Washington Boy Missing: Case 'Strikingly Similar' to TV Crime Show
The mother of a missing 2-year-old Washington boy lied to police when she claimed her car ran out of gas the day her son went missing from the vehicle.
The mother, Julia Biryukova, originally told police her son, Sky Metalwala, vanished Sunday in Bellevue, Wash., when she left him unattended in her unlocked car after it ran out of gas. The mother told police she walked to a gas station with her daughter and noticed the boy was missing when they returned to the car about an hour later.
However, authorities on the case discovered there was an adequate amount of gas left in the tank, according to Bellevue police Maj. Mike Johnson in a statement released Wednesday.
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Some are speculating whether the boy's disappearance is related to a television show that aired the night before he went missing.
Johnson said the case was "strikingly similar in nature" to a "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit" episode about a child who went missing. He also said police could not find any evidence to support what Biryukova claimed on the day her son went missing. She also refused to take a polygraph test.
"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...to be quite honest, that looks suspicious and we're puzzled by that," said Johnson in a press conference.
The disappearance of the boy occurs while his parents are in an acrimonious custody dispute. The boy's father, Solomon Metalwala, and Biryukova filed protection orders against each other as the pair continues with divorce proceedings. The pair has accused each other of abuse and psychiatric problems.
This was not the first time Sky was left unattended in a car. The boy was found in a car at a Target parking lot in December 2009 while his parents were shopping, according to court records.
Details of the case are not clear. Relatives, family friends and neighbors reportedly have not seen Sky in over than two weeks, according to police officials.
