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(NewsNation) — A secretly recorded audio tape has led to new revelations in the case of missing North Carolina girl Madalina Cojocari who was last seen getting off her school bus in November 2022.
Her mother and stepfather didn’t report her missing for three weeks. Now, a tape has surfaced with Madalina Cojocari’s mother, Diana Cojocari, saying she had a vision that something bad was coming for her family and she wanted her daughter hidden away.
On Monday, Madalina Cojocari’s stepfather filed for divorce. That comes as both he and her mother faced felony charges for failing to report a missing child.
Failure to report Madalina Cojocari missing
Diana Cojocari pleaded guilty but was released from custody because she has already served the maximum time for the crime.
Christopher Palmiter, Madalina Cojocari’s stepfather, was found guilty by a jury last week. His sentence was suspended for a 30-month term of supervised probation.
Palmiter’s testimony in the trial revealed new information about the case that has captured the attention of so many people.
Disappearance of Madalina Cojocari
Madalina Cojocari was last seen getting off her school bus in Cornelius, North Carolina, in November of 2022. But she wouldn’t be reported missing for three weeks.
Diana Cojocari said she last saw her daughter on Nov. 23, 2022, when the girl went to bed. Cojocari said she and Palmiter argued that night and he left for Michigan. She said she looked in her daughter’s room the next morning but Madalina Cojocari was gone, along with some of her belongings.
Cojocari waited until Palmiter came home a few days later to ask if he knew where Madalina Cojocari was. But neither reported her missing until Dec. 15, when Diana Cojocari was summoned for meeting at Madalina Cojocari’s school to discuss her absences that a report was made.
Visions of danger
Palmiter appeared emotional at times as he described his wife as controlling decisions in their home. He described her as increasingly distant and unpredictable, using rituals like burning items to cleanse evil spirits. He mentioned metal items like stainless steel mugs and closet racks being burned in a fire pit.
He also said Diana Cojocari had been gaslighting him about her daughter’s whereabouts, providing different notes and excuses.
“She was telling me that she was sick and she was in her room,” Palmiter said. “There would always be Flonase on the island.”
Photos introduced as evidence provided a first look at Madalina Cojocari’s bedroom and the rest of the family’s home.
Palmiter testified Diana Cojocari thought she and her daughter were in danger, a danger she linked to her home country of Moldova.
“She believed Russian entities were following her, to get to her and Madalina,” Palmiter testified. “She was asking me how we could hide her and Madalina from these people.”
Palmiter’s brother confirmed his account. So did Diana Cojocari’s own words, in a conversation she recorded with Palmiter on Dec. 5, 2022, after Madalina Cojocari was gone.
“My intuition told me that something is coming that can give (blank) to our family. Can you protect us as a family? Because it’s just a vision,” she said. “You had to listen to me, when I told you then, and do what I asked you to do. Take me and Madalina to members of your family, to one of your brothers, to your mom, you didn’t do anything.”
Palmiter said he believes Madalina Cojocari won’t be found.
“I think Diana took her somewhere with maybe her Moldovan family. I don’t know. But I believe Diana’s tucked her away somewhere where she’s not going to be found,” he said.
Is Madalina Cojocari hidden away in the Appalachian Mountains?
In August of 2023, NewsNation traveled to the mountains of Western North Carolina to investigate a theory that Diana Cojocari may have stashed her daughter with a relative in the remote area.
There’s plenty of places where someone could hide, with forests, dead-end roads and rural countryside without internet or cell phone service.
A possible sighting of Madalina Cojocari turned out to be false, but authorities did confirm Diana Cojocari interacted with a sheriff’s deputy near Lonesome Mountain, North Carolina, on Dec. 4, 2022.
Evidence photos from Diana Cojocari’s car showed receipts from wire transfers, allegedly showing her sending thousands of dollars to Moldova.
Diana Cojocari left jail on May 21, 2024, after pleading guilty to failing to report a missing child. She answered only one question from reporters asking about her daughter’s safety.
“I hope she’s safe,” Cojocari said.
The jury deliberated 15 minutes before finding Christopher Palmiter guilty of the same charges. There are still no answers as to what happened to Madalina Cojocari.
Anyone with information about Madalina Cojocari’s whereabouts should contact the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773.