Press conference 4th February.
Chief - This is easily one the the most comprehensive investigations that I've been a part of and it will continue to be. We would just like to remind everybody that we are all assembled her on behalf of 4 year old Codi Bigsby.
Codi Bigsby was reported missing by his father on January, 31st at about 9 o'clock in the morning. Mr. Cory Bigsby who is 43 year old male called 911 and reported that his 4 year old son Codi was missing. Mr. Bigsby reported that his son was missing from his home on Drive here in the city of Hampton. The Hampton police division responded, including our patrol division and our detective bureau as well. We immediately began searching inside and outside of the residence. Following our search of the residence and search of the surrounding area, we immediately contacted our partner agencies and deployed as many resources as we possibly could on that 1st day. That has continued up until today. While we were searching Mr. Bigsby and his children were transported to our Detective Bureau to help us with the investigation. Mr. Bigsby ulitmately through the investigation that we conducted was arrested and charged with 7 counts of felony child neglect. This was based on his report of leaving his children home alone. He reported that he left home alone his 5 year old, his 4 year old and his 2 year old twins. This was reported to have occured on numerous occasions. He reported that it was too much of a burden to bring his kids along with him. Our investigation is not over, it will not end with that arrest. In fact in some ways our investigation is going to start and become more intense now. Our partners in particular, our partners with the FBI have provided us with an extensive amount of forensic data for us to review and process and follow up on. That will take an extended period of time. We have many interviews to conduct. We still have areas to search and we have many leads to follow. We will not stop here with this arrest. With that, do you have any questions?
Reporter - I'm trying to find out, can you say when the last time that Codi...when was the last time Codi was actually seen by someone outside of his father or his family? And I say that in part because the court records indicate that on January 25th...well one of the charges pertain to leaving him alone on January 25th. I don't know if there's evidence that outside of the father for....you know, what is the evidence that you have....When was the last time he was last see I guess....?
Chief - I obviously won't speak to the evidence that we have specifically. We are still investigating the last time that Codi was seen alive and well by anyone. So if there's anybody out there that might be able to help us with that, we would like to know. The charges that speak to the events that occurred on January 25th are based on what we've done up until this point in the investigation.
Reporter - On being that there was no Amber Alert issued would Hampton Police Dept. be willing to stand behind the 'Codi Alert' that would alert citizens in a local area of kids gone missing, even if it just starts locally and expands from there. Would the Hampton Police Dept. support something like that?
Chief - I'd like to continue to focus on Codi Bigsby as the primary focus right now. At some point moving forward I think they'll be a lot of time to evaluate whether or not we do the right thing to keep all kids safe. I will say, Amber Alert is a great tool, it was created in 1996. In 2022 we're all connected. I don't think that we had any difficulty getting the word out about this missing child and to this day we're not having any difficulty with that.
Reporter - Chief one of the biggest questions that people are having in the community is "
where is Codi's mother?", "
is she being questioned?" What can you tell us to kind of put some of these questions that folks have to bed as to why she's not here scouring and searching for her son as well?
Chief - I appreciate everybody who's concerned and has those types of questions. I think we should all have questions when a 4 year old child goes missing. We know where his mother is, we've spoken to her and she has answered our questions.
Reporter - Is there someone else that could be involved in the disappearance of Codi that you're looking into, that maybe worked with him? Is that a possibility that you're looking into?
Chief - We've found no evidence to support someone else is involved.
Reporter - Chief I just have a quick question. Are you guys looking outside of the State of Virginia? Maybe some areas..... or are you focused just on Virginia?
Chief - Certainly we're interested in any information that would lead someone to believe he's outside of the City of Hampton or the State of Virginia. We're certainly interested in that. Again we have no information or facts or reasonable belief that that's the case.
Reporter - Chief is it still your belief that Codi Bigsby can be found alive? Do you still believe that 5 days after he was reported missing?
Chief - I will tell you that we are continuing to search and hope that we can bring Codi Bigsby home. With each day that passes we become more and more concerned and we lose a little bit more hope. Obviously the longer we go the more tragic it feels.
? Reporter - Chief. Is there any reason ya'll was doing searches at Harris Teeter's today and Starbucks and what about the (inaudible)?
Chief - Yes. Where we search we have a reason to search.
Reporter - Chief, is there any evidence that you found that CPS has intervened in Codi Bigsby's family, or followed up, like I know that there's a......
Chief - It would be inappropriate for me to answer that question.
Reporter - Why would LE only allow 50 citizens a day to assist and will that be a regular practice and not let more of the community assist, because there were hundreds of people that wanted to help and they were turned away from helping. So is that going to be a regular occurrence for folks missing if a four year old goes missing, there's only 50 citizens allowed to assist?
Chief - We encourage the public's participation. We had a tremendous amount and we continue to get a tremendous amount of support from the public. We ask for a specific number of citizens to help us on a particular day. We didn't want to extend our resources beyond what we could handle. The public is always welcome to go out, check their yards, check their trashcans, check areas that they may know. Re-check what you know that we did. We are certainly not sitting in some space where we want to prevent people from helping, but we got a significant amount of public support which we appreciate.
Reporter - Chief, is Cory Bigsby still co-operating and answering your questions at this time?
Chief - He is in a jail cell right now.
? Reporter - Chief, why was it so hard yesterday for his lawyer to get into the jail and speak with his...with the father. Why was the lawyer denied access yesterday to speak to his client?
