Toronto police say they have questioned a man about the disappearance of missing Toronto teenager Mariam Makhniashvili, but have ruled him out as a suspect at this time.
Bartosz Gajewski, 38, is currently in the Don Jail after being arrested on Sept. 18 and charged with criminal harassment and assault causing bodily harm.
"He was allegedly stalking a woman in the immediate area of where Mariam went missing," Const. Tony Vella, a Toronto Police Service spokesman, told ctvtoronto.ca on Wednesday.
Makhniashvili went missing on Sept. 14. Her brother George said they walked from their 20 Shallmar Blvd. apartment building to Forest Heights Collegiate Institute at 730 Eglinton Ave. W. He said Mariam told her she would go in the front door, as it was closer to her first-period class.
Since then, no evidence of her whereabouts has surfaced. However, there is also no evidence she is the victim of foul play.
Vella said the circumstances around Gajewski's conduct were seen by detectives as aggravating, so they talked to Gajewski "as a possibility only."
At this time, "he's being discounted as a suspect," he said.
Vella said he didn't have details on why Gajewski is being ruled out at this time.
Mariam is a newcomer to Canada, having arrived in June with George from the Republic of Georgia. Their parents had moved to Toronto after working in Los Angeles for five years.
She had just started her studies at Forest Hill Collegiate.
Her family described her as happy with the move to Canada. They say she is a calm, shy girl for whom running away would be very much out of character.
Mariam is white, 5'3" with light brown, shoulder-length hair and brown eyes. She was last seen wearing black jeans with front and back pockets and buttons as well as a baby blue, long-sleeved v-neck shirt. She was wearing a waist-length blue jean jacket and was carrying an oversized, used black backpack with a silver stripe that was hastily painted over in green.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416−808−5300, Crime Stoppers
anonymously at 416−222−TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, or text TOR and a message to CRIMES (274637).
