Two months into an exhaustive search for student Mariam Makhniashvili, Toronto police have returned to Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, interviewing 980 students one by one even though few of them had met her.
Twenty officers set up in spare classrooms and offices on Monday in a process expected to take most of the week.
Officers asked students about their routine, “when they normally arrive at school [and] what route they normally take” to determine the likelihood they had crossed paths with Mariam, principal Peggy Aitchison said.
“They are going to review the student responses to determine if there are any students that, if they spent more time with, they might be able to jog a bit of a memory,” she said.
It will be the first time Toronto police have directly questioned students at the school from where, on Sept. 14, Mariam disappeared – they held two mass assemblies in September — and the most recent in a series of extreme steps taken in the search for the recent immigrant from the Republic of Georgia.
“It seems a little late for this, two months later. It’s November. High school students have a lot of stuff on their minds,” Justin, a Grade 11 student, said during lunch. “A lot of people want to help, they just don’t know how.”
Police approached Ms. Aitchison about two weeks ago and told her they would be interviewing her students. Permission slips were sent home to parents.
Parents could allow their child to be interviewed, insist on being there with them (or have a school representative in their place) or refuse to allow police to conduct the interview.
Ms. Aitchison said about 20 parents refused to allow their child to be interviewed, but was not aware of their reasons.
“I haven’t followed up with them,” she said, adding that she would call them if police asked her to.
Suhel, a Grade 9 student lounging outside Forest Hill Monday afternoon, said he was among the first students to be interviewed by police.
He said a lot of what they asked him echoed the questions they posed during a September assembly.
“They said the same stuff as they did before,” he said, as he tossed a small fruit from hand to hand. “My interview was like 15 minutes because I didn’t know her.”
The last time Mariam was seen was on the morning of Sept. 14 by her younger brother, George, who said she dropped him off at one entrance before circling to another door. She did not make it to class that morning.
“When she went missing, we spoke collectively to 900-plus students,” said police spokesman Const. Tony Vella. “This time it will be more of a personal touch.”
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