OKOTOKS, Alta. - Police said Wednesday that a Toronto teen missing since the beginning of September may be in southern Alberta, but her father doesn't think potential sightings of his daughter are accurate.
The RCMP said that Mariam Makhniashvili may have been in a community just south of Calgary in late October.
They said the 18-year-old possibly tried to sell dream catchers and other crafts to Okotoks businesses and could still be in the area.
But her father said from his Toronto home that he didn't believe it.
"Unfortunately, I think it is almost impossible," said Vakhtang Makhniashvili.
"If she were able to sell something on the street, she would be able to call us or email us, and why wouldn't she?"
Police say there is no video surveillance to back up the possibility that Mariam was in the area. But two business owners said a woman resembling her picture had tried to sell them crafts.
"We're basically looking to corroborate whether or not this in fact was Mariam," said Sgt. Ian Shardlow of the Okotoks RCMP.
"There's nothing concrete to indicate that in fact it was. It's just an investigational loop that needs to be closed."
Mariam was last seen arriving at school with her younger brother on Sept. 14.
Toronto police have said thousands of interviews have failed to generate any solid leads about what happened to her.
The teen, who was 17 when she disappeared, had only been at the school for four days before she disappeared and most students told police they had never spoken to her.
She had moved to Canada just three months earlier from the Republic of Georgia.
Police have said they found nothing on the family computer to indicate she met someone online. Her parents said in late October that no one in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, including the girl's two closest friends, had heard from her in six weeks.
Her parents have said it's unlikely she ran away since she left home with no money, no passport and no extra clothes. They've said they think the girl may have been kidnapped.
The teen's backpack was discovered a few kilometres east of the school. Some of its contents were strewn about as if someone had gone through it and discarded some items.
The case has also been profiled on the website of "America's Most Wanted."
