Madalina Cojocari

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Hi friends, welcome back. Hello.

Has it been a while? No. No, I'm not a week. I know.

I'm sure you missed us nonetheless. I'm sure you did. Hailey and I were just talking about the britches. We were.

We were. I have paint on them. You do. Apparently, these are older.

And apparently, I wore them. I tried to be smart when I'm painting and wear old clothes because I will make it. Oh, me too. But these are, I guess, I had them in my dresser for a long time.

Anyway, I took them out and I was like, oh, are these today? And then it's in the inner part of my thigh, where it looks inappropriate. I'm just going to say that. We're going to leave that there.

But I'm just going to say, it's probably a lot of questions when people are like, what the heck? No, it won't come out. Thanks. Arnie!

Yikes. We're not how to respond to that. It hurts creepers. I don't know.

Where'd you get those britches? The Amazon? Amazon? Yeah.

I don't know where these guys came from. They're very comfortable though. These guys? Yeah, these guys.

These leggings, these guys. Those are nice. They got some nice leggings. You got some big little brews on my knee that I'm unsure about how I got.

It just, you know, brews do easily form that you're just like, what happened? Where did you come from? Where, yeah. Where did you go?

Cottonadee? Where did you come from? Where did you go? I feel it all the time.

And people looking really crazy. And I see you connected with me. And I understand you on a deep level. We had determined this evening that we did.

We understand each other on a much deeper level. We had some major deep thoughts with Holly and Hailey earlier in the evening. Yeah. I feel like, you know, obviously we're together weekly.

But I feel like when we do get together, it's sort of this purge of not only all the craziness that's happened, but we're also, I feel like we're somewhat like caged animals. We get together really. Oh, no, no, no, no. Well, it's like that.

And not something is like we don't really speak otherwise. Like, I'm always aware that Holly is there. And I can call her if I need her. Same vice versa.

But like during the week, I think we're so, we're both just so busy in different ways. Yeah. That like, we don't really communicate a lot or like about nothing deep, you know? There's not time.

We don't have time. But like a quick little text. Like, you know, here's a funny video. Or like, or somebody died.

Someone died recently. Here's a arbitrary. It was actually happened to us. It's actually not funny.

But it's not. But it happened to us recently. What's interesting is that someone that we had known and worked with had passed away. And I had seen it and sent it to Haley.

So you know, we were earlier in the week. And it was so funny. One of our other colleagues at the end of the week, she was like, I just really hate to tell you guys this. I hate to share this with you guys.

But so and so has passed. And I was like, it was like, at that moment, like, do we say like we already know this? I think I did. I think you said I saw that.

How sad. And I was like, hmm. I don't know if I've ever spotted it. I don't think I did.

I don't think you were. I think I saw it. And I was like in the middle of a crisis of my own. And I was like, can't be.

And I was like, she is so torn up by us. She just needs a minute. But no, honestly, it was kind of funny because I was like, oh, we've kind of already processed this little bit. Right.

And it wasn't a shock. Like he was an older person. And you know, he lived a lovely, beautiful, wonderful, great. Great family.

Great family. All the things. You know, a lot of stuff. Yes.

Happy life. You know, I have stuff. It was a whole like, yes, sad, but also full circle. Kind of that he's a piece of that feels nice.

And that's comforting. That is so comforting. That is so comforting. Yeah.

Yeah. From that. Yeah. But yes, we don't speak often.

No. We don't. So when we see each other, it's like, we do. It's just like, I have lists of things in my brain that I need to tell all four I leave tonight that I'm like, $1.1.

$1.1. That's what I need to. I know. Because I feel like, because we don't talk outside that, it's definitely like, I just do it.

That is so different than some of my other friends. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And then sometimes you also worry about like, I don't want to put this on you. Because my toxic trait as a person is I will kill myself to hold on to all my problems and everybody else's problems and take care of everybody else. But God forbid, I bother anybody else with my. Right.

Your issue. That is my toxic trait. And I have to get better about that. I have a lot of them.

We won't go through all of them tonight. To talk to traits. I'm betting. Um, it's fine.

No, it's all right. We all do. So I would like to talk about. I got issues.

You got them too. I have many. Um, I handle them with medication. I don't get.

