Cornelius North Carolina is a major suburban in the Charlotte metropolitan area. It was officially named Liverpool but changed to Cornelius after a wealthy benefactor Joseph Benjamin Cornelius. Cornelius sits along Lake Norman, a massive manmade freshwater lake. Many travellers come to Cornelius for its lake attractions. Visitors can rent boats, jetskis to explore the lake. This is the where 37 year old Diana Cojocari and her 11 year old daughter Madalina reside.
Diana Cojocari came from Moldova and was married to Christopher Palmiter. Madalina she was a bright student but in late 2015 her absences in school concerned her teachers, and when they asked her parents, her mom Diana said she was nowhere to be found. The parents hadn’t seen her for 22 days. The teacher reported the matter to Cornelius police department. Diana claim she went to check on her daughter Madalina in her room that’s when she realized she was missing.
Diana said she sat on that information until when her husband Christopher Palmiter returned from his Michigan trip. She asked about Madalina whereabouts but he asked her the same. Officers asked Diana why she waited so long to notify police, she said she worried it might start a conflict with her husband.
Christopher Palmiter told the police he had discussed with Diana about Madalina whereabouts for about 3 weeks. According to the detectives both Diana and Christopher acknowledged they didn’t contact police about Madalina disappearance until 22 days after she was reportedly last seen home. In December Saturday 17, Madalina’s mother Diana Cojocari and step father Christopher Palmiter were arrested for failure to report Madalina disappearance.
Madalina was last seen existing her school bus, this was the independently footage before she was reportedly missing. Neighbors said they had observed fires burning in Madalina yard at all hours starting the day after Christopher returned from his Michigan trip. The officers decide to apply Caylee’s Law into this case.
In 2013, North Carolina made a version of Caylee’s law after the Casey Anthony trial. In this law, parents and caregivers are required by law to report missing children within 24hours of their disappearance. A delay of 3 weeks, both parents are still held in Mecklenburg dentation center.
On July 20th, Diana posted a video on Facebook where she asked in her words “is something wrong of being violent?”
