Where is Madalina Cojocari? Mom, stepdad arrested for not reporting 11-yr-old's disappearance for 3 weeks
CORNELIUS, NORTH CAROLINA: The mother and stepfather of a missing 11-year-old North Carolina girl was arrested and charged on Saturday, December 17 after they allegedly waited three weeks to report her disappearance. Madalina Cojocari was last seen on November 23 at her home in Cornelius, North Carolina.
Cornelius Police arrested Cojocari’s stepfather Christopher Palmiter, 60, and her mother, Diana Cojocari, on Saturday, just two days after the FBI got involved in search efforts for the youngster. The pair has been charged with failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement. The state police also noted that the parents didn’t report Madalina’s disappearance to her school’s resource officer until December 14, three weeks after she last appeared in class on November 22.
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An identification poster for Madalina, who is believed to have vanished the day before Thanksgiving, was released by the FBI on Friday night. "On December 17, 2022, at approximately 10:15 this morning, Cornelius Police arrested Madalina's mother, Diana Cojocari, for Failure to Report the Disappearance of a Child to Law Enforcement. Cojocari never reported her daughter, Madalina Cojocari as missing after she was last seen in Cornelius on November 23, 2022,' the police wrote in a statement.
The close-knit community of the quiet town has been left shocked by Madalina’s disappearance. "I've lived here my whole life so I've never seen anything like this. It's odd that it seems like she went missing back in November, and it's just now being reported," neighbor Sydney Capps told WCCB. The outlet also reported that investigators from the FBI and SBI spent hours on Friday sifting through the backyard soil and looking for clues within the house.
The parents of the missing girl are currently held at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center. Palmiter, who works as a mechanical designer at a machinery manufacturer, is being held on a $100,000 bond. Police have not stated if Diana is being held on bond. It is also not clear if Madalina’a biological father is involved in the investigation.
Madalina is described as having brown hair and brown eyes, 4 feet 10 inches tall, and weighing around 90 pounds. "Madalina Cojocari was last seen at home in Cornelius, North Carolina, on the evening of November 23, 2022, and has not been seen since. She was reported missing her school on December 15, 2022. Madalina was last seen wearing jeans, pink, purple, and white Adidas shoes, and a white t-shirt and jacket," the FBI said.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Madalina Cojocari is asked to contact the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773.