35 replies to this topic

[Shannon]

http://www.king5.com...-149960265.html

6 months later: Where is Sky Metalwala?

by CHRIS DANIELS / KING 5 News

Posted on May 2, 2012 at 11:23 PM
Updated May 3, 2012 at 8:58 AM


BELLEVUE – It’s been nearly six months since Bellevue toddler Sky Metalwala disappeared.

Bellevue Police say his mother, Julia Biryukova, is still not talking with detectives, and has declined a request to be interviewed about the incident.  That’s been the case, since she reported her son missing back on November 6th, 2011.

Biryukova said she pulled over her car at the 2600 Block of 112th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue early that November day, and walked with her daughter Maile to a nearby gas station.  She originally told police, when she returned to the car, Sky was missing.

Multiple searches yielded little information and detectives test-drove her car and determined it was fully functional.

Biryukova, who has been active online, has not been spotted in public since.  It’s believed she has been staying with friends and indoors for long periods of time.

“To me, she’s acting like a coward, and hiding away,” said the boy’s father, Solomon Metalwala on Wednesday night.  Solomon now has full custody of Maile, who was involved in a bitter divorce and custody fight.

He’s planning a prayer service for Sunday night to mark the solemn six-month anniversary.  He believes the service will help keep Sky’s picture prominently displayed, and in the back of people’s minds.  Solomon believes it may trigger a tip or or prompt someone to talk.  “He’s been missing and this is one way which has been effective,” says Solomon.

The event, dubbed “A Night for Sky” at Heritage Park in Kirkland will run Sunday from 8-9pm and include worship, prayer, a sharing of scriptures, and ideas on how to revitalize the search for Sky.

[Shannon]

http://www.kirklandr.../150385125.html

More than 60 attend vigil for Sky Metalwala Sunday night at Kirkland's Heritage Park

By MATT PHELPS

May 7, 2012 · Updated 12:22 PM 

Music filled Heritage Park in Kirkland Sunday night as the sun drifted behind the Seattle skyline in the distance.

More than 60 people were on hand for “A Night for Sky” to pray for the safe return of now three-year-old Sky Metalwala and lend support to the boy’s father Solomon Metalwala. But the calm scene, on the six-month anniversary of his disappearance, was in stark contrast to the anxiety that his father and family has faced.

“We need to keep the story alive,” said Jesse Mayor, a friend of Solomon who is the administrator of the Find Sky Facebook page. “I know that this event is going to keep it in front of people. Everyone has a reach and we need to get everyone to see Sky’s face.”

The event was organized by City Church of Kirkland and Belltown, in Seattle, of which Solomon is a devout member.

The cause has been relatively quiet since the last candle-light vigil, which took place in downtown Bellevue on Feb. 18, other than a few media interviews. That vigil also had around 60 people attend but was organized by the group Search and Seek.

“I needed to kind of regroup and focus on both of us,” said Solomon referring to his 5-year-old daughter Maile of whom he has gained full custody. “She is a little girl and she has been through a lot. I had to become a dad again.”

Solomon said that his daughter has started preschool and is “very stable,” living in Kirkland.

His attorney Clay Terry, who has been at Solomon’s side for most of the past six months, said that Maile has had to be reintroduced to the Metalwalas. But getting to know her family on her father’s side was not the only thing the little girl has had to relearn. Terry and Solomon said that Maile was severely underweight and was not in good condition when she was turned over to CPS.

“This little girl was told to walk in circles in her room for exercise because her mother would not take her outside,” said Terry.

But the attorney said that the vigil is also good for Solomon.

“We knew we had to do something because Solomon was getting depressed,” said Terry. “He is not a guy that gets depressed.”

Solomon said that he has gained strength from his faith and the people around him.

“Without family and friends how can you live a normal life?” asked Solomon, who has also gone back to school for accounting. “You can’t do it without a church.”

Sky allegedly went missing in November while in the custody of his mother, Redmond resident Julia Biryukova, who has not talked to media or the police about the disappearance. She and Solomon had been in the midst of a bitter divorce and custody battle for their two children.

