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Bellevue
Two renters answering to an ad on Craigslist made a chilling discover when they found the owner of a house in Bellevue, Washington, dead inside and his 4-year-old boy crying.
The two men found the little boy near his father body on Saturday. He was hungry and confused, saying that he hadn’t been able to wake up his father for the past two days.
Medical examiners later confirmed that the father, 35, who had blood coming from his nose, had been dead for at least 24 to 48 hours.
Two renters answering to an ad on Craigslist made a chilling discover when they found the owner of a house in Bellevue, Washington, dead inside and his 4-year-old boy crying
The men took the boy to a neighbours house, and then the neighbour and the two prospective renters went back into the Bellevue house and called the police.
“Hopefully [the boy] didn’t see too much and doesn’t realize what happened,” said Lieutenant Marcia Harnden.
“It’s never an easy thing to see a dead body- especially when it’s maybe been there for a day or two.”
If the father died two days ago, that would place his time of death around dinner time on Thanksgiving, though police have not offered any clues as to any other individuals who may have seen the father and son on the holiday.
Neither the little boy, nor the dead father, have been identified, though it has been confirmed that the boy’s mother does not live in the same house.
The men, whose names have also not been released, were looking to rent the home on the 15800 block of South East Fifth Place.
The mother was out of town when police arrived at the house around 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, so the boy is now in the care of his grandparents.
The father’s body is now with the medical examiner who will determine the cause of death, though they do not suspect foul play.
Investigators of Bellevue’s missing toddler Sky Metalwala case have found what they describe as “something of interest” in the case.
The items were found on Saturday at Watershed Park in Kirkland, over two weeks after Sky Metalwala was reported missing after being left alone in his mother’s broken down car.
Police would not release further details about what items were found but said they were enough for them to call in a forensics team after an overnight search the heavily wooded area.
According to ABC affiliate KOMO-TV, police are not sure if the items are related to the case but have sent them in for analysis.
Investigators of Bellevue's missing toddler Sky Metalwala case have found what they describe as "something of interest" in the case
The items were found shortly after police released new photos of Sky Metalwala and his mother Julia Biryukova in effort to acquire more leads in the case.
Carla Iafrate of the Bellevue Police Department told KOMO-TV: “They found something of interest. We called out our CSI investigators, they showed up and looked at the items.”
Carla Iafrate confirmed rakes and shovels were used in the overnight search of Watershed Park. However, she asked speculation not be made based on the equipment, insisting it was “standard’ for any search and rescue.
“There’s a lot of leaves, it’s pretty wet and damp. There’s a lot of rabbit burrows, so the land is soft back there,” Carla Iafrate said.
Police have had serious questions about Julia Biryukova’ story that she left Sky Metalwala alone in an unlocked car in Bellvue after running out of gas on November 6.
Julia Biryukova’s car had plenty of gas and was running fine, police determined.
Sky Metalwala’s mother had told police it stalled as she was driving her son to the hospital because he wasn’t feeling well, and that she left him inside as she and the boy’s four-year-old sister spent an hour walking to a gas station and calling a friend for help. She told police upon returning to the vehicle, driven by a friend, toddler was missing. The friend called police.
In new photos released on Saturday, Julia Biryukova is seen standing alone in a store wearing the same gray sweat suit she wore on the day she said she left Sky Metalwala in the unlocked vehicle.
Julia Biryukova and her estranged husband, Solomon Metalwala, were cited in 2009 for leaving the boy sleeping in their sport utility vehicle in a Target parking lot in Redmond for 55 minutes. They came out to get him only after police arrived and asked the store to page the vehicle’s owner.
Solomon Metalwala, with whom the mother is in a bitter divorce and custody battle, has said her story is full of holes. He also claimed in divorce documents she had dreamt of strangling the boy.
Police were also looking into whether Julia Biryukova was a member of an online dating service that connects women with “sugar daddies”.
Julia Biryukova, 30, an Ukrainian immigrant, has refused to speak with detectives since the day of Sky Metalwala’s disappearance, but she did acknowledge to police she sometimes left her children alone for extended periods.
Nevertheless, detectives have yet to arrest Julia Biryukova for any crimes they might be able to pin on her, such as making a false police report or recklessly endangering the boy. By giving her some space, they say, they hope to encourage her to cooperate beyond the limited help she’s given.
Investigators have searched Julia Biryukova’s apartment and car with her consent, police said. However, her divorce attorney said she has declined to take a polygraph test because they are unreliable and she is too emotionally devastated.
Sky Metalwala’s father has passed out fliers and voluntarily took polygraph examinations, as did some of his relatives. He warned in a court declaration early this year that his estranged wife’s mental health issues were endangering the children. She alleged that he was domineering and abusive.
In the week before Sky Metalwala disappeared, his parents reached a tentative agreement after a 12-hour mediation session that would allow Solomon Metalwala to have some visitation with the couple’s two children.
