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But the girl could soon be reunited with her father, who has been barred from the children for the past year, under a court commissioner’s decision Monday.
Sky Metalwala’s mother, Julia Biryukova, told police he went missing Nov. 6 when she left him alone in an unlocked car on a city street while she walked to a gas station. Investigators said her tale made little sense and accused her of lying, and Sky’s 4-year-old sister, Maile, was placed in state custody for her own safety.
Biryukova and her estranged husband, Solomon Metalwala, were in a contentious divorce and had long been fighting over custody of the children. In court documents, Biryukova alleged that Metalwala abused the children; Solomon insisted that Biryukova made up the allegations, that she was suicidal and mentally ill, and he voluntarily took a polygraph to clear his name.
Nevertheless, Biryukova succeeded in winning custody — and a protection order keeping Metalwala from the children. In light of Sky’s disappearance, though, Solomon Metalwala sought to regain custody of his daughter, and a commissioner agreed during a hearing Monday, KING-TV reported.
“In the custody, the wrong parent might have won,” Tony Masco, assistant state attorney, told the commissioner. “Based on the record I’ve seen, we can’t establish domestic violence in the relationship. The mother has very profound mental health issues.”
Metalwala must first have the protection order in the case vacated or modified, something his lawyers planned to request this week. Maile could be reunited with her father in time for her fifth birthday on Dec. 18.
“Hug her, hug her, hug her, and kiss her, kiss her, kiss her,” Metalwala said when reporters asked him what he’d do when he saw her. “I’m very pleased my daughter will be home.”
Biryukova was not present at Monday’s hearing, but her lawyer appeared on her behalf.
Bellevue police said Biryukova still hasn’t given them a full statement about what happened the night Sky disappeared.
Searches of the area where the boy’s apartment and the area where he was last seen turned up no sign of him.
Biryukova insisted that her car ran out of gas on a Sunday morning as she was taking Sky to a hospital because he didn’t feel well. She took Maile and walked to a gas station, then returned an hour later to find Sky missing, she told police.
Investigators say her car had plenty of gas and was running fine. They said her story was full of holes and bore similarities to a recent episode of what Metalwala described as her favorite show: “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” In the episode, which aired in mid-October, a mother tries to cover up her infant’s death by reporting that her car — with the baby inside — was stolen while she went into a store. The woman later drew police a map of a beach where the child was buried in the sand.
