It was a cold November morning in 2011 when Julia Biryukova, 30, held her son for the last time.
Julia woke up to find that Sky Metalwala, 2, had fallen ill during the night. She decided to bring him to the hospital to have him checked. She chose Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue, Washington, which operates a level III emergency department. The hospital was a 12-minute drive from her apartment in downtown Redmond.
Julia loaded Sky and her 4-year-old daughter, Maile Metalwala, into her car—a 1998 two-door Acura Integra that she borrowed from her brother—and began the drive.
About 2.2 miles into the seven-mile trip, Julia ran out of gas. It just so happened that she also left her phone, wallet and purse at home, too, so she didn’t have a way to call for help.
Julia’s next thought was to start walking until she came upon a gas station. She took Maile with her and left Sky asleep in the backseat, strapped into his car seat, with the doors unlocked. The car was stopped at the 2400 block of 112th Avenue Northeast in Bellevue, which runs parallel to State Route 520, a busy highway.
A Chevron gas station sat a mile down the road, but it took Julia and Maile about an hour to get there. They seemed to meander around the area before heading in the direction of the service station. Despite being in a residential neighborhood, Julia didn’t knock on anyone’s door and ask to use a phone or borrow gas.
When Julia and Maile arrived at the gas station, they used the phone there to contact Julia’s friend (whose name is not mentioned in sources). The friend picked them up and brought them back to Julia’s car, still without any gas.
An hour-and-a-half had passed since Julia and Maile left Sky. When they returned to the car, Sky was gone.
Julia used her friend’s phone to call 9-1-1 and Bellevue police quickly arrived on the scene. Sometime after 11 am, Solomon Metalwala, the children’s father and Julia’s ex-husband—who she was in the middle of a heated custody battle with—was contacted. Police searched a 20-block radius around where Julia’s car was parked. There was no trace of Sky and he hasn’t been seen since.
Solomon was very active in the search for Sky, and still is. Julia refused to take a polygraph test and requested a lawyer early on. That was the last time she spoke to police about her missing son.
The Bellevue Police Department has spent more than $2 million, devoted more than 14,000 man hours and followed up on over 2,500 leads to find Sky. Still, what happened to this sweet 2-year-old boy remains unknown.
What do you think happened?
The Parents: Julia Biryukova and Solomon Metalwala
To better understand Sky and speculate on theories about his fate, we’ll begin where it started: with his parents.
Julia Biryukova and Solomon Metalwala both emigrated to the United States. Julia is Ukranian and was born in Soviet Russia on March 10, 1981. She emigrated to Washington State with her mother when she was 12 and is estranged from her father. Solomon was born on April 15, 1975, and is a Pakistani immigrant.
Julia claimed in court documents that she suffered through much of her childhood in Russia. Her parents were heavy-handed and she was allegedly physically abused. Julia underwent a series of electroconvulsive treatment therapies, not necessarily to help with mental illness but to curb her behavior. She was physically disciplined often and frequently told she was wrong. Unfortunately, Julia experienced lasting trauma that followed her into adulthood.
from 1999 to 2010. Photo from King5.
Julia and Solomon met in 1997 at a gas station. He was 21 and ran King Street Kafé, now King Street Bar & Oven, which was owned by his parents. (Located in the Pioneer Square neighborhood of Seattle, it remains open to this day but under different ownership.) Julia was only 15 and a sophomore at Bellevue High School. Solomon invited Julia to a weekend party and the pair became a couple almost instantly.
As Julia continued school, she also worked as a waitress at King Street Kafé with Solomon. In 1999, Julia, now 17, graduated from high school and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. The couple also purchased their first home together, a condominium in Bellevue; one of the more affluent suburbs of Washington.
A Short-Lived Hopeful Start
From the outside, the Metalwala’s life sang to the tune of young success. Julia and Solomon were an active couple and enjoyed jogging, hiking and doing yoga together. However, reality inside their home was much different.
Julia alleged that Solomon was controlling. She admitted that she became emotionally dependent on him, which caused her to isolate herself from family and friends. The couple’s home life wasn’t without loud, heated arguments. On one occasion in 1999, not long after they bought their first home, they attracted the attention of law enforcement while arguing loudly at a gas station. Nothing came of the matter.
Over time the couple’s differences became more obvious to them both. However, they remained committed and got married in February 2003. They had a small ceremony held in Solomon’s mother’s kitchen.
Julia didn’t tell her own family about the marriage for seven years. She later alleged that she didn’t want to marry Solomon, but his family gave her an ultimatum: either marry him or he would be deported to Pakistan. The reason behind the impending deportation was never disclosed to Julia.
