Missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari’s parents “clearly” know more than they’ve told investigators, local police said on Tuesday.
The Cornelius Police Department offered an update into the steps it’s taken — with the help of the FBI and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation — in the 12 days since Cojocari was reported missing.
“We know everyone has a lot of questions,” Capt. Jennifer Thompson said in a video posted to Facebook. “We also have questions and are doing everything we can, with proper legal authority, to get those answers.”
She added, “This is a serious case of a child whose parents are clearly not telling us everything they know.”
The FBI last week released a surveillance video that investigators said showed the 11-year-old leaving her school bus on Nov. 21, which they said was the last confirmed sighting of the child.
Her parents told investigators she’s been missing since Nov. 23, but she was reported missing on Dec. 15, according to a police report.
Her parents — mother Diana Cojocari, 37, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, 60 — were both arrested on Dec. 17 and charged under a North Carolina law that requires guardians to notify police within “a reasonable time” when a child goes missing.
Each faces a felony charge of failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement, police said in two statements. Both are scheduled to appear on Wednesday morning in Mecklenburg County Court, according to the local sheriff’s website.
FULL STORY: https://abcnews.go.com/US/parents-missing-11-year-police/story?id=95883407
