MADALINA Cojocari’s stepfather has filed for divorce from his estranged wife, days after being found guilty in a trial related to the missing teen’s disappearance.
Christopher Palmiter filed for divorce on Monday from Madalina’s mother, Diana, ending their eight-year marriage.
The couple married on January 9, 2016, and have no 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren together.
Palmiter has not revealed the reason for the split in any court documents, obtained by ABC affiliate WSOC-TV.
The divorce documents do not mention anything about his stepdaughter Madalina either, who has been missing since November 2022.
Palmiter was recently found guilty of failing to report his stepdaughter’s disappearance.
Court documents previously revealed that the little girl’s mom told her cousin that she wanted to leave Palmiter.
“Diana reveals her delusional fears to [her cousin] and tells him that she has accumulated enough funds to ‘live off of for two or three months’,” the court document reads, per the WSOC-TV.
Both Palmiter and his estranged wife were initially charged with failure to report the disappearance of a 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 and arrested in 2022, and both pleaded not guilty.
However, Diana later changed her plea to guilty and was released from prison shortly before her husband’s trial.
During his court proceedings, Palmiter revealed where he thought missing Madalina might be.
“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.”
His comments came after investigators interviewed Diana’s cousin in March, where he seemingly confirmed Palmiter’s theory.
He disclosed that he was asked by Diana to help smuggle her and Madalina away from their North Carolina home, according to warrants reviewed by the station.
The relative claimed that Diana told him she was in a “bad relationship” with her husband and wanted a divorce.
GUILTY VERDICT
Madalina’s stepfather was found guilty last month after a jury deliberated for 15 minutes, after a one-week trial.
Palmiter was sentenced to 6-17 months in prison, however, since he had already spent 244 days being incarcerated, his penalty was suspended.
Instead, a judge sentenced him to 30 months of supervised probation.
Madalina was last seen leaving her school bus on November 21, 2022, in suburban Cornelius, North Carolina, about 15 miles north of Charlotte.
Palmiter maintained on the stand that Madalina’s mom was “100 percent in charge” of the small girl, who was 11 years old at the time of her disappearance.
“I’d go to work, and Diana would make sure Madalina got up in time for school,” he told the jury.
“She would make sure Madalina took a bath before she went to bed at night.”
During their time together, he revealed that Diana began getting entrenched in new spiritual rituals.
He recalled his wife chanting around the house while praying loudly and rapidly.
“There were certain rituals that she would do,” Palmiter recalled.
“She always said that she was fighting demons.”
The stepdad claimed that Diana’s new interest negatively affected her relationship with her daughter.
“Diana would be doing her prayers and stuff. Madalina would always ask me to play with her,” Palmiter told jurors.
“I’d take her for bike rides, play games with her, take her down to the park.”
Palmiter maintained that he had no idea his stepdaughter was missing until a school official brought it to his attention.
However, prosecutors disagreed stating that Palmiter knew Madalina was missing, revealing texts, emails, and calls found on his phone.
“He was the person in the role of supervising her, and he failed. That’s why he’s sitting in this seat,” prosecutor Austin Butler said during closing arguments.
SEARCH CONTINUES
It’s been two years since Madalina disappeared, and police are still dedicated to finding the missing 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥.
Cornelius Police Chief David Baucom told The U.S. Sun that he believes his squad will find the 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥.
“The search for Madelina continues,” Baucom said, adding that police wouldn’t stop until she was found.
“It’s not a cold case. It never has been, and from my seat, it never will be,” he said.
“We will continue to investigate this until we can find Madalina.”
However, Baucom admitted that this case has been hard for his team.
“This case has just been difficult from the start and a lot of it had to do with the length of time from when she was last seen until she was actually reported missing,” he said.
“There was quite a bit of time before our investigation began and we’ve just kind of been behind from the very start.”