But two days later – and two days before she reported her son missing – Julia Biryukova decided to pull out of the agreement, Solomon Metalwala’s divorce attorney, D Michael Tomkins, said last week .
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Julia Biryukova, the mother of 2-year-old missing toddler Sky Metalwala from Bellevue, Washington, didn’t run out of gas on the day her son disappeared, a discovery that contradicts what she has previously told investigators, police said yesterday.
Julia Biryukova has told police that her son, Sky Metalwala, vanished Sunday in Bellevue when she left him sleeping alone in her unlocked car after it ran out of gas.
The woman and her 4-year-old daughter walked to get gas, she said, and when they returned an hour later, the boy was gone.
But investigators have found that there was enough gas in the car to run a considerable distance, Bellevue police Maj. Mike Johnson said Wednesday afternoon.
Police haven’t ruled out some other mechanical problem with the car.
Investigators continue to receive tips from the public, but none has been helpful to the investigation, including a few people wondering if there could be a connection to a TV show aired Saturday, the day before Sky Metalwala was reported missing.
An episode of “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit'”about a missing child was “strikingly similar in nature” to this real-life mystery, Mike Johnson said.
In that episode, a mother claims her car was stolen, along with the child inside of it, when she went into a convenience store for diapers.
Julia Biryukova has told police that her son, Sky Metalwala, vanished Sunday in Bellevue when she left him sleeping alone in her unlocked car after it ran out of gas, but investigators have found that there was enough gas in the car to run a considerable distance
Mike Johnson has repeatedly asserted that Julia Biryukova, or someone close to her, knows his fate, but no one is speaking up, even as hope for finding him alive fades.
“The public, I’m sure, is as frustrated as we are in the fact that mom isn’t willing to come in and provide a polygraph,” he told a news conference.
“To be quite honest, that looks suspicious and we’re puzzled by that.”
Mike Johnson said Julia Biryukova’s story has become less and less plausible as police have tried and failed to find any evidence that supports the facts as she presented them.
He emphasized, however, that Julia Biryukova remains cooperative in other ways, by answering every police question through her attorney, driving police along the route she drove and then walked, and allowing complete access to her home and car.
“We want to believe Julia. We want to help her find her missing child,” Mike Johnson said.
Mike Johnson revealed that Julia Biryukova said she was taking the boy to a hospital because he didn’t feel well, even though she left her purse, wallet and identification at home.
It wasn’t clear how she expected to get gas for the car or have her son treated without the items, he said.
Sky Metalwala’s disappearance came amid a bitter divorce and custody fight between Julia Biryukova and the boy’s father, Solomon Metalwala.
During a tough mediation session that lasted about 12 hours last week, the parties reached a tentative agreement that would allow Solomon Metalwala to have some visitation with Sky and his older sister.
But two days later – and two days before she reported her son missing – Julia Biryukova decided to pull out of the agreement, Solomon Metalwala’s divorce attorney, D. Michael Tomkins, said Wednesday.
In a letter sent by her attorney, Julia Biryukova insisted that everyone at the mediation session had been against her and the settlement was unfair, the lawyer said.
The children didn’t attend the marathon session, and it’s possible they were left home alone for the entire time, raising the possibility that Sky could have become dehydrated, D. Michael Tomkins said.
Papers filed in the divorce say that Biryukova suffered from “severe”obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Solomon Metalwala wrote in a declaration that she would frequently go on 10-hour cleaning binges during which she wouldn’t even feed the children, but a doctor reported that her diagnosis did not interfere with her ability to care for the kids.
Mike Johnson said Julia Biryukova acknowledged having a history of leaving the children home alone for extended periods of time. Police know whether she did so during the lengthy mediation, but they won’t release that information, Mike Johnson said.
Investigators on Wednesday were focusing on processing the car for forensic evidence.
They also were giving voluntary polygraph exams to Solomon Metalwala and several of his relatives and taking DNA samples to match with DNA evidence found at Julia Biryukova’s apartment.
Mike Johnson said the tenor of the investigation has changed because they’ve run out of options for searching for the child.
He denied media reports that police were search landfills or garbage transfer stations, but did not rule out that possibility if evidence indicates they should go there.
If Sky Metalwala was in fact left in the car, it wouldn’t have been the first time.
When the boy was 3 months old, his parents left him in their SUV in a Target parking lot for 55 minutes on a 27-degree day, court records showed.
The parents came out of the store to get the boy only after police arrived and asked for the vehicle’s owner to be paged.
Redmond police cited both parents for reckless endangerment in the December 2009 incident. However, 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.
Julia Biryukova, mother of two-year-old Sky Metawala who vanished after being left in an unlocked car while she went to get gas, had previously been cited for leaving a child unattended in a vehicle, according to police.
Authorities of Bellevue, Washington, spent a second day today searching for Sky Metawala, as court documents emerged revealing his parents had previously been arrested for leaving their child.
