Charlotte, North Carolina — Within two years, the mother of a missing North Carolina daughter was charged with her disappearance, pled guilty, was released from jail, and fled the United States.
Madalina Cojocari was last seen stepping off a school bus in her hometown of Cornelius, north of Charlotte, on November 21, 2022, at the age of 11. Madalina’s mother and stepfather did not report her missing until December 15, 2022, despite informing authorities that they last saw her at home on November 23, 2022.
“It never leaves my thoughts. And I’m confident that it’s the same for all of the detectives and everyone else who’s worked so hard on this case,” Cornelius Police Department Chief David Baucom told Fox News Digital. “There were instances at the start of [the] inquiry when some of us didn’t leave for 48 hours because we were working the case so hard and pursuing down leads and everything else. Of course, that can only be sustained for so long by anyone. “But…she never leaves our thoughts.”
Madalina’s mother, Diana Cojocari, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, were arrested and charged with failure to notify a missing kid in 2022.
Diana pleaded guilty in May, claiming that her time in jail up to that point was sufficient.
On May 31, a Mecklenburg County jury found Palmiter guilty of failing to report a missing kid to law enforcement after a weeklong trial, and he was sentenced to 30 months of supervised probation.
Diana was freed from jail around that time, and neighbors reported seeing her return to her calm, suburban area in early June. Baucom stated that she and Palmiter “were never actually living together” after their respective jail releases, but Diana did return to the home they previously shared in early June.
Diana was declared the primary suspect in Madalina’s disappearance by Cornelius police in late June, but she had already departed the United States, most likely for Moldova, by then.
“She eventually fled the country. I don’t know when she left the country,” Baucom said, adding later that there were no limitations that would have prohibited her from exiting America.
Baucom stated that when Diana was first arrested in 2022, “[s]he was charged with and served time for the only charge that we could sustain during the initial part of the investigation.”
Police were able to contact Diana while she was still in Cornelius following her release, but they have since lost track of her specific location and have asked federal authorities for assistance in tracking her down overseas.
“We have made that request, but we have not heard back yet whether it has been fulfilled,” the police chief said of the Cornelius Police Department’s request to federal officials.
Diana was in the United States on a green card. In May, Palmiter filed for divorce from his estranged wife.
“Unfortunately, she went back to Moldova, but our case here is still ongoing, and we’re going to continue to investigate it,” Baucom said when asked if Diana’s choice to leave the country will impede efforts to identify Madalina, who would be 13 years old today. “This investigation has been complicated from the start due to a three-week delay. Her absence makes it even more difficult.” However, this has no bearing on our actions. We will continue to explore.”
Based on their findings thus far, Cornelius police do not believe Madalina ever left the United States, but they are not ruling out any possibilities.
“This is still a very active case. We continue to meet weekly on it. We have assigned a detective to the case. This is not a cold case, and I want to ensure that the community and others are aware of it. [Knows] our goal is to find Madalina,” Baucom stated.
Diana informed school authorities and Cornelius police that she hadn’t seen her daughter, a sixth-grade Bailey Middle School student born in Moldova, since she left her bedroom on Nov. 23, 2022, about 10 p.m., following a disagreement with Palmiter, according to court filings.
Palmiter claimed that on November 24, 2022, he drove to his relatives’ home in Michigan “to recover some items” following an altercation with his wife. According to the complaint, Diana entered her daughter’s room at 11:30 that morning and realized the 11-year-old was missing.
When Palmiter came home to Cornelius on November 26, Diana reportedly asked him where their daughter was. According to the affidavit, Palmiter responded by asking her the same question.
Madalina’s disappearance was discovered by police after receiving a truancy report from her middle school.
Bailey Middle School resource police and a school counselor made a home visit at Madalina’s Cojocari house on December 12, after she had not attended school since November 21. Nobody answered the door, and the school counselor left a truancy packet at the house.
According to phone records recovered by the Cornelius Police Department, Diana, and her mother contacted a distant uncle and asked him for assistance in “smuggling” Diana and Madalina from their Cornelius home before Madalina disappeared.
Authorities are requesting anyone with information on Madalina’s whereabouts to call the CPD at 704-892-7773.
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