Biryukova told police her car ran out of gas the morning of the disappearance, as she attempted to take the boy to the hospital. She left the boy in the unlocked car at the 2400 block of 112th Avenue Northeast while she walked with Maile to get help.

When she returned to the car, approximately an hour later, he was gone, according to Biryukova. Police later tested the car and found that it had gas and there were no mechanical issues.

The Bellevue Police Department are continuing to investigate the case."There is still no releasable information from the detectives," said Bellevue Police Department spokesperson Carla Iafrante. "It is still a very active missing child case and are hoping for the safe return of Sky."


Solomon addressed his family, friends and media in attendance on Sunday and told them the Sunday morning Sky went missing was like any other. He got up, got dressed and got ready to go to church, when police arrived at his home in Kirkland. The police told Solomon that Sky was missing and asked if the boy was in the house.

“I said if he was here he wouldn’t be missing,” said Solomon, who only had 20 minutes to process what was happening before going to the Bellevue Police Department. “I was shaking. I didn’t know what was going on.”

Solomon said that he is also doing everything he can to find Sky for his sister. He said he wants Maile to know he did everything he could to find her brother.

That internet footprint is becoming very large, as Solomon has done nearly 140 media interviews.

Mayor asked everyone in attendance to get involved with the search’s social media campaign.

“Every person here can reach 500 people and altogether can reach 30,000,” said Mayor. “Every person can help get the word out … There is someone out there who doesn’t know what they know, who has seen him every day and doesn’t know he is missing.”

Those who spoke gave Solomon high praise for his faith, hope and resolve.

Solomon’s friends from City Church, Peter Denton and Dana Pierce, led the group in spiritual song and prayer. Candles were passed out to the small crowd as the sun disappeared.

Both Solomon and Terry won’t speculate on the well-being of Sky, but they both insist that Biryukova knows something and may hold the key.

“She is taking advice from her lawyer,” said Solomon, who has called his now ex-wife a coward. “I don’t get it.”

Terry said that she is hiding behind the fifth amendment: “It is selfish and a short-term fix.”

Solomon said that he is trying to not get angry.

“I am more focused on getting Sky justice,” said Solomon.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call the Bellevue Police tip line at 425-577-5656 or email pdtipline@bellevuewa.gov.

[Jenn]

Charley Project Profile for Sky: http://www.charleypr...alwala_sky.html

[Shannon]

http://www.king5.com...-169539826.html

Search for answers continues in case of missing Sky Metalwala

Posted on September 12, 2012 at 6:11 PM

The father of missing 2-year-old Sky Metalwala, along with his attorney, on Wednesday called for Sky's mother, her friends and family to share information about the case.

An attorney for Sky's father, Solomon Metalwala, was expected to reveal new information about the case, but police advised against it because of the ongoing investigation.

Attorney Clay Terry said police in Bellevue, Kirkland and Redmond continue to investigate the case.

Terry said Sky's mother Julia Biryukova, her brother and two of her friends have not helped in the search for Sky.

“In every effort we’ve made they are conspicuously absent,” he said. “And we don’t know why, and we’re asking that they come forward and tell us what they know.”

Terry said they still want to talk to anyone who may have seen Sky between June of 2011 and Nov. 6, 2011, when the boy was reported missing.

Sky was last seen Sunday, Nov. 6, by his mother, who said her car ran out of gas in the 2400 block of 112th Avenue Northeast in the early morning hours.

But police investigators, who tested Biryukova's car, said they could find nothing wrong with it and no reason for why it would have stopped.

Solomon Metalwala told investigators at the time of Sky's disappearance that he had not seen his children since December of 2010 due to an ongoing separation and custody battle. He and Biryukova also have a young daughter, Mailie. Solomon now has full custody of Maile.

Biryukova has not been named a suspect, and has refused to be interviewed by police or take a polygraph test.

