FBI searches lake in hunt for missing 11-year-old whose parents didn’t report her missing for three weeks

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FBI officials are searching a lake in North Carolina as the hunt continues for an 11-year-old girl whose parents didn’t report her missing for three weeks – while the child’s mother and stepfather remain behind bars in connection to her disappearance.

Madalina Cojocari has not been seen since the evening of 23 November when she was spotted at her home in Cornelius, North Carolina.

More than three weeks passed before her family finally reported her missing to a school resource officer at Bailey Middle School on 15 December.

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.

Now, investigators with Cornelius Police Department, the FBI and the SBI have 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”.

“The @CorneliusPD, #FBI, & @SBI1937 are developing & following many leads to #FindMadalina,” it tweeted.

“As part of the normal investigative process, we are expanding our search to include Lake Cornelius as a precautionary measure. There’s nothing we won’t do to #FindMadalina.”

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 around why the parents failed to report the child missing for a staggering 22 days from when they claim they last saw her.

Cornelius Police announced the arrest of Mr Palmiter first 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, Cornelilus 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.

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.