According to Mariam's mother, Lela Tabidze, the morning of Sept. 14, 2009 was like any other, with Mariam and her brother George rushing to get ready for school.
Forest Hill Collegiate was just two blocks away from the family's mid-town Toronto apartment. George went in one door and Mariam headed for another. That was the last time anyone saw her.
When 17-year-old Mariam didn't come home after school, her father, Vakhtang Makniashvili made an anguished call to 9-1-1. That call launched what is considered the largest missing person search in Toronto history – by air, on land and water.
Officers knocked on 6,000 doors. They searched the school, talked with students, and checked the alibis of all the known local sex offenders, all in hopes of finding one clue that would help crack the case.
Massive public appeals kept tips coming in. Three weeks into the investigation, Mariam's backpack was discovered.
Police hoped further clues to Mariam's disappearance might surface in their investigation into the family's past. Toronto police asked Interpol and police in the Republic of Georgia to conduct background checks on the family but they uncovered nothing unusual."This was an ordinary family that lived an ordinary life" said Young.
Leaving the homeland
Lela Tabidze and Vakhtang Makhniashvili were married in the Georgian capital, Tblisi in 1991, just months before the impoverished country declared independence from the Soviet Union. Civil unrest and food shortages meant life was a struggle.
By 2003 there was no work for Makhniashvili, who was a professional musician and part time lecturer at the university. Tabidze was working as a broadcaster but she and other employees soon found that there was no money for them to be paid.
When an opportunity at a graduate college in Claremont, Calif. Arose, Makhniashvili and Tabidze seized the moment, even though it meant making the nearly impossible decision to leave their children behind in Georgia.
Mariam and George stayed with Makhniashvili's mother Tsiana Aleksishvili, but Tabidze admits the decision was difficult.
After spending five years in California separated from the children Tabidze and Makhniashvili applied to come to Canada under the skilled workers immigration program. They were given permanent residence status and in June of 2009, the family was re-united in Toronto, a fresh start that collapsed just 90 days later when Mariam failed to turn up from school, never to be seen again.
Cracking under the stress
Eight months after Mariam's disappearance the family was at the centre of another police investigation. Vakhtang Makhniashvili attacked and stabbed a neighbor, Sean Ure, living in the apartment across the hall.
In an exclusive interview with W5, Ure described the terrifying encounter with Makhniashvili: "He was saying you took my daughter. He just kept repeating it and I was caught completely off guard," he said.
Ure says he didn't know Mariam at all and has no idea why Makhniashvili suspected he was involved in her disappearance.
Makhniashvili was arrested for the attack. At his bail hearing he received a mysterious offer of help. David and Delores Langer came forward with an offer to post the $50,000 bail for Makhniashvili, a total stranger.
So far the Langers have not explained what motivated them to post bail, although it has been revealed that they had been in contact with the Makhniashvili family via the Internet, using assumed names.
As a condition of his release, Vakhtang Makhniashvili was supposed to live with the Langer's but within weeks, the Langer's wanted nothing more to do with him and withdrew their bail. Shortly afterward, Makhniashvili stabbed the Langer's in a brutal assault on the doorstep of their east-end Toronto home.
Lela Tabidze cannot explain her husband's behavior.
"He's not and never has been a violent person before. Everything that's happening to him is because of the stress," she said.
Makhniashvili, who came to Canada, seeking a better life for his family, pleaded guilty and was convicted of three counts of aggravated assault. He will be sentenced December 8.
Toronto Police Det. Sgt. Dan Nealon, who is the lead investigator into Mariam's disappearance, told W5 her father's problems have been distracting for the public but not for the police. "We remain focused and try to find out what happened to Mariam," said Nealon.
But for now the police and Mariam's family remain mystified by her disappearance and hope and pray that someone will come forward with information that will solve the mystery of Mariam's disappearance.
"I can't believe there is no person who has not seen anything or knows anything. It is impossible," said Tabidze.
- Thursday, Sept 17 — The parents of Mariam Makhniashvili make a public plea for her safe return. She had been last seen the Monday of that week after she and her brother had arrived for classes at Forest Hill Collegiate. They separated before entering the school because Miriam, 17, told her brother it was easier to go in a different door. She never arrived in class. Her disappearance came three months after Lela Tabidze and Vakhtang Makhniashvili were reunited with their daughter, who had been living with her brother in the Republic of Georgia. They had stayed with their grandmother while Vakhtang Makhniashvili was doing research in Los Angeles.
