The mother of Madalina Cojocari asked a “distant relative” for help to get her and her daughter away from her husband, according to a search warrant in the case.
Madalina Cojocari, 11, has not been seen since Nov. 21. Her mother, Diana Cojocari, said she last saw her daughter Nov. 23, but did not report it to police until Dec. 15, according to investigators.
Police said they interviewed a man identified as a “distant relative” of Diana Cojocari.
“He stated that Diana Cojocari and her mother asked him if he would assist Diana with ‘smuggling’ her and Madalina Cojocari away from the residence,” the search warrant states. The man “stated that she told him she was in a bad relationship with co-defendant, Christopher Palmiter, and wanted a divorce.”
Diana Cojocari and Palmiter are both being held in Mecklenburg County jail on charges of not reporting the disappearance of a child.
The State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI are helping the Cornelius Police Department investigate the case.
The warrant states that Diana Cojocari had a long phone conversation with the distant relative on Dec. 2. That was after Madalina Cojocari was last seen but before her mother reported her missing to the police.
“In reviewing this subject’s phone records, there was multiple calls to phone numbers belonging to unidentified targets involved in ongoing T3 drug/narcotic trafficking investigations,” the warrant states.
When police searched Diana Cojocari’s car in February, they found Romanian and Maldovan passports for Madalina Cojocari and a Romanian passport for Diana Cojocari in the center console, according to the warrant. They also found education and work documents, the warrant states.
Because of the possible connection to drugs, investigators had a dog search the car, according to the warrant. The K9 alerted to the possible smell of drugs on the driver’s side door, the warrant states, but documents do not show police seized any drugs in the search.
Police arrested Diana Cojocari and Palmiter Dec. 17, two days after the parents reported the 11-year-old missing, according to police.
A guidance counselor with the school went to Madalina Cojocari’s house Dec. 12 to ask why the sixth grader had not been in school since Nov. 21, according to court records. No one answered the door at the home, records show.
Diana Cojocari walked into the school days later on Dec. 15 and reported her daughter missing, telling police she hadn’t been seen in weeks.