Eleven-year-old Madalina Cojocari was last seen on November 23, the day before Thanksgiving, at her home in Cornelius, North Carolina. The girl allegedly went missing that day but the authorities are baffled by her family’s actions. They didn’t report the girl missing until December 15.
The last time the child was seen by an outside source was on November 21, a Monday, getting off a school bus. (SEE VIDEO)
It took more than three weeks before the mother reported to a Bailey Middle School resource officer that the child had vanished.
Madalina’s mother, 37-year-old Diana Cojocari and 60-year-old Christopher Palmiter, the child’s stepfather, have been charged with one count of failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement. They were arrested on Saturday and were taken to Mecklenburg County Detention Center.
According to police, the stepfather, Palmiter, said he last saw the girl on November 16 but left on a trip to Michigan on Thanksgiving, November 24, and didn’t see the child on the day he left. He returned home on November 26. He said he was gone for two days.
Madalina was seen on video getting off a school bus on November 21.
The mother, Cojocari, said she had an argument with her husband on November 23 (after which he left for Michigan on November 24). Mom said the child was not in her room when she checked on the morning of November 24, Thanksgiving.
Cojocari said she waited until her husband returned to talk to him about the missing child, and he said he didn’t know where the child was.
The police, together with the FBPI and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, are currently investigating the area, doing both additional land and water searches, around their home, which includes Lake Cornelius. They said searching the lake was a “precautionary measure.”
Investigators were seen digging in the home’s backyard and searching inside the house, reported WCCB Charlotte.
Madalina is described as a 90 pound, 4-foot-10-inch sixth grader who loves horses. When she was last seen, she wore pink, purple, and white Adidas shoes, a white shirt, and a jacket.
Cojocari’s bond was set at $250,000 and she was ordered to wear an ankle monitor. She will appear in court December 28. Palmiter was held on a $200,000 bond and will also appear in court next Wednesday.
A vigil was held by the neighborhood community on Tuesday night.