Giorgi "George" Makhniashvili, the brother of missing teen girl Mariam Makhniashvili, has been found safe early Tuesday morning after running away from home on Monday.
Police say the 17-year-old boy walked into the 53-Division police station at about 5:15 a.m.
He was driven to his parents' Forrest Hill apartment just after 6 a.m. in an unmarked cruiser.
The teen's father Vakhtang Makhniashvili, says he is happy his son was found safe. The teen's parents first learned of Giorgi's disappearance when he was reported absent from school at about 5 p.m.
"It was quite a hell," he said during a press conference Tuesday.
The father says the teen's cell phone was turned off after several attempts to contact him. The father also says he last saw and spoke to his son at about 8:30 a.m. during breakfast on Monday morning.
Investigators found the teen's cellphone in his locker at school at about 10 p.m., suggesting he was not abducted and planned to leave home.
The teen took a guitar from school and rode his bike up to Vaughan, although police and the teen's father have not said why he would go to York Region.
Vakhtang Makhniashvili says his son was stressed and quiet for the last couple of weeks. He says there had been a disagreement over what his son wants to do in life. The teen wants to be a musician. The teen's father wants him to study math.
Police have not said what led the teen to return to the police station.
Mariam disappeared last September after she walked to school with her younger brother. The only trace ever found of the then-17-year-old girl was her backpack, which was discovered near Mount Pleasant Road and Eglinton Avenue, a couple of weeks after she vanished.
The girl's father says its hard to know if Mariam ran away. "It's very difficult to say, because Mariam's condition was very different," he said.
The teen girl's father said she was more of a newcomer and was very serious with life, but he hasn't given up hope she'll be found.
"I hope that some day we will probably have some news," he says.
