TORONTO – Toronto Police confirmed on Friday that the body found at the Don Valley Golf Club on February 28 was Mariam Makhniashvili.
As Global News first reported, and police confirmed at a press conference Friday, Mariam’s injuries were “not consistent with homicide or suspicious death.”
Mariam had been missing since September 2009, and was last seen in security footage at her Forest Hill Collegiate high school.
Her family had recently moved from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia and had only been in Toronto for three months at the time of Mariam’s disappearance.
Though the injuries are consistent with falling from a significant height, Toronto Police are continuing to investigate, including looking at Ministry of Transportation cameras that may have recorded the incident.
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Despite the two-and-a-half years from the time of her disappearance, Detective Sgt. Dave Nealon said investigators were hopeful of finding Mariam alive throughout the investigation.
Toronto Police also said that they will be conducting more interviews to try and discover a narrative of how Mariam ended up at the Don Valley Golf Club.
Two men found Mariam’s body on February 28 underneath an overpass at Don Valley Golf Club.
The search for Mariam, according to police, covered a large area near the golf course and Earl Bales Park but did not cover the area where Mariam’s body was found.
Though Toronto Police do not suspect foul play, they were careful not to suggest that Mariam committed suicide, only saying that the findings “could be consistent” with suicide.
Speaking at the press conference at Toronto Police Headquarters, Nealon said that her personality could match that of someone suffering from depression.
“Information we had right from the beginning considering her character and demeanor was not communicated to us, that she was in any way depressed,” said Nealon. “However, in retrospect, you could then see that being as an introvert and a bookworm, and kept to herself. One could assume that, that could be as a result of isolation and depression but at this point its all speculative.”
Mariam’s mother, Lela, has requested privacy as she deals with the news of her daughter’s death.
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