Charlotte, North Carolina – Diana Cojocari, the mother of missing North Carolina girl Madalina Cojocari, pleaded guilty Monday morning to failing to report a missing child.
Madalina was last seen on November 21, 2022, when she was 12 years old in her hometown of Cornelius, just north of Charlotte.
The public defender’s office on Monday changed Princess Diana’s plea to guilty, saying she would be entitled to credit for 521 days, or 17 months and four days, on any prison sentence and would be deported to her native Moldova. He said that there is a possibility that Ms. Kojokari is currently living in the United States with her green card. FOX News Digital has reached out to Diana’s attorney and the Mecklenburg County District Attorney’s Office.
Despite Princess Diana and her husband Christopher Palmiter (Madalina’s stepfather) telling police they last saw their daughter at home on the night of December 15, 2022, The 11-year-old girl was not reported missing to the police until December 15, 2022, a week later. November 23, 2022.
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Photo of missing 11-year-old Madalina Kojokari. Last seen on November 23, 2022. (Twitter/@FBICharlotte)
Clues took authorities from the Charlotte area to the mountains of western North Carolina, but there was no sign of the missing girl for nearly two years.
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Diana told school officials and Cornelius police that she had not seen her Moldovan-born daughter, a sixth-grader at Bailey Middle School, since she went to her bedroom on the night of Nov. 23, 2022, around 10 p.m. Palmiter got into an argument, court documents state.
In December, authorities accused the 11-year-old’s parents, Diana Cojokari, of failing to report their missing child to law enforcement after Madalina disappeared around Nov. 21 from her hometown of Cornelius, just north of Charlotte. and Christopher Palmiter were arrested and charged. 23rd, 2022. (Mecklenburg County Detention Center)
Palmiter said he drove to a relative’s house in Michigan on Nov. 24, 2022, to “pick up some items” after getting into an argument with his wife. According to her affidavit, Princess Diana entered her daughter’s room around 11:30 a.m. that morning and apparently noticed her 11-year-old daughter was missing.
Missing North Carolina girl’s mother wants to smuggle 11-year-old from home: warrant
When Palmiter returned to Cornelius’ home on November 26, Diana apparently asked where her daughter was. Her affidavit says Mr. Palmiter asked her the same question.
Madalina Cojocari was last seen on November 21, 2022 in Cornelius, North Carolina. (Google Maps/Charlotte FBI)
Shortly after Madalina was reported missing last year, her parents wrote a handwritten note expressing their concern for the missing 11-year-old, which CPD released to the public on Dec. 22.
Missing Madalina Cojocari: A timeline of the North Carolina girl’s disappearance that went unreported for weeks
parents were arrested Failure to report a missing child. Palmiter posted bail and was released in August, while Diana remains in custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail.
Madalina Cojocari has been missing for nearly two years from Cornelius, North Carolina. (Cornelius PD)
In an interview in August local news station WCNC; Rodica Cojocari, Madalina’s grandmother and Diana’s mother, said through an interpreter: “My granddaughter is alive, but she was kidnapped.”
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Rodica, who is from Moldova, accused Palmiter of trafficking Diana and Madalina for $5 million.
Investigators on Thursday shared a handwritten personal message from Madalina Cojokari’s family. (FBI Charlotte/Cornelius Police Department)
According to search warrants unsealed earlier this year, Diana and Rodica contacted distant relatives and asked if they could help them “smuggle” Diana and Madalina out of Cornelius’ home. Just north of Charlotte, before Madalina disappeared, according to phone records obtained by Cornelius police.
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“She told him that she had a bad relationship with her co-defendant, Christopher Palmiter, and that she wanted a divorce,” the warrant states.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about Madalina’s whereabouts to contact CPD at 704-892-7773.
