For the first time, Diana Cojocari named as a suspect in daughter's disappearance

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Diana Cojocari, the mother of missing Cornelius girl Madalina Cojocari, has been formally named as a suspect in the young girl's 2022 disappearance.

In a social media post on Monday, the Cornelius Police Department referred to Cojocari for the first time publicly as a suspect. Never before in the year-and-a-half since the girl was last seen had a suspect been officially named in the case. Both Diana Cojocari and her husband, Christopher Palmiter, were arrested in December 2022, weeks after Madalina's disappearance. They were each charged with failing to report the disappearance of the then-11-year-old girl. Diana Cojocari was released from jail in May a day after pleading guilty to failing to report her daughter's disappearance. Diana Cojocari had previously pleaded not guilty to the charge. Her release was possible because the maximum prison sentence is 24 months, minus time already served. At the time, Cojocari had spent 520 days in jail after being arrested in December 2022. Palmiter is Madalina's stepfather. A jury recently found him guilty of failing to report the disappearance of the girl. Neither Diana Cojocari nor Palmiter have ever been charged with anything other than the failure to report Madalina's disappearance. The Cornelius Police Department told WCNC Charlotte that while Diana Cojocari is a suspect, she is not currently wanted or facing new charges. "Typically, it means that there's probably some level of new evidence that they've got and there's something that points to not just her failure to report her daughter missing but that she actually played an active role in her daughter going missing," explained attorney Timothy Cannady.

Cannady is not involved in the Cojocari or Palmiter cases. He explained to WCNC Charlotte that Cojocari can’t be charged again for failing to report Madalina missing because she pleaded guilty to that charge last month. However, other charges could be on the table. 

"If they're charged with, say, murder, or some kind of homicide offense or some kind of kidnapping offense, they could be essentially tried twice or charged for the different things," Cannady said.  

Marriage of Palmiter and Cojocari

Days after his trial, Palmiter filed for divorce from Cojocari. On his paperwork, he indicated that he and Diana Cojocari had been separated since Dec. 17, 2022. That is the same day the two people were arrested for failing to report the disappearance of Madalina Cojocari. Madalina has not been seen publicly since getting off her school bus on Nov. 21, 2022. The marriage of Palmiter and Diana Cojocari was on public display when Palmiter was on trial and charged solely with failing to report the disappearance of his stepchild. The jury deliberated for only 15 minutes and found him guilty. He was sentenced to 30 months of supervised probation. As part of that probation, Palmiter will need to pay his defense attorney back the more than $30,000 it costs to defend him. During the trial, Palmiter testified he had met Diana Cojocari using an online service. He flew to Diana's home country of Moldova before both Diana and Madalina immigrated to the United States in late 2015. During the trial, jurors heard testimony outlining what lawyers described as strange behaviors conducted by Diana Cojocari. Jurors were being told that Cojocari held faith-based rituals that sometimes involved knives and fire. Jurors were also told Cojocari was paranoid and believed Russian operatives - such as Russian President Vladimir Putin - were endangering the family.

Diana Cojocari

Diana Cojocari did not take the stand during Palmiter's trial and thus no rebuttal regarding her actions was ever presented.