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This is Jessica Knoll, host of the new series Back in Crime. If you're a follower of true crime, you're probably familiar with some of the most shocking stories from our history. Horrific tragedies like the Columbine Massacre. He turned the gun straight at us and shot. Oh my God, the window went out. And the kid standing there with me, I think he got hit. Okay. Oh God. And notorious criminals like cult leader Charles Manson.
In a scene described by one investigator as reminiscent of a weird religious rite, five persons, including actress Sharon Tate, were found dead at the home of Miss Tate and her husband, screen director Roman Poliansky. But what if we were to turn back the hands of time and relive these events as they unfolded? Follow along each week as we take a fresh look at crimes from the past. Back in Crime is available now.
Voices for Justice is a podcast that uses adult language and discusses sensitive and potentially triggering topics, including violence, abuse, and murder. This podcast may not be appropriate for younger audiences. All parties are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Some names have been changed or omitted per their request or for safety purposes. Listener discretion is advised. My name is Sarah Turney and this is Voices for Justice.
Today I'm discussing the disappearance of Madalena Kojikari. I first found Madalena's case at the end of 2022, basically right when it became public, and I was shocked that she hadn't gotten more attention. An 11-year-old girl was missing, and no one reported it to police until weeks after the fact. These are the cases that I find myself picking up and running with. The cases where there seems to be some type of trouble at home, and
and very few people close to the missing child are coming forward to speak with the media or the police. Back in December 2022, I shared a mini-sode with you guys about Madalina's case. It was only 11 minutes long. There was really almost nothing out there about her. I just wanted to get the word out here, and of course over on my TikTok, where I shared what was believed to be the last video taken of Madalina.
Then in early 2023, more information came out, and I made a full-length episode about Madalena in March. It's been over a year since that episode, and there have been a lot of new developments in her case that kind of change everything. Even just before this episode was set to air, I ran back to the booth to record the very latest in this case. A new but familiar suspect has been officially named.
This is the case of Madalena Kojikari. In November 2022, 11-year-old Madalena Kojikari was in the 6th grade at Bailey Middle School in Cornelius, North Carolina. This is about 20 miles north of Charlotte. It's a cozy, suburban town with a population of around 25,000, and it runs along the largest man-made lake in the state, Lake Norman.
Madalena lived with her 37-year-old mother, Diana Kojikari, and her 60-year-old stepfather, Christopher Pomatter.
To this day, almost nothing has been published about Madalena's biological father. And as far as I could find, it's unclear if he's ever been located. Much of what we now know about how Diana and Christopher met comes directly from Christopher's court testimony. So we really only have this one side of things. But he says they met on a website called Global Ladies in 2008. Christopher was in his late 40s and Diana was in her early 20s.
Diana was living in Moldova then, saying that she was a teacher. Moldova is in Eastern Europe. It's between Ukraine and Romania. But after about a year of talking online, Christopher visits Moldova, and they have a great time.
He comes back a few months later with a promise ring for Diana. Christopher hadn't had a serious relationship since college, but things didn't exactly go as planned. Christopher says that they basically lost contact after this. Once they reconnected, Diana was pregnant with Madalena.
The father was someone local that she'd slept with between Christopher's visits. In his court testimony, Christopher has said that Madalena's father wanted nothing to do with Diana, but Christopher still wanted to be with her, so he proposed. After a two-year immigration process, Diana and Madalena came to the U.S., and Christopher and Diana got married on January 9th, 2016.
Again, outside of the date that they got married, all of this is according to Christopher, so take it for what you will. But if it's true, I have to imagine that Christopher seems like a catch to Diana. He'd never been married, no kids, he's educated, he's an engineer. He also dabbled in laser engraving on the side for extra cash. He had no criminal background and was ready to take care of her and Madalena, at least financially.
While Diana said that she was a teacher back in Moldova, she never worked while living with Christopher. But flash forward about six years to November 2022, and Madalina is now 11. On Monday, November 21st, Madalina attended school like usual. After school, she rides her normal school bus home. The surveillance video system on the bus shows her exiting the vehicle at 4.59pm at her normal stop.
This is the last day Madalena goes to school. According to the Charlotte Mecklenburg School's handbook, a school representative will contact a child's guardian after three, six, and ten unexcused absences. When it hits that ten-day mark, they send out a letter explaining that the parent may be referred for prosecution for truancy.
