HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — You’ve likely seen videos on social media in Virginia over the past week claiming there’s been a mass abduction of children recently reported missing.
As News 3 reported on Wednesday, state police are firm that there have been no mass abductions and the reported missing are not connected.
News 3’s Kelsey Jones is diving deeper to learn why these cases are still a cause for concern.
Watch: Virginia State Police refutes mass child abduction theories in viral TikToks
Virginia State Police refutes mass child abduction claims made in viral TikToks
Several recent TikTok videos showing compilations of children reported missing in Virginia have garnered millions of views. One video shows screenshots of missing children that appear to be from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s website and has over 1.8 million views and nearly 350,000 likes as of Wednesday afternoon.
“When there’s information out there that’s not necessarily accurate, that’s not helpful for law enforcement [and] parents that are looking for their children,” said Leemie Khang-Sofer with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
What is true is that nearly 100 kids were reported missing to law enforcement agencies across Virginia from Aug. 3-9. According to NCMEC, 91% of their unsolved cases are usually endangered runaways. They often see a spike in these cases in spring and summer.
Watch: Racial disparities in missing persons coverage
Racial disparities in missing persons coverage
“They’re at risk for recruitment into child sex trafficking. They face a lot of dangers on the street” Sofer added.
According to state police local law enforcement departments have two hours to report a missing child case to state police once they receive it. But only cases when an abduction is suspected is an Amber Alert issued.
In 2024, the CODI alert launched in Virginia, named for Codi Bigsby, who was killed by his father in 2021 or 2022. It’s a statewide alert for missing children who police consider endangered children even if an abduction is not suspected.
Del. A.C Cordoza wrote the CODI alert law in honor of Bigsby because an Amber Alert was never issued for him.
Watch related: VSP implements CODI Alerts
Virginia State Police begins to implement CODI Alert, named after Codi Bigsby
“We dont want to waste time: we want things to move very quickly because generally if someone been missing more than 48 hours the chances of finding them dramatically lowers” said Cordoza.
State police have issued 25 CODI alerts this year. Most of the seven cities call for a search when taking a report for a missing child. It’s up to each police department to decide how far they go to find them.