- Friday, Sept 18, 2009 — Police announce their search for Mariam has escalated to the "highest priority" search, because her disappearance was out of character and she is not familiar with Toronto or with Canada. "To date, we don't have any evidence of foul play," Toronto Police staff Insp. Larry Sinclair said at the time.
- Sunday, Sept 20, 2009 — Mariam's father said his eldest child must have been kidnapped. "It's unimaginable for her to do something like this, even to go somewhere without telling us for three minutes," Vakhtang Makhniashvili said.
- Monday, Sept 21, 2009 — Toronto Police hold a rare assembly at Mariam's school, addressing some 1,000 junior and senior students, hoping someone in the crowd will have information and come forward.
- Tuesday, Sept 22, 2009 — Mariam's mother Lela issued a public plea urging her daughter - wherever she was - to call police or reach out to anyone who could help her. Court documents retrieved that day also revealed that Vakhtang Makhniashvili faced charges related to an incident in which he allegedly masturbated in a parked car outside a toddler day-care facility in downtown Los Angeles last November. He was acquitted of all charges in April 2009.
- Wednesday, Sept 23, 2009- Toronto Police issue new photographs and the last-known video taken of Mariam before her disappearance. They hoped the security camera footage from Union Station would help develop some leads.
- Friday, Sept 25, 2009 — Toronto police used helicopters to scour Earl Bales Park in North York for any signs of Mariam — evidence or otherwise.
- Friday, Oct 3, 2009 — Police say they have "absolutely no leads" that would help them crack the case.
- Thursday, Oct 9, 2009 — A backpack and school books belonging to Mariam are found in a damp, secluded parking lot, spurring police to call it an "important breakthrough" in the weeks-long search for the 17-year-old girl and raising more questions over how the backpack made it from Forest Hill Collegiate to a parking lot near a patch of condos where she had no apparent connection.
- Thursday, Oct 16, 2009 — Police hold an assemblies on Mariam's disappearance at Northern Secondary School in hopes students will provide some leads.
- Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2009 — Police seize two dozen computers from two city libraries as part of an investigation into her disappearance. Six were taken from Forest Hill Public Library, next to Mariam's Forest Hill Collegiate school on Eglinton Avenue West, and 21 more were seized from Barbara Frum Public Library, near the corner of Bathurst Street and Lawrence Avenue West. This happened on the day Mariam was supposed to turn 18.
- Friday, Nov 6, 2009 — Police conduct another search of Earl Bales Park and Sherwood Park, tracking by air and on the ground for evidence. They come up empty handed.
- Monday, Nov 10, 2009 — Police announce that 60 officers will canvas 6,000 homes in the Eglinton Avenue West and Yonge Street neighbourhood during the next three weeks as part of a ramped up effort to find Mariam.
- Friday, Nov 14, 2009 — Police detectives continue their canvass people on the street and comb a garbage dump near Keele Street and Eglinton Avenue West hoping to uncover some evidence.
- Monday, Nov 16, 2009 — Toronto police return to Forest Hill Collegiate Institute to interview 980 students in hopes some students will be able to share some information. Very few had even met Mariam, who had barely started at Forest Hill before her disappearance.
- Wednesday, Dec 3, 2009 — Reports emerge that Mariam may have been spotted more than 3,500 away in Okotoks, Alta. RCMP in the community 45 km south of Calgary said a girl matching her description was spotted selling dream catchers and other crafts to local businesses on or about Oct. 27.
- Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 — RCMP in Alberta report another possible Mariam sighting — this one from Grande Prairie. The uncorroborated tip was from a resident who said he saw the girl at a hotel in the city's north end on Dec 2 at 9:40 a.m.
- Wednesday, Dec 9, 2009 — More possible sightings of Mariam filter in from Alberta — RCMP there say she may have been in the Hinton, Alta. area the week prior.
- Friday, Dec 18, 2009 — Alberta RCMP say they've debunked the possible sightings of Mariam as a look-alike travelling across the country with a group of friends. "One of our detachments found a girl who looked like Mariam, checked her ID and was satisfied that it was not her and sent them on their way," said Sergeant Patrick Webb, adding that RCMP had received 15 reports about the travelling group in more than a dozen locations from Saskatoon to Grand Prairie, Alta.
- Friday, May 7, 2010 — Mariam's father, Vakhtang Makhniashvili is arrested and charged with a violent stabbing that put another resident of his Toronto apartment building in hospital. Mr. Makhniashvili allegedly banged on the door of his neighbour's apartment at around 7:30 p.m. - reportedly over a noise complaint - before forcibly entering and stabbing the 26-year-old resident in the stomach, police said. He was charged with aggravated assault, four counts of threatening bodily harm, forcible entry and assault with a weapon. In 2009, Vakhtang Makhniashvili was acquitted by a jury of charges in California that he did "willfully and unlawfully, in the presence of a child . . . induldge in a degrading, lewd, immoral and vicious habit and practice and be habitually drunk."
- Monday, May 11, 2010 — Vakhtang Makhniashvili is released on a $50,000 bail after being arrested for allegedly stabbing his neighbour. He spent the weekend in the Toronto West Detention Centre. His lawyer says Vakhtang Makhniashvili had been distraught and upset over the disappearance of his daughter.
- Monday, June 8, 2010 — Vakhtang Makhniashvili returns to custody after two of his sureties withdraw their names from his bail order after they were publicly accused of being private investigators. His wife and Mariam's mother, Lela Tabidze, who is also a third surety, said her husband's bail was revoked "because of the information my husband gave to the media, about his doubts of their real intentions."
- Tuesday, June 8, 2010 — Vakhtang Makhniashvili appears in court after his bail is revoked.
- Friday, Sept 10, 2010 —A $10,000 reward is offered for any information about Mariam's whereabouts.
- Monday, Nov 1, 2010 — Mariam's brother George goes missing. "He went to school but he didn't go inside. That's all we have right now," Vakhtang Makhniashvili said. "We are very worried. The police are working on it." The circumstances of the boy's disappearance are strangely similar to those of his sister's.
- Tuesday, Nov 2, 2010 — George returns home. "He apologized and he is ashamed of his behaviour right now," his mother said. He turned up unharmed at the 53 Division headquarters of the Toronto Police. George left his home near Roehampton and Redpath avenues, in the Yonge and Eglinton area, at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, carrying his backpack and cellphone. He took off on a red mountain bike, which his parents thought he was riding to Forest Hill Collegiate, where he goes to school.
- Thursday, Nov 4, 2010 — Vakhtang Makhniashvili is charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and breaching his bail conditions. The alleged stabbing in May — reportedly following a noise complaint — put a resident of his Toronto apartment building in hospital.
- Friday, Nov 5, 2010 — Vakhtang Makhniashvili appears in court and ordered to reappear on Wednesday. He is held at the Toronto West Detention Centre's medical wing.
- Wednesday, Nov 10, 2010 — Vakhtang Makhniashvili remains in custody after his bail hearing.
- Friday, May 13, 2011 — Vakhtang Makhniashvili pleads guilty to aggravated assault in the stabbing of three people, including a neighbour he suspected of being involved in his daughter Mariam's disappearance.
- Thursday, Oct, 20, 2011 — Vakhtang Makhniashvili apologizes in court for the stabbings and how they affected the victim's families. "I realize how much pain and trouble I have caused to society, to my victims, to my family." Vakhtang Makhniashvili made a few more unintelligible comments at the culmination of his sentencing hearing.
- Thursday, Dec 8, 2011 — Police investigate a potential sighting of Mariam on the same day her father is sentenced to six years in prison for a series of violent knife attacks. "This is a very sad case that has had serious consequences for many," the judge noted in her sentencing decision. "It is a case where a mentally ill man suffered a horrific event in his life and subsequently made decisions that led to equally horrific consequences. Vakhtang Makhniashvili is living every parent's nightmare. Unfortunately (he) chose to deal with the ordeal alone." A pair of psychiatric reports entered as evidence found Makhniashvili likely suffered from delusional disorder, a major mental illness characterized, in his case, by delusions of persecution. The disorder appeared to be triggered by Mariam's disappearance.
- Thursday, March 1, 2012 — Police receive reports of human remains in a wooded area near Highway 401 and Yonge Street earlier in the week, discovered by two people walking in the area. They phone Mariam's mother, believing the remains could possibly belong to the young woman.
- Friday, March 9, 2012 — Police confirm the human remains are that of Mariam Makhniashvili. Her injuries were consistent with a "fall from a significant height," from an overpass. Police notified her parents Friday morning.
National Post
No comments:
Post a Comment