Timeline Of Events
2005: Religion Conversion and Early Financial Hardship
Two years into their marriage, Solomon converted to Christianity. The change was allegedly an effort to make the marriage work, which was now undergoing serious difficulties.
Solomon was raised Muslim and his parents, who still practiced the faith, did not support his decision. When the couple began to attend church in Kirkland, their disapproval grew. Solomon’s parents blamed Julia for their son’s decision and it became a source of contention in their marriage. Nonetheless, Solomon remains an active member of his church.
That same year, another deli opened across the street from King Street Kafé. The competitor stole revenue from the deli and led the Metalwala’s into financial hardship.
2006: Birth of First Child and OCD Diagnosis
The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter, Maile Metalwala in December of 2006. Soon after Maile was born, Julia was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); a mental illness characterized by a pattern of unwanted thoughts and fears, which lead to obsessions and repetitive behaviors.
These thoughts create anxiety and stress for the individual and the repetitive behaviors, or rituals, function as an attempt at relief or to prevent something bad from happening.
2008: A New Home
Financial hardship worsened as the deli continued to decline—especially as the Great Recession hit. However, Julia was pregnant with their second child and contrary to their financial situation, the couple decided they needed a bigger home.
Julia and Solomon moved out of their Bellevue condominium and into an $860,000 home in the South Rose Hill neighborhood of Kirkland, which they purchased. They were still responsible for the mortgage payments on their condo. Needless to say, the family accrued a lot of debt in a short period of time.
Solomon allegedly kept their worsening debt a secret from Julia. She later told courts that she didn’t learn how severe their financial problems were until they were six months behind on payments. She described this as being the real tipping point of their marriage.
During her second pregnancy, Julia’s psychiatrist prescribed her antidepressants but she didn’t take the medication because she didn’t think she needed it.
2009: Birth of a Second Child, Financial Ruin and Worsening Symptoms
On September 6, 2009, Sky Elijah Metalwala was born.
Curiously, less than two months later, Julia and Solomon found themselves in trouble with police. The couple left Solomon in their Cadillac Escalade while shopping inside of a Target store. They told police they were inside for only 20 minutes, but video footage indicated it was for 55 minutes. Outside temperatures reached 27°F that day. The Metalwala’s were charged with leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle. They were required to take parenting classes in order to have the charges dropped.
It bore a strange similarity to how Sky went missing.
At this time, the couple was unable to pay their bills, which were placed in arrears. Lenders started to foreclose on their two properties. A year after purchasing their Kirkland home, the family moved back in to their much smaller Bellevue condominium. Now, they risked losing both homes.
Cleanliness obsession.
Now dealing with the stress of having two young children, being in financial trouble and at risk of losing her home, and in a failing marriage, Julia’s OCD intensified. It manifested into an intense obsession with cleaning. Julia spent 6-7 hours a day cleaning their home, which compromised her ability to work.
Julia would clean the same areas over and over again until she was satisfied. She vacuumed frequently, only doing so in perfect, straight lines. The family received three noise complaints from the managing company of their complex due to Julia’s late-night vacuuming. The third time, the family was charged a $300 fee.
The obsession grew so severe that Julia no longer wanted anyone to sleep in the marital bed, so they would avoid dirtying the sheets. She stopped allowing food in the home to avoid crumbs, so her family had to eat outside of the residence. The children were neglected and missed meals because of Julia’s behaviors. Eventually, Julia stopped leaving the house altogether.
From 2009 to 2010, Child Protection Services visited the Metalwala’s home at least six times.
It’s unknown as to how Julia handled dirty diapers. However, Solomon often returned home from work to check on and care for the children.
“I am not exaggerating when I state under oath that Julia cared more about cleaning a countertop than she did about feeding our daughter,” Solomon told The Kirkland Reporter. “The child was ignored, and it became a matter of great concern.”
Even Nadia Biryukova, Julia’s mother, believed Solomon. According to The Kirkland Reporter, court documents stated that Nadia told her daughter:
“Neither your husband nor I would like for you to live with us at your current conditions … All of us (your children including) are suffering from your abuse.”
2010: 3 Trips To The Psych Ward And A Divorce
Early in the year, Julia was committed to a mental health facility. It was the first of three times she would be committed in 2010.
The first hospitalization came when Julia told Solomon she dreamt of killing their children. On another occasion, she told him she had visions of strangling Sky.
