Large police presence spotted at home of missing 11-year-old Cornelius girl

CORNELIUS, N.C. (WBTV) - A large police presence was seen at the home of a missing 11-year-old girl from Cornelius on Wednesday.

According to a WBTV crew at the scene, about a dozen officers arrived at the home of Madalina Cojocari around 5 p.m.

The girl was last seen on Nov. 23 but was not reported missing until Dec. 15, when her parents reported her missing to her school resource officer at Bailey Middle School in Cornelius.

Since she was reported missing, Cojocari’s stepfather, Christopher Palmiter, and her mother, Diana Cojocari, have both been arrested and charged with failure to report a missing child.

[PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Video shows missing Cornelius girl departing school bus 2 days before disappearance]

Authorities previously visited the home earlier in the investigation and found an area in the kitchen blocked off with plywood, according to documents obtained by WBTV.

When asked about the wooded area, Palmiter allegedly told officers that he was going to make a separate apartment.

On Wednesday, police could be seen through the house windows, potentially taking photographs of the inside of the home.

Among the vehicles present was a Crime Scene Search truck.

Madalina weighs approximately 90 pounds and was last seen wearing jeans, pink, purple and white Adidas shoes, and a white t-shirt and jacket.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) have also joined the search for the missing child.

Related: Mother of missing Cornelius girl believed husband ‘put her family in danger,’ court documents say

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