Discrepancy in Madalina Cojocari’s parents’ timeline ‘crucial in finding truth about missing 11-year-old,’ expert says
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THE discrepancy in missing Madalina Cojocari’s parents’ timeline could be essential to understanding their actions, a private investigator has said.
Young Madalina, 11, was last seen at her home in Cornelius, North Carolina – 20 miles north of Charlotte – on November 23, 2022, although her mother, Diana Cojocari, did not report her missing for 22 days.
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Diana, 37, and her husband Christopher Palmiter, 60, have been arrested and charged with failing to report the disappearance of a child.
The mom told police that she did not report Madalina missing out of fear that her husband would get angry at her.
Officials have said that Diana was chatting with a distant relative who was involved in drug trafficking to make plans to smuggle herself and her daughter out of their living situation.
Speaking exclusively to The U.S. Sun, private investigator Joshua Witte, who is not working on this particular case, said he’s heard about cases like this one “many times.”
Diana’s story could be, “the spouse who’s trying to get away from the abusive husband and suddenly someone goes missing and it turns into a murder,” the PI theorized.
“Domestic violence cases are a dime a dozen. It’s a way more common epidemic than people realize.”
The parents initially gave police conflicting stories on what happened the day that Madalina disappeared.
Christopher told police that he left to visit his family in Michigan and “recover some items” the day after the two allegedly last saw Madalina.
Diana said at first that he left the night before, but later changed her story, according to officials.
The PI, who isn’t involved in this particular case, said that the mom could have been “trying to cover for him” and that “they just didn’t discuss that before they lied.”
Witte speculated that their allegedly turbulent relationship could have motivated her actions and said: “I’m curious if she’s scared of him to the point that she would cover for him.”
IMPORTANT DATE
The exact date that Madalina was last seen could also indicate her disappearance was actually a sick plot, Witte warned.
The middle schooler was publicly spotted getting off her school bus right before the local schools broke for Thanksgiving.
The PI said this could make the investigation “more difficult” as several days passed when she was not expected to appear in class.
“If that was planned intentionally, it’s possible that this was foreseen that she was going to disappear,” the PI, who has worked on several human trafficking cases, said.
“It may have been possible that this had a little bit more premeditation.”
After her disappearance, Witte guessed that detectives would be looking into the mother and stepfather’s background.
“If they’re speaking to family witnesses, it’s possible they’re wiretapping people who might be involved to see if anyone’s gonna talk about it,” he told The U.S. Sun.
Police were last seen at the family home on February 13 with a German shepherd, but it’s unclear if they found anything of note.
‘HARDER TO FIND’
Cojocari was allegedly in talks with a distant family member from Moldova to create a plan to escape from her husband.
Phone records show that Diana and the relative extensively communicated on December 2, 2022, nearly two weeks after Madalina was officially reported missing.
Records reveal the relative conducted “multiple calls to phone numbers belonging to unidentified targets involved in ongoing T3 drug/narcotic trafficking investigations,” according to court documents.
Palmiter was reportedly against her staying in touch with her Moldovan relatives.
“It’s possible that maybe she has connections to people in more dangerous fields that she’s tried to coordinate with to get her daughter out of that,” Witte said.
Witte winced at the mention of potential human trafficking, and said it’s “a huge problem that webs across the world.”
“It just makes someone way harder to find,” the PI said.
“That’s doesn’t mean that people don’t get found but because it’s so established, they have ways of bypassing law enforcement detection for a long time.”
Technology from federal agents will be imperative to cracking a potential human trafficking ring, according to Witte, who also works in forensic investigations.
“I hope they’re able to really leverage the federal resources from the FBI to get that done,” he told The U.S. Sun.
“Sometimes local law enforcement doesn’t quite have what they need to really be equipped for those types of investigations.”
Local officials like Mecklenburg County Commissioner Pat Cotham remain determined to find the missing girl.
“We’re going to find Madalina,” she said at a recent community event.
“It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but we’re not going to stop.”
Madalina’s parents were arrested and charged with failing to report a child’s disappearance to law enforcement.
Diana is being held on $250,000 bond, while Palmiter’s bond was set at $200,000.
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