It's great. Um, I have postpartum depression is real. Speaking of, I need to take my meds. Oh, I thought you were going to tell me that you were pregnant.

No, God, no. God, no. God, no. That's what everyone, if you haven't taken your meds yet today, because we're probably listening to the morning, we're recording at night.

Let's all do it together. OK. There I go. We both have fake stowings that we're talking from.

So join us. Pop your guys back. Cheers. Take your meds.

Nice. Take those meds. Do it now. Oh, you see, I even brought my to-go pill bottle with me.

I feel like you were aging before my eyes. You know, that's a move that my mother would make. Yep. I gave her one that was bringy.

Oh, she enjoyed it. I have many. I have a vacation one. That's a little pet, that's a little cute little foxy one.

I have that one, that's my normal one, and it has a removable one. So if I go away from that evening or weekend, I can just take the days that I'm going. Sorry. Nice.

Wow. 87 years old. I would say so. Yeah.

OK. Um, well, now we've all taken our meds together. Let's talk about something real sad. Um, I'm glad you all are prepared.

I'm taking meds. I took my meds. Um, OK. So we're going to talk about the case of Madalena Kojakari.

I feel like I've heard this name. Yes, you probably have because it's very recent. Um, so we're going to kind of talk about the timeline first of this case and then we'll get into some of the, like legal stuff that's happened since then. Um, and you know, kind of go from there.

Um, so Madalena Kojakari was a, well, she was 11 years old at the time she went missing, um, in Cornelius, North Carolina. Um, I think she would be 12 now. Yeah, she was 11 at the time. She went missing.

Um, so this all happened in 2002. 2020, yeah, 2022 is kind of when this all started in November. 2022 or 2002? 2022.

OK. That's a 2009. Yeah. 2022.

All right. I went from 18 to 38. Yeah. Really quick.

Yeah. This is where we're at. OK. That was amazing.

Last year. OK. So it's me on the trip. November 16th of last year.

Yes. Yeah. Um, Christopher Palmatier, who was Madalena's stepfather, said that he believed the last time he saw Madalena was a week before his trip, his work trip, a day that fell on November 16th. He believed.

He believed. Yeah. Um, on November 21st, Madalena was seen on surveillance video getting off of her school bus at 459 at the bus stop. 459 at the bus stop.

November 23rd. Diana Kojakari told, which is Madalena's mother, Diana, told a school resource officer that Madalena went into her room that night to go to bed. Diana said she and her husband, Christopher, argued that night. So there's an argument that that's an argument.

All right. On Thanksgiving, November 24th, Diana and Christopher drove to his family's home in Michigan that next morning to recover some items. Christopher confirmed that the same information to investigators. Diana said she went to check in on Madalena around 1130 AM that day and noticed that Madalena was not in her room.

So I've taken this weird trip to Michigan, um, from Cornelius, North Carolina, which is kind of- Now they're 11-year-old. Right. And then come back, I guess, and check and she's not there. Another thing about this is fight, fight, fight, fight, fight, let's go on a trip together and abandon our preteen daughter.

Right. November 26th, Madalena said she waited until November 26th at 7 PM when Christopher returned home before asking if he knew where Madalena was. He said he did not know and asked her the same thing. Christopher said he asked Diana if she had hidden Madalena and she said she asked them the same.

I said no. They did not report her missing to the police at that time. Okay. So let's just recap for a second here.

Okay. So he- she waits for him to come home to act. She doesn't act like a parent who is distressed and wouldn't call him immediately and say, oh my gosh, I can find her. Yeah.

You know, where is she? All these things. Wait, so- waste more time. And then they question each other about hiding her.

Hiding her. That wording is really strange. Strange. It gets stranger.

Okay. So November 26th through those next three weeks. Three weeks. Christopher said he spoke with Diana several times about where Madalena was.

Like where is she? They both said they didn't know where Madalena was. But still didn't report her missing to the police for three weeks. And the woman- I'm wondering where she is.

But we're not reporting her missing. Dishy. December 12th. A school resource officer at Bailey Middle School.

Tried to make a home visit for Madalena with a sixth grade school counselor. So home visits are something that I do for my school. Like I'm very used to doing them. Sometimes I'll take- I usually don't take a resource officer with me.

