WASHINGTON, D.C. (WAVY) — The mother of a sailor who disappeared from Naval Station Norfolk and was found dead in a Norfolk neighborhood was in Washington D.C. Wednesday demanding transparency and accountability from the U.S. Navy.

Angelina Resendiz was initially reported missing May 29 and was last seen in her barracks at Naval Station Norfolk around 10 a.m., according to the Navy. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service confirmed June 10 the body found in Norfolk was that of Resendiz.

Esmeralda Castle, Resendiz’s mother, was in D.C. with the League of United Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, for a news conference surrounding a variety of issues regarding her disappearance.

NOTE: The video above is the full LULAC press conference.

“No mother should have to endure what you are going through,” said LULAC CEO Juan Proaño, looking at Resendiz’s mother. “Angelina’s service and sacrifice will not be forgotten, and today we stand with you.”

The issues include a public timeline and accountability from the Navy and NCIS, disclosure of non-disclosure agreements service members were required to sign involving the case, collaboration on a civilian family guide, and access to documents under the Freedom of Information Act for the Resendiz family, among others.

“I’m [also] outraged because what happened to Angelina was not just a tragedy but a preventable failure,” said CEO of LULAC Juan Proaño. “Her disappearance on May 29 was mishandled from the start. Instead of immediately treating Angie a missing person in danger, the Navy reportedly marked [her] as AWOL and waited six days before filing a missing persons report, … even giving her family false reassurances that she may still be alive.”

LULAC is demanding a full investigation into what it stated were apparent delays, miscommunications and lack of urgency from the Navy. In addition, LULAC has written the Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan, demanding answers.

“We insist on accountability at every level,” Proaño said. “Any commander or official who failed to act appropriately must answer to it under the uniform code of military justice.”

LULAC stated it also expects swift justice against Jermiah Copeland, a former culinary specialist seaman and the man Castle’s attorney identified as the person detained in connection to Resendiz’s death, and anyone else responsible for this crime.

“I have never heard of him, and [Resendiz] never talked about him before,” Castle said.

Castle also spoke during the press conference, grateful for the support showed towards her and her family, but also seeking justice for her daughter.

“There is a system in place and it does not work, and I don’t know if it’s ever worked,” Castle said. “I don’t know if anyone would acknowledge that there is a problem and accept responsibility for it to make a change.”

Castle claimed that when she called and spoke to the officer on deck, it appeared the officer in question did not know who Resendiz was, but insisted she was OK and would not let Castle speak to her.

“I spoke with the officer on deck, Chief Anderson, and he said: ‘Angie or Cindy? Oh yeah she’s fine. She’s just in another room,'” Castle said, recalling the conversation. “‘The missing report that was given was more dramatic; she’s fine.”

When she was told that Resendiz was in the next room, “I asked him, can you go get her and have her call me? He said, ‘We’ll go ask her to call you,’ but no one called.”

Castle said she now knows her daughter wasn’t there that Thursday night — “It’s hard to understand that was a lie,” she said — and added the Navy only acted like something was wrong Sunday. Now, she has regrets.

“There’s a lot of things I wish now, but, having her be put on the phone, that would have been great,” Castle said.

Castle said she was “troubled the Navy was not following any of the procedures that are set in place. It did not inform me of what was happening. The Navy was supposed to do those things, and they didn’t do those things, and they kept me in the dark.”

She said the Navy needs to be held accountable.

“There is apparently a chain of command, and unit command that I don’t understand,” Castle said. “There are things that need to be followed, and so if they failed, I believe her whole command failed all the way to her commander, because I asked her commander to go look for her.”

10 On Your Side’s Andy Fox spoke to Dr. Ray Serrano Tuesday leading up to the press conference. Serrano believes “there were a lot of missteps from the military side, and a lot of unaccountability from that that could have prevented the situation.”

“Delays in the military,” Serrano said. “There’s no answer. At some point, her mother calls, and they say she’s in another room, that they have found her, and she’s alive, and she wasn’t. They had no answers. They had no clue where she was.” 

Castle’s attorney, Marshall Griffin, said the flow of inaccurate information to the family was also a concern.  

“We are very early in the case,” Griffin said, “and I would expect to get clarity on those issues, and what happened, and when, and why things were said, and what reports were made and when.” 

The Latino civil rights group also brought up the memory of U.S. Army soldier Vanessa Guillen, who was murdered by a fellow soldier, the victim of sexual harassment and assault within the military.

“In the case of Vanessa Guillen, there were a lot of delays from the military, a lot of backtracking, a lot of like, not being forthcoming with details to the family,” Serrano said.

There are a lot of similarities to Guillen’s and Resendiz’s cases.  

“They go missing, the military in both cases listed them as AWOL, does not institute an Ashanti Alert, which was in place even then, in 2018,” Serrano said.

“There are certainly questions that we have that may necessitate an apology down the road, and I look forward to getting answers to the questions as the case moves forward,” Griffin said

The news conference also considered the possible harassment Resendiz was receiving. 

“There’s alleged reporting from Angelina Resendiz about the harassment that she was experiencing,” Serrano said, “and yet nothing was being done about it.”

LULAC stated the events between Resendiz’s disappearance, May 29, and the day her body was discovered, June 9, is still unclear.

Griffin says the next procedural step would be to have another preliminary hearing under Article 32 in hopes of answering some of the questions Castle and the family still have regarding Resendiz’s death.

Castle believes she and her family are due an apology.

“You know, take acceptance,” she said. “There needs to be some responsibility, some acknowledgment, like, ‘Hey, you know, we could have done better. Let’s work together so we can be better for the next time.”