Police hunt for missing four-year-old boy who disappeared last month after his jacket is found next to tire tracks behind his apartment: Child’s father is named a person of interest
- Police are continuing to search for Codi Bigsby, 4, after a boy’s jacket was found behind the apartment where he was reportedly seen last
- A community member reportedly found the jacket, which was covered in mud, and reported it to police
- Codi’s father Cory Bigsby was arrested on February 3 after admitting to police that he left his children alone on multiple occasions
- He was charged with child neglect and named a person of interest in Codi’s disappearance
Police and community members in Hampton, Virginia, are continuing to search for missing four-year-old Codi Bigsby after a child’s jacket was found in a field behind his father Cory’s apartment, where he was reportedly last seen on January 31.
Hampton police searched the area with a K9 on Friday and confirmed finding the jacket, which was blue and appeared dirty, along with tire tracks on the ground.
The discovery comes a week after police arrested Codi’s father Cory and charged him with seven counts of child neglect after he admitted to investigators that he left his young children – aged 5, 4 and 2 – at home alone on numerous occasions dating back to December, Hampton police wrote in a statement on February 3.
Hampton police said that Cory Bigsby confessed to leaving the children at home alone as he visited several locations over a two-hour period in the evening on January 25, according to a criminal complaint seen by local news station WAVY.
Police are continuing to search for Codi Bigsby, 4, after a boy’s jacket was found behind the apartment where he was reportedly seen last
A community member reportedly found the jacket, which was covered in mud, and reported it to police
The jacket was found along with tire tracks in a field behind his father Cory’s apartment, where he was reportedly last seen on January 31
Codi’s father Cory Bigsby was arrested on February 3 after admitting to police that he left his children alone on multiple occasions
Bigsby told police that he last saw Codi at 2am on January 30, but reported him missing when he woke up the next morning at 9am and did not see him
Cory Bigsby reportedly said the children were “too much of a burden” to take with him so, the complaint says, he left them home alone with no way on contacting him and no means of contacting emergency services if needed.
Bigsby was denied bond at a Tuesday hearing in the Hampton Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court. A probable cause hearing on his child neglect charges is set for April 15.
On learning about Bigsby’s alleged child neglect, the Hampton Police Division also named him a person of interest in his son’s disappearance.
‘We have covered a tremendous amount of ground, spoken to hundreds of citizens, and followed every possible lead,’ Hampton police wrote in a press release.
‘This is not the conclusion of the investigative process — we will continue to do everything in our power to find Codi,’ they added.
Bigsby told police that he last saw Codi at 2am on January 30, but reported him missing when he woke up the next morning at 9am and did not see him.
But police said they are considering that Codi may have gone missing before his father’s account and that they don’t believe he wandered off on his own in the middle of the night.
“The evidence doesn’t match what we’ve been told. So we need to investigate further,” Hampton Police Chief Mark Talbot told reporters on Friday.
“The investigation does not indicate that he was abducted. There’s just no reason to believe it. We certainly are open to that as a possibility. It is not likely,” he added.