The police have also confirmed that Madalena's school did attempt to reach out to her parents several times beginning on November 23rd. Though, it does appear that somewhere throughout this process, Diana did say that Madalena was sick, and that's why she wasn't at school. Again, according to the handbook, after five absences, parents are required to provide a note from a medical professional. It's unclear if that ever happened.
But these absences are piling up. And on the afternoon of Monday, December 12th, Madalena's school resource officer and 6th grade school counselor went to her home to discuss her absence. But no one answered the door, so they dropped off a truancy packet and left.
Two days later, Diana calls the counselor and says that she and Madalena will both be at the school the following day to discuss her absence. And this is really where everything starts to fall apart for Madalena's mom. On Thursday, December 15th, she shows up for the meeting without Madalena. She tells the counselor that the last time she saw Madalena was weeks earlier on November 23rd, the day before Thanksgiving.
When I covered Madalena's case about a year ago, we didn't have nearly as many details about this meeting. But through court documents, we know a lot more now. Diana first tells the counselor that she last saw Madalena around noon. But when the school resource officer asks her about it, Diana changes her story and says it was actually closer to 10pm. She says she and her husband were fighting, and that's when Madalena went to bed.
She says the next morning, on Thanksgiving, she went to go check on Madalena around 11.30am, but she wasn't in her room or anywhere else. Diana explains that Madalena did not have a cell phone, and even though she'd been in North Carolina since she was a toddler and went through most of her schooling here, says she doesn't have any friends because she's from Moldova.
When asked why she didn't report Madalena missing, she says she was afraid it would start a conflict with her husband. So, they ask Diana to call Christopher and have him come join this conversation at the school. Two detectives from the Cornelius PD are also called out. They talk to Christopher. When asked when he last saw Madalena, Christopher says it was about a week before her last day of school, putting it around November 14th.
Now, as far as I could find, Christopher never really gives an exact date here. Even in his 2024 court testimony, he's unsure of the last day that he saw Madalena. But he says that on the night of the 23rd, so two days after Madalena got off the school bus, Diana asked him to drive to his family's home in Michigan to get some clothing that Diana and Madalena had left there a few months prior. So he made the about 13-hour trip to Lansing.
Throughout his police interviews, Christopher explained that he got back from Michigan on the night of November 26th. It seems that he stayed there for a few days over the Thanksgiving holiday. He says that when he gets back, he asks Diana where Madalena is and if she's hiding her somewhere. But apparently, Diana asks him the same questions.
By the end of this meeting at the school, a missing persons report is finally made for Madalena. And two days later, both Diana and Christopher are arrested on felony charges for not reporting a missing child to police.
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At Diana's bond hearing, prosecutors said that she reported Madalena missing begrudgingly and hindered the investigation into her disappearance. They say that they have grave concerns that if Diana is released on bond, she'll continue to hinder the investigation and the search. Diana's bond was set at $250,000, and Christopher's bond was set at $200,000.
That night, the community holds a candlelight vigil for Madalena. From December 16th through the 21st, the Cornelius PD obtains six search warrants. They want the T-Mobile call detail records for both Christopher and Diana to search Christopher's phone specifically and to search the family home.
Now, these were originally sealed by a judge, but after some time and a petition from a local journalist to have them unsealed, they were released with redactions. These warrants outline the timeline of the investigation, and give us a little more insight into what exactly they were looking for in Madalena's home. They were authorized to search the home, vehicles, and basically anything on the property.
It seems that in addition to looking for obviously any evidence of a crime, they were also looking for travel documents, Madalena's clothing, and any possible DNA samples. According to court testimony given by Cornelius Police Detective Gina Patterson, when she entered Madalena's home, the first thing she noticed was the strong smell of cat urine. She says there were about a dozen cats living in the home.
And as investigators make their way through the house, they find some Western Union receipts. They show that Diana had wired a total of $7,000 back to her relatives in Moldova. They also found a handbag of hers with $7,500 in cash.
We know that Madalena's laptop was taken, along with three cell phones. The owners have not been identified. If you believe Diana Kojikari that Madalena did not have a cell phone, it would appear that either Christopher or Diana had two cell phones. Whether they're new or old, I can't say. It could have been a phone from Madalena. It also could have been a phone from years prior kept in a drawer. We just don't know.
Investigators also find an area in the kitchen that was blocked off with plywood. When asked, Christopher said that they planned to build a separate apartment. They also dug up some areas in the backyard. But as of this recording, it's not clear if they found anything.
