Account
Jan 09, 2012
May 26, 2023
Sky
Metalwala
14
2
34 inches
28 lbs
White / Caucasian
Male
In the autumn of 2011, a heart-wrenching mystery began to unfold in Bellevue, Washington, with the disappearance of a two-year-old boy named Sky Metalwala. On the morning of November 6, 2011, the little boy, with black hair and brown eyes, vanished. His mother, Julia Biryukova, told authorities a harrowing story. She claimed that Sky had woken up feeling sick, and she was taking him and his four-year-old sister to a nearby hospital. Along the way, on a stretch of 112th Avenue Northeast, she said her car ran out of gasoline. According to her account, she left Sky, who was asleep, strapped into his car seat inside the unlocked vehicle while she and his sister walked about a mile to a gas station to find help. When she returned to the car an hour to an hour and a half later, her son was gone. The subsequent police investigation quickly cast serious doubt on Julia Biryukova's version of events. Authorities examined her 1998 Acura Integra and discovered that it was in working order and had an adequate amount of gasoline in the tank. No gas can was found in a search of her car or home. Furthermore, some witnesses who had driven past the parked car reported not seeing a child inside. From the beginning, Biryukova's cooperation with the police was limited; she refused to take a polygraph test and would only communicate with detectives through her attorney. This lack of cooperation has been a consistent point of frustration for investigators over the years. Law enforcement has stated publicly that they believe she knows what happened to her son. The story she told also bore a striking resemblance to a plotline from an episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" that had aired in the Seattle area the night before Sky's disappearance. The backdrop to this tragic event was the bitter and contentious divorce and custody battle between Julia Biryukova and Sky's father, Solomon Metalwala. The couple had a history of making serious accusations against one another, including abuse and concerns about mental stability. Just three days before Sky vanished, his mother had backed out of a custody agreement they had just reached through mediation. The couple had a previous history with law enforcement regarding their parenting; in 2009, they were charged with reckless endangerment for leaving a then-infant Sky alone in their car on a cold day for nearly an hour. While those charges were eventually dismissed after they completed parenting classes, the incident was a troubling part of their history. In the aftermath of Sky's disappearance, his older sister was placed in foster care before custody was eventually granted to their father, Solomon. Years have passed, but the case of Sky Metalwala remains an open and active investigation. The Bellevue Police Department, along with the FBI, has invested thousands of hours and millions of dollars into the search, following up on over 2,500 tips. Despite the extensive efforts, no trace of Sky has ever been found. His mother, Julia Biryukova, has since remarried and has had another child, but she has never provided a formal statement to the police about her son's disappearance. Sky's father, Solomon, has remained active in the search, holding onto the hope that his son might still be alive. The case is a profound and enduring mystery, centered on a mother's unverified story and her subsequent silence, leaving a family and a community with unanswered questions about the fate of a little boy who seemingly vanished without a trace.
Nov 06, 2011
Bellevue
Washington
King County
No
27967
Bellevue Police Department
Bellevue
Washington
King County
98004
Trenton Chapel
Detective
450 110th Avenue Northeast, Washington
4254526917
Local
Law Enforcement
11-51824
Bellevue Police Department
Black
Brown
Brown
06/20/2026
