HAMPTON, Va. — Three Virginia children have received CODI Alerts in the last two weeks, and they’ve all been found safe.
It comes less than a month after Virginia State Police got the new alert aimed at finding missing and endangered children up and running—several months before the summer 2025 deadline outlined by state law.
“I didn't expect it to start working that quickly, or to be implemented that quickly,” said Delegate A.C. Cordoza, who helped author the CODI Alert legislation. “I'm so happy and thankful to the Virginia State Police for focusing on this and getting this out.”
Watch: Virginia State Police begins to implement CODI Alert, named after Codi Bigsby
Delegate Cordoza, who represents Hampton, York and Poquoson counties in the Virginia General Assembly, said he helped search for the missing 4-year-old boy whose case inspired his role in creating the CODI Alert.
“I'm glad that we are remembering Codi [Bigsby] every time we do one of his alerts,” said Cordoza during our conversation this week. “It means the world to me.”
Watch: New ‘CODI Alert,’ like other missing persons alerts, is voluntary
Bigsby’s father reported the child missing from Hampton on January 31, 2022, but because the Hampton Police Department did not believe the child was abducted, there was no AMBER Alert issued to help find him.
This summer, the boy’s father was sentenced to 45 years in prison for the child’s murder. The child’s body has yet to be found.
“I want everyone to remember what happened here in Hampton and the young man who was lost,” said Cordoza. “What we're doing is [making] sure that doesn't happen again.”
Watch: Cory Bigsby sentenced to 45 years for killing his son Codi
Cordoza said the CODI Alert, which gained bi-partisan support from Virginia lawmakers, focuses on children left out of AMBER Alerts: missing children police believe are in danger, but not abducted.
Specifically, the alert applies to a missing or endangered child who “is 17 years of age or younger or is currently enrolled in a secondary school in the Commonwealth, regardless of age.” The child’s “whereabouts are unknown” and their disappearance is “under suspicious circumstances or poses a credible threat as determined by law enforcement to the safety and health of the child and under such other circumstances as deemed appropriate by the Virginia State Police.”
Virginia State Police issue the alerts at the request of the local law enforcement agency investigating the child’s disappearance.
The Norfolk Police Department told me the CODI Alert helped bring a 12-year-old girl home safely last week.
The Chesapeake Police Department said while the CODI Alert issued for a 16-year-old boy was not a factor in his eventual safe return, they see the alert as a helpful tool to find missing children.
“I'm overjoyed that it's working,” Cordoza said.
Earlier this year before the CODI Alert was up and running, I spoke with Cordoza about language in the law that makes its use by law enforcement and media agencies voluntary. The same language exists in the AMBER Alert, Senior Alert, and the Critically Missing Adult Alert.
I asked Cordoza then, “Are you concerned that [language] could leave some people out of getting the alert, who would deserve to get the alert?”
He responded, “No. So, that language is more for to protect the locality from liability.”
He continued, “It is technically voluntary, but I don't know any elected sheriff or any mayor who's over a police chief who would say, ‘I'm not going to put my city and county in this program.'”
This week, while talking about the successful return of children who’ve received the CODI Alert so far, I asked Cordoza, “What do you say to some parents who feel like […] my child deserves this [alert] too?”
He responded, “I would say, first off, reach out to your local law enforcement, and then if you're not getting a response, please reach out to my office. We want this system to work for everyone.”
Cordoza advised concerned parents and guardians to contact his office at delaccordoza@house.virginia.gov or (757) 751-0929.
