FBI releases video of missing 11-year-old exiting school bus in North Carolina

The FBI has released video of Madalina Cojocari, a missing 11-year-old from North Carolina whose parents allegedly waited more than three weeks to report her disappearance.

The clip, shared by investigators on Tuesday, shows Madalina getting off a bus outside her Cornelius home just before 5 p.m. on Nov. 21, two days before her mother said she last saw her. She’s wearing a light colored t-shirt and a dark backpack in the video, which is 20 seconds long.

School officials were not informed of Madalina’s disappearance until Dec. 15, according to law enforcement officials.

“This is the last time investigators have independent confirmation of when Madalina was last seen,” the FBI’s Charlotte bureau said on Twitter, adding, “We are seeking additional witnesses outside of the family to narrow down the exact timeline of when she disappeared.”

Earlier this week, the Cornelius Police Department in a Facebook update said investigators are expanding the “search area outside of the home where Madalina was last seen and that now includes Lake Cornelius. We are conducting additional land and water searches as a precautionary measure.”

Her mother, Diana Cojocari, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, were both arrested on Saturday on a charge of failure to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement. They were being held on Wednesday at the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, according to jail records.

“As previously released, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School employees contacted Diana Cojocari on several occasions to inquire about Madalina being absent from school,” the Cornelius Police Department said in a press release on Tuesday.

The school made “repeated contact” with Cojocari before she “went to Bailey Middle School on December 15, 2022, and reported to the School Resource Officer” that Madalina was missing.