HAMPTON, Va. (Scripps News Norfolk) — The mother of Codi Bigsby, a Virginia boy who was reported missing over two years ago, provided testimony in the murder trial against Codi’s father, Cory Bigsby.
Cody Bigsby sat in court on the first day of testimony in his trial. (Scripps News Norfolk/Ian Teasley)
Dina Kareem, Codi’s mother, was the first witness to take the stand at the trial. Kareem has four kids with Cory Bigsby, who stands accused of murdering their son Codi.
While on the stand, Kareem told the jury that she had been in a relationship with Cory Bigsby for four years, and although they were engaged at one point, they were never married. After she ended their relationship in 2019, she moved to Washington, D.C.
Kareem said that she was hospitalized in 2020, at which point she decided to let Bigsby have the kids and wanted to co-parent. She met Bigsby halfway between D.C. and Hampton on Nov. 1, 2020, with their four kids. She said that she never had his address and that Bigsby was often unreachable.
The jury heard that Kareem received an email from Bigsby in April 2021 which said, in part, “[Codi] is still doing the same stuff… He needs to come back to you… I do not want to seriously hurt him to protect my babies.” Bigsby also said Codi needed to see a psychiatrist. Kareem said she did not believe the claims Bigsby was making in the email.
Dina Kareem, Codi Bigsby’s mother, was the first witness to testify in Cory Bigsby’s trial. (Scripps News Norfolk/Ian Teasley)
Kareem said that she had not spoken to Codi since April 2021, and in the last email she sent Cory on Jan. 15, 2022, she asked, “Where are my kids? Are they alive?”
During cross-examination, Bigsby’s attorney, Curtis Brown, claimed that Kareem was not in touch with her children often, and didn’t send money that Bigsby had requested to care for the children. Brown said she failed to send more than $150 over 14 months.
Brown showed Kareem a photo of Codi while he had been in Bigsby’s care, and asked whether he looked like he was in any kind of distress.
“Yes,” she tearfully responded. “He looks sad… I’m used to seeing him joyful, smiling. He looks frightened.”
FILE – Codi Bigsby (Hampton Police via Scripps News Norfolk)
Codi’s 7-year-old brother is also expected to testify, but not in the courtroom.
The emotional testimony came hours after jury selection finished and attorneys delivered their opening statements. While addressing the jury during his opening statement, prosecutor Dylan Arnold called Bigsby a predator, telling the jury that throughout the trial they would hear Bigsby “weave a web of lies.”
Arnold told the jury that Bigsby killed Codi, and that after he “realized what he had done and after, he put his body in bed with his older brother. … Evidence shows Codi was dead for months before being reported missing.”
Kenneth Hollingsworth delivered the opening statement for the defense, saying that Bigsby did not kill his son. Instead, he said that Codi woke in the middle of the night and wanted to go out and play in the snow. Bigsby told him to go back to bed. When he woke up in the morning, Bigsby couldn’t find his son and frantically called 911. Hollingsworth told the jury they would hear “no evidence of a murder.”
This story was originally written by Madeline Miller and Angela Bohon at Scripps News Norfolk, an E.W. Scripps Company.
