The statement is calling on leaders ranging from the U.S. Navy to President Donald Trump to investigate Angelina Resendiz’s case.
NORFOLK, Va. — After the death of a sailor stationed at Naval Station Norfolk, her family is now demanding accountability from the U.S. Navy and national leaders.
Angelina Resendiz was a culinary specialist with the Navy and had been stationed at Naval Station Norfolk since early 2024. Her mother, Esmeralda Castle, who lives in Texas, described Resendiz as a fun and kind person, adding that “Angie” never went a day without speaking to her family and friends. She was 21.
A missing person’s report was filed with the Norfolk Police Department for Resendiz on May 31 after she had not been seen since May 29. Her body was found on June 9, not quite ten miles away from her barracks, in a wooded area. A Navy sailor has been placed in NCIS custody in connection with her death.
After Resendiz’s remains were positively identified, Castle released a statement through a representative, blaming the Navy’s “callousness” for her daughter’s death.
“Knowing that her daughter, a service member, had disappeared, [Castle] was horrified to realize that she was not properly notified through official channels and that, instead, she was only informed unofficially by her daughter’s staff and media coverage,” the statement reads. “This systemic failure to provide timely and official notification was unacceptable.”
Castle’s statement goes on to call on Congress to act.
“Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to ‘raise and support armies’ and to ‘provide and maintain a Navy,’ and it is their duty to ensure these organizations function correctly,” the statement reads. “If the Navy cannot notify families properly and instead relies on unofficial sources, treating such incidents as inconveniences rather than emergencies, then Congress must investigate what has gone wrong.”
By name, Castle calls on Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, the congressional delegation of Hampton Roads, Castle’s representative in Texas, Vicente Gonzalez, and President Donald Trump to “address the systemic issues that allowed [Angelina] to vanish without justice since May 29, 2025.”
In a GoFundMe set up by the family last Saturday, they suggested that the Navy had been “quiet and ambiguous” about Resendiz’s disappearance.
“With all of the technology at the Navy’s disposal, there is no reason for a sailor to go missing or stay missing. The Naval base is in a wooded area, and NCIS has refused to tell Angie’s mother anything about the search,” the GoFundMe says. “Angie’s mother hopes to search these woods surrounding the base and hopes to have a protest calling for reform of the US Military’s treatment of missing women cases.”
13News Now has reached out to NCIS about the claims made by Resendiz’s mother, and we were told to contact Naval Surface Force Atlantic. A spokesperson for NSFA provided the following statement:
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and coworkers of Culinary Specialist Seaman Angelina Resendiz, assigned to the USS James E. Williams (DDG 95). Grief counseling services and support are being provided through the chain of command and local chaplain resources. We refer all questions pertaining to the ongoing investigation to NCIS.”
13News Now has also reached out to Virginia Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner for comment.
Kaine told 13News Now, “I’m heartbroken to hear about the passing of Angelina Resendiz, a sailor assigned to Naval Station Norfolk, and I’m praying for her family. I appreciate the Navy and law enforcement officers who are investigating the situation and urge them to get answers to her family as soon as possible.”
Warner said the “loss of any servicemember is a tragedy.”
“I am in touch with the Navy about this investigation and will be pressing for more information,” Warner said.
You can find the full statement from Esmeralda Castle below: