Are the remains Mariam Makhniashvili?

[attach]5531[/attach]Police have contacted missing teen Mariam Makhniashvili’s mother after human remains were found in North Toronto ravine this week.

Constable Tony Vella confirmed that a phone call had been placed to Lela Tabidze alerting her to the discovery of a body on Feb. 28 in an area near Highway 401 and Yonge Street. According to reports, the remains were found in a wooded area of the Don Valley Golf Course.

As the mother of a missing child, Tabidze was contacted by authorities to ensure she was given necessary information about the discovery, Vella said.

“If she heard it on the news, people are obviously speculating, so we just want to make sure she knows all the facts,” he said, adding police have not yet identified the remains and didn’t want Tabidze jumping to conclusions.

Vella said the remains have been taken to the coroner’s office for identification and cause of death. Police have yet to determine how long the remains had been in that location.

Tabidze’s daughter Mariam disappeared without a trace on Sept. 14, 2009 after walking with her brother George from their Shallmar Boulevard apartment to Forest Hill Collegiate, where they attended school.

Mariam was not seen again after they parted ways outside the school. At the time of the disappearance, Mariam and George were new to the country, having just immigrated to Toronto from the Republic of Georgia in June of 2009.

The missing person’s case has stumped local police and other international investigative agencies, but it remains an active investigation. There have been reported sightings of Mariam out West and in Toronto, but investigations ultimately turned up nothing.

Tabidze currently lives with her son in an apartment near Eglinton Avenue and Mt. Pleasant Road. Mariam’s father Vakhtang, who has been arrested twice for violent stabbing incidents since his daughter’s disappearance, is now serving time after pleading guilty to aggravated assault.