Crime & Safety

Missing Toddler's Father Gives In-Depth Radio Interview

Solomon Metalwala of Kirkland spoke about the police investigation, the contentious divorce with his ex-wife Julia Biryukova, and a previous incident when the couple left their son alone in a car.

The father of a 2-year-old missing Redmond boy spoke to hosts Ron & Don of 97.3 KIRO FM radio Monday.

Sky Metalwala has been missing since Nov. 6, after his mother, Julia Biryukova, 30, told police she left him in her brother's Acura Integra parked alongside the road in Bellevue.

Listen to the 97.3 KIRO FM interview here.

Find out what's happening in Redmondwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The hosts of the show asked Solomon Metalwala, the boy's father, about a previous incident when the police were called after he and his then-wife left their son in the car while they were shopping at the store.

Metalwala said that the parenting classes that he took as part of the plea deal in the previous incident were "beautiful," but that he and Biryukova did not end up taking the classes together.

Find out what's happening in Redmondwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Metalwala and his attorney, Clay Terry, told the hosts that he hopes that Metalwala will be reunited with his 4-year-old daughter, who is currently in foster care, by Christmas.

Over the weekend, police searched Kirkland's Watershed Park, though Monday, police told reporters that items found and investigated at the park were of no significance.

Bellevue police have said that , including the car trouble that she reported. Furthermore, had not been reported seen by anyone but his mother in the two weeks leading up to Nov. 6.

Over the weekend, ABC News' Neal Karlinsky reported receiving messages from an email address belonging Biryukova. The writer of the emails alleged that Metalwala knows something about the child's disappearance.

"My former husband is a sadistic Muslim Pakistani," the emails stated, according to Karlinsky.

"I’m praying on my hands and knees every day for my Sky," the email author said, in repsonse to Karlinsky asking what would help bring Sky home.

Solomon Metalwala, who has submitted to Bellevue Police department lie detector tests and has organized searches for his son, is a Christian.

Bellevue police that investigators say more accurately reflect what Sky and Biryukova looked like at the time of the boy's dsiappearance.

The hosts of the Ron & Don show observed that in the surveillance photos released Friday, Biryukova looks older and more "haggard" than the smiling, vibrant mom pictured in earlier photos released by police and pictured in dating sites.

The hosts asked Metalwala which picture of Biryukova was accurate.

“She has lots of faces. I’ve seen both those faces,” Metalwala responded. “I would say that this (recently released photo) would be a current picture of her.”

To read other stories from Patch's coverage of Sky Metalwala's disappearance, click here.

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 a silver 1998 Acura Integra three door coupe 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 or by email at pdtipline@bellevue.wa.gov.


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