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The FBI is working with local police in South Carolina to search a lake for a missing 11-year-old girl days after her parents were arrested for failing to report her missing.
Madalina Cojocari’s parents say they last saw her on November 23, 22 days before they reported her missing at school.
His mother, Diana Cojocari, 37, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, 60, never officially reported his “disappearance” to the police and were arrested on December 17.
The expanded search comes as the FBI said “there’s nothing we won’t do to find her” and police released surveillance footage of Madalina exiting a school bus on November 21, the latest “independent” confirmation they have of her whereabouts. .
Madalina Cojocari’s parents say they last saw her on November 23, 22 days before they reported her missing at school.
On Tuesday, the FBI worked with Cornelius. Police began searching the nearby lake.
“As part of the normal investigative process, we are expanding our search area outside of the home where Madalina was last seen to now include Lake Cornelius,” the police department said Tuesday.
Judicial officials said during their first court appearance on Tuesday that Diana Cojocari had “hindered the investigation” thus far, only “reluctantly” reporting her disappearance to police.
According to Cojocari, Madalina was last seen in Cornelius, a town north of Charlotte where they lived, on November 23.
Despite a number of calls from her school in the following weeks asking for her whereabouts, they were not notified that she was missing.
Finally, on December 12, a school resource officer from Bailey High School went to her house with a counselor, but there was no answer at the door, leaving an ‘truancy packet’.
Madalina was last seen getting off a school bus at her stop on November 21, police say.
Diana Cojocari (left), 36, and Christopher Palmiter, 60, were arrested on December 17. She claims that she last saw her daughter at 10 pm on November 23, he says he did not see her for a full week before taking a trip to Michigan on November 24
Then, on December 14, Diana Cojocari called the counselor and initially told her that she would take Madalina to school the next day.
Instead, the resource officer was told that Madalina had, in fact, been missing for weeks and was last seen going into her room to go to bed around 10 pm on November 23.
She also said that she and her husband, Palmiter, had an argument that night, prompting him to drive to his family’s home in Michigan in the morning.
It was at 11:30 a.m. on November 24 when Diana Cojacari went to see Madalina and discovered that she was no longer in her room.
When Palmiter returned at 7 p.m. on November 26, Cojacari asked him if he knew where Madalina was, but he did not.
At 11:30 a.m. on November 24, Diana Cojacari claimed that she went to see Madalina and discovered that she was no longer in her room.
“As part of the normal investigative process, we are expanding our search area outside of the home where Madalina was last seen to now include Lake Cornelius,” the police department said Tuesday.
Over the next three weeks, the two claim they discussed Madalina’s whereabouts, but at no time did they report her missing.
When asked by officers why she did not report her daughter missing, she told them she feared a “conflict” would start with her husband.
Palmiter told officers that he thought he had not seen the girl for a week before traveling to Michigan.
Investigators searched Madalina’s family home, where her mother claims she was last seen going to bed.
Investigators were seen digging in the front yard of his home, but would not say if they found anything of interest.
After their arrest on December 17, both parents were being held at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center.
The police carried out a thorough search of his house and they were seen digging up the courtyard of the fountain with shovels. it’s unclear if they found anything of interest.
Her stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, who works as a mechanical designer for a machine manufacturer, is being held on $100,000 bond.
On Tuesday, Diana Cojocari’s bond was set at $250,000 bond and a condition was set that if she does, she will be placed under electronic surveillance.
Madalina is 4 feet 10 inches tall, has dark brown hair, and weighs around 90 pounds. She was last seen wearing jeans, pink, purple and white Adidas shoes, and a white T-shirt and jacket.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773 or 1-800-CALL FBI.