Madalina Cojocari (pictured above, left) still hasn’t been found — and law enforcement are becoming increasingly suspicious of her parents…
As you know, the 11-year-old girl went missing from her home in Cornelius, North Carolina in early November but her parents failed to report her missing until 22 days later. Her stepdad Christopher Palmiter (pictured above, top right) reported her missing to her school, but not the police — it wasn’t until the school couldn’t do anymore did they finally call the cops. The FBI was quickly contacted and they’ve been working with the Cornelius Police Department as well as the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation round the clock to find the missing child.
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Law enforcement were immediately suspicious of Palmiter, 60, and the girl’s mother Diana Cojocari (pictured above, bottom right), 37, because they had failed to report her missing for nearly a month. They were arrested on December 17 and charged with failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement. Since then the FBI has released surveillance video of the last time Madalina was seen, as well as some new pictures so hopefully someone will recognize her.
In a Facebook video from Tuesday, Captain Jennifer Thompson with CPD said this case has been particularly challenging due to the fact they were delayed so long:
“One of the challenges in this case – simply put – we were not notified she was gone. We were delayed three weeks.”
Giving an update on the investigation so far, Captain Thompson added:
“Investigators have developed and followed nearly 250 leads, spanning across state lines and across the globe. We have interviewed hundreds of people in North Carolina and other states — and again, across the globe. We went door-to-door to at least 245 homes, focusing on the Victoria Bay community where Madalina lives. We canvased businesses and scoured through hours of surveillance video from all over the area. We also lead land and water searches around Lake Cornelius as a precautionary measure.”
The police department also obtained multiple search warrants for the family’s home and came up with nothing. It’s so sad they’ve done all this searching and still have no leads. But are her parents to blame?
At the end of the video, the police captain dropped a bombshell:
“This is a serious case of a child whose parents clearly are not telling us everything they know.”
You can watch the full update (below):
Law enforcement are still investigating the parents in this case — and implying they know more than what they’re telling! There has to be a reason they didn’t report their daughter missing for so long, and the mother’s vague reasoning about not wanting to “start a conflict” with her husband seems very odd…
What do U think, Perezcious readers? Tell us in the comments (below).
[Image via FBI Charlotte/Mecklenburg County Detention Center]
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