HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Wednesday marks two years since 4-year-old Codi Bigsby was reported missing from his home near Old Buckroe Road.
Today, community members plan to clean up Codi’s Fence, a spot that’s memorialized Codi since his disappearance.
The fence sits on Old Buckroe Road and surrounds the Hampton Soccer Park. The community has placed signs and stuffed animals on the fence to honor the boy.
“This means everything to me. It’s the last of Cody. It’s is. It’s where we do our events,” said Nancy Strickland, We Are Codi’s Voice.
In January, the city placed a notice on the fence saying all items must be removed by Feb. 5 or else it will get thrown out.
“It breaks my heart that we have to have to take it down,” Strickland said.
The notice sites park rules and regulations:
- All unattended property is presumed to be abandoned and may be removed and/or disposed of by the City.
- No person shall erect or construct any structure of any kind, install or perform any maintenance on any utility, equipment or other device on, below, over or across any park, unless directed by the Director of Parks, Recreation and Leisure Services.
- No person shall post any temporary or permanent signs in a park except at locations designated by and with express written permission of the Director or his designee. Such posting of any temporary or permanent signs shall comply with the City’s zoning ordinance, as applicable.
Event organizers are calling the gathering, “A forever in our hearts celebration of life and fence clean ceremony up in loving memory of Codi J. Bigsby.” It’s organized by Team Codi Committee Worldwide and 6 Women N A Notebook and others.
Strickland who plans to attend the event said someone on the Parks & Rec board told her why the items have to be taken off the fence.
“Now that they have an indictment, they have to take it down. And I asked him to please, let’s just keep it up for a little bit longer. And he’s like, we are going to leave it up past the two year mark. So he was like, it will come down on February 5th. So if there’s anything that you want, go ahead and get what you need or get what you want,” she said.
Strickland said she was told that items left behind would not be thrown away.
“He was like, they are going to put it in storage for a while in case people are looking for certain things that wasn’t able to come out in and get what they wanted,” she said.
Since his disappearance, there have been several community and police searches that have expanded out of state.
Police presume Codi is dead, although his body has not been found.
His father Cory, who reported him missing, was charged with Codi’s murder. He was also charged with several counts of child neglect.
A jail officer in a previous hearing testified that Cory admitted in a letter to finding his son unresponsive and putting him in a trash bag.
Codi’s story has inspired a new bill that would allow the media and law enforcement to come together and declare a child missing or endangered so the public knows about it.
Cory is out on bond. His jury trial is in March.
The rally at Codi’s Fence is from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
“The can take the fence but they can never take you’re memory from me,” said Strickland.