Before leaving her second facility, Dr. Stephen A. Sholl, a clinical psychologist, said in a statement: “Although Ms. Biryukova is dealing with a severe form of OCD, I do not believe that this interferes with her ability to be a compassionate, effective parent to her children.”
Solomon files for divorce.
Julia and Solomon separated in March 2010, but he filed for divorce when she returned home from the hospital in June.
Julia’s reaction was worrisome. She sent Solomon a slew of text messages threatening to commit suicide. In the texts, she wrote:
“Please, please I’m begging with my whole heart help me find a peaceful way to die. I cannot live ANOTHER day and cause you, Maile and Sky anymore suffering. I’m dead inside anyway and have been dead for a long time. You will not miss me at all and Maile and Sky have the best daddy in the world so I know they will be okay …”
Solomon knew that Julia was home alone with 6-month-old Sky. Concerned about his son’s welfare, he called the Bellevue Police, who went to the Metalwala’s home. She admitted to police that she was suicidal and was involuntary committed at Overlake Hospital and then Navos Behavior Health Hospital in West Seattle. She told hospital staff that she made these statements only to get Solomon’s attention and that she wasn’t really suicidal.
When she finished her second stay, Solomon and his brother took Julia to the University of Washington Medical Center at her own request. She felt that she wasn’t receiving adequate care and her condition wasn’t being taken seriously at the other facilities. During her third stay, Julia was administered a Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), which is a scale used to determine the severity of a mental illness.
Julia’s Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores.
The first time Julia was administered the GAF, she received a score of 15. According to WebMd, it’s a score that suggests:
- Some danger of hurting self or others (e.g., suicide attempts without clear expectation of death, frequently violent, manic excitement) OR occasionally fails to maintain minimal personal hygiene (e.g., smears feces) OR gross impairment in communication (e.g., largely incoherent or mute.
Before Julia was released, she was tested again and received a score of 40, which showed some improvement. A GAF score of 40 suggests:
- Some impairment in reality testing or communication (e.g., speech is at times illogical, obscure or irrelevant) OR major impairments in several areas, such as work or school, family relations, judgement, thinking or mood (e.g., depressed man avoids friends, neglects family and is unable to work; child frequently beats up younger children, is defiant at home and is failing at school).
Solomon moves out.
While Julia was in the hospital, the Metalwala’s lender foreclosed on the condominium. Solomon and the children moved in with his parents in Kirkland. Now, when Julia was released, she would be on her own.
A nasty separation.
Julia and Solomon disagreed about the parameters of their divorce. Julia claimed that Solomon abused her and she feared for her life. In turn, Solomon said Julia’s allegations were false. He alleged that Julia’s mental health problems made her unstable, and unable to adequately care for their children.
At many times throughout the divorce proceedings, Julia and Solomon had orders of protection against each other. The couple went back and forth accusing the other of being physically and emotionally abusive toward the children. All the claims were unfounded.
At one point, Julia issued the most serious of the claims that Solomon sexually abused their daughter. CPS ruled this claim unfounded, but Solomon was prohibited from seeing both children for almost a year while the case was investigated.
Julia wins full custody.
In September 2010, Julia was granted full custody of both children. Solomon didn’t have visitation rights and she forbid him from seeing them. Still, he kept fighting in court.
Julia wanted the proceedings to end. She even offered to forego alimony and child support if he allowed her to move to Arizona with the kids, but he refused. In November 2011, the court ordered the couple to attend mediation to resolve their issues. It was later discovered that Julia left both children home alone during that mediation session, something she did often, for some 11 consecutive hours.
The couple finally agreed that Julia would maintain full custody of the children but Solomon would have full visitation. She didn’t like that outcome. On November 3, 2011, three days before Sky disappeared, Julia called her lawyer and said she felt pressured into the agreement. Thus, the agreement for Solomon’s visitation was voided.
Three days later, Sky was gone.
Julia Becomes A Suspect
When a child goes missing, nearly half the time (49%) the disappearance involves a parent, according to Child Watch of North America.
Early into the investigation, police had their eye on Julia. Her story didn’t add up. Here’s a few reasons why.
GAS IN THE CAR. One of the most curious points of evidence was the gas in Julia’s car. When police inspected the Acura Integra that Julia was driving, it still had 2.2 gallons of gas, which was certainly enough to safely reach the hospital. The vehicle also ran normally.
NOT ASKING FOR HELP. Julia told investigators that she searched for help, but she didn’t knock on the doors of any nearby homes.