Now, while the investigation into Madalena's disappearance was greatly focused on her mother and stepfather, there were some searches for Madalena. Teams searched the area surrounding Madalena's home, Lake Cornelius, which is about two miles from the home, and Lake Norman, which is adjacent. Like I told you, it's the largest man-made lake in the entire state. And it's huge.
It has 520 miles of shoreline and over 50 miles of surface area. If anything was found, again, authorities have not released that to the media. Then, in January 2023, police announced something huge.
Multiple witnesses come forward to say that they saw Diana's light green Toyota Prius in the days after Madalena was last seen. She was spotted in some pretty remote areas in the North Carolina mountains. One witness said that she saw Diana's car on Tuesday, November 22nd, the day after Madalena was last seen in that footage getting off the school bus.
According to that witness, they saw her car in Weaverville. This was later corroborated by another resident who says that they saw the same car at a Weaverville IHOP restaurant on November 25th. Weaverville is a two-hour drive from Cornelius. The next witness says that they saw Diana's car parked near Lonesome Mountain. She says it stuck out to her, because later the same vehicle caught up to her and sped past her.
I think it's worth noting that Diana's Prius is this pretty distinguishable sea foam color. It's kind of hard to miss.
Now, Lonesome Mountain is north of Weaverville. You basically run right into it 22 miles up the road. The unfortunate part here is we don't know the exact date of this sighting. So it's hard to say that if this was Diana, if she visited the area several times over a few days or just stayed in the area, at least from the 22nd to the 25th.
But I do think that we have good reason to believe that it was Diana's Prius that was seen. Because law enforcement confirmed to Inside Edition that they made contact with Diana near Lonesome Mountain after Madalena was missing. An officer saw her, pulled over to the side of the road, and asked if she needed help. She didn't. But the officer says that Diana was alone. Of course, these areas were searched as well. But it doesn't appear that anything was found.
Slowly but surely, Madalena's case moved along. Throughout the investigation, a few different agencies worked her case. The Cornelius PD, the State Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI. Not many details were made public until the court proceedings began, statements were made, and documents were released.
We find out that in early March 2023, Christopher and his attorney met with the State Bureau of Investigation and the FBI. Reporting from this meeting reveals that audio recordings exist that show Diana had a plan to hide Madalena without Christopher's knowledge. Texts between Diana and Christopher, as well as messages between Diana and an unnamed third party, also reference plans to hide Madalena.
There are also texts to show that Diana planned to leave Christopher without his knowledge. Now, throughout all these court proceedings leading up to the trial, Christopher's court-appointed attorney, Brandon Roseman, requests everything on Madalena's case.
He wants all the information they have to show that his client was not complicit with Diana's plan. They want everyone's statements, notes from investigators, all results of all testing and examinations, all the bench notes, everything. But all of their requests were denied. The state argued that the investigation into Madalena's disappearance didn't impact Christopher's charge of failing to report her missing.
Then, in July 2023, another major bombshell hits the news. Madalina was seen alive, weeks after Diana and Christopher say they last saw her. This episode of Voices for Justice is sponsored by Ibotta. Are you planning your dream vacation but dreading the cost?
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After more search warrants were unsealed in Madalena's case, it was made public that a child and a man were seen in Sugar Mountain on December 16th, 2022. This is the day after the meeting with the school. And these people were quote, physically consistent, end quote, with Madalena and her only known blood relative in the U.S.,
They were also seen at a Lowe's food store in nearby Linville, North Carolina. This is about two hours north of Cornelius. It was also revealed that law enforcement sent an informant to share a cell with Christopher. It doesn't seem like much was found here, though. The informant says that Christopher wrote what he remembered about Madalena's disappearance in a notebook that was later seized by the police.
But it was really around this same time that representatives on both sides began talking to the media even more. Christopher's lawyers said that they believed Madalena is being hidden by someone Diana assigned. Then Diana's mother, Rodhika Kojikari, begins accusing Christopher of a lot. She tells reporters that she thinks he trafficked both Diana and Madalena for $5 million, that he stalked them for two years.
and held them captive in their home like prisoners, stealing all their important documents. She also says that Christopher drugged Diana and Madalena, saying that he would use narcotics to make them sleep, and would slip the narcotics in their juice. She says Madalena was kidnapped and is still alive, and that Christopher threatened Diana not to tell police or he would kill her.
