CORNELIUS, N.C. — Saturday, Jan. 21 marks two months since Madalina Cojocari was last seen on surveillance footage getting off her school bus in Cornelius, North Carolina.
Diana Cojocari, Madalina's mother, first reported her daughter missing on Dec. 15, 2022, during a meeting with officials at Bailey Middle School. At the time, she maintained she had not seen Madalina since Nov. 23, 2022.
She and Madalina's stepfather Christopher Palmiter were indicted on a charge of failing to report the disappearance of their child. The North Carolina law was established in 2013 after the death of Caylee Anthony in Florida.
On Jan. 6, the Cornelius Police Department announced they had expanded the search for Madalina to Madison County, North Carolina.
Investigators released a photo of a Toyota Prius. They said Madalina's mother, Diana Cojocari, may have been in Madison County, North Carolina sometime between Nov. 22 and Dec. 15.
The trip may be connected to the girl's disappearance as this is the three-week period between when Madalina was last seen and when she was reported missing -- a gap in the timeline that is critical to the ongoing investigation.
On Jan. 10, search warrants connected to the disappearance of Madalina, the 11-year-old from Cornelius, North Carolina, who has not been seen since November 2022, were unsealed for the first time.
The search warrants were executed to search her family's home and review the cell phone records of both Diana Cojocari and Christopher Palmiter. As expected, portions of the documents were redacted and there is not a clear picture of everything investigators took from their searches.
Police had three search warrants for Madalina’s house in Cornelius. Two are from before Diana Cojocari and Christopher Palmiter were arrested and the third is from December 21, when WCNC Charlotte saw investigators leave the house with several bags of evidence.
Investigators were authorized to search the house, cars, and anything on the property. Inside the home, investigators found a portion of the kitchen blocked off by plywood. Palmiter allegedly said the couple planned to make a separate apartment inside the home.
As the search for Madalina continues, a Charlotte area forensic psychologist says that’s very likely taking a toll as investigators still work to get more information from them, especially on what happened in the three weeks Madalina was not reported missing.
“Initially, parents might go through denial that the child is missing, sometimes you see that," Lisa Long, PsyD, said. "You also could consider the parent might be experiencing embarrassment or shame due to guilt. There might be situations where the parent is experiencing fear, they’re concerned that DSS would get involved with their family and they might lose custody."
Cojocari told Cornelius Police she had fought with her husband the night before she last saw her daughter and she waited to report her missing because she didn’t want to cause conflict with Palmiter.
“I think that would be one of the biggest red flags more or less, looking at the person’s parenting, history of parenting,” Long said.
Diana Cojocari and Christopher Palmiter are expected to be in court on March 2.