Virginia State Police are pushing back against viral social media videos claiming there's been a mass abduction of children in the state.
Nearly 100 children were reported missing to law enforcement agencies across Virginia from Aug. 3-9, but officials say these cases are not connected.
Local News
Virginia State Police debunks viral rumors of mass child abductions
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reports that 91% of their unsolved cases are usually endangered runaways, with increases typically occurring during spring and summer months.
"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.
Watch: Virginia State Police refutes mass child abduction theories in viral TikToks
Several TikTok videos showing compilations of missing Virginia children have gone viral, with one video receiving over 1.8 million views and nearly 350,000 likes as of Wednesday afternoon.
These videos display screenshots of missing children that appear to be from the NCMEC website, fueling speculation about mass abductions despite official statements to the contrary.
Runaways face serious dangers, according to experts.
"They're at risk for recruitment into child sex trafficking. They face a lot of dangers on the street," Sofer added.
Watch: Racial disparities in missing persons coverage
Virginia has protocols in place for missing children. State police require local law enforcement departments to report missing child cases within two hours of receiving them. However, Amber Alerts are only issued when an abduction is suspected.
In 2024, Virginia launched the CODI alert system, named for Codi Bigsby, who was killed by his father in 2021 or 2022. This statewide alert is for missing children whom police consider endangered even when abduction isn't suspected.
Del. A.C. Cordoza wrote the CODI alert law in honor of Bigsby, for whom an Amber Alert was never issued.
"We don't 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 police departments in Virginia's seven cities initiate a search when taking a report for a missing child, but each department determines how extensively they search.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy. To learn more about how we use AI in our newsroom, click here.