She thinks Madalena may have been forced to get plastic surgery to change her appearance and evade law enforcement. Now, during all this time, since December 2022, both Christopher and Diana have been incarcerated on their felony charges of failing to report Madalena missing. But in August 2023, Christopher posts bail at $25,000.
He did have his fingerprints taken and was made to surrender his passport. He was also placed under a curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. with exceptions for work and school.
Now, one just kind of odd thing I found between Christopher posting bail and his and Diana's trials was in February 2024, Diana apparently refused to attend court. She basically just wouldn't leave her cell. Her court date was rescheduled and all went according to plan. But since the police have discussed her hindering the investigation, this felt important to include. Even if I don't know what it means yet.
Christopher and Diana were tried in May 2024. Diana pleaded guilty, and Christopher pleaded not guilty. Again, this is just for failing to report Madalena missing. Now, Diana's trial was pretty quick. She was found guilty, and after seven months in the Mecklenburg County Detention Center, she was released on time served.
Christopher Palmiter's trial was much longer, spanning about two weeks through the end of May. The defense spent a lot of time outlining his relationship with Diana. They discuss how they met, which I told you at the beginning of this episode, and they add that things were just not great from the start. Christopher says that through getting his marriage license, he found out that Diana lied about her age. He also says that the marriage was never consummated.
and Diana withheld all affection aside from the occasional kiss. While the couple did share a bedroom until 2017, he reported that Diana then moved into Madalina's room. She was sleeping on a trundle under her bed all the way up until Madalina went missing. They also outlined Diana's odd behavior.
It's explained by one of Christopher's friends that once while on vacation, people began taking pictures of this rainbow above a cloud. And this upset Diana. She asked them to stop, saying that they were seeing an angel getting its crown, and taking pictures was sacrilegious.
Christopher says that Diana's behavior changed greatly in 2021. While she'd always been spiritual, she began to follow a woman named Elizabeth Clare Prophet, who the defense said was the leader of a cult-like church.
After this, Diana would spend hours screaming chants, manifestations, and prayers at the top of her lungs at all hours of the night. She also burned various items as a part of this ritual, and had Madalena follow. In the summer of 2022, so not long before Madalena went missing, Diana told Christopher that she was being stalked by Vladimir Putin and Michael Jackson.
She says they wanted to marry her because she had Russian nobility titles that they coveted. She also said that they wanted her land. While Christopher said that he did not believe any of this was true, he did accommodate Diana's feelings. She was scared. She wanted to get away. So Christopher sends Diana and Madalena to stay with his relatives in Michigan. But that didn't appear to help.
Christopher also reports that one time, Madalena's school sent back proofs of her school pictures, and across the top was a message about ending child trafficking. Christopher tried to explain that this was probably something that was on every single proof sent home with every kid, but Diana took this as a targeted threat to Madalena specifically, and began to feel that the school was indoctrinating children.
She also quickly became concerned about phones being nearby as she discussed hiding Madalina. It was also revealed that, according to Christopher, he had basically no input on Madalina's upbringing. He would do things like take her to the park, buy her things, spend time with her in the house. But her education, her care, was all controlled by Diana.
His lawyer laid out a timeline of Madalena's disappearance and argued that Christopher had been manipulated and dominated by Diana. They say that sending Christopher on that trip to Michigan to grab the clothes was premeditated. They believe Diana left that clothing there intentionally. But he says that he packed immediately. Basically, within 45 minutes, he was ready to make this 12-plus hour trip.
He maintained that he did not see Madalena that morning, but Diana said that she was asleep upstairs. They argue that through Diana's communication, she was trying to portray an image that she was with Madalena. During this time, Diana told him that she and Madalena were taking trips to the mountains, that she was in her room sick, and she sent him text messages that indicated she and Madalena were together.
The defense argued that Christopher worked long hours to provide for his family. On top of this, Diana began to send him on this series of prolonged errands to distract him from Madalena being missing. They also provided documentation about the internet being fixed. It appears that the week after Madalena was last seen, the internet cable in their home had been cut.
This made it impossible for Christopher to work from home. So he made the three-hour round-trip commute each day to his job in Greensboro. Now, normally, he would only go into the office on Monday and Tuesday. Then Wednesday through Friday, he was able to work from home. But with the internet being out, he obviously had to make the 90-minute drive to work and back each day.
