UNCATEGORIZED

Two years and 2,200 tips later, Bellevue toddler still missing

Nov 4, 2013, 6:19 PM | Updated: 6:37 pm

Bellevue Police detectives are still assigned to a missing child case that started on Nov. 6, 2011, when 2-year-old Sky Metalwala was reported missing in Bellevue. To date, investigators have pursued more than 2,200 tips and leads in this case. Photo courtesy Metalwala family. This picture was taken when he was about two-years-old. He would be four now.

Bellevue police say they’ve exhausted all leads in the case of a Bellevue toddler reported missing two years ago.

Sky Metalwala has not been seen since his mother reported leaving him alone in an unlocked car after running out of gas on November 6, 2011.

Sky’s mom, Julia Biryukova, refused to be formally interviewed by detectives and was never named a suspect in the boy’s disappearance.

The Ukrainian-born woman told police she was driving with her two children to Overlake Medical Center on a Sunday morning when the car, her brother’s car ran out of gas and stalled in the 2600 block of 112th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue.

Biryukova told investigators, the only time she discussed the case with them, she left Sky asleep in his car seat, left the door unlocked and took her then four-year-old daughter, Maile, with her while they walked about a mile to a gas station. When she returned about an hour later, Sky was gone, she said.

Investigators searched a twenty-block area and went door-to-door asking people if they’d seen anything. Nothing.

Detectives were able to determine that her car ran normally and wasn’t out of gas.

Biryukova declined to take a polygraph test and invoked her 5th Amendment rights.

Her estranged husband, Solomon Metalwala, still believes Biryukova knew exactly what happened to their then two-year-old son.

Metalwala’s divorce was finalized in March 2012 and he was given custody of his daughter. Biryukova was disallowed visitation rights with her daughter.

In a news release Monday, Bellevue Police Major Pat Spak says his department and Redmond police have pursued more than 2,200 tips and leads in the case.

“All leads to date have been exhausted. Any new lead that comes to us is followed up immediately,” says Major Spak. “We want to find this child.”

They are “hopeful” they will one day be able to solve the case.

Related: Taxpayers support the mother of missing Bellevue toddler

By LINDA THOMAS

Uncategorized

kent trooper shot...

Kate Stone

Man faces multiple charges after WSP trooper shooting in Kent

A man accused of shooting a Washington State Patrol trooper multiple times in Kent last Friday has been charged.

1 month ago

Oregon Emergency Landing - (Elizabeth Le via AP)...

KIRO 7 News Staff

‘Everyone was eerily calm,’ recalls passenger aboard ill-fated Alaska Airlines flight

Terror in the skies: A Vancouver, Washington, woman shares the harrowing moments after an airplane blowout over Portland.

3 months ago

Photo: SPD vehicle...

KIRO 7 News Staff

Two men shot at bus stop in North Seattle near Northgate

Two men were shot at a bus stop along Aurora Avenue Wednesday, according to the Seattle Police Department.

5 months ago

Manuel Ellis arrest, Tacoma police officers...

Associated Press

Prosecutors focus on video evidence in trial of Washington officers charged in Manny Ellis’ death

A cellphone video of the 2020 fatal arrest of Manny Ellis shows the Black man on the ground with his hands in the air in surrender

6 months ago

...

No Author

EXPIRED: Win tickets to see Stokley at EQC!

KIRO Newsradio is giving you a chance to win two tickets to see Stokley at the Emerald Queen Casino on Saturday, November 11, 2023!

6 months ago

(File photo)...

L.B. Gilbert

NLRB files complaint against Amazon for unlawful confidentiality agreement

A new complaint from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB ) is accusing Amazon of requiring some corporate employees to sign an unlawful confidentiality agreement. The complaint states Amazon had required a former employee from its drone project, Amazon Prime Air, to sign an agreement that forbade discussion of information regarding Amazon, whether or not […]

7 months ago