NO SCENT PICKED UP. Canine units were involved in the investigation. Sky’s scent was not picked up anywhere outside of the vehicle.
SKY WASN’T SEEN FOR WEEKS PRIOR. No one aside from Julia and Maile had seen Sky for two weeks leading up to his disappearance. Residents of the apartment building where Julia lived reported hardly seeing Julia or her children. However, residents also reported that it was normal for Julia to regularly come and go, leaving both children unattended in the apartment. The last time that anyone saw Sky other than Julia and Maile was at a doctor’s appointment eight months earlier.
PHOTOS OF MAILE ARE SHARED BUT NOT SKY. Julia was heavily criticized throughout the investigation for posting far more photos of her and Maile on Facebook than of her and Sky. Many people who followed the case believed it was indicative of Julia having a favorite child, which was clearly Maile.
NO POLYGRAPH TEST. Although Solomon took a polygraph test, Julia refused to. Her lawyer, Veronica Freitas, said it was because Julia was mentally unstable at the time and the tests are notoriously unreliable.
Theories on Sky Metalwala’s Disappearance
Sky’s Disappearance was Planned and Inspired by the Media
Not long before Sky disappeared, an episode of NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, depicted a chillingly similar account to what Julia claims had happened. Curiously, the episode, “Missing Pieces,” (season 13, episode 5) premiered two weeks earlier—and also reran in the Seattle area the night before Sky Disappeared. The episode is about a young couple who claimed their son was abducted when their parked car was stolen on Halloween. However, the parents buried their son after he died from sudden infant death syndrome and they fabricated the car theft story as a cover-up.
According to Solomon, Law & Order was also one of Julia’s favorite TV shows.
Sky Was Killed Days Before The Alleged Disappearance
As police began to dig deeper into this case, they learned that none of Sky’s family members had seen him for several weeks prior to his disappearance—with the exception of Julia. It’s possible that Sky died or was killed prior to his disappearance, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and Julia concealed the body.
Sky Was Sent To Live With Family In Russia
Julia Biryukova’s estranged father visited Washington from Ukraine in April 2011. Some speculate that he may have taken Sky back to Ukraine with him.
The Messy Aftermath
After Sky disappeared, the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) removed Maile from Julia’s home and placed her into foster care. Solomon was permitted visitation twice a week while he fought in court for full custody of Maile. He was ultimately awarded full custody.
Julia and Solomon’s divorce was finalized in January 2012.
2014-2015: Julia Remarries A Convicted Felon
SeekingArrangements.com
Soon after her divorce was finalized, Julia created a profile on a dating website. She intends to meet a suitor for financial gain. Julia signed up for SeekingArrangements.com. On her profile, she stated that she was seeking out “sugar daddies,” or wealthy men willing to support her financially as part of a relationship. She requested to $3,000 to $5,000 in cash per month.
Her profile read:
Happy, single, Loving, FUN, PASSIONATE, kind, healthy, Beautiful, great cook, blonde hair, blue eyes, slim, very fit, CHRISTIAN, mommy of 2 beautiful babies, I speak fluent Russian, Ukrainian and English, I live in Redmond, WASHINGTON.
I am looking for financial stability and assistance…I am looking for a successful mentor. I am looking for a REAL man. YOU tell me YOUR ‘ideal’ arrangement!
As life would have it, who she met was quite the opposite.
Julia connected with Alan Morgan, a convicted felon with a lengthy criminal record that includes several CPS referrals in Florida for cruelty against a child from a prior relationship, domestic violence, assault, violence against police officers, battery and chemical dependency. Alas, she fell head over heels again.
Alan was a regular methamphetamine user and a heavy drinker of alcohol. He was also periodically homeless.
In December 2014, Julia and Alan married. That same month, she reported him to Redmond police for an alleged assault. Julia was subsequently granted a no-contact order, but continued to visit Alan in jail in Issaquah.
Julia Has Her Third Child
While Alan was in jail, Julia gave birth to her third child, Elijah James Morgan, on July 10, 2015. She later told investigators that her and Alan did not live together, despite using the same address. She also claimed that she didn’t know who the father of her child was, even though Alan’s name is on the birth certificate and the child shares his same middle name.
Almost immediately, Julia was declared an unfit parent by DHSH, and workers tried to have the infant removed from Julia’s care. The child was ultimately removed from Julia’s care and placed in the legal care of her mother. However, both Julia and her young son lived with her mother, Nadia Biryukova, from the time of his birth. The living arrangements were stable enough to satisfy the courts.