He says he usually got home after Madalena's bedtime, and he didn't see her at all that week. But he remembers that her bedroom light was on, so he assumed she was in there. He also claims that when a tech came out to fix the internet, no one answered the door. When Christopher followed up with Diana, she said that she and Madalena were out of town. He also says that Diana left a note on the refrigerator with the same message. She and Madalena were making trips to the mountains.
Christopher explains the November conversation after he returned from Michigan. He claims that he did ask Diana about Madalena, in which she said Madalena was in the bathroom, but he says he was standing directly in front of the bathroom door and she was not in there.
Then he asked Diana where Madalena was, and she asks him the same question. He then asked if she was hiding Madalena, and she again met him with the same question, this time laughing. Now, Diana was on standby to be a witness in Christopher's trial, but the defense ultimately decided not to call her to testify.
However, Madalena's school counselor and bus driver were called to testify. Both seemed to have cared about Madalena very much, and both got emotional on the stand. Ultimately, the prosecution pushed back, saying that Diana's behavior was even more cause for Christopher to report Madalena's disappearance to authorities. They also played five voicemails left on his cell phone from the school expressing their concerns about Madalena's absence.
Christopher does defend himself against these messages. He says, yes, I did get these voicemails and I conveyed to Diana that she needed to call the school. He said he was at work and Diana always took care of those things. After less than 30 minutes of deliberation, Christopher Pominer was found guilty of failing to report Madalena missing. He's given 30 months of supervised probation.
and has to repay over $30,000 in attorney's fees. But he's set free on time served. Christopher filed for divorce shortly after in mid-June 2024. The court documents I found don't list a specific reason, just that they'd been separated since they were both arrested in December 2022. And then another major bombshell drops, probably the biggest in this case so far.
On June 23rd, 2024, Diana Kojikari is officially named a suspect in Madalena's case.
In 2020, in a small California mountain town, five women disappeared. I found out what happened to all of them, except one. A woman known as Dia, whose estate is worth millions of dollars. I'm Lucy Sheriff. Over the past four years, I've spoken with Dia's family and friends, and I've discovered that everyone has a different version of events.
Hear the story on Where's Dear. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. After a slew of court documents are made public throughout, and after Christopher and Diana's court proceedings, we learn a lot more. Some of which I have to imagine led to Diana being named a suspect in this case. The only suspect named for the record.
Now, because there's so much here, I think it's easier just to kind of recompile our timeline based on what we know now as of June 2024. So let's take it from the top. Christopher Pominer says that he hadn't seen Madalena since about November 14th, 2022. On Sunday, November 20th, Christopher says that he and Diana got into a big argument over a tall coffee mug with a snowflake on it.
He says Diana was upset that he put the mug by the coffee machine. He denied doing this. They go back and forth, she starts screaming, and then she throws the mug on the floor. It smashes and dents the floor. After that, she begins smashing mugs, plates, and bowls in the trash can, saying that she felt everything needed to be white, clean, or have no symbols touching her food.
The next day, Monday, November 21st, this is the last day that Madeline is seen at school. This is confirmed by video surveillance as well as school records. Christopher attends work as normal, but Diana sends Christopher to find a mug with a snowflake on it to replace the one that she'd broken the day before. Records were presented in court showing his map search history, placing him at a Walmart close to 7pm. This is where he says he bought another snowflake mug.
On Tuesday the 22nd, Diana is seen in Weaverville. Again, Christopher goes to work and gets home close to 9pm after shopping at Walmart again. In court, he says that he doesn't recall if he'd seen Madalena that night. Take that for what you will.
Now, you guys know how I am, I have to tell you that I found some discrepancies about these next few dates. At times, the court documents conflict with what the media has reported. I will also say that as I went through my sister's trial process, I saw the state and defense mess-up dates. Sometimes, in my opinion, lawyers are just trying to get these documents through pretty quickly and errors are made.
But as far as I can gather, this appears to be the most accurate timeline based on the many sources I used to research this case.
Diana says Wednesday, November 23rd is the last time she saw her daughter. She first says around noon, then says it was closer to 10pm when she and Christopher were fighting and Madalena went to bed. Sometime either that night or early the next morning, Diana asked Christopher to go get the clothing from his family's home in Lansing, Michigan.
In his court testimony, Christopher says that this just wasn't the plan for Thanksgiving. He'd purchased some supplies to make a repair in the house and planned on doing that. But instead, he complies and makes this 12-plus hour trip.
