Documents: Missing 2-year-old Wash. boy left alone before

By: Crimesider Staff
Topics: Daily Blotter

Sky Metalwala, missing Wash. State 2-year-old

(CBS/AP) BELLEVUE, Wash. - Police continued searching Monday for a 2-year-old Washington state boy whose mother said had disappeared from an unlocked car. Court documents revealed that the boy's parents had previously been cited for leaving him unattended in a vehicle and his mother had obtained a restraining order against his father last year.

Julia Biryukova, the mother of 2-year-old Sky Metalwala, told investigators she left her son alone Sunday as she and her 4-year-old older daughter walked a mile to a gas station, Bellevue police said. When she came back an hour later, she says the boy was gone.

It's not first time the boy has been left alone in a car. In December 2009, when sky was just 3 months old, court records reveal his parents left him in their sport utility vehicle in a Target parking lot for 55 minutes on a 27-degree day. They only came out of the store to get him after police arrived and asked for the vehicle's owner to be paged. Redmond police cited both parents for reckless endangerment.

The case was dismissed early this year after the pair completed a year of probation, 40 hours of community service and a 10-week parenting class.

The toddler's disappearance Sunday in Bellevue, a city of 122,000 across Lake Washington from Seattle, came at the height of a custody fight between his parents, Julia Biryukova and Solomon Metalwala. They separated in March 2010 amid back-and-forth protective orders and allegations of abuse and psychiatric problems.

Last December, a social worker determined that there was a "preponderance of evidence" that Metalwala had struck his daughter hard enough to cause bruising, court records show. The social worker also said Sky had troubling bruises, but because the boy could not talk, it wasn't clear where he got them. However the attorney for Metalwala, Leslie Clay Terry III, said Monday that case worker had only interviewed the mother and that Child Protective Services later conducted an investigation that cleared Metalwala.

Last week, at a mandatory mediation session, a tentative agreement was hammered out that would allow Metalwala to have some visitation with Sky and his older sister, his lawyer said.

Investigators searched a 20-block area and even went door to door but found no sign of him. There was no gas can at the car, police said.

The Bellevue Police Department said both parents were cooperating, and Biryukova had consented to have her vehicle and home in nearby Redmond searched. The older child has been placed in protective custody.

"We're looking at it from all angles, at this point," said Bellevue Police Maj. Mike Johnson. "Missing person, abduction, foul play has not been ruled out."

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by angelofurnightmare November 9, 2011 10:49 AM EST: Those kids should have been removed from the parents well before now. What kind of person leaves a child alone in a car for an hour...twice that the police become involved...how much time have these kids spent fending for themselves...no matter what happened to that baby I hope they lock em up and the remaining child is kept safely away. the sad thing is that childrens services really can't do anything in most cases. They are just a scare tactic. Used to try to scare parents straight..I know many people who don't need the children they have and continually put them in danger and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it until something like this happens. You call childrens services and they give you a sob story about there is nothing we can do at this point...the child isn't in immediate danger. Sick sad world; Reply to this comment

by Davecat94 November 9, 2011 9:44 AM EST

The father had just received the right to visitation with the children. I wonder if she is hiding the boy from him or did soemthing to the boy just to spite the father?

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by rhondamt November 9, 2011 10:57 AM EST: Exactly what I was thinking... about her hiding the boy. I knew from the beginning that her story didn't make sense and things probably didn't happen like she said. But it makes a good story if she feared for her child's safety enough to want to hide him away from the father. He's probably safe with family or friends and she knows exactly where.


by andie52 November 9, 2011 8:28 AM EST: Hubby says she is crazy.. no one has seen the little boy in two weeks.. It takes her an hour to get gas..even though there was some gas in the car.
Child Protective Services has already removed the remaining child from these parent's care.; Reply to this comment


by liselle3 November 8, 2011 9:31 PM EST: What mom would walk away from her car, walk over 1 mile with a 4 yr. old and leave this little boy in the car? If it doesn't sound right, it is not true.; Reply to this comment


by workerdroid November 8, 2011 5:09 PM EST: What a f*cking skank ***** b*tch.; Reply to this comment


by LibbyB1963 November 8, 2011 4:21 PM EST: I don't have a good feeling about this. I'm praying for the best in that a good samaritan took the boy, does not return him to his worthless parent(s) and gives him a good, loving safe home.; Reply to this comment


by thealtamiranos November 8, 2011 4:18 PM EST: Absolutely unbelievable.; Reply to this comment

by SLeigh-what November 8, 2011 3:19 PM EST

OMG the sad part is that this poor child is probably better off with who ever took him! Geeeez! Mothers these days! This is a Proven point to my NO to 26!

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by allisonburness November 8, 2011 4:27 PM EST: I think the sad part is the likelihood that no one took him. The mother probably did something to him and this is her cover up.