The Cornelius Police Department tells Inside Edition Digital that they are looking into the claims made by a woman on Facebook who posted after claiming she saw a girl who looked similar to Madalina.
Police are investigating a possible sighting of Madalina Cojocari, eight months after she went missing from her North Carolina home.
The Cornelius Police Department tells Inside Edition Digital that they are looking into the claims made by a woman on Facebook who posted after claiming she saw a girl who looked similar to Madalina.
The sighting happened in Weaverville, California, which is 2,800 miles away from Madalina's home in Cornelius.
In her post, the woman wrote: "A girl who looks just like Madalina came up to me while getting gas, she was holding a small gray Tabby kitten, wearing a black on white (or dark navy on white) horizontally striped short-sleeve t-shirt, lighter blue stonewashed jeans, white sneakers and a backpack with white straps."
The young girl then asked the woman for a ride up "north" she wrote, but the woman declined due to lack of room and fears that she might be targeted by someone with more nefarious intentions because she was travelling by herself.
"It did NOT sit well with me at all, something was wrong," wrote the woman. "I searched all over to see if I could find any missing young girls that fit her age, height, and description, and this young girl popped up on my page first thing this morning."
The woman said that the young girl appeared to be travelling alone, but also noted that the crowds at the rest stop made it difficult to be certain.
Police arrested Madalina's mother, Diana Cojocari, and stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, on charges of failing to report the disappearance of a child back on Dec. 17, and the two remain in custody at the Mecklenburg County Jail awaiting an Aug. 11 hearing.
The two also refuse to offer any information about what happened to Madalina according to law enforcement, despite multiple people now reporting that they saw Diana in western North Carolina in the days after her daughter's disappearance.
The Cornelius Police Department initially focused their efforts in and around Madalina's home.
Then, in January, investigators shifted their focus from Madalina's home in Cornelius to Madison County, a densely forested but sparsely populated area deep in the Appalachian Mountains.
If this tip proves to be accurate, the focus of the investigation might move thousands of miles away to the West Coast.
The last confirmed sighting of Madalina was on Nov. 21, when she was seen on video exiting a school bus at 4:59 p.m., just days before Thanksgiving. That video was later released by the FBI.
She did not report to school that Tuesday or Wednesday before the holiday weekend, according to school officials.
Search efforts for Madalina did not get underway until Dec. 15 however, which is when her school forced Diana to address her daughter's truancy. That delay in reporting Madalina missing is what led to charges being filed against Diana and Palmiter.
A grand jury has since indicted both Diana and Palmeter on a single count of failing to report the disappearance of a child, and the two will formally enter their pleas in August. Diana is also facing a narcotics charge after allegedly being found in possession of fentanyl while behind bars. She claims to have found the drugs in the shower.
The Cornelius Police Department continues to share videos of Madalina on social media, and in a May post wrote: "It has been 6 months since Madalina was last seen getting off her school bus on 11/21/22. Madalina should be getting ready to enjoy the warm summer months of being at the beach and swimming. Please call Detectives at 704-892-7773 with any info that will help us to #FindMadalina."
