Police: Madalina Cojocari's parents 'aren't telling us everything they know' about their daughter's disappearance
Police: Madalina Cojocari's parents 'aren't telling us everything they know' about their daughter's disappearance
Updated on December 29, 2022 23:26 PM by Andrew Koschiev
Authorities in North Carolina are still looking for missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari, even though her mother and stepfather are still incarcerated.
Capt. Jennifer Thompson of the Cornelius Police Department discussed the case in a video that was uploaded to Facebook on Tuesday.
According to Thompson, the Cornelius Police Department "has led a significant investigation over the past 12 days to find Madalina Cojocari, 11."
Madalina's mother reported her missing on December 15 after she vanished on the evening of November 23.
Diana Cojocari, Madalina's mother, age 37, and Christopher Palmiter, her stepfather, age 60, were detained on December 17 after police claim it took them three weeks to report the kid missing.
According to an arrest file examined by WBTV.com, “Cojocari told police she waited to report her daughter missing because she "thought her spouse put her family at risk."
Officials contacted the girl's parents several times as a result of her absence from class.
Investigators have "developed and pursued about 250 leads that span international borders and all 50 states," according to Thompson. In addition to those abroad, we have spoken with hundreds of people in North Carolina and other states.
Thompson claimed that the inquiry into Madalina's abduction has encompassed hundreds of agents, detectives, and analysts.
According to Thompson, police have conducted a community sweep and have visited at least 245 residences door-to-door.
"We canvassed local businesses and looked through numerous hours of surveillance footage. As a precaution, we conducted land and water searches near Lake Cornelius,"explained Thompson. "To ensure we legally gathered every single piece of evidence we possibly could to find Madalina," the investigators said, "we got three search warrants for Madalina's home."
On November 21, two days prior to her disappearance, the young girl was last observed as she was stepping off her bus. Police made available surveillance video showing her getting off the school bus.
A handwritten message posted to the Cornelius Police Department's Facebook page depicts “Madalina, a sixth-grader who loved horses, as a "beautiful, brilliant, caring and loving 11 year old girl with greatness in her future."
According to the letter allegedly written by the missing girl's extended family, "We are frantic to find her right now, she needs ALL of our aid."
Anyone with information on her location or eyewitness testimony is urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-Call-FBI or the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773.
Cojocari and Palmiter are accused of failing to notify authorities of a child's disappearance, according to the Cornelius Police Department.
It is unknown ifCojocari and Palmiter have hired counsel to speak on their behalf or filed a plea to the accusations leveled against them.