Charlotte, NC – On May 31, a North Carolina jury found Christopher Palmiter guilty of Madalina Cojocari, the missing Cornelius girl Guilty of failing to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement.
It took a Mecklenburg County jury 15 minutes to reach a verdict following Palmiter’s weeklong trial. Fox 8 Greensboro.
“He was supposed to be the person to look after her, and he failed. That’s why he’s sitting in this seat,” Mecklenburg County prosecutor Austin Butler said in his closing argument Friday.
Madalina was last seen getting off a school bus in her hometown of Cornelius. Just north of Charlotte, Authorities have been unable to locate her since November 21, 2022, when she was 11 years old.
Madalina Cojocari, the North Carolina girl missing for a year: ‘We won’t stop until we find her’
In December, authorities arrested the 11-year-old girl’s parents, Diana Cojocari and Christopher Palmiter, and accused them of failing to report the child’s disappearance to law enforcement after Madalina disappeared in November 2022 from her hometown in Cornelius, just north of Charlotte. (Mecklenburg County Detention Center)
His mother, Diana Cojocari, convicted last month Diana and Palmliter, natives of Moldova, reported the 11-year-old girl missing to police several weeks later on December 15, 2022, after telling police they had last seen their daughter at home on the evening of November 23, 2022.
A Mecklenburg County judge sentenced Palmiter to 30 months of suspended supervised probation, reports Fox 8. Palmiter’s attorney could not immediately be reached for comment.
Madalina Cojocari of Cornelius, North Carolina, was last seen in 2022. (Cornelius Police Department)
Palmiter’s defense attorneys argued that Diana seduced him and led him to believe his stepdaughter was safe at the time of her disappearance. However, prosecutors included testimony from an FBI analyst who presented phone and email evidence that showed Palmiter knew Madalina was missing, yet he did not report her disappearance to authorities, according to Fox 8.
“I think Diana took him somewhere with her Moldovan family.”
“I think Diana took her somewhere with her Moldovan family,” Palmiter said while testifying during his trial, Fox 8 reports. “I think Diana hid her somewhere where she wouldn’t be found.”
Diana told school officials and Cornelius police that she had not seen her daughter, a sixth grader at Bailey Middle School and born in Moldova, since she went to her bedroom about 10 p.m. on Nov. 23, 2022, after she and Palmiter had a fight, court documents said.
Photo of missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari, last seen on November 23, 2022. (Twitter/@FBICharlotte)
Palmiter said he went to his relatives’ home in Michigan to “retrieve some items” after a fight with his wife on November 24, 2022. According to the affidavit, Diana went into her daughter’s room around 11:30 a.m. that day and discovered the 11-year-old was missing.
The affidavit states that when Palmiter returned to the Cornelius home on November 26, Diana asked him where their daughter was, and Palmiter asked Diana the same question.
Mother of missing North Carolina girl wanted to smuggle 11-year-old out of home: warrant
Madalina Cojocari was last seen in November 2022 in Cornelius, North Carolina. (Google Maps/Charlotte FBI)
Shortly after Madalina was reported missing last year, her parents expressed their concern for her in a handwritten note, which CPD shared with the public on Dec. 22.
Missing Madalina Cojocari: North Carolina girl’s disappearance goes unreported for weeks
According to phone records obtained by the Cornelius Police Department, search warrants executed last year show that Diana and her mother contacted a distant relative and asked if he would help “smuggle” Diana and Madalina out of their home in Cornelius before Madalina disappeared.
Investigators shared a handwritten, personal message from Madalena Cojocari’s family. (FBI Charlotte/Cornelius Police Department)
Click here to get the Fox News app
“She stated that her relationship with co-defendant Christopher Palmiter was strained and that she wanted a divorce,” the warrant states.
Authorities are asking people to contact CPD at 704-892-7773 if they have any information about Madalina.
