Crime & Safety

Update: Police Extend Interview Request to Mother of Missing Toddler

Meanwhile, the lawyer of Solomon Metalwala says he is awaiting results from a DNA test he submitted earlier today.

Update, 4:30 p.m.: The father of 2-year-old Sky Metalwala plans to spend the weekend posting fliers around the Eastside in the hopes that members of the community might be able to help figure out what happened to his missing son.

Clay Terry, Solomon Metalwala's Bellevue-based attorney, told Patch on Thursday that his client is getting anxious waiting for a break in the case.

“You never know, somebody might have seen (Sky). If not doing anything is the answer, then that’s the wrong answer. We’ve got to keep going,” Terry said.

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Sky Metalwala was by his mother, Julia Biryukova, who told police she ran out of gas while taking Sky to Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. But investigators said Wednesday they had found a sufficient amount of gas in Biryukova's vehicle.

Terry also told Patch that Solomon Metalwala and his brother, Sam Metalwala, submitted DNA samples to investigators earlier on Thursday so police can compare the samples with DNA that was found in the backseat of Biryukova's car. Police said earlier this week that they have taken DNA samples from Biryukova's Redmond apartment, but investigators have not commented on whether DNA was found in her car.

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Meanwhile, investigators extended a public invitation for an interview to the missing boy's mother Thursday afternoon. Biryukova, 30, has so far declined requests for a voluntary polygraph test, but Maj. Mike Johnson of the Bellevue Police Department told reporters Thursday that any direct communication with her would be helpful.

"We are open and willing to interview her and take information from her whenever she's willing to do so," Johnson said. “Polygraph or not, we have questions for Julia we’d like to ask, with her attorney present.”

Patch's attempts to reach Biryukova and her attorney, Veronica Freitas, have been unsuccessful so far.

Johnson said investigators still plan to sit down with Solomon Metalwala for a second polygraph test after the results from his first exam proved inconclusive. Police have also reached out to relatives and friends of Biryukova for polygraph tests, and Johnson said they have all been "extremely cooperative."

At this point, Johnson said, investigators are focused on eliminating possible scenarios of what happened to Sky. Even though he acknowledged police got no closer Thursday in determining the boy's whereabouts, Johnson said the investigation is still progressing.

“Everytime we can cross someone off the list as a possible person that’s been involved in this, that’s helpful," he said. "It narrows the scope."

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Original story:

Investigators searching for Sky Metalwala are continuing to operate their investigation under the premise that the missing 2-year-old is still alive and has not left the immediate area.

"We don't have any evidence to believe that Sky is anywhere else than either near the apartment where he lived or in the area where he was left in the car," Bellevue Police Maj. Mike Johnson said during a Thursday morning press briefing on the investigation.

Johnson added that investigators are "absolutely" working under the premise that Sky is still alive.

Sky's mother, Julia Biryukova of Redmond, on Sunday morning. Biryukova, 30, told police she was on her way to Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue with Sky, who was feeling ill, when she ran out of gas on 112th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue.

On Wednesday, police in Biryukova's car.

During Thursday morning's briefing, Johnson acknowledged investigators are walking a "fine line" between letting too much time pass in the investigation and putting more pressure on Biryukova, who still has not agreed to take a voluntary polygraph test.

"Our priority is to find Sky, to find out what happened to him (and) whether he's OK or not," Johnson said. "We believe Julia holds the key to that, and we would really like that help."

Johnson said investigators will likely request another direct interview with Biryukova at some point in the near future. He said Wednesday that the only communication she has had with police since Sunday has been through her attorney, Veronica Freitas.

Johnson also acknowledged Thursday that investigators were looking into an unconfirmed report that Biryukova had used sedatives in the past to help Sky sleep. Biryukova and Sky's father, Solomon Metalwala of Kirkland, are in the midst of a bitter divorce, and court documents show both parents have accused the other of posing a threat to their two small children.

Investigators plan to continue their examination of Biryukova's vehicle Thursday. Another media briefing is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.; check back with Patch later today for more details.

Click here for an archive of Patch's coverage of Sky Metalwala's disappearance.

Sky Elijah Metalwala

Age 2, 2’10” tall, 39 pounds, black hair, brown eyes.

Sky was last seen on Nov. 6, 2011, in the 2600 block of 112th Ave. N.E., Bellevue, Wash.

He was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, black and aqua blue sweatpants and white socks.

Sky was in the silver 1998 Acura Integra three door coupe pictured when he disappeared.

Police ask anyone who was traveling Sunday morning along 112th Avenue Northeast, between State Route-520 and Northeast 24th Street, to please call the Bellevue Police Tip line at 425-452-2564.

  Julia Biryukova, Sky Metalwala, missing child, missing toddler


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