New Photos Released in Search for Sky Metalwala

Bellevue police have released new photos of missing Redmond toddler Sky Metalwala, 2, and his mother, Julia Biryukova, 30, in the hopes that more witnesses will come forward.

Maj. Mike Johnson of the Bellevue Police Department says that the newest photos more accurately reflect what Sky and his mother looked like in the days before he disappeared Nov. 6.

Sky's hair is cut in a crew cut shown in several of the photos and the gray sweatsuit that Biryukova is wearing in the photos is similar to what she was wearing the day she reported her son missing, Johnson said.

Biryukova in the surveillance photos also wears her hair differently and looks slightly different than , Johnson said.

“This is the woman that was out there Sunday morning with her child. She does look considerably different than she did on the social media sites and we hope that’s helpful in getting this out,” he said.

Johnson said that so far, 1,200 tips have come in regarding Sky's disappearance, and some of them have been fruitful.

Johnson also added that Biryukova has not been interviewed directly by investigators since the day she reported her son's disappearance and that they have requested an interview as recently as Friday, Nov. 18, 12 days after Sky disappeared.

This story will be updated with more photos and more information. Come back to Bellevue Patch for more information or click here for the latest update on the search for the toddler.

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 the search produced no new substantive leads.

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

Johnson told reporters Friday that police are not looking to charge Biryukova with any of her actions the morning Nov. 6.

"Our concern has always been to solve the bigger picture issue, which is the disappearance of Sky," he said.

Sky's father, Solomon Metalwala, has been organizing .

Solomon Metalwala and Julia Biryukova are divorced and had been in a bitter custody dispute for their children, Sky, 2, and his older sister, Maile, 4. Solomon Metalwala had blocked Julia Biryukova from obtaining passports for the children or traveling with them out of state, according to attorney, because of fears that she would disappear with the children.

However, Bellevue police continue to say that no evidence points to Sky being taken elsewhere.

"Our investigative efforts have led us literally around the globe to try to find answers about this disappearance, and so far we don’t have any reason to believe that the answer lies any further away than our backyard," Johnson said.

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 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 or by email at pdtipline@bellevue.wa.gov