The questioning began with the Grade 9s.
One by one yesterday they were led to empty classrooms and offices at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, where one of 20 plainclothes Toronto police officers waited to quiz them about the day schoolmate Mariam Makhniashvili disappeared: Did you attend school that day? What time did you arrive? Which entrance did you use? Do you know of anything else that might help us?
Toronto police's decision to interview all 980 students at the midtown high school outside which Ms. Makhniashvili apparently vanished Sept. 14 is the latest extraordinary turn in an investigation that has no precedent in Toronto.
Police have already appealed for help at three high schools, searched Toronto parks with helicopters, examined computers she used at two public schools, sifted through mountains of garbage and started knocking on 6,000 doors in Ms. Makhniashvili's neighbourhood.
"To have that degree of manpower focus on this one investigation is remarkable," said Peggy Aitchison, the principal at Forest Hill Collegiate, which sent home forms last week seeking parental approval for the brief police interviews. Ms. Aitchison followed up with e-mails. She said that in all but 20 cases the parents agreed, and she applauded the police initiative.
The huge investigation is unusual in at least two ways: First, the missing person is not a small child but an adult. Ms. Makhniashvili has turned 18 since she vanished.
Second, police have repeatedly insisted there is no evidence to suggest that she ran away from home or that she met with foul play.
"There's no evidence to support either/or," Toronto police spokesman Constable Tony Vella said. "But we are persistent and we are dedicated to finding Mariam."
It will take at least the rest of the week for police to methodically quiz every student at Forest Hill Collegiate. Officers will show all the students a digitally enhanced photo of Ms. Makhniashvili depicting her in the clothes she was wearing the day she vanished, and ask them about 10 minutes of questions. Those with something useful to report will be interviewed again.
Outside in the bright sunshine and buzz of lunch-hour chatter, a gaggle of Grade 11s said they welcomed the fresh effort. Some, however, wondered why it is happening now, nine weeks after Ms. Makhniashvili went missing.
"I think that it's a good idea, but it should have been done earlier, because - hopefully not - now it might be too late," Brandon Linds, 16, said.
Said Madeleine Base-Bursey, also 16: "It seems like there's something missing from the story."
Few at Forest Hill Collegiate even knew the missing teen, a student for just four days.
Ms. Makhniashvili and her younger brother moved to Canada from the Republic of Georgia in late June. She speaks only rudimentary English, and disappeared without money, spare clothes or her passport.
The only solid clue since she went missing has been the Oct. 8 discovery of her backpack, containing school books and her lunch, abandoned in a park a couple of kilometres from her home.
Then, last week, 60 police officers began canvassing close to 6,000 houses and apartments, interviewing residents and seeking permission to search their homes.
Detective Sergeant Dan Nealon, who heads the investigation, said people have been receptive, and that so far no police have been refused entry.
"We'll be there another couple of weeks to try and complete this enormous task."
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An unprecendented search
Toronto police are going to extraordinary lengths to find missing teenager Mariam Makhniashvili.
6,000 DOORS
Last week 60 officers began asking thousands of area residents to let them inside their homes as they searched for clues in Ms. Makhniashvili's disappearance.
980 STUDENTS
Yesterday police began questioning every student at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute about Ms. Makhniashvili.
THE GLOBE AND MAIL / SOURCE: GOOGLE MAPS