Three years after the disappearance of Madalina Cojocari, police are still searching for answers.
Madalina was 11 years old when her mother, Diana Cojocari, reported her missing to her middle school on Dec. 15, 2022, after school officials began investigating why she did not return to school after Thanksgiving break.
The last confirmed sighting of Madalina was on Nov. 21 of that year when she got off her school bus in Cornelius, a suburb in Charlotte where she lived.
Diana Cojocari pleaded guilty in 2024 to failing to report a child missing to police. Madalina’s stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, was found guilty of the same charge.
Diana Cojocari told investigators she last saw her daughter on Nov. 23, and the following morning, Madalina was not in her room. A backpack and some of her clothes were gone too.
Diana Cojocari said she waited to report her missing to “avoid a conflict” with Palmiter, according to investigators.
Search warrants released in March of 2023 revealed that Diana Cojocari had asked a man described as a “distant relative” to get her and her daughter away from Palmiter before Madalina’s disappearance.
The man “stated that she told him she was in a bad relationship with co-defendant, Palmiter, and wanted a divorce,” the warrant said.
Diana Cojocari and Palmiter were married in 2016, and their divorce was finalized in March of this year, according to court documents.
The mother and daughter are from Moldova, in eastern Europe.
After serving jail time, Diana Cojocari moved back to her native country, according to police.
Those with any information about the whereabouts of Madalina are asked to contact the Cornelius Police Department at (704) 892-7773, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
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Caroline King
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