New information has been revealed in the case of Angelina Petra Resendiz, a sailor who went missing from her Navy base in Norfolk, Virginia, in May and was later discovered dead.
As the 21-year-old’s body made its final journey home to Texas, another Navy sailor was reportedly named as a suspect in the case. Marshall Griffin, an attorney who represents Resendiz’s mother, confirmed his identity, according to NBC affiliate WAVY.
“The Navy confirmed that Jermiah Copeland is the person being detained or confined on suspicion in this case,” Griffin told the outlet following an initial review officer hearing at the Naval Consolidated Brig in Chesapeake.
The news comes as Resendiz’s body, which was last seen alive on May 29 at her barracks at Naval Station Norfolk, was returned home. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service discovered Resendiz’s body on June 9, more than a week after she was last seen, in an off-base wooded area in Norfolk.
Resendiz’s remains were transferred from Virginia to Valley International Airport in Harlingen, Texas, where she was met by military personnel and returned home, according to KVEO, a local NBC and CBS affiliate. The outlet also reported that she received military honors.
Attorney Marshall Griffin and a spokesperson for the United States Navy did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Saturday, June 21.
Griffin did not attend the June 16 hearing, which determined whether the alleged suspect would remain in pretrial confinement, according to WAVY.
According to the lawyer, hearings like this one determine “whether the individual is a flight risk, or they are likely to engage in other misconduct, and consider the government’s evidence whether a crime actually occurred.”
Griffin told WAVY that Copeland will remain in pretrial confinement due to the seriousness of the charges. According to the attorney, the exact charges are unknown and will be determined as part of the ongoing investigation into Resendiz’s death.
The attorney told WAVY that once someone is officially placed in pretrial custody, “the government has 120 days to arraign them.” At that point, “they need to hold an Article 32 hearing if they are going to take him to a general court martial, which is the most serious.”
“Angelina was a kind and compassionate young woman who brought light into our lives,” Esmeralda Castle, the late sailor’s mother, said in a statement after her daughter died. The grieving mother also stated that the loss has created “a void in their hearts.”
During the review officer’s hearing on June 16, Castle gave another phone statement, claiming that “the person responsible for this horrific loss made deliberate choices that ended Angie’s life,” according to WAVY.
“Their actions were not a mistake,” she added. “They were a betrayal of trust, of duty, and of basic human decency.”
