Police work to identify human remains found in North Toronto

Forensic investigators with Toronto police are scouring a wooded area where human remains were found earlier this week.

Though police have yet to confirm the age or identity of the victim, the mother of missing teen Mariam Makhniashvili told CP24 she was contacted by police Thursday morning who alerted her about the discovery.

Lela Tabidze told CP24 reporter Sue Sgambati that police simply told her that remains had been found but that they did not say they belonged to Mariam. She said she was waiting to hear back from officers who promised to keep her updated.

"Today is not easy," Tabidze said.

The skeletal remains were found along with some clothing items on Tuesday afternoon near a North Toronto ravine. On Thursday afternoon, the scene was still secured by several police cars and yellow police tape.

Mariam was last seen outside her Forest Hill high school on Eglinton Avenue near Bathurst Street in September, 2009. Her backpack was found months later blocks away at the back of a building on Eglinton near Mt. Pleasant Avenue. Police have had few clues about the 17-year-old's disappearance.

Toronto police homicide unit Staff Insp. Greg McLean told Sgambati that police call families of the missing as a courtesy, the way they do everytime they come across human remains. He reiterated that they have yet to confirm anything that would positively identify the remains.

Const. Wendy Drummond told CP24 that the homicide unit was alerted Thursday morning and is monitoring the situation.

She couldn't say how long the remains had likely been there.

"We won't know anything until the pathology report is done," Drummond said, adding that it wouldn't likely be completed before next week.

A view from the CP24 news chopper shows the scene is located in a wooded area near the Don Valley Golf Course, underneath the Highway 401 overpass.

McLean told Sgambati that clothing was found with the remains and that the remains are under investigation at the coroner's office. The remains were found by two people out for a stroll Tuesday afternoon.