The Disappearance of Madalina Cojocari

Madalina Cojocari was last seen on November 21, 2022, stepping off her school bus at her home on Victoria Bay Drive in Cornelius, North Carolina. She was 11 years old. School bus surveillance footage captured that moment; it is the last known video of her. No additional footage was ever found, not from the surrounding neighborhood, not from any camera in the area. Her bus stop was directly adjacent to her home.

Her mother, Diana Cojocari, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, told police they last saw Madalina on November 23, 2022, two days after the last confirmed sighting. They did not report her missing to law enforcement until December 15, 2022, more than three weeks after they claimed she was last in the home. Under North Carolina law, a parent or guardian who knows a child is missing and fails to report it is subject to a Class I felony charge. Both were charged with that offense and both were ultimately convicted.

Investigators found no evidence that Madalina left the home voluntarily. Her Moldovan and Romanian passports were both found in Diana Cojocari's car. Both documents were present, meaning Madalina could not have traveled internationally with either. Search warrants executed at the family home revealed stains that were swabbed and submitted for analysis. A carpet from an upstairs spare bedroom was found to have been burned before police were notified of the disappearance. Palmiter himself testified during his trial that Diana had been burning things more often during the period around Madalina's disappearance.

Investigators discovered that in December 2022, Diana Cojocari had driven to the mountains of western North Carolina, claiming she was searching for Madalina. On December 3, a gas station attendant in Hickory, North Carolina, observed Diana's car, which contained children's toys, but no child. On December 16, Sugar Mountain Police captured surveillance photographs of a man and a young female together who were described as matching the appearance of Madalina and her only known blood relative in the United States. The two were also seen together at a Lowe's Foods supermarket in Linville, North Carolina. Those sightings have not been publicly confirmed as Madalina, and their significance to the investigation has not been disclosed.

Diana Cojocari was also found to have paid a priest in Moldova a combined $4,000 in the weeks following Madalina's disappearance, before and after speaking with him by phone for more than ten minutes. She messaged her cousin in Moldova on December 2, 2022, before Madalina was reported missing, saying she needed to speak with him urgently. Early in the investigation, search warrants indicated investigators were examining the possibility of sexual exploitation. As of May 2026, Madalina Cojocari has not been found. No murder charges have been filed. Diana Cojocari has been named a suspect in her daughter's disappearance and is believed to be in Moldova, a country with which the United States has no extradition treaty.