Former Oak Harbor student may plead in sailor's murder case

Jermiah Copeland, who attended school in Oak Harbor and Coupeville before joining the Navy, could soon face a plea hearing instead of a two-week murder trial in the killing of fellow sailor Angelina Resendiz.

Copeland, now an E-3 Culinary Specialist Seaman assigned to USS James E. Williams, has been in pretrial confinement since June 9, 2025, according to a redacted Navy charge sheet. If prosecutors and defense lawyers finalize a plea agreement, the case could move to a two-day providency hearing on June 8 and 9. A judge would still have to accept any deal before the case is resolved.

Resendiz was 21 when she was reported missing by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service on May 31, 2025. Prosecutors say Copeland killed her on May 29, 2025, and her body was later found in Norfolk, Virginia, on June 9, 2025. Copeland is also charged with sexual assault, aggravated assault, sexual misconduct and obstruction of justice in connection with the case.

The Navy’s redacted charge sheet also lists earlier allegations spanning nearly a year, including conduct on July 24, 2024, an alleged sexual assault in Oslo, Norway, on Nov. 4, 2024, and another alleged sexual assault in Norfolk on May 25, 2025. Those allegations, along with the murder charge, place the case in the center of wider questions about how the Navy handled warning signs before Resendiz died.

Investigators have said Copeland handed over his phone and password, allowing them to track his movements through cell-phone data after the killing. Prosecutors also say he screenshotted a Google Maps pin in the area where Resendiz’s body was found. They matched blood from Resendiz to blood found in Copeland’s closet and in a barracks stairwell, and they found signs that a wheeled bag had been moved out of his room.

The case has drawn scrutiny from Congress and from advocates pressing the Navy for answers. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine asked the Navy on July 30, 2025, for details about the disappearance, the investigation and whether dignified-transfer procedures were followed for Resendiz’s remains. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez said Resendiz was not formally classified as missing until June 3, 2025, despite earlier warnings from colleagues, friends and family, and said her body was found in a wooded area behind an elementary school about 10 miles from Naval Station Norfolk.

Resendiz’s family attorney said the Navy contacted the family about a possible plea deal. For Island County, the case carries an unusually direct link: a former Whidbey student is at the center of a military murder case that could soon turn on whether one of the most serious charges in the Navy system ends in a plea or goes to trial.