Diana Cojoca kept quiet as she encountered reporters while leaving jail, but did say she hopes her daughter is "OK." She has repeatedly refused to cooperate with the investigation into her daughter's disappearance, who has now been missing for 18 months.
The mother of missing 13-year-old Madalina Cojocari is a free woman.
Diana Cojocari was released from the Mecklenburg County Jail on Tuesday, one day after pleading guilty to a single count of failure to report a child missing. That charge carries a maximum sentence of 24 months in the state of North Carolina, but the judge on Monday gave Cojocari credit for the 521 days she had already served and ordered her release the following day,
Cojocari was quiet as she encountered reporters while leaving jail reports WBTV, but did say she hopes her daughter is "OK." Local authorities say she has refused to cooperate with the investigation into her daughter's disappearance, who has now been missing for 18 months.
Search efforts for Madalina did not get underway until more than three weeks after her disappearance, which is when her school forced Cojocari to address her daughter's truancy. That delay in reporting Madalina missing is what led to charges being filed against Cojocari and her husband, Christopher Palmiter.
Palmiter entered a plea of not guilty to his charge of failure to report a child missing, and jury selection in his trial got underway on Wednesday.
The decision by Cojocari to change her plea raises even more questions in the already confounding case, as she decided to do so without any sort of deal or agreement with prosecutors, according to a copy of her plea change obtained by Inside Edition Digital. In that same form, Cojocari also acknowledged the fact that she faced deportation as a result of committing a felony.
She and her daughter Madalina both moved to the U.S. from Moldovia when Cojocari and Palmiter became engaged to be married. The two do not have a relationship at this point.
Cojocari's arraignment in her case had been scheduled for February but she did not attend either of her hearings that week, according to court records. The following month, she was formally indicted by a grand jury.
Under North Carolina law, any parent who "knowingly or wantonly fails to report the disappearance of a child to law enforcement" is charged with a Class I felony.
Palmiter posted bail in August but has been required to wear an ankle monitor at all times. He has said he was in Michigan visiting family on the days that Madalina went missing.
As for Madalina, Police have not given up in their search for the girl, who disappeared at the age of 11 and would now be 13.
A month after her disappearance, search efforts moved from Madalina's home to Madison County, a densely forested but sparsely populated area deep in the Appalachian Mountains.
Officers with the Cornelius Police Department moved search efforts to that remote and rugged section of western North Carolina after receiving reports that Cojocari's car was sighted in the area. Detectives then began the process of reaching out to residents of Madison County to ask if they had seen Madalina, her mother or her mother's car during the days and weeks around Madalina's disappearance.
Inside Edition Digital learned that multiple residents did in fact speak with investigators, and some of those residents did report seeing Cojocari's car in the area during the days after Madalina's disappearance.
A photo of Madalina posing at the summit of Mount Mitchell in neighboring Yancey County confirmed that she had at least visited that area of the state before she went missing, which is located three hours from her home in the town of Cornelius.
The Cornelius Police Department has also refused to give up the search for Madalina. The department hosted a group prayer gathering on the anniversary of her disappearance in November, as well as a party for her 12th birthday.
The girl's grandmother also has a theory as to what has happened to Madalina.
"My granddaughter is alive, but she's been kidnapped," Rodica Cojocari told WCNC outside court this past August, when Cojocari and Palmiter appeared before a judge after being charged with failing to report Madalina's disappearance for over three weeks.
Rodica also claimed that Madalina's stepfather masterminded the sale of his stepdaughter in her interview with WCNC.
"Chris Palmiter is the instrument," Rodica said. "He stalked them for two years. [They] had no documents in his home. He stole their documents and held them in the home ... like prisoners."
Rodica also alleged in her interview that Palmiter drugged Madalina and her mother before selling the girl for $5 million.
"Lately, he would use narcotics to make them sleep, both Madalina and Diana," Rodica told WCNC. "He used these narcotics in their juice. Diana and Madalina drank it, and he took Madalina out of the bedroom and gave her over to traffickers. I don't know to whom."
Palmiter's lawyer and Cojocari's public defender did not respond to requests for comment. Anyone with information on Madalina's disappearance is asked to call detectives with the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773.
