The mother of missing North Carolina sixth-grader Madalina Cojocari told police she “believed her husband was putting her family in danger” and ran away from their home after an argument the night she last saw her daughter.
The star allegations emerged Wednesday when police descended again to search the family’s home in Cornelius — where officers previously found the area covered in plywood. According to WCNC.
It also came as the FBI and local cops released a handwritten statement The 11-year-old’s family said they were “devastated and absolutely heartbroken” and “desperate to find him”.
“We love Madalina and are shocked by these circumstances. “This is something that no child or family can endure,” the letter said, “a beautiful, intelligent, loving and kind 11-year-old girl with a great future.”
The family did not identify who was behind the statement. Madalina’s mother, Diana Cojocari, 37, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, 60, are accused of failing to report her missing for at least 22 days.
In an interview with police, Cojocari told investigators that on November 23 – the night she last saw her daughter – she had an argument with her husband. Taken by Queen City News.
Palmiter then took his family to Michigan, at least 550 miles and a nine-hour drive from his home in North Carolina.
The mother said she saw her daughter going to her room at 10 p.m. that evening, the report said, noting whether the fight was over or before Palmiter left.
More than 12 hours later, on Thanksgiving morning, she realized her daughter was not home, she told police.
She waited three days before telling Palmiter that her stepdaughter was missing, and weeks before Madalina entered the school, she said she didn’t know where the sixth-grader was.
Cojocari said she didn’t realize her daughter was missing until Thanksgiving morning.
Madalina was not reported missing for several weeks after her disappearance.
Police have released the footage in hopes of inciting witnesses.
Madalina was last confirmed to be seen on November 21st.
Surveillance cameras show an 11-year-old girl riding a school bus.
When questioned, Cojocari told the detective that she “believed her husband was putting her family in danger” and that she delayed reporting her daughter missing for fear of damaging their marriage.
The office did not elaborate on why he was in danger or if he was directly connected to Madalina’s disappearance.
The mother also admitted to ignoring pleas from relatives in Moldova, where the mother was born, to call the police, the report said, whether to report her husband, her missing daughter, or both.
Despite his claims, Cojocari has insisted in police interviews that he does not know where his daughter is, noting that he has no friends or family in the area where she could be with him.
Boats search the lake near the family’s home.
Police are still looking for the boy.
The FBI is searching for 11-year-old Madalina in Lake Cornelius.
Earlier this week, the FBI released video footage of Madalina getting off a school bus on Nov. 21, noting that it was the last confirmed sighting of her, two days before her mother claimed she last saw her.
The FBI said it hoped the video would turn up witnesses “outside of the family” who could “narrow down the exact time of her disappearance.”
Local police also demanded from local residents “The area will be flooded” with photos showing “her precious face”.
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