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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The mother of a missing North Carolina girl was charged in connection with her disappearance, pleaded guilty, left jail and then fled the United States all within a two-year span.
Madalina Cojocari was last seen getting off a school bus in her hometown of Cornelius, just north of Charlotte, on Nov. 21, 2022, when she was 11 years old. Madalina’s mother and stepfather did not report her missing until Dec. 15, 2022, despite telling police the last time they saw their daughter was at home the evening of Nov. 23, 2022.
“It never leaves my mind. And I feel comfortable saying it’s the same way for all the detectives and everybody that’s invested so much time in this case,” Cornelius Police Department Chief David Baucom told Fox News Digital. “There were times at the onset of [the] investigation where some of us didn’t go home for 48 hours because we were working the case that hard and chasing down leads and everything else. Of course, that’s only sustainable for any person for so long. But … she never leaves our minds.”
Madalina’s mother, Diana Cojocari, and her stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, were arrested and charged with failing to report a missing child in 2022.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER MADALINA COJOCARI’S MOM’S GUILTY PLEA?
Madalina Cojocari was last seen in Cornelius, N.C., on Nov. 21, 2022. (Google Maps/Charlotte FBI)
Diana pleaded guilty in May and argued that the time she had spent in jail leading up to that point was enough time served.
A Mecklenburg County jury found Palmiter guilty of failure to report a missing child to law enforcement on May 31 after a weeklong trial, and he was sentenced to 30 months of supervised probation.
MADALINA COJOCARI MISSING FOR 1 YEAR: ‘NOT GOING TO STOP UNTIL WE FIND HER’
Authorities released Diana from jail around that time, and neighbors reported seeing her back in her quiet, suburban neighborhood in early June. Baucom said she and Palmiter “were never actually living together” after their respective releases from jail, but Diana did appear at the home they formerly shared in the early days of June.
This poster shows Madalina Cojocari, who hasn’t been seen since getting off a school bus in November 2022. (Cornelius Police Department)
In late June, Cornelius police named Diana as the prime suspect in Madalina’s disappearance, but she had already left the United States, likely for Moldova, by that point.
MISSING NORTH CAROLINA GIRL’S MOTHER WANTED TO SMUGGLE 11-YEAR-OLD FROM HOME: WARRANT
“We … have been unable to confirm that she’s in Moldova.