The body of a Norfolk-based sailor who was found dead in the woods near her base was returned to her family in shocking condition, her mother said Wednesday.
Culinary Specialist Seaman Angelina Petra Resendiz, 21, was discovered by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, on June 9 in Norfolk, Virginia, after being reported missing May 29 from her barracks in Miller Hall on Naval Station Norfolk. She was assigned to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer James E. Williams.
Resendiz’s mother, Esmerelda Castle, visited her daughter at a funeral home once she returned and was shocked at the condition of her remains.
“When they opened the bag for me and I saw her body, you know, she was covered, she was infested with maggots and with bugs, and decaying,” Castle said. “They didn’t preserve her body or prepare her to come home.”
Castle spoke Wednesday at a press conference organized by leaders of the civil rights organization The League of United Latin American Citizens.
She didn’t know what to expect when she visited her daughter and knew her body wouldn’t “look the best” since Resendiz was found outside. But what she saw amounted to a failure on the Navy’s part, she said.
Navy Times reached out to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, or NCIS, and Navy Office of Information for comment. The latter directed Navy Times to speak with NCIS.
NCIS directed Navy Times to speak with the Navy Office of Information regarding the processes and protocols for deceased service members and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Virginia regarding the preservation and transfer of Resendiz’s remains.
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Navy Times contacted the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Virginia but did not receive an immediate response.
“You should’ve prepped the family that the remains were in that condition or not ship them in that condition,” said Marshall Griffin, a former Coast Guard JAG officer representing Castle who spokes with Navy Times by phone.
Griffin said he was searching for an explanation for the state of Resendiz’s body. But when he called the casualty assistance calls officer, or CACO — an official representative of the secretary of the Navy who provides assistance to families after a casualty — they refused to speak with him, he said.
Navy Times called the number Griffin provided for the CACO but was unable to reach the office after multiple phone calls and voicemails.
A sailor is currently in pretrial confinement in connection with Resendiz’s death, and NCIS has yet to name the suspect as it conducts an investigation. Charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice are pending, the NCIS confirmed.
Castle said she had contacted the ship several weeks ago to check in on Resendiz’s well-being after her daughter’s friends told Castle that Resendiz had disappeared. At that time, she was told by an officer on deck that Resendiz was “fine” and was just in “another room.”
She asked the officer to have Resendiz call her, but when that call never came and her daughter failed to show up to work several days later, Castle called back again, she said at the press conference.
That time, Navy personnel told her that Resendiz might be AWOL, or absent without official leave. Maybe she needed a break, Castle said they told her, and would show up in a few days.
Once NCIS got involved, she stopped receiving information from the Navy, according to Castle.
“The Navy is handling this about as badly as you can handle it,” Griffin said.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
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