Cops return to Madalina Cojocari's home to investigate suspicious backyard ... trends now
Investigators were seen returning to the burn pit where the family of 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari was seen incinerating couch cushions and other items in the days after the North Carolina girl disappeared, but before she was reported missing, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Three investigators pulled up in unmarked cars around noon Friday and walked through the backyard, then proceeded up a staircase through a rear gate leading to the secluded fire pit, exclusive photos and videos by DailyMail.com show. They gathered around the black, charred circle that burned for several days in late November.
Only after noticing the DailyMail.com reporter, watching from outside, did they step away from the pit. They then examined a patio umbrella in the backyard, before entering the two-story brick house, spending an hour in the now-shuttered home and garage before wrapping up.
One investigator emerged carrying what appeared to be a carrier case for a cat, adding to evidence collected when investigators first searched the property in mid-December.
The mother of Madalina Cojocari says she last saw her on November 23 – three weeks before she reported the 11-year-old girl missing to her school. The family lit a fire allegedly to torch couch cushions and other items in the days after Madalina disappeared
Three investigators pulled up in unmarked cars around noon Friday and walked through the backyard, then proceeded up a staircase through a rear gate leading to the secluded fire pit, exclusive DailyMail.com photos show
The black, charred circle burned for several days in late November after Madalina was last seen, but before her family reported her missing to police
The three investigators circled the fire pit, before one emerged carrying what appeared to be a carrier case for a cat, adding to evidence collected when investigators first searched the property in mid-December
The investigators took a cat carrier when they left the house. Madeline's parents had an abundance of cats that roamed the streets, neighbors told DailyMail.com
Madalina's mom, Diana Cojocari, 37, and stepdad, Christopher Palmiter, 60, have been charged with failure to report a missing child and continue to be held on $250,000 and $200,000 bond, respectively. Police accused them of continuing to withhold information, now six weeks since the girl was last seen.
The case has prompted anger and bewilderment among locals in Cornelius, an affluent town just north of Charlotte, that the couple has called home since 2017.
'It's like living in the middle of a true crime documentary,' one neighbor told DailyMail.com.
The couple has always been considered an oddity.
Cojocari emigrated from the impoverished Eastern European nation of Moldova, where she reportedly participated in a reality TV show on weight loss in 2014. She showed off her engagement ring on the program, and there's also a glimpse of a little girl, believed to be Madalina.
'They didn't know each other before the engagement,' Iosefina Pascal, a Romanian journalist who did some research on Cojocari's life in Moldova, told news station WCCB Charlotte. 'So all of this was abrupt and sudden.
'You meet a guy online, he's like 40 years older than you, he comes to Moldova, you suddenly get engaged.'
Palmiter is actually 23 years Cojocari's senior.
He worked as a mechanical designer at industrial machinery manufacturer Ingersoll Rand in North Carolina, according to his LinkedIn page, though he told neighbors that he was laid off in 2020 and was working for another company an hour outside town.
He also ran an etching business out of his garage, using a laser to engrave products and selling his works online.
Madalina's mother Diana Cojocari, 37, and stepfather Christopher Palmiter, 60, were arrested on December 17. Cojocari claims she last saw her daughter at 10pm on November 23, Palmiter thinks he didn't see her for a full week before making a trip to Michigan on November 24
Investigators searched Madalina's family home, where her mother claims she was last seen going to bed. 'It's like living in the middle of a true crime documentary,' one neighbor in the affluent town of Cornelius, North Carolina, told DailyMail.com
Locals described Palmiter as a far-right, deep state propagandist, who'd fill his Facebook feed with pictures of armed warriors, the American flag, bible quotes, and anti-Biden vitriol. He also shared links to deep state podcasts with neighbors.
'When any form of government becomes destructive