I usually just take a bunch of that number. Unless it's a situation that I feel like I need my SRR to go with me. Or a deputy or somebody to, you know, just be there as some extra, you know, support. But this resource officer went with the counselor.

The counselor said Madalena hadn't been to school since November 21st. No one is a good door. So they left a truancy packet at the house. So and this is something that's really common with schools, you know, especially so in North Carolina, the compulsory attendance law is that students between the ages of seven and 16 must be enrolled in school.

So what that means for us, especially for social workers and counselors, is we are constantly monitoring student attendance. So I try to make an effort that I have a report set on, you know, my students that if they miss three consecutive days in a row, it gives me an alert. That way they are on my radar of, hey, I probably need to call home and make sure they're okay. Yeah.

Like, are they sick? Nine hands on ten, that's what it is. Yeah. Like the flu is going around or COVID or, you know, something like that.

But then sometimes I find out like they've had a death in the family and they're, you know, dealing with that and they just haven't let the school know or, you know, I find out, you know, hey, we're having a really big issue with like mental health and they are refusing to go to school and we really need some support, right? Or I don't get an answer. And then I start like, I just kind of starts some red flags. Yeah.

You know, if we get to the point where they've missed an entire week, you know, I'm calling daily, multiple times a day where, yeah, what's going on? You okay? Calling mom and dad. Calling mom and dad.

If we get to the next week, I'm starting to plan, okay, I need to go out to the house and make sure that they're okay. If I can't get ahold of anybody. Once they reach 10 days of unexcused absences, then that's when you're looking at emergency charges, where you're filing actual charges against either the student or the parent or both. So in this case, since middle school, it would likely be, I mean, you could do either way, but likely on the parent.

I've had to file emergency charges before and I've filed them a student. And it was actually very successful. She's in school regularly now. It's good.

But the happy ending doesn't usually happen. It did that time. But this is something that is done. Also, if they are over the age of 16, there's nothing legally we can do with that.

However, if they missed 10 consecutive days of school in a row, we drop them from the role and they're considered high school dropouts. Yeah. And we try to prevent that at all. Absolutely.

Because that's really a challenge later in life. So we're trying to set meetings. We're trying to come up with plans or doing things to prevent that from happening. So with her being 11, she would fall into that compulsory attendance law.

So there, you know, in her being gone for three weeks, there was a holiday kind of in there. So I can see how the school was like, you know, living with everything family or like something, but no communication. So we're going to go visit, make sure they're okay. No kidding.

Um, so they go out there. They don't see anybody. Can't get anybody to come to the door. Leave the packet.

December 15th, um, or December 14th, the counselor said that Diana called her, just out of a meeting about Madalena. Um, and she said that Diana told her that she would bring Madalena to school on December 15th, and they would meet about the currency. So I'm assuming this counselor is thinking like, okay, you know, there's something going on. Maybe she's refusing to come to school.

Maybe there's a bullying issue. Maybe there's, you know, something going on that we can work out or, you know, is there a transportation issue? Is the bus not running the way it's supposed to run? Is it, you know, she can't, right?

There's needs that are not being met, but we can help Phil. Um, however, on the 15th, Diana arrived without Madalena and met with the counselor. The counselor requested that the SRO step into the meeting as well, when he arrived. Diana said that Madalena had been missing since November 23rd.

When asked why she didn't report Madalena missing until that day, Diana said she was worried that it might start a quote conflict between her and Christopher. I just don't like the fact that she's prioritizing this man over her kid. Yeah. Also on December 15th, Christopher confirmed the information that Diana had said.

He said he left from Mr. Again on the 23rd, but didn't see Madalena the day he left. He returned home on November 26th and said he and Diana, that he had asked Diana where Madalena was and either of them knew where she was. So this is so weird.

All right. So obviously both are arrested for not reporting missing because that is a huge, you know, that's a crime. So during a hearing in December of 2022 in Mecklenburg County Court, because Cornelius North Carolina is a little bit north of Charlotte, North Carolina, which is in Mecklenburg County, a judge ordered that Madalena's mother, Diana, Kojo-Kari was 37 and her stepfather, Christopher Palmetier, who is 60, surrender their passports as a condition of their release if they are able to post bond. Christopher will also be required to wear an electronic ankle monitor as part of, you know, conditions of his release if he is to Mecklenburg.