Although, according to Christopher, Diana and Madalena sleep in the same room, literally on her trundle under her bed attached to her bed, Diana says that she doesn't notice that Madalena is missing until 11.30am on the 24th, when she goes into her bedroom and finds that she's gone. Of course, it's possible Diana could have slept somewhere else, it's possible Christopher is lying, I'm just trying to tell you what we know.
On November 25th, a witness believes they saw Diana's Prius at an IHOP in Weaverville. Sometime between the 22nd and the 25th, another witness says that she sees her about 22 miles away at Lonesome Mountain. Again, we unfortunately don't have the date of this, but an officer did confirm also seeing Diana near Lonesome Mountain.
Christopher returns from Michigan at about 7pm on Saturday the 26th. This is when they both ask each other if they know where Madalena is or if they're hiding her. And here is something disturbing and new. According to statements from Gina Patterson from the Cornelius PD, Christopher admits in a police interview that over Thanksgiving, Diana had burned most of Madalena's things.
including almost everything in the house with Madalena's picture on it. She had apparently moved just a few photos of her up to the attic. This is somewhat confirmed by a neighbor who says that they saw Diana burning furniture on November 30th, specifically a twin mattress believed to have belonged to Madalena.
We also discover through court documents that Diana communicated with her cousin, Octavian Sibanu, to tell him that the quote medical excuse, end quote, she used to excuse Madalena's absence from school was about to expire, and that she was concerned that the school would start asking questions. Outside of Diana, Octavian is the only known blood relative of Madalena in the United States.
On December 2nd, Diana tells a relative that her and Christopher's relationship is not good. She wants a divorce, and she also wants to smuggle herself and Madalena out of Cornelius. She also indicates that she knows where Madalena is and that she's alive. On December 3rd, Diana's seen about an hour away from Cornelius at a service station in Hickory getting an oil change.
This is about two hours from Lonesome Mountain. The attendant says that he remembers seeing children's toys in the car, but no child. On December 4th, Diana drives towards the mountains, claiming she's searching for Madalina. On December 12th, Madalina's school counselor and school resource officer drop off the truancy packet. On December 14th, Diana calls the school to say that she and Madalina would be there the next day.
On the 15th, Diana goes to the school without Madalena, and both she and Christopher speak with police. An official missing persons report is made for Madalena. On December 16th, video footage shows what the police believe to be Madalena and Diana's cousin Octavian near Sugar Mountain. Again, this is about two hours north of Cornelius. They were also spotted at the Lowe's food store nearby Linville.
While we're talking about her cousin, authorities also recovered cell phone data that shows Diana had extensive communication with him. Octavian also made phone calls to people who have not been identified, but police say they are involved in drug and narcotic trafficking investigations.
It was also revealed that when Diana's car was searched in February 2023, a dog did alert to narcotics being in the passenger side door. Inside the car, they also find a debit card from Moldova with Diana's name on it. I don't have information about whether or not that card was current, but at this point, Diana and Madalena had been out of Moldova for nearly a decade.
They also find Madalena's Romanian and Moldovan passports, along with Diana's Romanian passport. There was also a slew of other documents like education records and work certificates. It kinda sounds like all that information, all those documents that Diana's mom accused Christopher of hiding from them, but I can't say that for sure.
It's also worth noting here that while Diana was still in custody in April 2023, she was caught with a bag of cocaine and fentanyl. Though the charges were dropped after she claimed to have found the bag in the communal shower. According to a motion filed by Christopher's attorney to delay his trial, Diana had spoken with Octavian before, during, and after Madalena's disappearance.
On December 17th, Christopher and Diana are arrested for failing to report Madalena missing. Now, I will say that some of the dates here are a little bit fuzzier. In a recorded call from the jail between Diana and her mom, they discuss a bag with money, withdrawing cash, and Christopher possibly selling Madalena.
In another recorded call between Christopher, his brother, and his sister-in-law, he says Diana had a lot of cash with her, and he didn't know where it came from. I can only assume that that's the $7,500 found in Diana's purse. Of course, the rest of the timeline is in this episode, but as it relates to the investigation into Madalena's case, that's basically where it is today.
Diana is free, and apparently attempted to at least visit her old home with Christopher, despite her strong statements about him. This actually happened after she was released and while Christopher was still going through his trial. He says he found her asleep on the porch. He let her sleep inside for the night, and then had his brother take her to a hotel the next day.
Christopher says that her name is on the deed, but he didn't want her there, and says that they have had no contact since. And like I said, Christopher did file for divorce not long after. He is also free. So what happened to Madalena Kojikari? I think there's obviously a strong argument to be made that Diana was involved in whatever happened.
