Police release video of missing 11-year-old North Carolina girl last seen on school bus

Drew Weisholtz
Updated ·2 min read
11

Police in Cornelius, North Carolina, have released a video of Madalina Cojocari, an 11-year-old girl who has been missing since last month.

“The Cornelius Police Department, the FBI, and the SBI are continuing the investigation to find 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari,” the department wrote on Facebook on Dec. 20 while providing a link to a YouTube video of Madalina getting off the bus.

PRESS RELEASE - Update on Missing Juvenile Please use the following link to view the video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwPM2q8CPGQ

Posted by Cornelius Police Department on Tuesday, December 20, 2022

“Today, 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. 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.”

The video shows Madalina walking in a line of students headed off the bus, with the police blurring out the other students' faces.

The police department stated that Madalina’s mother, Diana, waited a few weeks to report her daughter missing, even after her school reached out to find out where she was when she did not go to school.

“As previously released, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School employees contacted Diana Cojocari on several occasions to inquire about Madalina being absent from school,” the department wrote.

“After repeated contact, Diana Cojocari went to Bailey Middle School on December 15, 2022, and reported to the School Resource Officer, Madalina was missing. If you have information, call the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773 or 1-800-CALL FBI."

The Cornelius Police Department said over the weekend that Madalina’s mother, 37, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, 60, had been arrested and charged with failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement.

Police said at the time the investigation into Madalina’s whereabouts was ongoing, with help from the FBI and North Carolina’s State Bureau of Investigation.

“We need to make certain we have spoken to every person who may have information about Madalina to help us create an exact timeline of when she was last seen,” they said.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com