CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Diana Cojocari, the mother of missing Cornelius girl Madalina Cojocari, has been formally named as a suspect in the young girl's 2022 disappearance.
In a social media post on Monday, the Cornelius Police Department referred to Cojocari for the first time publicly as a suspect. Never before in the year-and-a-half since the girl was last seen had a suspect been officially named in the case.
Both Diana Cojocari and her husband, Christopher Palmiter, were arrested in December 2022, weeks after Madalina's disappearance. They were each charged with failing to report the disappearance of the then-11-year-old girl.
Diana Cojocari was released from jail in May a day after pleading guilty to failing to report her daughter's disappearance. Diana Cojocari had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge. Her release was possible because the maximum prison sentence is 24 months, minus time already served. At the time, Cojocari had spent 520 days in jail after being arrested in December 2022.
Palmiter is Madalina's stepfather. A jury recently found him guilty of failing to report the disappearance of the girl.
Neither Diana Cojocari nor Palmiter have ever been charged with anything other than the failure to report Madalina's disappearance.
The Cornelius Police Department told WCNC Charlotte that while Diana Cojocari is a suspect, she is not currently wanted or facing new charges.
"Typically, it means that there's probably some level of new evidence that they've got and there's something that points to not just her failure to report her daughter missing but that she actually played an active role in her daughter going missing," explained attorney Timothy Cannady.
Cannady is not involved in the Cojocari or Palmiter cases. He explained to WCNC Charlotte that Cojocari can’t be charged again for failing to report Madalina missing because she pleaded guilty to that charge last month. However, other charges could be on the table.
"If they're charged with, say, murder, or some kind of homicide offense or some kind of kidnapping offense, they could be essentially tried twice or charged for the different things," Cannady said.
Marriage of Palmiter and Cojocari
Days after his trial, Palmiter filed for divorce from Cojocari. On his paperwork, he indicated that he and Diana Cojocari had been separated since Dec. 17, 2022. That is the same day the two people were arrested for failing to report the disappearance of Madalina Cojocari. Madalina has not been seen publicly since getting off her school bus on Nov. 21, 2022.
The marriage of Palmiter and Diana Cojocari was on public display when Palmiter was on trial and charged solely with failing to report the disappearance of his stepchild. The jury deliberated for only 15 minutes and found him guilty.
He was sentenced to 30 months of supervised probation. As part of that probation, Palmiter will need to pay his defense attorney back the more than $30,000 it costs to defend him.
During the trial, Palmiter testified he had met Diana Cojocari using an online service. He flew to Diana's home country of Moldova before both Diana and Madalina immigrated to the United States in late 2015.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony outlining what lawyers described as strange behaviors conducted by Diana Cojocari. Jurors were being told that Cojocari held faith-based rituals that sometimes involved knives and fire. Jurors were also told Cojocari was paranoid and believed Russian operatives - such as Russian President Vladimir Putin - were endangering the family.
Diana Cojocari did not take the stand during Palmiter's trial and thus no rebuttal regarding her actions was ever presented.
Could Diana Cojocari be deported?
In May, the judge told Diana, who is not an American citizen, she was likely to be deported when she changed her plea to guilty. This came before she was known publically to be a suspect in the case.
"If it was a felony, then there's a decent chance that they might come after," David Concha, an immigration attorney, told WCNC Charlotte in May.
The immigration attorneys, neither of whom are involved in this case, said with the backlogs in the immigration courts across the United States, deportation is not something that happens overnight.
"It depends on a case-by-case basis, but in general cases do take quite a while in immigration court," Concha said.
"We have wait times that we have seen years," Kenneth Pham, another immigration attorney, said.
Concha said even though each immigration case is different, the ultimate goal is to determine if a person should be removed.
"We have an immigration law called aggravated felonies, usually those are going to result in someone being eligible to be removed," Concha said.
He added that everyone has the right to defend themselves against allegations and can find ways to make it work in their favor.
"If you've been here more than 10 years, you might have a defense called 'cancellation of removal,' or they look at whether you have ever been the victim of a crime and helped in the prosecution of that crime."
The federal government has a different set of criteria and even if a person does time on the state level, they can still be removable on the federal level.
ICE released a statement saying they’re committed to enforcing immigration laws humanely and assessing whether an enforcement action is warranted.
As of her release from jail in May, it was not known whether Diana Cojocari would face potential removal proceedings.
Community remains hopeful in Madalina Cojocari search
The Cornelius community is still actively trying to find Madalina Cojocari. It’s been over a year and a half since she mysteriously disappeared.
The tight-knit community rallied together when Madalina was first reported missing. All this time later, that is still the case .
“It’s been a challenge,” Pete Medrano, a Cornelius resident, told WCNC Charlotte previously. “We try to keep somewhere hope that she is alive.”
Hope that Madalina is out there.
Yellow ribbons are still seen wrapped around mailboxes in the Victoria Bay neighborhood where Madalina lived with her mother and stepfather.
Madalina was not reported missing for three weeks after she was last seen publically getting off her school bus. It was her school that first noticed her prolonged absence.
“I think the frustrations is seeing the parents… mother or the stepfather around in the neighborhoods and most of us know that one of them knows something," Medrao said. "We just wished that they would just come forward and tell us she is safe."
As a neighbor, Medrano represents a vibe in the suburban neighborhood.
“It’s difficult not to try to make assumptions but we're all sure that one of them knows something… it just can’t be a missing child for that many days," he said.
Other people have also noticed Diana Cojocari around town.
“I think it is very awkward to see the mother out in public walking the streets of the neighborhood, using public places, just free in general and the little girl is still missing,” Kari, a Cornelius resident who did not wish to provide a list name, said.
For Kari, a mother herself, she said this disappearance hits close to home. Kari said her home was one of many searched in the Victoria Bay neighborhood.
“My son is the same age as Madalina and they got on the same school bus. The FBI searched my house in December when it was all going on,” Kari said. “They searched every nook and cranny of our house, and I complied. Anything we can do to help.”
The community is still holding hoping for the best.
“I hope they find her,” Kari said. “I hope she is out there, and one day is found.”
This is a very watchful community. Although Diana Cojocari has been spotted a few times, Palmiter appears to be keeping a low profile. Diana has served her time while Palmiter is on supervised probation.
Cornelius Police, along with the FBI and state investigators, continue to look for Madalina. Anyone with information is asked to contact the police.