 Toronto Police take computers from the Barbara Frum Library yesterday as part of their Mariam Makhniashvili investigation. (Sun Media/Stan Behal)
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TORONTO -- She's no longer a missing girl -- she's a missing woman.
Mariam Makhniashvili turned 18 yesterday and her father said he still believes she was kidnapped.
Vakhtang Makhniashvili said the Oct. 8 find of Mariam's backpack in the Yonge-Eglinton area reinforced his belief a stranger abducted her.
"My opinion was confirmed when the backpack was found because she didn't take money, she didn't take any IDs with her, and she left the phone numbers on the small list of paper in her backpack," Makhniashvili said. "She didn't take her lunch which was also in her backpack, so this means she was unable to do anything.
"She was kidnapped, I think."
Spending the day at home with wife Lela Tabidze, Makhniashvili said the family was marking the day quietly by thinking about Mariam, who disappeared Sept. 14 after splitting up from her brother George, 16, during their walk to their nearby school, Forest Hill Collegiate Institute.
After a five-year absence from their parents, Mariam and George moved this June from their native Republic of Georgia to Toronto. Their parents moved here in May from Los Angeles.
Makhniashvili said George, who was the last to see Mariam, underwent a lie detector test two weeks ago for police -- a test he passed, his dad said.
"I told them, 'Let's do it right away, because as soon as they eliminate the person, the better,'" Makhniashvili said.
Yesterday, police investigators seized 27 computers from two Toronto Public Libraries, the Forest Hill branch beside Mariam's school and the Barbara Frum Library and Recreation Centre near Bathurst St. and Lawrence Ave. W.
Twenty-one computers were taken out of the Frum branch and six were carted out of the Forest Hill branch at midday.
Police believe Mariam may have used the computers in those libraries, said Toronto Police spokesman Tony Vella.
At the scene yesterday, Det. Steve McIwain, one of the lead investigators, wouldn't comment.
Makhniashvili said his daughter was more likely to have used the Forest Hill computers.
"In fact, she went to the Forest Hill library a couple times, two, three times alone, but she stayed there about maybe 15-20 minutes," Makhniashvili said.
Makhniashvili added although he accompanied Mariam at least three times a week to the Frum branch over the course of two months, he doesn't remember her ever using the computers there. They would just stop by to pick up books and DVDs, he said.
The dad said he doubts Mariam had any secret e-mail accounts that her parents didn't know about.
"I doubt it very much, but who knows?" Makhniashvili said.
He said he knows Mariam's Hotmail and Facebook passwords and checks the accounts on a daily basis. There has been no activity.
The last e-mail sent by Mariam was to her cousin Dea in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Sept. 9, Makhniashvili said. It was just a simple message in which Mariam explained to Dea how to attach a photo to an e-mail.
BRETT.CLARKSON@SUNMEDIA.CA
