North Carolina mom Diana Cojocari thought Russian operatives were after her, then her daughter disappeared

Madalina Cojocari was last seen in Cornelius, North Carolina in November 2022. Since then, a strange missing persons investigation has unfolded, potentially involving Moldovan drug traffickers, alleged “Russian entities,” and an abusive home. Although Madalina remains missing years later, she is likely still alive, according to some close to the case.

Diana and Madalina Cojocari are native Moldovans, and in 2015 Diana met a man named Christopher Palmiter on a website and emigrated to the United States to marry him. At his trial for waiting too long to report then 11-year-old Madalina missing, Palmiter said Diana told him “Russian entities” were after her and her daughter. “She was asking me how we could hide her and Madalina from these people,” Palmiter said.

Madalina’s mom, however, told a distant relative she wanted a divorce and asked them to help her and Madalina escape her husband, according to a search warrant. Palmiter was sentenced to 30 months supervised probation in a plea deal, and Diana served 18 months in jail for waiting to contact the police, ABC News reported.

The day Madalina Cojocari vanished

Madalina Cojocari was last seen on a school bus on Nov. 21, 2022. Eerie security camera footage shows Madalina waiting to exit the bus alongside other children. At first, Diana said she saw her daughter the next day but that story changed, later saying she saw her on the evening of the Nov. 23, WCNC reported.

Diana and Palmiter had recently argued, and Palmiter left for Michigan at some point, but there’s similar uncertainty about when that was. Palmiter also said he had not seen Madalina for a week before he left. He later said Diana “gaslighted” him, telling him Madalina was sick or in her room, according to NewsNation.

By Nov. 26, Palmiter was back, and Diana asked him if he knew Madalina’s whereabouts. He said he didn’t, and Diana and Palmiter accused each other of taking her. Authorities also believe that Diana visited North Carolina’s Appalachian mountain region in August of 2023, but a reported sighting of Madalina in that area turned out false.

In his trial, Palmiter said Diana acted strangely in other ways before his stepdaughter vanished. According to him, Diana burned items in their home to “cleanse evil spirits,’ among other examples. Palmiter’s brother corroborated his claims, and Diana also mentioned the Russian threat in a recording she made after Madalina went missing.

Around Dec. 12, local school district officials visited Cojocari’s home because the sixth-grader had not been in school for weeks, and a few days after that, Madalina’s disappearance was finally reported. Some of Madalina’s belongings were also gone.

Madalina’s mom sent thousands of dollars to Moldova

While investigating Madalina Cojocari, authorities discovered evidence that her mother sent thousands of dollars to Moldova and had contact with individuals in the drug trade. Was Diana in an abusive relationship, and did Madalina’s mother make arrangements to smuggle her daughter back home? Could Madalina still be somewhere in the U.S.? Or could something else be going on entirely?

Rodica Cojocari, Madalina’s grandmother, told WCNC Charlotte that she thinks Christopher Palmiter gave her granddaughter to traffickers, but as of 2023, she believed the young girl was still alive. ” … [Palmiter] would use narcotics to make them sleep, both Madalina and Diana. He used these narcotics in their juice. Diana and Madalina drank it, and he took Madalina out of the bedroom and gave her over to traffickers. I don’t know to whom,” she said.

At the same time, a recently released search warrant revealed that Diana sent a text message on Dec. 2 that Madalina was with her, much later than she originally told the police she last saw her daughter. Diana, who has now been named an official suspect in the case, has filed for divorce and may be deported. She denies she knows where Madalina is. When she was released from prison, Diana simply said, “I hope she’s safe.”