[Shannon]

http://www.king5.com...-177497471.html

Father of toddler missing 1 year: 'One day we will see him'

Posted on November 6, 2012 at 9:45 AM

Tuesday marks one year since the disappearance of Sky Metalwala.

Since his disappearance, Sky's father, Solomon, has made several pleas for help to find his son. He talked with KING 5's Joyce Taylor about the case, saying he has confidence that police are doing all they can.

"I believe that they are doing their job to get this case locked down," Solomon said. "We have continued contact with the police. I really believe [police] are doing exactly what they need to do to find where Sky is."

Solomon said he has not spoken to Sky's mother, Julia Biryukova, since their son was reported missing. Biryukova has not been cooperative with police, but has not been named a suspect. King County Prosecutor Dan Nelson said though there is suspicion, it's not enough to charge her with a crime.

Bellevue Police said Tuesday the investigation remains open and active. They added it's not uncommon for new information to move the case forward after a year or more.

Solomon still hopes one day he will see Sky.

"I have chosen not to go into theories, but to believe that he is out there and one day we will see him," he said.

[Shannon]

http://sammamish.pat...#photo-12117527

Anniversary of Toddler's Disappearance Marked With Prayer and Song

By Caitlin Moran

November 10, 2012

A small crowd of people gathered in downtown Redmond on Saturday evening to mark the one-year anniversary of the disappearance of Sky Metalwala.

The 40 or so people who attended offered prayers and song for the the toddler's return and released baby-blue balloons in his honor at the new downtown Redmond park.

Solomon Metalwala, Sky's father, said he is not giving up hope that his son would be found.

"I'm a believer," said Metalwala, a Kirkland resident. "I'm going to keep hoping until he gets home." Asked specifically whether he believes his son is still alive, Metalwala offered a simple response: "Amen. Yes."

Sky, 2 years old at the time of his disappearance, was reported missing on Nov. 6, 2011, by his mother Julia Biryukova. Biryukova, who lived in Redmond with her two children and was embroiled in a child custody dispute with her ex-husband, Solomon Metalwala, told police that she left Sky in her car parked on the side of the road in Bellevue while she went to get gas.

Bellevue Police, the agency overseeing the investigation, issued a statement earlier this week saying the case "is still open and active." Anyone who might have information about the toddler's disappearance is asked to email pdtipline@bellevuewa.gov or call 911.

Although some in the community are frustrated police have not made an arrest in the case, Metalwala said he believes investigators are doing all that they can and asked that others remain supportive of their efforts.

"It's teamwork—we all need each other," he said.

Several people held handmade signs at the corner of Redmond Way and 161st Avenue Northeast, including Melinda Wolf, who drove all the way from Port Orchard with her two children.

"My heart bleeds for Solomon," said Wolf, whose son is a year older than Sky. "It just breaks my heart; I can't even imagine that happening."

Metalwala thanked those who attended for their support and asked that they pray for Biryukova to "not have any more fear." He said the boy's mother and her family and friends have still not offered very much information about the circumstances surrounding Sky's disappearance.

After Sky was reported missing, Solomon Metalwala won sole custody of their young daughter, Maile, now a kindergartener. Metalwala said his daughter is doing well but has not forgotten about her brother.

"She misses Sky every day," he said. "We talk about him every day."

[Shannon]

http://www.kirklandr.../196687231.html

Kirkland father speaks about moving out of homelessness since son, Sky Metalwala, went missing

By CARRIE RODRIGUEZ

March 11, 2013 · Updated 12:03 PM

Solomon Metalwala’s small Kirkland apartment doesn’t have crown molding, big screen TVs or any fancy things that people usually furnish a new home with.

But it’s home. And it’s the start of a new life with his young daughter after more than a year searching for his missing son Sky.

“Well, my life has been pretty interesting but I only have three minutes, so I’ll make it really quick,” said Metalwala to a room full of laughter during KITH’s fourth annual fighting homelessness luncheon on Friday at The Westin Bellevue.

As more than 160 people listened to Metalwala, a KITH client, tell his unforgettable story, a screen behind him showed a picture of his smiling children, 6-year-old Maile and Sky, who was 2 years old when he went missing in Bellevue in 2011.

