Madalina Cojocari’s stepfather to face jury in her disappearance after judge denies delay

The stepfather of missing Cornelius girl Madalina Cojocari will face a jury trial this week, a judge ruled Tuesday after hearing motions to delay or dismiss the case. Jury selection began Wednesday morning in Mecklenburg Superior Court.

Madalina mysteriously disappeared in 2022 following her school’s Thanksgiving break. Then, she was 11.

Now 13, Madalina remains missing, and investigators have not released much information about their investigation or where they’re searching.

Local police and the FBI began investigating immediately in December 2022 after learning of the girl’s disappearance. But by then, she had not been seen at school for weeks.

In December 2022, mother Diana Cojocari and stepfather Christopher Palmiter were charged with failing to report her missing. The couple previously gave police conflicting information, both insinuating that the other “hid” Madalina somewhere and that each suddenly had a large bag of money following her disappearance.

Palmiter and Cojocari’s respective cases could give possible answers to the larger lingering question: What happened to Madalina?

While Palmiter maintains he is not guilty of failing to report Madalina missing, Cojocari pleaded guilty to the same charge Monday. Because she had served the maximum amount of time for the charge while awaiting her court date, a judge released her Tuesday. She was expected to be deported to Moldova, but Palmiter’s lawyer Wednesday subpeonaed her to testify during his trial.

She will likely plead the fifth, refusing to provide any information that could incriminate her, said her attorney, Daniel Roberts.

Trial delay sought

Brandon R. Roseman, Palmiter’s court-appointed attorney, filed a motion Monday to delay the trial so he could review evidence he said was new to him: an FBI interview with Cojocari’s cousin.

According to the motion, which references the interview, Cojocari, 39, spoke with her cousin — Octavian Cebanu — before, during and after Madalina’s disappearance.

In 2022, Diana Cojocari allegedly called Cebanu as she realized the “medical excuse” she was using to keep Madalina out of school was about to expire, according to court records. The school would soon ask questions.

She needed help, she said. She needed to get away from Palmiter.

Roseman says the defense did not know until May 15 about the information in the interview, or in the texts between Cojocari and Cebanu. The interview with the cousin contains exculpatory information that could prove Palmiter is not guilty, Roseman said in the motion.

He also asked the judge to order the state to share more evidence from their findings, listing Cojocari’s phone data, conversations with her mother and “any conversations [she] had about a covert effort to hide this girl away without Mr. Palmiter’s knowledge.”

“Unless she’s able to communicate ... through telepathy, she’s probably using a form of communication I need to discover,” he told Mecklenburg County Superior Court Judge Matthew Osmond in court Tuesday.

Osmond denied all the requests. He said the defense had ample time to review the case.

Assistant District Attorney Austin Butler relayed that the warrant detailing the interview was unsealed July 17, 2023. Roseman said he wasn’t made aware of it until last week.

The judge also denied Roseman’s earlier request to dismiss the case and to compel the state to share evidence, saying it could compromise the investigation into Madalina’s disappearance.

Palmiter was supposed to begin trial Monday, but a separate murder trial scheduled in the same courtroom needed to end before his could begin, said Mike Stolp, a spokesman for the Mecklenburg District Attorney’s Office. That four-week trial ended Tuesday afternoon when Dwayne Bryan Evans, 33, was convicted of first-degree murder and related charges in the 2018 killing of his roommate, Eric Spells.

As jury selection began Wednesday, Osmond told a group of about 50 potential jurors that the case had some publicity and cautioned them that what they may have seen on the news “is not evidence” and that they “must not let it influence [their] decision in any way.”

For most, that wasn’t an issue.

Of the 14 jurors who were individually questioned — two later being excused — only three said they had any prior knowledge of the case.

“It’s all over,” one juror said of the publicity around the case. “I don’t know anybody who hasn’t seen it.”

“You’d be surprised,” Osmond replied.

Some other potential jurors were excused on Wednesday afternoon after they said they had seen news reports on the case.

Butler, the assistant district attorney, asked potential jurors: “Does everybody understand that what happened to Madalina is not what this trial is about?”

Cornelius community still searching for Madalina

On the eve of the trial Tuesday when the motions were heard, Cornelius Police Department Deputy Chief Jennifer Thompson sat in court alongside detectives and reporters.

“The focus remains on Madalina,” she said when asked how the trial would impact the case. “On finding her.”

While Palmiter’s charge concerns only his alleged failure to report his stepdaughter missing, a trial is expected to reveal more details about what happened when she vanished.

School counselors in November 2022 called Cojocari and Palmiter to Bailey Middle School after Madalina’s teacher noticed a long absence.

Madalina was last seen Nov. 23, 2022, police say, and on Nov. 30, a neighbor reported her mother was burning furniture in the backyard.

Cojocari and Palmiter didn’t report her missing until Dec. 15 of that year. By Dec. 17, Cornelius police had arrested the couple, charging each with failure to report a missing child.

Palmiter posted a $25,000 bond, which was originally $200,000. Cojocari remained in jail under a $250,000 bond until she pleaded guilty and was released Tuesday. At a court date in February, she refused to leave her jail cell and come before a judge.

Both Cojocari and Palmiter have been interviewed by police, but neither have offered any explanation as to why they didn’t report the girl missing, prosecutors said in a previous court hearing.

Cojocari told investigators she believed Palmiter put their family in danger. She also told police she did not report her daughter missing sooner because she feared “conflict” with him, investigators wrote in the documents in the court file.

In court in August, Palmiter’s lawyer said Palmiter believes Madalina is now being cared for by someone “assigned” by Diana Cojocari.

Have you seen Madalina?

An 11-year-old Madalina was last seen wearing jeans, pink, purple and white Adidas shoes, and a white T-shirt and jacket. She is 4 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs about 90 pounds.

Anyone with information on Madalina’s whereabouts is asked to call the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773 or the FBI at 1-800-CALL FBI. Anyone who wishes to remain anonymous can call North Mecklenburg Crime Stoppers at 704-896-7867.

Observer staff writer Ryan Oehrli contributed to this story.