At that time, they both remained in custody. Diana's bond was set at $250,000 and Christopher's was set at $200,000. They're never Mecklenburg. Right.

Yeah. Both parents were arrested on December 17th, charged under North Carolina law that requires guardians to notify police within a reasonable time when a child goes missing. That is not three weeks. No.

That is like 24 hours or less. Yeah. Yeah. So since this is a missing kid, the FBI gets involved.

So the FBI is involved, local police are involved, but the state bureau is involved. They, the FBI came in and they actually released a surveillance video about a week after these two were arrested that showed Madalena on the school bus that bus footage on the 21st on the 21st of November. And they said that this was the last confirmed sighting of Madalena. So each of them are facing felony charges for failure to report the disappearance of a child law enforcement.

They're both, we're both scheduled to appear in court and they did appear in court and that's when Bond and all that stuff was set. So investigators developed and followed about 250 leads in the 12 days, you know, after she was actually officially reported missing. Right. Those leads led them across state lines all over the world, pretty much like they were getting tips from all over the globe.

They said we've interviewed hundreds of people in North Carolina, other states and again across the globe. Police knocked on about, knocked on the doors of about 245 homes as I went to, went door to door in the Victoria Bay neighborhood around Madalena's home. Investigators have scoured hours of surveillance video from local businesses. They received multiple search warrants from Madalena's home to make sure, you know, they legally gathered each and every piece of evidence and effort to find Madalena.

One of the biggest challenges in this case though is the time, you know, those first few hours after a child goes missing days are so, so critical and so crucial. So, you know, officials worked really hard to kind of put together that timeline that we went through at the beginning. I thought it was important to kind of have in our brain before we got into everything that was being done just for some context of, you know, we didn't get this information until three weeks, right, after she went missing. So, yeah.

So as some of this was coming out, we get a little bit more information, so we're going to flesh out some of these details. So Diana told police that she'd last seen her daughter at about 10 p.m. on November 23rd. She told police, quote, Madalena went to her room that night to go to bed.

She stated that her and her husband Christopher argued that night in the next morning, he drove to his family's house in Michigan to recover some items. Diana said she then went to check on her daughter at 11.30 a.m. on the 24th, but the girl wasn't in her room according to, you know, this arrest information. Thanks, getting right.

So, police said Diana told them that she'd waited until, of course, return home at about 7 p.m., on the 26th to ask where Madalena was, which we've kind of been through, but this is like, you know, we're getting into- So it would suggest that he took her to Michigan, but didn't return with her. So, you know, it's just weird. It's weird. It's weird.

It's weird. So Diana was charged. We haven't found her yet. Right.

So we're going to jump to April of 2023. Okay. A few months ago, Diana was charged while in prison with possession of a controlled substance. Authorities said they had found a small, clear plastic bag inside of her shirt pocket that has a positive for fentanyl and cocaine.

She told authorities that she had found the bag in the shower five days before. So, to the shower? She didn't share it. So she was charged, and I think those charges were since.

The charges were dropped, because I'm sure there was, you know, no proof or whatever. So whatever. Cornelius police said they have received numerous tips on possible sightings of Madalena in various locations across the country. All those tips were thoroughly investigated and determined not to be Madalena.

Court records released to a news station, Queen City News, stated that a recorded jail call with Diana was released to them, and it has Diana and another person. I can't exactly decipher like who all is talking on this phone. But Diana, it seems like it's maybe Diana and her mother. We're discussing some sort of bag of money withdrawing cash and a theory that the stepfather Chris Dever gave the girl away from money, the soldier, into like trafficking or something.

Okay. That's kind of the suggestion. And there's been articles that have come out, you know, that the grandmother believes that this is, that's what happened. She was sold.

Okay. But again, this is this mother speaking out and saying my kid's been kidnapped, something like racing, you know, against the clock for her kid. I just think she has a part in this. Oh, 100%.

So maybe it was this plot of like, yeah, we're going to sell her for money or we're going to get this or that. I don't know. Yeah. So that's so weird.