In a soft spoken voice, he described his two homes he had before he became homeless - a $265,000 Bellevue condo overlooking Lake Washington and a nearly $1 million home in Kirkland’s South Rose Hill neighborhood.

“I had a beautiful house in Bellevue and Kirkland - but it was never a home,” said Metalwala. “We had beautiful pictures, crown molding, TVs - I had all the bells and whistles because I was making a lot of money at that time. But it still wasn’t a home.”

He said the economy and the “friction in the household” caused he and his then-wife Julia Biryukova to lose both homes. The couple was going through a contentious marriage.

And then he received the news.

“The worst news that any parent can ever hear is when you see three cops come to your door and say, ‘Well, where’s your son,’” he recalled. “On Nov. 6, 2011 I found out that my little boy, Sky Metalwala, was missing and that led me to do hundreds and hundreds of searches, uncountable interviews and I couldn’t work. There was no way.”

The boy’s mother told police that she left Sky in her car after it ran out of gas in Bellevue that day. She claims she walked with her daughter to get help and when she returned the boy was gone.

The investigation into the boy’s whereabouts is still ongoing and police have found few leads.

In the meantime, Metalwala’s divorce was finalized in March 2012 and he was given custody of his daughter. Biryukova, who has refused to speak with investigators about her son’s disappearance, was disallowed visitation rights with her daughter.

Following the disappearance, Metalwala moved into his mother’s Kirkland home.

“We kind of nourished our little family to a point where we needed our own place,” he said. “But not working, not having an income and also going through a divorce and lawyers, every saving I had was gone.”

That’s when God “put a notion” in his heart that he should get a place of his own so that he could “grow” with his daughter, he said.

“I said alright Jesus, that’s fine but did you see my bank account,” he said as the audience laughed.

One of his friends told him about how she had received housing help from Section 8, but that it would probably take him a couple of years to secure housing under that program.

So he connected with KITH - Kirkland Interfaith Transitions in Housing - a nonprofit organization in Kirkland that combats homelessness within the Eastside community. In less than two months, he moved into an apartment with his daughter in October 2012.

“My daughter and I, we got to celebrate her birthday in a home where there’s so much love,” he said. “We don’t have any bells and whistles, but we have a place where we’re safe. We know when we come home we can just be ourselves. And when you’re homeless, you don’t have that kind of grounding. [A home] provides you with that.”

He meets with his KITH caseworker every two weeks and they are working on moving him towards self-sufficiency by the end of the year.

He said KITH has been invaluable to his family as they move through their grief and re-focus their lives.

“Almost every day Maile comes to me and says, ‘I love our home. I love our little apartment,’” said Metalwala. “And I just thank God that we have a place that we can just call our own and she can grow up with just the initial things.”

Jennifer Barron, executive director of KITH, noted that this year’s One Night Count, organized by the Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, found 190 people without shelter on the Eastside in January. That number was up 30 percent from last year’s count of 138 people.

“I have been stunned when people ask me, ‘Do we really have homeless people on the Eastside,’” said Barron, who has been with KITH for five months. “So the answer is yes, we do have homeless people in our community.”

During the event, keynote speaker Dr. Joseph Castleberry, who is the president of Northwest University, spoke about the community’s “incredible moral opportunity” to help those experiencing homelessness.

The Bill Petter Homeless Housing Advocate Award was also given to Ron Boscola, general manager of Bellevue-based Murray Franklyn. The company’s employees helped renovate KITH’s Salisbury Court apartments last year.

[Shannon]

http://www.seattlewe...hs-police-terry

The Strange and Unending Case of Sky Metalwala

By Ellis E. Conklin Mon

Apr 1 2013 at 07:01AM

Seventeen months later, and the mother still refuses to talk with authorities or cooperate with them in any way.

Seventeen months later, and Bellevue Police still decline requests for even a written statement on the status of their investigation.

Seventeen months later, and there seems to be nary a clue as to the whereabouts of Sky Metalawala.

