Virginia State Police officials are hitting back at social media claims of child trafficking in the state.
Recently, posters on TikTok have been claiming there’s an uptick in child abductions in Virginia, alleging human trafficking, noting what they say are large numbers of missing children near major ports, including the Hampton Roads area. They also state there have been no Amber Alerts issued for the missing kids and question if the media is covering up the problem.
Virginia State Police officials say they’re aware of the posts, but the office is not investigating any reports of mass abductions in the state, nor is there evidence of mass abductions occurring.
Law enforcement states that Virginia has reported more missing children than other states on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) website because state police forward every missing child case to the database. This is done so all missing children’s cases in the state can be reviewed in one location. Though Virginia has the Virginia Missing Children Clearinghouse (MCC), the NCMEC is used as the clearinghouse site. Other states opt to post their cases to their own website.
In Virginia, nearly all missing children are investigated at the local level. When a child under the age of 21 goes missing, investigative agencies have two hours to report it to the Virginia State Police. If the agency believes the case meets the criteria for an Amber or CODI Alert, the agency makes the request.
For a CODI Alert to be issued, the missing or endangered child must be 17 or younger or currently enrolled in a secondary school in the state; have their whereabouts be unknown and the disappearance be under suspicious circumstances or pose a credible threat to the safety and health of the child as determined by law enforcement. Sufficient information has to be available to be shared with the public including a vehicle if there is one.
Amber Alerts are issued for children 17 or younger or currently enrolled in a secondary school in the state that law enforcement believes have been abducted. The child is believed to be in imminent danger of serious bodily harm or death and law enforcement has investigated to verify the abduction or eliminate alternative possibilities. Sufficient information has to be available to be shared with the public that could assist in locating the child, suspect and/or suspect’s vehicle. The child has to be entered into the Virginia Criminal Information Network and the National Crime Information Center as soon as practical. If the criteria isn’t met, the alerts will not be activated.
According to the Virginia State Police, most of the children reported missing are runaways and most return shortly after being reported missing. Since January 2025 to now, 3,274 children have been reported missing to the Virginia Missing Children Clearinghouse. Of those, as of Wednesday morning, 141 or 4% are still missing. So far, 25 CODI Alerts have been issued this year. All children in the alerts have been found. Two Amber Alerts have been issued; the children involved were found.
Currently, the NCMEC lists 363 missing children in Virginia, with the most recent added Wednesday and the longest on the list dating back to 1957. Locally, Samantha Clarke remains on the list. Clarke went missing from Orange Sept. 13, 2010. Joining her are Glendy Choc Tzir who went missing Aug. 15, 2021, Mauro Alfredo Canxol who went missing Nov. 3, 2021, Alba Yat-Sagui who went missing Nov. 15, 2022 and Jose Domingo Morales who went missing Aug. 9, 2025, all from Orange.
To keep children safe, VSP suggesting having your child practice making 911 calls both from a cellphone and landline, remove batteries or unplug the phone; make sure children know to not accept rides from strangers and not to trust strangers who suggest they go off along together for any reason; children know to let a parent or guardian know if another adult suggests keeping secrets; and never leave a child alone in the car even for a minute.
For more information on missing children, visit https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/search. Anyone with information on a missing child is encouraged to contact the state police at (804) 674-2000 or (804) 674-2026 or email VAMissing@vsp.virginia.gov.
