A warrant to search the home of the missing 11-year-old girl was issued as the search for Madalina Cojocari from Cornelius, North Carolina, continues. The latest from the Cornelius authorities stated that they had chased 250 leads in their worldwide investigation, but very few details were released, WCNC Charlotte reported.
The girl's mother, Diana Cojocari, 37, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, 60, are both facing felony charges for failing to report a missing child. They have been in the custody of the police for almost two weeks now.
Parents are not telling everything
Investigation of the case by law enforcement started late because Diana did not immediately report that the girl was missing until three weeks since she last saw her, declared Jennifer Thompson, Cornelius Police Department Captain, in a video posted to Facebook.
The girl disappeared on the night of November 23 and was only reported missing on December 15.
"Usually, we say if a case isn't solved in a 24-hour period then the ability to solve it successfully deteriorates with the more time that lapses. In this situation, you've got almost a month's time from the child's disappearance until it [was] brought to law enforcement," Roy Taylor, a law enforcement consultant not involved with this case, explained.
According to the Cornelius Police, the investigation is further slowed by the girl's parents not telling them everything when they "clearly know more."
Calling for eyewitnesses
Madalina was last seen getting off the bus on November 21, two days before she disappeared, as viewed in the surveillance video authorities released.
The mother told the police that she held off on reporting her daughter missing because she believed that "her husband put her family in danger," as quoted from an arrest sheet reviewed by WBTV.com, and that she feared her husband's reaction.
The girl's absence from school pushed authorities to reach out to her parents on multiple occasions, yet to no avail, People reported.
Thompson assured hundreds of agents, detectives, and analysts are actively involved in the investigation to solve Madalina's disappearance as soon as possible. However, with the need for more details, they are seeking help from eyewitnesses to come forward and provide information.
For any information on her whereabouts or testimonies of eyewitnesses, call the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773 or 1-800-Call FBI.
In a handwritten letter posted on the Cornelius Police Department's Facebook page, Madalina's extended family describes her as a "beautiful, smart, kind and loving 11-year-old girl with greatness in her future." They said they were "desperate" to find the missing girl as she needed everyone's help.
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