Frantic search efforts for a missing 4-year-old Virginia boy shifted to a local steam plant late Tuesday, as police publicly cast doubt on the father’s claim that the child had simply vanished.
“We don’t believe that 4-year-old Codi wandered off and we don’t believe that he was abducted,” Hampton Police Chief Mark Talbot said of Cobi Bigsby at a press conference Tuesday.
Bigsby was reported missing Monday morning, with his father, Cory Bigsby, telling investigators he’d seen the boy soundly sleeping at 2 a.m., but then woke up to find him gone that morning.
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Talbot said investigators did not trust the father’s version of events.
“There is a person of interest—we are most interested in Codi’s parents,” he said. He went on to note that Codi’s mother did not live in the home with him, but that investigators had spoken to her.
Local news station 10 On Your Side reported that Codi’s father was accused of assaulting his mother in 2018, though the matter had reportedly stalled in court because she did not appear for court hearings.
Cory Bigsby’s sister defended her brother in comments to 10 On Your Side.
Asked if she thought her brother could have harmed the 4-year-old, Tandaleyia Butler was quoted saying: “I don’t believe it for a second... They are going to have to prove it, because I know my brother. I know my brother and I know it’s not true.”
It was not immediately clear whether there were other caregivers living in the home with the toddler. Talbot told reporters police were still in the middle of speaking to “the people responsible for Codi’s safety.”
“The evidence that we have does not completely match the stories that we have received at this point,” Talbot told reporters, without elaborating on what specific evidence police have.
Asked whether he believed the boy was still alive, he said: “We will work as if he’s out there waiting for us to find him.”
The police department enlisted the help of 50 volunteers to aid in search efforts Tuesday, though no further updates had been reported as of Wednesday morning.
Hampton Police Sgt. Reggie Williams was quoted by the Daily Press saying the search had shifted to a nearby steam plant as “an element of the comprehensive search.”
The plant, located near the NASA Langley Research Center, is the same spot where the body of 2-year-old Noah Tomlin was found in 2019.