The strange saga burst onto front pages throughout the region Nov. 6. 2011. That was the day, the two-year-old toddler’s Ukrainian-born mother, Julia Biryukova, told police she was driving with her two children to Overlake Medical Center that Sunday morning when the car, her brother’s two-door Acura, ran out of gas and stalled in the 2600 block of 112th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue.

Biryukova, 30 at the time, said she left Sky fast asleep in his car seat and, leaving the car unlocked, she and her little daughter, Maile, then four, walked about a mile to a gas station. When she returned, nearly an hour later, Sky had vanished, she said.

Investigators scoured a twenty-block area. They went door-to-door, but nothing. There were no signs of Sky.

Her story had holes in it a mile wide. For one thing, police say the car had plenty of gas and was in good working condition. No gas can was found in the car. Biryukova declined to take a polygraph test and invoked her 5th Amendment rights.

This was not the first time Sky Metalwala had been left alone in a car. As the Associated Press reported on Nov. 8, 2011, “When he was just 3 months old, court records revealed, 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.”

Around the time of Sky’s disappearance, Biryukova and the boy’s father, Solomon Metalwala, of Kirkland -- who separated in March 2010 amid bitter back-and-forth protective orders and allegations of child abuse and psychiatric problems -- were engaged in a bruising custody battle.

“We had an arbitration hearing on November 2 over the divorce (four days before the disappearance) It lasted thirteen hours,” Metalwala’s attorney Leslie Clay Terry told Seattle Weekly last week. “She agreed to take custody of the two children and that Solomon would have visitation rights. Well, the next day, her attorney said like she felt she’d been talked into something she didn’t want, and she no longer wanted him to have visitation rights. She is a bitter, vile person.”

Or, as Terry bluntly told the Kirkland Reporter shortly after Sky’s disappearance, “We are talking about a life of a two-year-old child, whose mother is so vindictive and hateful, probably due to mental illness to some degree, that she is obsessed with the thought that she must prevent Solomon from (having) their children. She is not intelligent, and she definitely does not have what many would consider a creative side … I am not saying that to be mean, but we are in the trenches trying to come up with a way to circumvent Julia’s silence while her baby is missing.” ,

On Dec. 5, 2011, Solomon Metawala was granted custody of Maile, who was placed in foster care after her brother went missing.

Biryukova’s attorney, Rob Wyman, a public defender, did not return phone calls.

After seventeen anguished months, Terry, who is working pro-bono on the father’s behalf, has nothing but unkind words for Julia Biryukova. “She concocted that hospital story and when she realized no believed it, she hired an attorney. She has not helped us one bit,” fumed Terry.

Terry maintains that the child was long gone before the mother told her story. “She’s a clean freak, and she probably bleached everything out.”

Theories abound as to what may have happened to Sky. At one point, Metalwala, who says his son was last seen in April 2011, when there’s a record of him seeing a doctor. He’s also speculated in the past that Sky’s disappearance might be connected to a visit from his estranged wife’s foreign father who visited from Ukraine that spring. Perhaps, the grandfather brought him back to Ukraine.

“But now I don’t know how that could have happened,” Metalwala, who last saw his son in December 2010, told the Weekly.

Terry, when asked why the police have no compelled the Biryukova to come to the station and submit to an interview, had this to say, “They could bring her in, but if they did and charged her, say with child neglect, she could then have her attorney provide her with every single document and piece of evidence that police have been gathering over the past seventeen months. They don’t want to do that, and we don’t want them to do that -- to give her all that information.

“It is not worth it. We know she’s the culprit.”

Biryukova lives alone in an Redmond apartment and is doing very little. For a time, she ran an ad looking for a man of mean’s on the dating site seekingarrangement.com. The site bills itself as the “the elite sugar daddy dating site for those seeking mutally beneficial relationships.” The profile was created using Julia Biryukova’s name and says she’s a “happy, single, loving Christian and mommy of two beautiful babies.” More recently, on March 21, she took to Craigslist with an ad that read: “I am heartbrokenly single, hopelessly looking for a stable job. Help?” She took the ad down several days later.