Of course, the strongest theory appears to be that Diana sent Madalena to her cousin. What happened from there is hard to say. I think many outcomes are possible, but let's focus on what we know. Diana was named a suspect, and Christopher was not. Christopher was placed on supervised probation, and Diana was not.
Police also placed an informant in Christopher's cell. As far as we know, they did not do the same to Diana. Another interesting note is that upon Diana's release, the judge in her case said that it was very likely that she'd be deported back to Moldova. But as of this update about her being named a suspect, that doesn't appear to have happened. Are they keeping her in the country for possible charges? I don't know.
But with this news, they have asked the public to keep sharing Madalina's case. Which brings me right to her call to action. Just like in 2022, Madalina's case is still not getting nearly as much attention as I'd expect it to. As many children who went missing and weren't reported until days or weeks later have gotten.
Even the video testimony of Christopher talking in court only has like 200 views on those videos. Please share Madalena's case. It does seem like law enforcement is highly invested. But with this new revelation, they've asked for us to share. So that's what I will ask you to do.
I think it's very possible that they're just waiting for a few more pieces of this puzzle to come to light. And as we've seen throughout this entire rollercoaster of an episode, there's new evidence popping up what seems like every day. So please share. I don't know what happened to Madalena, but as I've seen in the media, it doesn't really seem like anyone is fighting for her. And I'm not trying to place blame on anyone for that.
I just hope it gives you one more reason to share. As a reminder, it is now believed that Madalena Kojikari was last seen on December 16th, 2022 near Sugar Mountain in North Carolina. Madalena was 11 years old when she went missing and would now be 13 as of April 2024.
She is white with brown hair and brown eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 4 feet 10 inches tall and weighed about 90 pounds. She was last seen wearing jeans, pink, purple, and white Adidas shoes, and a white t-shirt with the words, I can change the world with love written across it.
She was also wearing a jacket. Anyone with information about Madalena is asked to contact the Cornelius Police Department at 704-892-7773. But as always, thank you, I love you, and I'll talk to you next time.
Voices for Justice is hosted and produced by me, Sarah Turney, and is a Voices for Justice media original. If you love what we do here, please don't forget to follow, rate, and review the show in your podcast player. It's an easy and free way to help us and help more people find these cases in need of justice. You can also support what we do here on Patreon at patreon.com slash voicesforjustice.
Welcome to the Secret After Show. The door is open, our emotional support puppies are in the room, let's talk about Madalina's case. My goodness, this episode felt like a rollercoaster because this case is a rollercoaster and I hope the format made sense. Trying to go in just chronological order felt insane. Um,
absolutely insane as to when things came out, when they happened. It is a bonkers timeline. Just because so much was held back and then it was released, it can be hard to follow. And I tried to make it not that way. So I hope it came across that way.
I will say that there is a lot more about this in Christopher's testimony. You can watch literally all of it on WCNC's YouTube channel. There's hours of his testimony. And I didn't include it all because without Diana's side, it felt like the episode would be extremely unbalanced. So I included what I felt to be the most important parts. And I think that's
I mean, he goes on about fights. There's recordings between him and Diana. And honestly, a lot about their relationship that while it can point, I think, to Diana having some mental health struggles, I'm not sure how relevant it is to Madalena's case outside of the facts I presented here. I think I was able to
portray what the police likely think happened, um, with the facts that I gave. But again, if you want to hear it all from Christopher, if you want to see his face, if you want to hear the emotion and judge for yourself, that is out there. Um, and again, I cannot believe those videos have like 200 views on them. It just, what's popular in true crime and what's not, um,
for some reason, always seems to perturb me. I don't know if it's surprising anymore, but it does genuinely annoy me. I just wish Madalina would get more coverage. And again, these really are the cases that I like to pick up and run with. Um,
I'm not trying to place blame on anyone for not speaking out about Madalena. It does seem that the options are quite limited. Her one relative here in the U.S. is basically being accused of hiding her. Her grandma did make some statements. I went over those, mostly accusing Christopher. But other than that, you know, in a lot of cases, Kim's been accused of hiding her.
