Surveillance footage has been released revealing the last known movements of missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari, whose parents failed to report her missing for three weeks.
In the footage, the sixth grader is seen walking down the aisle of her school bus in her hometown of Cornelius, North Carolina, on 21 November.
The young girl is dressed in a plain t-shirt and a backpack and is fixing her necklace and hair as she walks.
The FBI and the Cornelius Police Department released the video on Tuesday.
“We are releasing surveillance video from her school bus as Madalina got off at her stop on November 21, 2022, at 4:59 p.m. This is the last time we have independent confirmation of when she was last seen,” the Cornelius Police Department said in a press release. “Madalina’s mother and her stepfather told detectives they saw her on November 23, 2022. We are seeking additional witnesses outside of the family to narrow down the exact timeline of when she disappeared.”
“As previously released, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School employees contacted Diana Cojocari on several occasions to inquire about Madalina being absent from school,” the local police added. “After repeated contact, Diana Cojocari went to Bailey Middle School on December 15, 2022, and reported to the School Resource Officer, Madalina was missing.”
School officials then alerted law enforcement, sparking a huge manhunt to find the 11-year-old.
On Saturday, Cornelius Police announced that they had arrested Madalina’s mother Diana Cojocari, 37, and stepfather Christopher Palmiter, 60, and charged them each with one count of failing to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement.
Investigators with Cornelius Police Department, the FBI and the SBI have now expanded their search for Madalina to include Lake Cornelius – not far from the missing girl’s home.
The FBI’s Charlotte field office said in a social media post on Monday that the search of the water is a “precautionary measure” and is simply “part of the normal investigative process”.
Search vehicles were spotted by the lake while boats were out on the water’s surface looking for clues.
It is not clear what may have led officials to focus on the water but it comes after search crews were seen digging up the backyard of the family home over the weekend.
Law enforcement officers also searched inside the property for clues as to Madalina’s whereabouts but did not reveal whether or not they found anything of interest.
It is unclear if Madalina’s mother or stepfather are cooperating with investigators as questions remain about why the parents failed to report the child missing for 22 days from the moment when they claim they last saw her.
Cornelius Police announced the arrest of Mr Palmiter on Saturday morning, before then revealing that Ms Cojocari had also been taken into custody.
“On December 17, 2022, at approximately 10:15 this morning, Corneilus Police arrested Madalina’s mother, Diana Cojocari, for Failure to Report the Disappearance of a Child to Law Enforcement. Cojocari never reported her daughter, Madalina Cojocari as missing after she was last seen in Cornelius on November 23, 2022,” police said in a statement.
Both suspects are being held at Mecklenburg County Detention Center.
Mr Palmiter is being held on a $100,000 bond while it is unclear if any bond has been set for Ms Cojocari.
Multiple law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the SBI are now desperately trying to find the missing 11-year-old with her whereabouts still unknown and fears increasingly mounting for her safety.
Search teams hone in on Lake Cornelius as part of the hunt to find the missing child.
A neighbour told local outlet WCCB that the young girl’s disappearance has shocked the neighbourhood.
“I’ve lived here my whole life so I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Sydney Capps. “It’s odd that it seems like she went missing back in November, and it’s just now being reported.”
Madalina was last seen wearing jeans, pink, purple and white Adidas shoes, and a white t-shirt and jacket.
She is described as having brown hair and brown eyes, being 4 feet 10 inches tall, and weighing around 90 pounds.
Anyone with information about Madalina’s whereabouts is asked to call the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773.
