George Makhniashvili is seen with his father, Vakhtang Makhniashvili, and mother, Lela Tabidze, in a September 2009 file photo.Peter Power/The Globe and Mail
The younger brother of a teenage girl who has been missing for more than a year is back with his family after he disappeared Monday.
George Makhniashvili walked into the Toronto Police Service's 53 Division station at about 5:15 a.m. Tuesday.
"There's no allegations of any criminal misdoing. It's simply a personal matter and he's returned home to his family," said Constable Wendy Drummond.
Mr. Makhniashvili, 17, was seen early Monday as he headed to school, his parents said. When he didn't return home after being absent from his classes, they notified police. His sister Mariam disappeared under similar circumstances in September, 2009.
Vakhtang Makhniashvili said his son ran away partly because of a dispute about his future: While the teen wants to become a musician, his father prefers that he study math. As well, George had been "silent" over the past few weeks, he said.
"There was some kind of stress," the elder Mr. Makhniashvili told reporters outside his apartment building. "He took the guitar and decided to go for a walk and I don't know what he was thinking about."
The boy's disappearance – he rode his bike to Vaughan, north of Toronto – left his mother barely able to function, Mr. Makhniashvili said.
"It was even more difficult than before," he said.
However, when a detective found George's cellphone and backpack in his school locker around 10 p.m. Monday, his parents realized that he had not been abducted, Mr. Makhniashvili said.
Asked if his daughter also could have run away, Mr. Makhniashvili said: "It's very difficult to say this because Mariam's condition was very different." He said that when his daughter went missing, she was a recent newcomer to Canada and a "very, very serious" girl.
Ms. Makhniashvili's disappearance has long baffled investigators. She was last seen walking to school with George on Sept. 14, 2009. While he went in the back door of Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, she walked around to the front and hasn't been seen since.
Aside from her weather-beaten backpack, which turned up a few blocks away, police have found no trace of the girl, despite a massive search.
The story captivated the city, which watched every closely documented development over the past year. These included a May incident in which the elder Mr. Makhniashvili was charged with stabbing a neighbour.
Jill Mahoney