that another sailor, also assigned to the USS James E. Williams, is in pretrial confinement in connection with Resendiz’ death. Their name has not been publicly released by Navy officials.
When asked how she felt when she learned there was a suspect in her daughter’s case, Castle responded: “I wasn't confused. I knew who the person that she was with last. When that person showed up to work on Monday… They said to me that his response was he had not seen her, and he was allowed still to be on the base.”
LULAC leaders and Castle called out several of the Navy’s alleged missteps, starting with the moment Resendiz disappeared. They accused the Navy of reportedly marking Resendiz as AWOL and waiting six days to issue a missing persons alert. They go on to say Navy officials allegedly gave Castle misinformation and false hope that her daughter was still alive.
Norfolk
TIMELINE: Everything we know about the disappearance of Seaman Angelina Resendiz
“She was told by one of the supervisors, ‘hey, we saw your daughter. She's sleeping in her room.’” said Lawrence Romo, LULAC’s vice president for veterans. “That was a misleading lie, if not miscommunication for sure. And then it took a group of kids playing in a wooded forest six miles from base to find the body [while] the Navy was actively searching.”
They’re also demanding that Navy officials provide more information on the investigation, adding claims that service members have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in connection with her case.
“There must be total transparency with Angelina's family, no more withheld information, no NDAs to silence witnesses,” said LULAC CEO Juan Proaño.
Castle says her concerns extend beyond the Navy's handling of her daughter's disappearance. She tearfully recalled the state of her daughter's body ahead of the funeral service and vigil.
“I went to the funeral home… I wanted to see her, you know, I didn't know what to expect. I knew she’d been missing for days and she was found outside, and it probably wouldn't look the best," said Castle. “I saw her body and she was covered, just infested with maggots, with bugs and decaying. And they didn't preserve her body or prepare her to come home.”
Previous coverage: Charges pending against sailor in connection to death of Angelina Resendiz, NCIS says
Castle and LULAC leaders alleged that the military's culture was a factor in Resendiz' death, specifically the alleged treatment of service members who are women of color. They drew comparisons between Resendiz' case and the death of Vanessa Guillen, a Latino soldier in the U.S. Army whose remains were found in 2020. She reported that she had been sexually harassed before she was murdered.
"We shouldn't be okay with this... These aren't isolated incidents, they're happening systematically across all branches," said Castle.
Neither Castle nor LULAC leaders explicitly stated that they believe Resendiz was sexually assaulted. However, they said they are calling for a formal review of "Naval Station Norfolk sexual assault and harassment procedures, especially as they relate to women of color." They're also asking for a "full, transparent investigation into why there were delays, miscommunication and an apparent lack of urgency" in Resendiz' case.
From the moment her daughter's body was identified, Castle has been urging Congress to take action to prevent further "military tragedies." At the press conference, speakers shared that they've been meeting with lawmakers from Resendiz' Texas hometown and Virginia-based leaders, including Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.
Marshall Griffin, a Norfolk-based criminal justice attorney representing Castle, says the next procedural step they expect to see is an Article 32 hearing.