As far Sky ever resurfacing, Terry is beyond pessimistic. “I don’t think he’s alive. Solomon doesn’t like when I say that, but that’s what I think,” the Bothell-based attorney said. “Again, I think the mother is the culprit. I don’t think it was intentional. It may have been negligence. We don’t know.

Said Metalwala: “Until I have solid proof [of his child’s demise] I am not giving up.”

In the interim, he added, “I am raising Maile to be a princess. I am trying to be the best dad possible.”

Bellevue police spokesman Carla Iafrate said three detectives -- two from Bellevue, one from Redmond -- are still working the case.

“This case is still ongoing. It is still open. It is still active,” she said. And, seventeen months later, “Leads are still trickling it.”

[Shannon]

http://q13fox.com/20.../#axzz2SQt2HsAn

Year and a half later, missing Sky Metalwala case still a mystery

by David Rose

April 30, 2013

BELLEVUE — Bellevue police detectives plan to hand out fliers on May 25 asking for the public’s help in finding Sky Metalwala, who was 2 years old when he vanished nearly 18 months ago.

May 25 is National Missing Children’s Day.  Investigators say his disappearance is still an active and open joint investigation with Redmond police.

Sky’s mother, Julia Biryukova, told officers she left him in the car on Nov. 6, 2011, when she ran out of gas and that he was gone when she returned from a gas station.  Police say she has refused to be interviewed again.

Bellevue police officer Seth Tyler  said, “Julia’s what we call a ‘person of interest’, which means she hasn’t been charged with a crime.  We have reached out to her to interview her regarding this case, but that’s not to say there’s not someone else out there that would have some information in this case that could help us solve” it.

Tyler said Sky’s mother is just one aspect of case investigators are considering.

Bellevue police Capt. Jim Hershey said, “Someone holds the key to solving the case and we would like to talk to that individual.”

Anyone who as any information regarding Sky’s disappearance is urged to contact the Bellevue Police Department by sending an e-mail to pdtipline@bellevuewa.gov or calling 425-577-5656.

[Lori Davis]

http://mynorthwest.c...two-years-later

 

Father doesn't give up search for missing Sky Metalwala two years later

 

BY LIBBY DENKMANN  on November 4, 2013 @ 5:19 pm (Updated: 7:36 am - 11/5/13 )

 

Not a day goes by that Solomon Metalwala doesn't think or talk about his son, Sky, who disappeared two years ago this week.

 

"To me it's like it happened yesterday. I live it every day."

 

On Nov 6th, 2011, Sky's mother, Julia Biryukova, told police her car ran out of gas in the 2600 block of 112th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue, and she walked with her daughter to get help, leaving the 2-year-old alone in his car seat.

 

Biryukova told police when she returned, Sky was gone. She refused to cooperate with police and to this day has not spoken with authorities further or done anything to aid in the investigation. She was never charged with a crime in connection with the disappearance.

 

On Monday, Bellevue Police issued a statement saying that "all leads to date have been exhausted," but there continues to be detectives assigned to the case and any new leads will be followed up on "immediately."

 

Solomon Metalwala told KIRO Radio Monday he still hopes to find him. He also works to raise awareness for other Missing and Exploited Children.

 

"I do have another child. My daughter. And she needs a 100-percent father," Metalwala said. "I have to take care of her and make sure she's doing well, and I have to be a 100-percent dad to Sky. I have to do both."

 

Maile Metalwala's 7th birthday is coming up in December. She is in first grade.

 

"We talk about him like we would (if) he was still with us. I think that is the best therapy for both of us. We need to honor and recognize that he is still in the Metalwala family."

 

But Solomon admits it is hard to talk about what happened with his daughter.

 

"We don't know what happened. We can all make assumptions…But I don't have the truth to tell her. I don't know the truth yet."

 

Biryukova stopped attending custody hearings for Maile, and a judge gave full parental rights to Solomon.