There's all this other stuff and I found an article and I didn't really include it so much in the story. I think it's important to talk about. So Madalena and her mother, Diana, are from Moldovia originally. So apparently, and I don't know 100% how accurate this is, this is just like some web-sloot stuff and things that I was looking at.

Diana apparently met Christopher through an online dating site or something and married him and came to live with him. You know, she was at the time, there's like, I mean, 37 and 60. I don't know how much I can't do that. 23?

Yeah. Years apart and you know, it's just to not know somebody really that well. And then to bring your kid, yeah. So it just feels fishy to me.

Like, it just feels weird. Feels potentially abusive that she was under duress maybe. I don't know. And apparently there was a lot of turmoil and things going on in her home country and she wanted out and came here maybe in hopes of a better life for her and her daughter and then ends up in this situation.

Or maybe there was something sinister planned the whole time. I don't know. And this is all a legend too because neither of these people have been charged with any type of harm being done to Madalena. Although I think not reporting your kid missing through during the week says, you know, harmful.

Is it? That maybe she doesn't understand how things work in the United States? Possibly. Is it that she was like, oh, you know, maybe cops are trustworthy, like maybe where we're from?

We don't. I don't know. I'm not trying to make excuses for her but it breeds some understanding knowing that she's not from these here in the United States. Right.

So with all of that being said, I want to talk about something that happened recently, you know, in my neck of the woods. Your neck of the woods? My neck of the woods. What is nearby where, you know, where I'm from?

Okay. And this is very like, I don't want to add more fuel to this fire of like, because nothing has been confirmed yet. Like there was a statement put out by the FBI that, you know, nothing has been confirmed or anything. So I want everybody to take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.

Through it over my shoulder. Okay. It's out here. Okay.

So, um, this was actually, when did this happen? This was on Saturday, November, October 29th. October 29th. Yeah.

So on Saturday. So recent. Um, hunters in the Pizzic and National Forest, which is in Hot Springs, North Carolina, made a discovery when they happened upon some human roommates in the woods. So these are hunters.

Hunters immediately notified the Madison County Sheriff's Office, which then contacted the FBI. From what I understand, the way that this area is, because I'm very familiar with the area, I've been around that area a lot. This is very remote. Like, that's why it was hunters that found that.

I mean, you don't just go here. Right. Like this is, I mean, it is deep in the wilderness. Such a deep in the Appalachian Mountains, where this place is.

What I understand since it's National Forest lands, it is federal. Oh, then you would be charged with a federal. So that's why the FBI was involved immediately. Other US law enforcement agencies were involved.

The Sheriff's Office of Madison County was involved. I believe the State Area Investigation was also involved as well. Um, lots and lots of people there. So they report this, goes to the FBI.

Agents and deputies hiked out to the site, um, on Sunday to begin their investigation. I'd get everybody in there. So they had to hike in. Like, I'm telling you, this is remote.

You know, a lot of them are like, I don't hike. Yeah. This is the strappy boots on and get you a stick. But you don't have to go down and start packing through a wilderness to get there.

I mean, this place is in the middle of nowhere. Wow. Like, you don't have, again, there's no hiking trails. There's nothing like that through here.

You have to intentionally know where you are going to get to this point. One thing's very clear. Um, the FBI said Monday that remains were found in a rural area near Stackhouse road, which is in the northwest town of Marshall. Just before you get into hot springs.

Stackhouse road, though, is not far from Lonesome Mountain road. So there was a sighting of a potential sighting of Diana, Coach Akari, Madeline this mother, in Madison County back in January of 2023. There was a statement put out. I don't remember seeing it, but as this was kind of coming out, I was looking it up.

Um, and I was like, oh, yeah, that's Madison County, which is, you know, kind of near the area that I live. Like, I mean, I'm through Madison County all the time. Yeah. Um, I know the area well.

I like, I know Buncombe County very well. I know, you know, this kind of western region worked in all these different places. Um, but I was like, I don't remember seeing any of that. And looked it up and sure enough, there was a statement put out by the sheriff of Beyond the lookout for this person related to this case.

So she's been seen in this area. So they were like, hey, if anyone's seen this little girl in this area has any information, let us know. Yeah, nothing ever came of it. So, but she was apparently seen at near Lonesome Mountain road, which is near Stackhouse road.