The mother had also obtained a restraining order against his father last year.
Julia Biryukova told investigators she left her toddler alone on Sunday as she and her four-year-old daughter walked a mile to a gas station, Bellevue police said.
When she came back an hour later, the boy was gone, Julia Biryukova said.
Investigators searched a 20-block area and even went door to door but found no sign of him.
Julia Biryukova told investigators she left her toddler alone on Sunday as she and her four-year-old daughter walked a mile to a gas station
In December 2009, officers in nearby Redmond cited Julia Biryukova and her husband, Solomon Metalwala, for reckless endangerment for leaving a child unattended in a vehicle.
Details were not immediately available; police said they were working to redact an incident report for release under the state’s public records act.
The case was dismissed early this year after Sky Metawala’s parents agreed to a year of probation, 40 hours of community service and a ten-week parenting class, said Ian Goodhew, a spokesman for the King County Prosecutor’s Office.
Julia Biryukova and Solomon Metalwala had been together for 14 years, married since 2003 and separated in March 2010, court records show.
In June 2010, Julia Biryukova, 30, filed for a protection order on behalf of herself and their two children, saying Solomon Metalwala had a severe anger problem, was verbally abusive and that he had beat her for the first time the previous Christmas.
The reason was that she had allowed Sky – just four months old at the time – to sleep later than expected, Julia Biryukova said.
“He became furious like I have never seen him before, he grabbed me by my hair in front of our daughter, dragged me into our hallway, threw me down on the floor and then threw me against a decorative column we have in the entrance of our home,” Julia Biryukova wrote.
“He continued to assault me with his feet – by kicking me and then he took out his car keys and contrived to scratch me in any area he could.”
The abuse escalated after that, with Solomon Metalwala telling her to go live on the street and work as a prostitute, Julia Biryukova said.
“The most, most recent have been his threats to kill me if I say anything against him or if in any way I proceed with action of seeking custody of our two small children,” Julia Biryukova added.
“I live in constant fear for my life and my children’s life. Please investigate and help me!”
A man who answered the phone at King Street Kafe and Market, a shop Solomon Metalwala owns in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood, referred calls to a Leslie Clay Terry III, a lawyer who represented the couple in the reckless endangerment case. Clay Terry did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Spokesperson for the Bellevue Police Department, Officer Carla Lafrate, told The Seattle Times: “King County felt like they had done a very thorough search of a pretty wide area for the boy and were confident that he wasn’t there.”
Julia Biryukova told police that as she was walking back to her silver Acura from Chevron gas station a friend picked her up and drove them back to the car.
But when they returned, the toddler was missing. The door had been left unlocked and there was no sign of forced entry, police said.
Officer Carla Lafrate added: “We don’t know much, other than the child is still missing. I don’t know if the child got out on his own.”
Sky Metalwala has been described as having brown eyes and dark buzz-cut hair.
The toddler was dressed in a dark-green hooded sweatshirt and blue and grey striped trousers.
The case is being treated as a missing child, as they do not know if he was taken or left on his own accord.
Sky Metalwala, a two-year-old toddler went missing while his mother went looking for gas in Bellevue, Washington.
Police and search dogs were scanning yesterday a wooded area in Bellevue, searching for the toddler .
The mother took her other child, four, with her to walk a mile to the nearest petrol station after their car came to a halt, but left the two-year-old Sky Metalwala buckled into his car seat in the unlocked vehicle.
Sky Metalwala, a two-year-old toddler went missing while his mother went looking for gas in Bellevue, Washington
When the mother, who has not been identified but is from Redmond, returned around an hour later to the parked car at 9:50 a.m., the toddler was gone.
Police responded to the mother call and started the search but said they did not find a gas can at the car when they arrived.
Officers attempted an all-day search for Sky Metalwala in the northwestern area of the city, but suspended their efforts at 6:00 p.m. local time.
Around 50 people and King County Search and Rescue teams were looking for Sky Metalwala before it became too dark to continue.
Spokesperson for the Bellevue Police Department, Officer Carla Lafrate, told The Seattle Times: “King County felt like they had done a very thorough search of a pretty wide area for the boy and were confident that he wasn’t there.”
Sky Metalwala’s mother told police that as she was walking back to her silver Acura from Chevron gas station a friend picked her up and drove them back to the car.
But when they returned, Sky Metalwala was missing. The door had been left unlocked and there was no sign of forced entry, police said.
Officer Carla Lafrate added: “We don’t know much, other than the child is still missing. I don’t know if the child got out on his own.”
Sky Metalwala has been described as having brown eyes and dark buzz-cut hair.
The boy was dressed in a dark-green hooded sweatshirt and blue and grey striped trousers.
The case is being treated as a missing child, as they do not know if he was taken or left on his own accord.
Detectives are working with the mother and the Sky Metalwala’s father, who lives in Kirkland, has also been contacted.
