HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — Week two of Cory Bigsby’s murder trial started Monday with the defense calling five people to the stand so far, including his sister.
The first person defense called up to the stand was Kim Hendricks, Director of 911, who played the 911 call Cory Bigsby made when he reported his 4-year-old son Codi Bigsby missing, on Jan. 31, 2022.
The audio started with Cory Bigsby saying, “I think my son is missing. We are moving today. I looked upstairs, in his room, I looked everywhere. Last night he asked to go outside. Sometimes he creeps outside at night.”
Hendricks later testified that Cory Bigsby did not know how tall Codi was during the initial call. Hendricks states that Cory Bigsby described what Codi was wearing saying, “his Spiderman flip flops were also missing, so he must be wearing them.”
The last thing the jury was able to hear from the 911 call was Cory Bigsby saying, “Oh Jesus.”
The second person the jury heard from was Lt. Col. William Anderson with the Hampton Roads Regional Jail.
Anderson said Cory Bigsby was put on protective order for about two months due to inmates giving him a hard time. Anderson also testified that Cory Bigsby was put on suicide watch after punching the glass cell while he was locked up.
Cory Bigsby, who weighed 233 pounds on Feb. 10, 2022, stopped eating, losing 56 pounds before he was sent to a hospital five months later, according to Anderson.
Witnesses stated it was as if Cory Bigsby “lost hope.”
Cory Bigsby’s sister, Tandeleyia Butler, also testified in defense of her brother.
A June 14, 2023 WAVY interview was played, in which Butler claimed the last time she saw Codi was in September 2021, three months after the alleged date of the murder. By the time of that interview, Cory Bigsby had been indicted for murder.
The next witness called was a man who claimed he saw Codi at a Food Lion two days before Cory Bigsby reported him missing. The man said that Codi looked “happy and healthy,” claiming that Codi was smiling and waving at people.
But the man became confused when Commonwealth’s Attorney Anton Bell showed this witness a photo of Codi’s older brother, and he first identified it as Codi, but then corrected himself.
Lead defense attorney Curtis Brown moved once again to have the case thrown out, telling Judge James Hawks there was no body, and testimony from Codi’s brother, now 7, was coached and coerced by the child’s mother and Bell. Hawks denied the motion.
The defense rested its case just before 1 p.m., after hearing from the former lead detective on the case with Hampton Police.
Amanda Randall has advocated for Codi since his disappearance and sat through court the last six days. She told 10 On Your Side she’s anxious for a decision.
“Prayers for tomorrow. Everybody pray that the best comes. Codi still is not found. We still have got to find him somewhere,” Randall who is a part of ‘Team Codi’ and ‘Six Women and a Notebook’ said.