(NewsNation/WAVY) — A giant sign in Hampton, Virginia, represents the community’s hope that Codi Bigsby, 4, will be found safe. Residents have dropped off toys, flowers, balloons and prayers underneath the poster bearing his name.
Codi’s father, Cory Bigsby, called 911 on Jan. 31 to say the boy wasn’t in their apartment. A massive search effort including federal and state investigators ensued, but so far has not led to Codi.
But it did lead to seven counts of felony child neglect against Cory Bigsby. Police say he left his four children — all aged five or younger — home alone on multiple occasions. He’s the only person of interest in Codi’s disappearance.
“The evidence that we have does not completely match the stories that we have received at this point,” Hampton Police Chief Mark Talbot said at a news conference.
But Talbot also says there’s no evidence Codi was abducted.
Neighbors say they hardly saw Codi or his siblings outside and never saw an adult around.
Police are asking for the public’s help to determine when the four-year-old was last seen by anyone outside his family.
The chief is not raising hopes about how this case is progressing.
“The evidence about what likely occurred has been very clear,” Talbot said. “There is little about this that has been mysterious.”
But there are questions about how police have handled this investigation and whether it could impact the case. Cory Bigsby’s attorney, Jeffrey Ambrose, says his client asked for a lawyer partway through his interrogation, but the questioning continued without one.
Talbot admits it was “mishandled.”
“My assessment is that his desires should have been honored,” he said at a news briefing. A different detective has now replaced the former lead investigator on the case.
Cory Bigsby is currently behind bars on the child neglect charges while prosecutors and his attorney examine evidence in that case.
Ambrose says his client had nothing to do with his son’s disappearance and is “very worried about Codi’s whereabouts.”