Timeline: The search for Mariam Makhniashvili

Mariam's case is closed

Several major events have passed since Mariam Makhniashvili was first reported missing in September 2009. Below is a timeline of events dating back to her arrival in Canada from Georgia.

May 2009 – Lela Tabidze and Vakhtang Makhniashvili move to Toronto from Los Angeles.

June 2009 – Mariam and her brother George Makhniashvili move from their grandparents' home in the Republic of Georgia to live with their parents in Toronto, after five years of living apart.

Sept. 14, 2009 – Mariam walks to Forest Hill Collegiate with her brother, and then tells him she'll enter through another door. She is reported missing when she doesn't come home from school.

Sept. 17, 2009 – Toronto police ask media to pass on a message to Mariam: Call home. Parents call her "the perfect daughter and perfect student." Police ask anyone in a four-kilometre radius to search their property for any signs.

Sept. 19, 2009 – Despite search efforts from police and community members, Mariam is still missing. Police scale back the search party from 40 officers to six. A local resident says he thinks he saw Mariam in a McDonalds near St. Clair Avenue and Christie Street sitting with a middle-aged man.

Sept. 21, 2009 – Police hold an assembly at Mariam's school looking for leads. Mariam's parents again plead on TV for Mariam to call 911 if possible. They say she was happy and unlikely to run away.

Sept. 23, 2009 – Police release video from security cameras at Union Station. They have received more than 100 tips so far. Police check airports and border points for signs that Mariam has left the country.

Sept. 25, 2009 – Police use a helicopter to search Earl Bales Park in North York, about five kilometers from Mariam's school, for clues.

Sept. 26, 2009 – Police say the search will expand out of the city. All local leads have been exhausted.

Sept. 28, 2009 – Toronto police set up a command post outside the Makhniashvili family's apartment building to encourage community members to speak to police.

Sept. 29, 2009 – Toronto Crime Stoppers teams up with International Crime Stoppers in an attempt to broaden the search.

Sept. 30, 2009 – Police question a man who was allegedly stalking a woman in the area where Mariam went missing. He's ruled out as a suspect.

Oct. 1, 2009 – Mariam's father pleads: "Let her go, and I'll be more than willing to do anything I can."

Oct. 9, 2009 – A passerby discovers Mariam's backpack behind an apartment building on Eglinton Avenue near Yonge Street. Her father says the discovery is an important step forward, but they have no link to that location. The next day, police establish a command post close to where the bag was found.

Oct. 15, 2009 – Police visit to two high schools in the area where Mariam's backpack was found, looking for leads.

Oct. 27, 2009 – Mariam's family celebrates her birthday with a cake and 18 candles, looking at old photos and focusing on positive prayer. Police execute a search warrant at two public libraries, seizing 27 computers in hope that Mariam had used one of them to communicate. They hope to determine who she might have communicated with and what her mood was at the time.

Nov. 6, 2009 – An OPP helicopter with a high resolution camera searches Earl Bales, Sunnybrook and Sherwood parks.

Nov. 9, 2009 – Plainclothes police execute a detailed plan to canvas the area near Mariam's school, taking the search door-to-door. Det. Sgt. Dan Nealon says they expect to work seven days a week, 12 hours a day for two or three weeks.

Nov. 13, 2009 – Twenty officers search the Ingram Transfer Station for evidence that may have been tossed in the trash.

Nov. 16, 2009 – Toronto police do face-to-face interviews with 980 students at Mariam's high school, hoping for more information. They continue to search the garbage transfer site as well.

Nov. 20, 2009 – Police finish interviewing Mariam's schoolmates, say no new leads were developed.

Nov. 21, 2009 – Mariam's mother and brother hand out flyers at Yonge-Dundas Square in a gathering called the March for Mariam, organized on Facebook.

Nov. 25, 2009 – Investigators add Mariam to popular crime website America's Most Wanted.

Nov. 26, 2009 – The door-to-door canvas of Mariam's neighbourhood ends with no new leads after more than 7,000 interviews.

Dec. 2 – 9, 2009 – RCMP receive tips in Okotoks, Grande Prairie, and Hinton, Alta., from people who say they saw a young woman matching Mariam's description. They circulate photos and flyers but later say the tips were false.

Dec. 12, 2009 – America's Most Wanted mentions Mariam's case on air to an audience of millions.

Dec. 15, 2009 – Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair tells reporters he is stumped by Mariam's disappearance, and believes they have exhausted every investigative method they have.

May 7, 2010 – Mariam's father is taken into police custody after stabbing a 26-year-old male neighbour. Vakhtang Makhniashvili later told the court that he was accused by his neighbour for being responsible for Mariam's disappearance.

May 10, 2010 – Vakhtang is granted $50,000 bail, but returns to jail on June 7 when those who posted bail pulled their support.

June 9, 2010 – Vakhtang is released on $2,000 bail, but ordered to meet with a forensic psychiatrist.

Sept. 10, 2010 – A $10,000 reward is offered by the Missing Children Society of Canada in Mariam's case.

Sept. 14, 2010 – Police say that one year later they are no closer to finding Mariam.

Nov. 1-2, 2010 – Mariam's brother George runs away from home after a disagreement when he told his parents he wanted to study guitar, instead of math. He turns up at a police station 10 hours after his parents report him missing.

Nov. 4, 2010 – Mariam's father is charged with attempted murder following a double stabbing in a residential area near Queen Street East.

May 11, 2011 – Mariam's father pleads guilty to three counts of aggravated assault following the stabbing of two men and a woman. Two days later, he says stress over the loss of his daughter caused him to lash out.

July 28, 2011 – A judge says Vakhtang will undergo psychological testing before being sentenced, after a psychiatric report heard in court found he has a "major mental illness."

Oct. 20, 2011 – Vakhtang's psychiatric assessment says he suffers from a delusional disorder. He apologizes to the people he stabbed.

Dec. 7, 2011 – Mariam is reportedly seen in Scarborough. Police investigate, but are convinced the woman seen was not Mariam.

Dec. 8, 2011 – Mariam's father is sentenced to six years for the stabbings. He will serve four years, 11 months, getting credit for time served before the trial.

March 1, 2012 – Mariam's mother is notified by Toronto police after skeletal remains are found in a wooded area near Highway 401 and Yonge Street by two men.

March 2, 2012 – Police say human remains are likely two to three years old. They run forensic tests to determine the identity.

March 9, 2012 – Police confirm the remains are those of Mariam. In a press conference, police say the cause of death is not consistent with a homicide.