cases, you see one person spearheading everything, right? A lot of families make a family contact and
I don't know if it's a lack of family or, you know, just everybody being overseas. There just doesn't appear to be anyone for Madalena doing that. Um, so I always feel the need to butt in and step in and, um, try to at least raise awareness. I won't say that I'm leading this charge. That's ridiculous. Um,
but I'm trying my best. This is the third time I've covered Madalena's case, and I will continue to cover it until we have a resolution. She deserves it. I will also say that I was going insane with the date discrepancies. There's so many discrepancies online, but I think I nailed down one what just makes sense. Some of the things didn't really make sense. Um,
I'm also still stuck on the last words from this episode, really going back and forth about how Christopher and Diana have each been treated by police. And, you know, while again, I, you know, I think it's a strong, strong argument that Diana, you know, sent Madalena with her cousin for whatever reason and whatever happened. I still, again, can't get over that.
One being named a suspect, the other not. One being on supervised probation, the other not. Police placing this informant in Christopher's cell and not in Diana's. I don't know. And on top of all of that, you know, the media is reporting and the judge told her that she's probably going to be deported and that hasn't happened. I don't know. I don't know with this one.
I will say that, um, as you watch Christopher's testimony in that trial, he continually says he doesn't know which day he last saw Madalena. This week before statement appears to kind of go out the window. I don't know. I don't know, you guys. Let me know what you think. On to what's going on with me. Not a lot that is true crime related, to be totally honest with you. Um...
I, like I think a lot of the world right now, have been glued to my TV every Sunday night to watch the Game of Thrones spinoff, House of the Dragon. Um, yeah. I mean, I've just been working away, not doing a lot, um, true crime related outside of cases. I'm also preparing for the True Crime Podcast Festival. I'm the keynote speaker. And I'm also doing a presentation with Julie Murray where we discuss what it's like to be a family member in true crime, which...
is a loaded topic. But I think it'll be good. Hopefully people care and want to listen. I think that they will. But other than that, I'm just fully, I'm so enthralled with House of the Dragon right now. I can't even, can't even describe it. All I can really say about that is you're either team black or we're not friends. And that's a non-negotiable.
Okay, I guess I'll negotiate. But still, why are you team green? If you're team green, please tell me why. Because I do not understand. I don't understand you greens over there. We are team Rhaenyra. We are team black. We are team justice over here, okay? This is going to be the worst transition ever. Let's go right into our segment of hope, since I don't have a lot going on in my life right now.
This story is a little bit older. It's December 2023 and it's way across from us all the way in Finland. But this is from sunnyskies.com, skies with a z in case you want to look it up, and the title is Missing Child Found Alive Inside a Pile of Snow by a Police Dog in Finland.
So basically, it looks like this child, they're not named, they are described as a school-aged child, they went missing on December 23rd at about 7 p.m. And then, apparently on Christmas Eve, they were located with the help of this dedicated police dog named Kuha, I think, K-U-H-A, Kuha, Kuha,
Um, basically while the search initially focused on like the city center, um, the patrol dog, um, or I'm sorry, the dog patrol, huge difference, dog patrol. We need more of that in the U S. Um,
led by Kuha, so he's like the leader of this pack, he carefully inspected a snow pile where children had built snow caves. And despite the challenging conditions, his keen sense of smell and persistence of the patrol paid off. At 1230 on Christmas Eve in the morning, the
They discovered, the dogs I should say, discovered a shoe sole buried beneath three feet of snow, and the child was inside. Now, they were initially unresponsive, which is really scary obviously, but they apparently recovered fully after receiving medical attention. The success of this rescue mission was attributed to the extensive training of police dog Kuha and the dedication of the dog patrol. And
And apparently the dog, I'm like, I'm like getting teary eyed. Apparently the dog patrol was commended by the Finnish Police Dog Association for their exceptional performance. And specifically they celebrated Kuha's role in the successful rescue. And that is our segment of hope. I know that it's not a tip that came in. It's not extremely relevant to sharing like we do here all the time, but
But it does give me hope. I mean, my goodness, how cool is it to have these tools like dogs that can really find people? And I feel like in a lot of these episodes, we talk about, well, you know, a dog tracked the scent. We don't know if it was real. We talk about, you know, people scamming families with dogs. There's a lot of, you know, wishwash about wishwash. There's a lot of uncertainty about dogs.
in terms of true crime. And that's valid, right? It's valid. They're not 100% accurate. But it does seem like Hoo-Ha and his dog patrol, they were fantastic. They found this child. Child is alive and all is well. So that's our segment of hope. But as always, thank you. I love you. And I'll talk to you next time.