A Facebook group dedicated to helping find Madalina Cojocari, the 11-year-old North Carolina girl who disappeared in late 2022, has posted an image it says shows the girl’s mother, Diana Cojocari, leaving the United States.
Police in Cornelius officially named Diana Cojocari, a Moldovan citizen, a suspect in her daughter’s disappearance late last month, a month after she pleaded guilty to failing to report the girl missing and was released from jail for time served, as CrimeOnline reported.
Cojocari and her husband, Christopher Palmiter, were arrested in December 2022 on the same charge. Palmiter’s bond was reduced, however, he got out of jail a few months later. A jury found him guilty last month and sentenced him to 30 months supervised probation. He reportedly filed for divorce shortly afterward.
Madalina Cojocari, who would be 13 now, was last seen getting off a school bus in late November 2022, but her mother didn’t report her missing until a school resource officer asked about her whereabouts on December 15. She told investigators at that time that she hadn’t told anyone about her daughter’s disappearance because she was in a bad relationship with Palmiter and didn’t want to upset him. She also told investigators she wanted a divorce.
The image posted by the Where is Madalina Cojocari Facebook group on July 6 was reportedly taken from Diana Cojocari’s Facebook page, although it is no longer on the page, and there’s no indication about whether the page actually belongs to the girl’s mother. It’s also unclear when the photo was taken.
The photo shows Cojocari on a plane with another woman — identified by Molodovan media outlet Unimedia as her mother, Rodica Cojocari — in the seat behind her. The caption says “on the way from New York JFK to Frankfurt then Bucharest…. after 9 years of absence from the country …” in Moldovan.
The post also includes a poem by Moldovan poet Grigore Vieru called “Ecoul” (“The Echo”).
Cornelius Police Chief David Baucom told The US Sun that his department was aware of the post but “we are unable to confirm this information” that she has left the country. He said that the department, which had confiscated her passport, had not returned it, but that there was nothing police could do to prevent her from leaving if she obtained an emergency passport from her embassy.
“She does not currently have any active warrants for her arrest,” he said.
A reporter in Romania told WCCB that Diana Cojocari is in Romania, not Moldova.
A neighbor told the station he saw her get into a car with two people on July 3 and hasn’t seen her since.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Madalina Cojocari/Cornelius Police Department and Diana Cojocari/Mecklenburg County Jail]
