A 13-year-old Virginia Beach girl has been missing for more than a week, and state police only issued a public alert about her disappearance on Monday. Elisa Ruth Brewer was last seen on foot between 10 p.m. and midnight on September 27 in the 400 block of Kings Grant Road, according to the Virginia Beach Police Department. It wasn't until October 5 — eight days later — that Virginia State Police broadcast a statewide CODI Alert on the department's behalf.
The gap between Brewer's disappearance and the public notification is a central detail in the case, as reported by WAVY.com. Police describe Brewer as a white female with brown hair and brown eyes, standing 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing 130 pounds. No clothing description was available at the time the alert went out, per the same report. Investigators say her disappearance poses a credible threat to her health and safety, and the Virginia Beach Police Department is asking anyone with information on her whereabouts to call 757-385-5000.
Brewer was last seen in the Lynnhaven section of Virginia Beach, a suburban area off Virginia Beach Boulevard near the Lynnhaven River characterized largely by owner-occupied single-family homes, according to NeighborhoodScout demographic data. It's the kind of quiet residential block where a missing-child alert can feel especially jarring to neighbors.
Why This Wasn't an AMBER Alert
Why This Wasn't an AMBER Alert Virginia's CODI Alert system exists precisely for cases like this one, where there's no evidence of abduction but investigators still believe a missing child faces real danger. Under Virginia Code § 52-34.3, an AMBER Alert requires evidence or a reasonable belief that a child was abducted; a CODI Alert applies more broadly to any missing minor under 18 whose case involves suspicious circumstances or a credible safety threat. Local agencies must confer with Virginia State Police before an alert can go out, a process that may help explain the lag between Brewer's disappearance and Monday's broadcast.
The program is named in memory of Codi Bigsby, a 4-year-old boy who vanished from his Hampton home in January 2022. As reported by The Connection Newspapers, Bigsby's case didn't meet AMBER Alert criteria at the time because investigators found no immediate proof of abduction. He was never found, and his father was convicted of murder in March 2024. Governor Glenn Youngkin signed Senate Bill 201 into law in May 2024 to create the CODI framework, aiming to strengthen the state's ability to reunite endangered children with their families, and Virginia State Police formally launched the system statewide that September.
Strict Reporting Timelines, But a Human Judgment Call
Virginia law moves fast on paper. Under Virginia Code § 15.2-1718, local police are required to enter a missing child's identifying information into state and national crime databases within two hours of receiving a report. A CODI Alert may be issued in cases involving suspicious circumstances or a credible safety threat.
State police have also pushed back on public misconceptions about Virginia's missing-child numbers. The state forwards 100 percent of missing child reports directly to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which can make Virginia's totals look higher than those of states using separate local systems, state police said in comments reported in August 2025.
Virginia Beach's case echoes a similar CODI Alert issued last month for a missing toddler in Cumberland County, which Hoodline covered as it unfolded. For now, Brewer remains missing, and anyone with information is urged to contact Virginia Beach police.
