Gov. Glenn Youngkin signs Senate Bill 201 establishing the CODI Alert Program at the Stafford County Public Safety Center on May 22, 2024.
  

The Virginia State Police launched its "Critical Operation for a Disappeared Child Initiative," (CODI) Alert Program nearly a month ago, on Sept. 26. A CODI Alert differs from an AMBER Alert, which requires detailed information about a possible abduction, according to the VSP press statement.

    Four-year-old Codi Bagby of Norfolk went missing from his home in January 2022.
  

The CODI Alert bears the name of 4-year-old Codi Bagby from Norfolk, who went missing from his home in January 2022. Codi has not been found. His disappearance did not qualify for an AMBER Alert because authorities did not believe he was abducted — a key criteria for AMBER Alerts to be issued according to the Hampton Police Department.

When Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed Senate Bill 201 establishing the CODI Alert Program, Del. Bonita Anthony (D-Norfolk) said, “This legislation marks a pivotal stride in protecting endangered children, especially our Black and brown youth, who have historically been overlooked by the stringent criteria of the AMBER Alert system.”

A jury convicted Codi’s father, Cory Bigsby, on March 18 of this year of second-degree murder and concealment of a body in connection with Codi's death. The judge sentenced  Bigsby to 45 years in prison on June 18. Such prompted the newly enacted alert that creates a program for local, regional, or statewide notification of a missing or endangered child.

Since Sept. 26, when VSP launched CODI, they have issued three CODI Alerts on behalf of police departments. One was for a preteen Black female in Norfolk on Oct. 10. She was found safe. In the second CODI case, VSP  canceled their Oct. 12 CODI  alert after a white Floyd County teen returned home the next day. On Oct. 5, VSP issued a CODI Alert for a 16 year old  Black male, who later was found safe.

CERTAIN CRITERIA must be met for a CODI alert to be issued, including that the person must be 17 years of age or younger or be enrolled in a Commonwealth secondary school; whereabouts are unknown; the disappearance is suspicious or appears to pose a credible threat to the child's safety and health, as determined by law enforcement; or there are any other circumstances that the Virginia State Police deem appropriate.

The most serious child abduction cases activate AMBER Alerts. The goal of an AMBER Alert is to instantly galvanize the community to assist in the search for and safe recovery of a missing child. Radio, TV, road signs, cell phones, and other data-enabled devices broadcast these alerts. According to the 2023 AMBER Alert Report by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children,Virginia had five AMBER Alert activations last year. 

Virginia has six alert programs: AMBER, CODI, Critically Missing Adult, Missing Person with Autism, Senior, and Virginia Blue. Law enforcement agencies are required to confer with the Virginia Missing Persons Clearinghouse/State Police before activation of local alerts. In 2024 so far, Virginia State Police, at the request of local law enforcement agencies, issued six AMBER Alerts, 42 Senior Alerts, 30 Critically Missing Adult Alerts, three Missing Person with Autism Alerts and no Virginia Blue alerts.

Some missing children receive heightened and extended media coverage while others don’t. As time goes by, children can be  forgotten by all but their loved ones. 

Eight children from our area remain missing, from now through 2019, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They are from Arlington, Alexandria, Burke,  Fairfax and Springfield.  Only one child of the eight is white. There are other children who went missing before 2019 from our area too. The most recently missing children are:

* Janaiya Talley, now 17 years old, went missing from Arlington, Virginia, on April 17, 2024. 

* Josseline Reyes Yanes, now 17 years old, went missing from Arlington, Virginia, on June 15, 2023.

* Angel Castro Claros has been missing from Alexandria, VA, since January 27, 2023. His current age is 3. On Jan. 27, 2023, Angel's father allegedly abducted him and received a felony Parental Kidnapping charge on June 12, 2023.

* Gabriella Padilla Villatoro, now 16, is missing from Alexandria, Virginia, since July 25, 2022.

* Kendy Acal Maxena has been missing from Burke, Virginia, since January 18, 2022, and is now 19.

* Carlos Carballo-Rivas went missing from Alexandria, Virginia, on Nov. 27, 2021. His age is now 23.

* Anna Paula Curley  of Springfield is now a 9-year-old girl who has been missing since September 8, 2021, and may be with her mother.

* Veronica Garcia Perez  has been missing from Fairfax since Jan. 18, 2020. She is currently 20 years old and may be in the company of an adult male or adult female, as well as an infant child.

Search for other missing and exploited children in the area at the National Center for for Missing and Exploited Children at https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/search.