Madalina Cojocari's stepfather reveals where he thinks the missing 11-year-old girl is after he was found guilty for not reporting her disappearance for weeks: 'She's not going to be found'

The stepfather of a missing 11-year-old girl has said he believes his stepdaughter was sent away by her mother to be with her Moldovan family.

Christopher Palmiter, 61, had previously claimed he didn't know where stepdaughter Madalina Cojocari was after the youngster vanished in Cornelius, North Carolina, on November 21 2022.

But during testimony heard during his weeklong trial, an FBI analyst showed both phone and email evidence suggesting Palmiter knew that Madalina was missing - and where she might be. 

Both Palmiter and the girl's mother Diana Cojocari, 38, were charged with failure to report a missing child on December 15 the same year after waiting nearly a month before alerting authorities to her disappearance.

'I think Diana took her somewhere with her Moldovan family,' Palmiter testified at trial. 'I believe Diana has tucked her away somewhere where she's not going to be found.'

Search warrants unsealed in 2023 suggest Diana, together with her mother, had got in contact with a distant relative to ask if he would assist in 'smuggling' both her and her daughter from their home in Cornelius before Madalina disappeared. 

Palmiter's actions were a large part of the reason Madalina could be located, according to the prosecuting attorney. 

'He was the person in the role of supervising her, and he failed,' prosecutor Austin Butler said during closing arguments in court. 'That's why he's sitting in this seat.'

Madalina was last seen as she got off a school bus in Cornelius, near Charlotte, on November 21, 2022. Authorities have not been able to find her since. 

Madalina was born in Moldova and had been a sixth-grader at Bailey Middle School.

On the night of November 23, 2022, Diana and Palmiter got into an argument. Madalina was believed to be in her bedroom at around 10pm that night. 

By the the following morning, the 11-year-old was gone, according to an affidavit. The pair reported her as missing on December 15 that year. 

The state cited the fact that Palmiter had been working remotely from home several days a week, and should have been well aware that the girl had vanished.

The idea that he could have been in the home for three weeks and not known is laughable, the state told the judge.

Palmiter's weeklong trial ended on Friday with the jury taking just 15 minutes to reach a verdict, reports Fox 8.

Both Diana Cojocari and Christopher Palmiter were arrested in charged in December 2022 with failure to report a missing child to police. 

The pair admitted to told police they had last seen their daughter late in November - two days after she was last seen on surveillance footage.  

Palmiter's defense attorneys had argued Diana had reassured him that his  stepdaughter was safe at the time of her disappearance, noting he believed she had manipulated him. 

In December last year, Dailymail.com revealed Madalina's parents were seen lighting a fire and torching couch cushions and other items in their backyard about the time she was last officially seen. 

Neighbors recalled seeing flames and smoke billowing from the yard of the Victoria Bay Drive home in late November, prompting calls to police and the fire department in Cornelius.

Another neighbor told DailyMail.com that the fire wasn't such a big deal at the time because nobody knew the girl was missing.

'If you don't know the context that a girl was missing, it's kind of a nothing burger of a call,' he said. 'At the time, it was more of a fire safety or a permit type of issue.'

Palmiter was sentenced by the Mecklenburg County judge to serve a suspended 30- month supervised probation.