 

"If Julia wants to see her, Julia needs to go to court," Solomon said.

 

Solomon pointed out that for the year before Sky went missing, Julia had full custody of both children, and he was not allowed to see them for some months.

 

"I don't know what Julia was doing for that one year that I wasn't involved in their lives. I don't know who she met or what," he explained. "It's a big mystery. I have no idea."

 

Metalwala did have a message to send to Julia:

"I would just like to tell her that whatever happened between us, it should have (stayed) between us… (Our kids) are just innocent. They don't need to be involved in this," he said.

 

"If she had something so drastic to do, she should have done it to me."

 

Bellevue Police have not said whether any criminal charges, like child endangerment, could be brought against Julia Biryukova.

 

"I would like to see some charges happen. But they see all the evidence," said Solomon.

 

Despite criticism of the way they handled the case, Metalwala said he wants to see the public support the Bellevue Police Department. "I think there should be more of an encouragement to do their job, rather than bashing on them."

 

To date, investigators have pursued over 2,200 tips and leads in this case, however Sky remains missing. The investigation continues to be a joint investigation of the Bellevue and Redmond police departments. Investigators continue to seek the public's help in locating Sky.

 

"All leads to date have been exhausted. Any new lead that comes to us is followed up immediately," said Major Pat Spak, Commander of Investigations at the Bellevue Police Department, in a statement. "We want to find this child."

 

Metalwala said he and his attorney continue considering a civil case against Biryukova.

[Lori Davis]

http://q13fox.com/20...-disappearance/

 

In exclusive interview, Bellevue’s new police chief opens up about Sky Metalwala disappearance

 

POSTED 11:10 PM, APRIL 8, 2015, BY BRANDI KRUSE, UPDATED AT 11:35PM, APRIL 8, 2015

 

BELLEVUE, Wash. — In his first one-on-one interview since being sworn in as Bellevue’s new police chief, Steve Mylett spoke candidly Wednesday about the state of the department and a series of embarrassing incidents involving officers.

 

Speaking to Q13 FOX News’ Brandi Kruse, Mylett — who was sworn in Monday — also commented on the unsolved disappearance of 2-year-old Sky Metalwala, admitting that the child is likely dead, based on what he knows about the case.

 

The toddler disappeared on Nov. 6, 2011, after his mother, Julia Biryukova, claimed to have left him alone in her car on the side of a Bellevue street after running out of gas.

 

Despite holes in her story, Biryukova has never been charged in the case and stopped cooperating with detectives early on in the investigation.

 

“With the information that I have, she’s the missing link,” Mylett said of Biryukova. “We need to talk to her and so I encourage her, I encourage her attorney to make her available and let us speak with her.”

 

Mylett said he was briefed on the case Wednesday morning. He said the department has continued to receive leads from the public.

 

“Every lead that we get we’re following. No policeman in this police department is resting easy, because this little boy is still missing,” he said.

 

During the interview, Mylett discussed a series of embarrassing incidents involving Bellevue police officers over the past several years, including two officers who were thrown out of a Seattle Seahawks game for being drunk and belligerent and two members of the command staff who were demoted for hiding an affair.

 

“I’ll tell you this, and before I go into it it’s going to kind of sound strange hearing me say this: I’ll deal with all problems, but I’m glad I’m not finding problems dealing with corruption, dealing with excessive force, bias-based policing, discrimination, and those issues,” he said. “These are issues dealing with people in their personal lives and officers are people.”

 

Mylett said it is crucial to look out for warning signs that officers may be having trouble in their personal lives.

 

When misconduct occurs, he said the discipline must be swift and fair.

 

“You handle them one at a time. You set the example right out of the gate, and I’ll be doing that with this workforce,” he said.

 

Mylett, 49, is a married father of four who spent much of his career with the Corpus Christi (Texas) Police Department. In 2011, he became the chief of police in Southlake, an affluent suburb of Dallas.

 

He was offered the job of Bellevue police chief on March 2, 2015, following two nationwide searches.