CORNELIUS, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – The investigation into what happened to missing 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari has now expanded to the North Carolina mountains.

Police are not saying what led them to Madison County.

Still, we know that right after Madalina was reported missing, police executed search warrants for the cell phones of Madalina’s mom and stepfather.

“Kids are such a precious thing, and they deserve to be treated well and brought up right, and that’s what we try to do,” said Bobby Scott, who lives off Lonesome Mountain Road. “That’s why we live where we live, and we hate that something like this came to our area.”

Two and a half hours from Charlotte, off the long, winding Lonesome Mountain Road in Madison County, north of Asheville, neighbors say law enforcement knocked on doors in the investigation into the disappearance of 11-year-old Madalina Cojocari from Cornelius.

“We have a general community chat line through Facebook,” said Chrissie Scott, Bobby’s wife. “Everybody’s been saying people have been going through; FBI’s been asking some general questions of residents if they’ve seen the car if they’ve seen the woman.”

A flyer for the missing girl is up at the Lonesome Mountain Market discount store off Highway 70 in Madison County.

A worker says she saw law enforcement about two and a half weeks ago with a dog on the side of Lonesome Mountain Road.

On Friday, Cornelius Police put out pictures of Madalina’s mom, Diana Cojocari, with mountains in the background, saying a family member was in the Madison County area between Nov. 22, around the time Madalina was last seen, and Dec. 15, the date Madalina was reported missing.

“It hits close to home because we have a 9, almost ten-year-old girl, and it makes me really sad,” said Chrissie. “Yeah, it’s terrible, and I hope it all turns out for the best.”

Police also want to talk with anyone who saw this Toyota Prius.

A neighbor posted on the Madison County Sheriff’s Facebook page, “If the car is ‘seafoam green’ in color, then I was beside it at stoplights on 25/70 in Weaverville (CVS) headed north on Nov. 22.”

That neighbor says she remembers the car because of its distinctive color.