November 21st Marks One Year Since Madalina Cojocari’s Disappearance
The Latest:
There have been no current updates on the whereabouts of Madalina Cojocari, the now 12-year-old child who went missing one year ago today, November 21st, 2022. Cojocari was last seen on her school bus, coming home from Bailey Middle School in Cornelius, NC.
Today marks one year since Madalina went missing. Tonight the city will hold a vigil in her honor at the Cornelius Town Hall.
Find previous coverage below:
Previous Coverage:
WCCB has obtained more newly unsealed warrants in the Madalina Cojocari case. The warrants were released on Tuesday, July 18th and include information from Diana Cojocari and Christopher Palmiter’s (Madalina’s parents) phone records, bank accounts, email accounts, cell phone records, social media accounts, and more.
The information obtained from the warrants has helped investigators learn more about the disappearance of Madalina.
The following information was released in more than a dozen warrants:
- An informant was used by investigators to help gather information on Palmiter while he was in custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail. Information gathered by the informant led to authorities executing a search warrant in Palmiter’s jail cell to obtain notebooks, journals, and any other written material found inside the cell. Most of the notes were used for Palmiter to remember basic day to day tasks, according to the warrants.
- Investigators also pulled information from Diana Cojocari and Palmiter’s personal emails and cell phone records.
- Information from a recorded jail call released in one of the warrants claims Diana Cojocari and her mother discussed a theory that Palmiter gave “the girl” away for money.
- A hard drive belonging to Diana Cojocari was seized from a local repair shop.
WCCB News will have the latest on the newly unsealed warrants and more on investigators found tonight at 10pm.
Original Story Posted March 8, 2023:
CORNELIUS, N.C. — Newly released search warrants in the Madalina Cojocari case were released on Wednesday. The 11-year-old Cornelius girl was last seen on November 21, 2022.
The warrants were to search Madalina’s home on Victoria Bay Dr. in Cornelius and a Toyota Prius believed to be used by Madalina’s mother, Diana Cojocari.
According to the warrants, Diana had “extensive communication” with a distant relative. The relative told Cornelius investigators that Diana asked him to assist in “smuggling” her and Madalina away from their home. He also said that Diana told him she wanted a divorce from her husband, Christopher Palmiter.
Criminal defense attorney Mark Jetton says this new information is troubling.
“Certainly she’s asking for help and when you start using the word smuggling that tends to mean in a very private not everybody knowing way,” says Mark Jetton, criminal defense attorney.
Investigators went through phone records. The report shows they found “multiple” calls to phone numbers belonging to suspects of drug trafficking investigations.
In the search of the Toyota Prius on February 13th, investigators found Romanian and Moldovan passports for Madalina Cojocari, a Romanian passport for Diana Cojocari, and a debit card belonging to Diana from a Moldovan bank.
The search warrant for the home states it was also searched in February.
The Mecklenburg County Clerk’s Office originally denied our request for the search warrants earlier on Wednesday. However, the clerk’s office sent the warrants over, along with this statement:
“Our office has been made aware that all search warrants related to this matter are sealed and not to be released. However, being that the two returned search warrants for the Green 2008 Toyota Prius and the residence at Victoria Bay Dr. have already been made public, they will now be made available for viewing and inspection, going forward.”
Diana Cojocari and Christopher Palmiter remain in a Mecklenburg County jail.
