HAMPTON, Va. — Editor's Note: A letter from a lawyer telling someone to cease and desist does not represent formal legal action taken in a court system. At this time, no request for a cease and desist order has been filed.
The newly hired legal counsel of Cory Bigsby, the father of missing 4-year-old Codi Bigsby, sent a "cease and desist" letter on Saturday to multiple officials for the City of Hampton.
On April 14, Bigsby's former lawyer Jeffrey Ambrose requested to be removed from the case because of "an ethical conflict has arisen that precludes further representation."
Norfolk-based lawyer Amina Matheny-Willard took his place shortly thereafter.
The newly released letter, which was specifically addressed to Chief of Police Mark Talbot, Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck and City Attorney Cheran Cordell Ivery, states that "accusatory" comments made by Talbot during the investigation have "brought additional emotional, psychological and physiological injury to some of Codi Bigsby’s family members."
Codi Bigsby was reported missing on January 31. Police and community members have searched Hampton and nearby cities for several months. He still has not been found.
Cory Bigsby is in custody for seven counts of child endangerment that are separate from Codi's case. He was denied bond earlier this month.
The letter goes on to say that comments made by the chief in the days and weeks following Codi's disappearance were "reckless, dangerous, and create conditions where the Bigsby family could be targeted for more harassment and potentially violence," and that they "further attempt to establish a false impression of guilt in the public eye, presumably in order to taint a future jury pool."
Several examples were included, with one of them being an incident on February 28 that had been recorded on Facebook live where several people approached family members of Cory and began questioning them. They can be heard using expletives.
The letter states that this incident happened after comments Chief Talbot had made in a media conference on February 25, and that it was the result of this particular statement by Talbot:
“I could give you more direction if the people who said they love Codi Bigsby gave us more direction.”
Matheny-Willard wrote that this statement was "reckless, careless and created a dangerous and possibly life-threatening situation for Codi’s family members."
"Making these statements to a community that is deeply vested in locating Codi is tantamount to sending out a lynch mob to attack my clients," the letter said.
13News Now reached out to the parties addressed in the letter for comment, and received this statement from City Attorney Cheran Cordell Ivery:
"The City is in receipt of the letter from Mr. Bigsby’s attorney and will not comment on threatened litigation, nor will it comment on the active criminal investigation into the disappearance of Codi Bigsby."
Matheny-Willard expressed that she and her client have no further comment at this time.