Police seized three iPhones from home of missing North Carolina girl, search warrants revealed

Newly-released search warrants in the case of missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari have revealed that three iPhones were among dozens of items confiscated as police continue their search for the girl in North Carolina. 

Madalina, who lives in Cornelius, a suburb of Charlotte, was last seen on school bus video on November 21, but police said her mother did not report the girl’s disappearance until December 15. 

Her case is now being investigated as both a kidnapping and a missing person case, the new documents revealed. 

Madalina’s mother, Diana Cojocari, 37, and her stepfather Christopher Palmiter, 60, have been charged with failure to report a missing child and have remained in custody under separate bonds. 

The search warrants made public on Tuesday, which were previously sealed by a judge, showed that investigators seized T-Mobile cell phone data, emails, credit card and banking history information from Madalina’s mother and stepfather.

It comes less than a week after police posted new information to Facebook with reports that Madalina’s mother had driven to a remote area in the mountains of Madison County after she was last seen, but before she was reported missing. 

Search warrants in the case of missing Madalina Cojocari, 11, revealed that three iPhones were among dozens of items confiscated as police continue their search in North Carolina

Last week, police said Madalina’s mother, Diana Cojocari, 37,  had driven to a remote area in the mountains of Madison County, North Carolina after her daughter vanished

In the Facebook post last week, police asked the public to come forward if they had seen Madalina’s mother or her vehicle in the mountains of Madison County, North Carolina. 

Cornelius police believe she traveled to the area, which is located deep in the Appalachian Mountains on the Tennessee border, after Madalina was last seen on November 21, but before she was reported missing on December 15.

In the search warrants released on Tuesday, police said they are investigating the case as both a kidnapping and a missing person case. 

The documents detail how police searched and swabbed the family home on Victoria Bay in Cornelius as they continue to investigate Madalina’s disappearance. 

Three iPhones were seized from the house and police obtained warrants for the data from  cell towers to piece together there whereabouts of Madalina’s mother and stepfather before and after her disappearance. Madalina’s mother had previously told investigators that her daughter does not have a phone. 

Arrest records in the documents released Tuesday show that on November 23, the night Madalina’s mother says she disappeared, that she had argued with her husband and that he angrily drove that evening to his former hometown in Michigan.

Cojocari also told investigators that she believed her husband put them in danger and said she did not report her daughter missing sooner because she feared ‘conflict’ with him. They were arrested on December 17. 

Cornelius police believe Diana Cojocari traveled to the area after Madalina was last seen on November 21, but before she was reported missing on December 15

Police asked the public to come forward if they had seen Madalina’s mother or her vehicle in the mountains of Madison County, North Carolina

Madalina’s mother Diana Cojocari (left), 36, and stepfather Christopher Palmiter, 60, were arrested 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 November 24

Cojocari had previously told investigators that Madalina’s backpack and some of her clothes were missing from the home. She also police that the girl did not have any friends that she would stay with, and that being from Moldova, they did not have family in the area.

Cojocari added that she had been in touch with relatives in Moldova, who advised her to go to the police – but she resisted.

During their search, investigators noted that the kitchen in the family home had an area blocked with plywood. Palmiter, who returned home three days after he left, said that he had been building a separate apartment.

Last week, DailyMail.com observed Brandon Roseman, the lawyer for Palmiter, with two men believed to be private investigators, examining a firepit where the family allegedly burned couch cushions following Madalina’s disappearance. 

Cojocari also told investigators that she believed her husband put them in danger and said she did not report her daughter missing sooner because she feared ‘conflict’ with him

Madalina was last seen exiting a school bus at her stop on November 21, police say

The three men pulled up around noon on 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.

The two investigators tried to hide their faces from DailyMail.com’s cameras as they emerged, with one of them carrying what appeared to be a cat carrier. The family owns several cats.

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.

Brandon Roseman, in tie, and two investigators were seen on Friday walking 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 

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Investigators searched the Madalina’s family home, where her mother claims she was last seen

Cojocari had previously told investigators that she went to check on Madalina but she was no longer in her room and that her backpack and some of her clothes were missing from the home

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.

Cojocari described herself on LinkedIn as an independent beauty consultant selling Mary Kay Cosmetics. However, neighbors said they’d never seen her selling. In fact, they said, she’d rarely be seen in public. 

Her husband Palmiter 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

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.

He boasted to neighbors about owning a cache of guns and, during the George Floyd protests, threatened to use his weapons if any protester showed up at his house.

Before the arrests, the couple’s greatest issue with locals came from a more mundane issue – they had an abundance of cats that would roam the streets, drawing complaints from the neighborhood association.

Diana and Palmiter remain in custody on $250,000 and $200,000 bonds, respectively.