HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — As the country marks National Missing Children’s Day, data from Virginia State Police reveal there are nearly 500 active missing children investigations in the Commonwealth.
Among Virginia’s missing children is Codi Bigsby, the little boy reported missing from Hampton in 2022. Chloe Johnson, an infant reported missing from Newport News in 2017, is also among Virginia’s missing children.
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While law enforcement agencies have investigated potential criminal ties to Bigsby’s and Johnson’s disappearances, most missing children ran away from their families or guardians. However, advocates stress that does not mean those children are not in danger.
"Ninety-one percent of our cases are what we call endangered runaways," said Leemie Kahng-Sofer with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "They run into potential gang recruitment and being the victims of violence, whether it's physical sexual abuse, homelessness, protracted homelessness, recruitment [and] child sex trafficking."
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Derrica Wilson with the Black and Missing Foundation echoes that concern, especially for missing children of color who have not traditionally received the same responses from law enforcement or journalists.
“These are children. They are missing [and not taking their cases seriously] is unacceptable,” Wilson said.
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News 3 investigators have made shining a light on missing children cases a priority with the “Have You Seen Me” series. Last year, News 3’s Jessica Larche exposed a big roadblock to solving several cases: a lack of photos attached to 240 missing children’s profiles.
Larry Boone, the former chief of the Norfolk Police Department, gave troubling insight into Larche’s discovery.
“I won't put it totally on the parent or the guardian. I do know there have been times where law enforcement failed to ask [for a photo of a missing child]. I'm speaking from a position of experience,” said Boone.
According to federal guidelines, each missing child report, even if the child is missing because they ran away from home, should include a recent photograph of the child if available.
“I’ve seen investigations in my time where the investigator might have not been as determined as he or she should because of the [child’s] history of chronically running away,” Boone said.
Earlier this month, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares handed out National Child ID Kits to Passage Middle School, and he said that all 6th, 7th and 8th graders at public schools across the Commonwealth will receive them. According to Miyares, the kits are designed to help law enforcement during the crucial first 24 hours of a missing child investigation.