Gotcha. Um, so. With that being said, there is kind of some speculation out there of could these human remains be a Madelina. Could this be her?

Could we have found her here? I have read things online. You know, all of this is, you know, public information at this point right now. But then all this stuff is running wild on like social media and on the internet and, you know, people, I think people are hopeful in a way that they found her.

That would be some resolution. Yeah. But also like hoping it's not her. Yeah.

Um, because that means she's not with us anymore. Right. And something horrible has happened to her. Yeah.

Um, there is a, there was a report that came out that said, um, while the remains have not yet been identified, there was some early indication that said they potentially belong to an older man. So just looking at the bones, but from what I've read, those remains are being sent to Quantico, Virginia, to the FBI's lab to be identified and analyze there. Because I mean, you can tell a lot from bones, but like in the, in the field and that it's like, it's not as easy as, you know, TV makes it out to be. So they're going to have to do a lot of things like dating and, you know, there's not like how long, I mean, they were skeletal remains.

Like there's not like how long they've been there. And any outdoors, right? I mean, we've talked about repeatedly how the outdoors affects decomposition. And, you know, so what I, you know, I just want to say again, like you have to know where you're going to get to that slot.

Um, and what I don't want to happen is people stop looking for her because they think that this is her, right? Because we have not had any confirmation that it is. Um, yeah. I hope it's not.

You know, I hope that she is out there somewhere. And, you know, that will find her and, you know, she's safe. Um, but it was just very strange, the connecting pieces there. Um, it's very strange.

So she is still considered a missing person. Um, you know, if you have any information about her visit the FBI's website and search her name, we'll have a link to it in our show notes for this episode. That way you can click on it and see her photo. Um, our photo for the episode will be the missing flyer as well.

So you'll be able to see the information on the air. I'm just a beautiful little girl. Um, smart, bright, funny, just from everything I read about her. So if, you know, our hopes are this is not her.

It's not been confirmed at all in any way, shape or form that this is her. But I thought I wanted to mention it because of all of the online stuff. Like if you are to Google her name right now, this story about remains found in the Pizakan National Forest is one of the first ones to pop up. Um, so I feel like I needed to include it as well.

And that's something that is ongoing and happening right now in the area that we're from. I'm glad that you did. Yeah. Um, because my gosh.

Yeah. Who knew? It's crazy. Yeah.

So, um, obviously if you want to reach out to us with, you know, your thoughts on this, um, feel free to send us an email at mountainisseries.appalatchin.gmail.com. Find us on our Facebook page, Mountainisseries. Tales from Appalachia. Our Instagram is not mysteries.

Dot Appalachia and our Patreon is patreon.com slash mountainisseries. Right. And let's just keep with North Carolina. Winston Salem, North Carolina.

Okay. Yes, I've been there quite a bit. Yeah. Here lately, especially anyway.

Yeah. Um, yeah. So big shout out. Thank you all for listening.

This was a tough story. Yeah. And it's so weird. Confiluted and it's got so many pieces and things and, you know, I think the biggest theory that people are running on for this one is that she was sold, um, which is a horrible thing to say, but also Charlotte is a big hub for trafficking.

Yeah. Um, so and it can happen anywhere. Yeah. Like it doesn't have to be in the big cities or, I mean, trafficking happens in small towns and small communities, um, yeah, all the time.

Um, so there's a ton of resources out there for people, um, if they can get help, but just knowing kind of some of the signs to look for, um, is important. But yeah, that's, that's kind of the running theory right now is that she was, um, sold. So, you know, here's hope that she's, she's found and keep us posted. Yeah.

I want to, for sure. From protocol and I want to know how the things and we're recording this episode just a little bit early just because it's so fresh. I wanted to get it on like recorded. Um, so if for some reason before this episode airs, if there's something new, that comes out, um, we will attack or if we're not able to get together and record it, I'll attach it here at the end.

Touch it. Um, so if there's a little blurb here at the end, um, it means that we've had some sort of update. Um, but if not, we will. I would keep you updated.

I would like you to go do do do do do do do do do do. I don't mean to interject, but update update update. Yeah. Um, so yeah, if you hear that, um, the next little bit, then uh, that's what that is.

But if not, we'll keep you updated. Um, and we'll see you next week. All right. See you then.

Bye. Bye.