Chief - Thank you. Mr. Bigsby is a 43 year old man who's had a full career in the Army. He retired from a position of authority, he seems to be quite intelligent, he seems to be quite capable and part of his capabilities seems to be understanding his rights. At no time did he request to see an Attorney. Had he made such a request, we would have honoured that request.
Reporter - Do you know that the children have like a regular babysitter? Who were they in contact with? Where are the other kids now?
Chief - We are not aware of a babysitter.
Reporter - Where are the other children?
Chief - They're safe and thriving.
Reporter - A few days ago you said abduction was just not what the evidence was pointing to. An abduction usually is some kind of violent act. Is there a chance he was handed off to a family member and a family member took that? Or would you put that under the umbrella of abduction?
Chief - There is no evidence that he was handed off to a family member. I will say I've known a few 4 year olds in my life, I don't know any who decide at any hour of the morning, when it's dark to leave their home. I don't know any that do that. I don't believe that that's what happened this time either.
? Reporter - Allegedly they say he was not here....y'all said on news multiple times he was here voluntarily. It's alleged he was not here voluntarily. Who would stay her for 4 days and their child missing? Was he held against his will, or in custody?
Chief - Next question please.
? Reporter - So that's a yes or no?
Reporter - Was he held against his will?
Chief - I think I answered.....
? Reporter - You didn't answer.
Chief - I'll repeat my response.....I'll repeat my response from earlier. Mr. Bigsby is a 43 year old man with a full career in the United States Army.....
? Reporter - Question again Chief - Was he here voluntarily or was he held here?
Chief - I'm going to finish my response miss.
? Reporter - Was he here voluntarily? It's a yes or no answer sir.
Chief - He is a capable man who had every opportunity....
? Reporter - You still haven't answered the question.
Chief - ....to ask for an attorney. He did not make such a request.
? Reporter - That was not the question.
Chief - If he would have made that request we would have honoured it.
? Reporter - That was not the question.
Reporter - We have his family here, can we here from them, can we hear from his family?
Chief - Next question please?
(
lot's of people talking in background at this point)
Someone in the background said "
he asked to leave and he asked for an attorney"
Reporter - Would these charges of neglect against Mr. Bigsby, would they have come about had this sweet little boy not gone missing?
Chief - I cannot answer that question. That would be speculation.
Reporter - When it comes to the search over the next few days. Is anybody pulling out resources or it's still going full force? Do we have enough resources to keep going full force?
Chief - We will continue to investigate all the leads that we have available and search the areas where we need to search.
Reporter - All agencies still helping if they can?
Chief - Yes, the agencies that have been helping have agreed to continue to help.
Reporter - Chief do you have a reason to believe that Codi Bigsby is alive?
Chief - Each day it becomes harder and harder to believe that Codi Bigsby is alive and well.
Reporter - Chief can you say when the last time his mother spoke to Codi?
Chief - No I cannot say.
Reporter - Do you know when the last time was?
Chief - I do not know.
Reporter - Has she been asked that question?
Chief - It would be inappropriate for me to answer that question.
Reporter - Chief I don't know if you can answer this...so when Cory contacted you all that his son was missing had he returned from one of these situations where he had left the children home and came home and Codi was missing or can you not comment on that?
Chief - I'm not going to comment on that.
Reporter - Chief for the record, some people regardless of their educational background.....still are not aware that they have the right to an attorney. So that being said, did he at any time or was he notified that he could have an attorney? Or if someone's family hires a lawyer to go see their client, isn't it permissible for the attorney to go see that person or that person......
Chief - Mr.....Sir, again for everybody, I'm here for a four year old child. I'm here for a four year old child. His father was made aware of his rights. His father was absolutely made aware of his rights. We will continue to do everything possible to find his son or his child that is permissible and appropriate. We have never taken a step that was impermissible or inappropriate.
Reporter - Chief can I ask you know a few days ago in a press conference you said you do not believe that Codi may have not gone missing when the 2 am time that was originally put out - can you say with confidence now that is not when he went missing?
Chief - What I said is that the facts that we had didn't match up with what we were being told in a number of cases. So we simply need to investigate more to determine when exactly he went missing.
? Reporter - Chief for the record - We are all here for the child, but we all are here also to make sure y'all don't lose the laws that has been constituted so that everybody is....required to have a fair trial. And if we're supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, not guilty until we prove our innocence.
Chief - Thank you.
Reporter - Chief do you feel like there's a disconnect between the community, law enforcement and city officials, just because the citizens still haven't heard anything from the Mayor, we still haven't heard anything from city council and you're the Chief of Police and the City Manager. These are the people the city looks up to and a lot of the community feels like there wasn't as much of a sense of urgency for this 4 year old you keep mentioning as there should be. We feel if there was a stronger local leadership this would have been on CNN, FOX News and every other outlet to try to find this 4 year old that we have been tirelessly searching for, for the last 4 days voluntarily. So do you feel if there is a disconnect between Law Enforcement, city officials and the community?
Chief - No, no. We've been supported completely. We've been supported by the Mayor, the City Manager, the Assistant City Manager, by other agencies, Fire Chief is standing up here with us. We've had a significant amount of support. I am the Police Chief, this is my responsibility to lead this investigation. I've had everything that I've need to lead this investigation. There is no disconnect. I will take one more question.
Reporter - You've asked for the public's help in putting together a timeline of the last days before Codi was last seen. Has that been helpful, have you been able to put together a timeline of his father's whereabouts and what he was doing?
Chief - We have a timeline that we're working on that still needs work. It's a work in progress.
Thank you so much.
Courtesy of @Allabouttrial
