Marymoor Park search comes up empty as investigators plan their next move in case of missing 2-year-old Redmond boy

Saturday’s search for a missing 2-year-old Redmond boy at Marymoor Park produced no leads as the strategic decisions by investigators continue to revolve around the boy’s mother.

Saturday’s search for a missing 2-year-old Redmond boy at Marymoor Park produced no leads as the strategic decisions by investigators continue to revolve around the boy’s mother.

The mother’s questionable story leading up to Sky Metalwala’s disappearance six days ago and a lack of evidence continues to frustrate investigators.

The investigative team is currently discussing how they want to proceed with possible prosecution, Bellevue Police Maj. Mike Johnson said at a Saturday afternoon press conference.

Sky’s mother, Julia Biryukova, told police Nov. 6 that her son went missing after her car ran out of gas in the 2400 block of 112th Avenue Northeast. She told police she left Sky in the car sleeping bundled in a blanket and walked to a nearby gas station with her 4-year-old daughter. When she returned about an hour later, she said Sky was gone.

Police this week confirmed the car had enough gas in it to run for a significant amount of time, and technicians test drove the car around midnight on Thursday. Johnson noted the vehicle operated just fine.

At previous briefings, police have said Biryukova has answered investigators’ questions through her attorney, but has declined requests to take a polygraph exam or come down to the station to answer questions, according to Johnson. Investigators haven’t spoken to her since the night of her son’s disappearance.

While police have said Biryukova holds to the key to finding Sky, she has not been named a suspect or person of interest in the case.

Johnson was asked why police don’t just arrest Biryukova for neglecting her son and leaving him by himself in an unlocked vehicle last Sunday morning. In that scenario, police would have her in custody and could question the mother about her missing son.

“At this point, I’m not going to say we are going to rule that out of making an arrest that occurred Sunday morning,” Johnson said. “But as we stand here today we are not moving down that road.”

Investigators are currently examining the “issue of criminal investigation versus a missing person investigation as we stand here today and we will likely have more answers to that Monday morning,” Johnson said.

Police are confident that Biryukova, who has family in the Ukraine, remains in the area and has no intentions of leaving, Johnson said Saturday.

“We don’t have any indications that we think she is going to leave the area,” he said.

Johnson said the FBI is assisting Bellevue police with international support as federal investigators have questioned some of Biryukova’s family members overseas.

As far as the search at Marymoor Park went, Johnson said a search dog did pick up a scent near the Mercer Slough, but the lead did not pan out and “was not related to this case.”

Police also expanded their search Saturday in the Bellevue area where Sky was first reported missing, but found no leads.

Both the expanded searches in Redmond and Bellevue wrapped Saturday night and investigators will continue to try to piece together the events leading up to Sky’s disappearance on Sunday.

“We are looking at some things that might help with that tomorrow, but I don’t want to elaborate on that,” Johnson said.