Crime & Safety

Bellevue Police Process 1,100 Tips in Missing Boy Case; Mom's Social Media Habits Scrutinized

The disappearance of Sky Metalwala, 2, continues to be a missing persons case.

Bellevue police say that more than 1,100 tips have come in since the disappearance of Sky Metalwala, 2, but that so far, the Bellevue Police have not ruled out any possibilities in the boy's disappearance in the 10 days since the toddler went missing.

Bellevue Police Major Mike Johnson said that the tips investigated so far have not yielded any clues as to the toddler's disappearance.

"Each one of them has been investigated to the point where we don't think they lead to investigative support of this case," he said.

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However, he encouraged people to continue to call tips into police.

The Bellevue police are using FBI criminal profilers in the case, and using the federal agency's CARD team - Child Abduction Rapid Deployment group - to help with the search, Johnson said.

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Sky's mother, Julia Biryukova, reported him missing Nov. 6. She said they left their home in the Veloce Apartments in downtown Redmond that morning, and she was taking him to Overlake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue because he was sick. She told detectives that her Acura Integra ran out of gas in the 2400 block of 112th Ave. N.E. in Bellevue near the junction of State Route 520 and Interstate 405. She said she left the sleeping toddler in the car while she and her daughter walked about a mile to get gas. When she and a friend returned to the car, the toddler was gone.

An , involving helicopters and hundreds of volunteers, focused on the area surrounding the missing boy’s home in Redmond and a wooded area near 112th Ave. N.E. in Bellevue where his mother reported him missing. But it produced no new substantive leads, Johnson said.

Bellevue police have said that, including the car trouble that she reported.

"No, I've talked several times about this notion of all theories being relevant. Any and all options as to being possible," he said.

According to the Seattle Times, Biryukova listed herself as a mom of two kids on a dating site, SeekingArrangement.com.

Johnson said that police were aware of the site, and continue to investigate Biryukova's social media habits.

"That's something that is part of an investigation like this, but I can't talk about the specifics we've discovered," he said.

However, Tuesday, Johnson said that Bellevue Police have not determined that she is a person of interest or a suspect in the case, despite the inconsistencies in her story.

"She is the mother of Sky, as we stand here and talk today," he said.

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, WA.
  • 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.


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