New aerial search held for missing Toronto teen
Last Updated: Friday, November 6, 2009 | 3:11 PM ET
CBC News
An Ontario Provincial Police helicopter scanned two parks in Toronto to look for new clues in the disappearance of Mariam Makhniashvili, a Toronto teen who went missing almost two months ago.
Mariam Makhniashvili was last seen Sept. 14. (Toronto Police Service) Toronto police used the OPP helicopter — and its high-resolution camera — to scour Earl Bales Park and Sherwood Park in Toronto Friday morning.
Earl Bales Park is located near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue, while Sherwood Park is in the Mount Pleasant Road and Eglinton Avenue area.
The 17-year-old Grade 11 student disappeared after walking to Forest Hill Collegiate, near Bathurst Street and Eglinton Avenue West, on Sept. 14.
The search has now concluded, and police did not immediately say if they had uncovered anything significant, or what prompted the search.
Authorities had already criss-crossed Earl Bales Park in late September, using canine units and helicopters.
That search was fruitless.
Few other clues have been found, although on Oct. 8 police found Mariam's backpack in a parking lot behind 120 Eglinton Ave. E. — a building that sits on a busy Toronto street — just a few kilometres away from where the teen was last seen. The backpack was the first and only tangible item related to the case that police have uncovered.
Police have appealed to students at Forest Hill and nearby North Toronto Collegiate to come forward if they have any information on her disappearance. They have also released security footage of Mariam and her brother at Union Station on Sept. 13, at about 11:15 a.m.
That video was the most recent image of the teen.
Mariam and her brother lived in Tblisi, Georgia, before coming to Toronto in June to reunite with their parents.
Her parents, Vakhtang Makhniashvili and Lela Tabidze, arrived in Canada from Los Angeles a few months earlier. The two had lived in the U.S. for five years.
Both parents don't believe she ran away but police are not ruling out anything, including foul play.
Mariam is 5-3, with light brown, shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing black pants, a light blue shirt and a dark blue jean jacket.
Share Tools
Latest Toronto News Headlines
- 3 auto centre owners charged in Project Enterprise
- A group of Toronto men have been charged following a long-running police investigation into vehicle thefts and chop shops in southern Ontario. more »
- CBC traffic reporter Jim Curran to retire
- Legendary CBC Toronto traffic reporter Jim Curran announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of March after almost 40 years at the microphone. more »
- Man accused of putting dead woman's body in carpet
- Toronto police say a man has been charged with wrapping a dead woman's body in a carpet and leaving it in a west-end laneway. more »
- Toronto risks losing LRT funds, Metrolinx member says
- A member of the provincial transit agency Metrolinx says he's worried that Mayor Rob Ford's continued push for subways will cause the province to pull billions of dollars off the table. more »
Top News Headlines
- Former Expos catcher Gary Carter succumbs to brain cancer
- Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter, who left an indelible mark on baseball in Canada during his 12 years with the Montreal Expos, died on Thursday. The man nicknamed "Kid" or "Kid Carter" for his ever-smiling face and cheerfulness is free from the inoperable brain cancer that sapped his energy and took his life at age 57. more »
- UN backs resolution condemning Syrian regime
- The UN General Assembly has backed a non-binding Arab League-sponsored resolution calling on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down and end his regime's violent crackdown on dissidents. more »
- 7 MPs and their fiery quotes
- The election of a majority government was seen by some as a chance for less acrimonious politics on Parliament Hill. But the past week has seen its fair share of inflammatory rhetoric on both sides of the House. more »
- Dog kills newborn in Alberta community
- Officials in Airdrie are revealing few details about the fatal mauling of an infant by a family dog in the southern Alberta city. more »
- Drummond report on Ontario calls for cutbacks
- 3 auto centre owners charged in Project Enterprise
- Confinement room accused to appear in court
- CBC traffic reporter Jim Curran to retire
- OPP called in to probe ORNGE 'irregularities'
- Man accused of putting dead woman's body in carpet
- Drummond report highlights
- Toronto doctor's 'magic pill' goes viral
- Schools need bigger class sizes, austerity report says