2019: Julia Testifies Against New Husband And Is Arrested For Shoplifting
In February 2019, Julia testified in court against Alan for the domestic violence case. There, she told the court that Alan violated the no-contact order that was in place. While it was true that Alan called Julia from jail, she also called him more than 70 times and, on several occasions, she visited him under a different name.
Alan was released on October 15, 2019, and court-ordered to attend drug and alcohol treatment. On November 5, Alan left treatment early and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Also in 2019, Julia was arrested for shoplifting from Costco.
Alan later argued in court that he and Julia’s child was better suited in foster care, because it would provide a neutral environment for him to become reacquainted with his son. The child was under Nadia’s legal guardianship, however, Julia was permitted to live in the home and have supervised interactions with her son. Their contentious relationship played a role in the child being placed into foster care. Julia was no longer permitted to live with her mother and started living with a friend.
On February 24, 2020, Julia filed a motion to reconsider the court’s opinion. The motion was denied.
Report Tips On This Case To:
This case remains open and unsolved!
If anyone has information on the case of missing Sky Metalwala, contact the Bellevue Police Department at 425-577-5656 or email pdtipline@bellevuewa.gov.
My Two Cents Corner
This case is a tough one for me, because I honestly can’t pinpoint what I think happened here.
I can say, and this is purely my own speculation, that I think the dismantled marriage was a long time coming. When I read about the couple’s history, the age difference stood out to me immediately. When Solomon and Julia met, he was 21 and she was only 15. Think about the difference in maturity, life experience and common sense that lies between a 21-year-old and a 15-year-old.
I think that a young Julia got into a relationship with an older man at a young age–perhaps he was her first love–and the control aspect of that relationship was assumed by the older male partner. She married him soon after high school, so whatever unresolved trauma she had from childhood likely followed her into that relationship. When the pair grew more serious and began to involve homes, marriage, children, debt and in-laws that weren’t particularly fond of Julia, it became a recipe for disaster for whatever mental disarray she had lying beneath the surface.
Let’s be honest: the situation that Julia found herself in, as a young wife and mother, was definitely not ideal and would probably be difficult for anyone to work through. For someone that didn’t have strong emotional support, it’s even harder. I’m not defending Julia’s actions or lack thereof by any means, but I feel that a lot of the information about this case caste her in a bad light because of her mental illness. However, she often tried seeking out help for her conditions, which included three hospitalizations.
I think perhaps Julia felt that Solomon was controlling and domineering, as she previously said, and wanted to keep the children away from him. On the other hand, Solomon witnessed her worsening mental illness and saw that she wasn’t mentally stable enough to raise two kids alone. She exhibited that fact outright when her exacerbating OCD caused her to prioritize cleaning over feeding her family or allowing them to sleep in their beds. I think both parents felt fully justified in their case when they went to court for custody.
However, none of this really matters because it still doesn’t determine what happened to Sky.
I think it was incredibly irresponsible to leave a child in a car by themselves, especially a sick 2-year-old. First of all, it was November, and on this particular day it was only 35°F outside when Sky was left in the car.
I think it’s even worse to leave the child in the car with the doors unlocked. This is basically an open invitation for a kidnapping. I read that although Bellevue is an affluent area, it’s also home to many transients. It’s certainly a possibility that someone may have taken the child when Julia was gone, or even that Julia arranged for such an event to happen; an under-the-table adoption of sorts.
Or, it was possible that Sky was already deceased when Julia placed him in the car. Perhaps she never even placed him in there, but wrapped a doll that resembled Sky in a blanket, so Maile, his sister, would suspect that he was indeed in the car–and relay that information to police.
Whatever the case may be, let’s continue to hope and pray that, one day, Sky Metalwala will return home.
Resources
- Nightshift: Unsolved Mystery – What Really Happened to Sky Metalwala? – Failure to Stop
- The Disappearance of Sky Metalwala – Ginger the True Crime Queen
- Julia Biryukova, Mother of Missing 2-Year-Old Sky Metalwala, Looking For a ‘Sugar Daddy’? – Huffington Post
- The Disappearance of Sky Metalwala – Talk Murder With Me
- Investigators Still Haven’t Ruled Out Missing Toddler’s Parents, Who Struggled With Heated Past | Part 1 – The Kirkland Reporter
- Missing Toddler’s Parents Alleged Abuse, Neglect Against Each Other | Part 2 – The Kirkland Reporter
- Episode 115: Sky Metalwala – True Crime All The Time Unsolved
- Disappearance of Sky Metalwala – Wikipedia