The stepfather of a missing 11-year-old girl has insisted he does not know where she is, a court heard.

Christopher Palmiter, 61, said he didn't know where stepdaughter Madaline Cojocari was, who vanished in Cornelius, North Carolina, on November 21 2022.

Palmiter and the girl's mother Diana Cojocari, 38, were charged with failure to report a missing child on December 17 the same year, after waiting nearly a month before alerting authorities to her disappearance.

Appearing in court nine months after she vanished, Palmiter's attorney Brandon Roseman said he wanted to bring Madalina home as much as 'everyone else' but he didn't know where she was.

He pleaded not guilty to the charge and the judge agreed to lower his bond from $200,000 to $25,000, continuing to be held at the Mecklenburg County jail where he has been since December.

Christopher Palmiter (pictured), 61, said he didn't know where stepdaughter Madaline Cojocari was, who went missing in Cornelius, North Carolina, on November 21 2022

Palmiter and the missing girl's mother Diana Cojocari, 38, were charged with failure to report a missing child on December 17. Pictured: Madaline Cojocari

Cojocari, who pleaded not guilty to the charge against her at an earlier hearing on Thursday, will continue to be held at the jail on a $200,000 bond.

Palmiter's actions are a large part of the reason Madalina cannot be located, according to the prosecuting attorney.

The state cited the fact that Palmiter worked remotely from home several days a week, and should've been well aware that Madalina vanished.

The idea that he could've been in the home for three weeks and not known is laughable, the state told the judge.

But Palmiter has specifically asked for evidence that would lead to the prosecution of his wife, documents show.

His defense believes the State has possession of documents that show Cojocari orchestrated and executed a plan to hid Madalina without his involvement, according to the US Sun.

In December last year, Dailymail.com revealed Madalina's parents were seen lighting a fire and torching couch cushions and other items in their backyard days after she disappeared.

Neighbors recalled seeing flames and smoke billowing from the yard of the Victoria Bay Drive home in late November, prompting calls to police and the fire department in Cornelius, North Carolina.

It wasn't until December 15, two weeks after the fire, that the girl's mother, Diana Cojocari, reported her daughter missing.

Police later searched the property for evidence, joined by FBI agents scouring the yard for debris.

A neighbor who saw investigators searching the home earlier this week told DailyMail.com that they spent hours outside.

'They took all kinds of samples from the fire pit area,' he said. 'I guess they were trying to figure out if they burned anything of substance there.

'It's a gross feeling to know something like this happened in your neighborhood,' he added.

'It's very suspicious that the mother didn't report the girl missing for two weeks.'

At 11.30am on November 24 Diana Cojacari claimed she went to check on Madalina to find she was no longer in her bedroom

Another neighbor told DailyMail.com that the fire wasn't such a big deal at the time because nobody knew the girl was missing.

'If you don't know the context that a girl was missing, it's kind of a nothing burger of a call,' he said. 'At the time, it was more of a fire safety or a permit type of issue.'

Police also posted information to Facebook earlier this year with reports that Madalina's mother had driven to a remote area in the mountains of Madison County after she was last seen, but before she was reported missing.

Cornelius police believe she traveled to the area, which is located deep in the Appalachian Mountains on the Tennessee border, after Madalina was last seen on November 21, but before she was reported missing on December 15.