Police in Bellevue, Wash., say Julia Biryukova, the mother of missing two-year-old Sky Metalwala, has refused to take a polygraph examination.
"Mom isn't willing to come in and provide a polygraph. To be quite honest, that looks suspicious and we're puzzled by that," Bellevue police Maj. Mike Johnson said.
According to Johnson, Biryukova's attorney, Veronica Freitas, said her client is "devastated and is in no condition to take a polygraph."
Freitas did not reply to an email seeking comment from The Huffington Post and calls to her law firm went unanswered Wednesday.
Johnson said Sky's father, Biryukova's estranged husband Solomon Metalwala, has "cooperated fully" and took a polygraph examination on Sunday. Metalwala has also consented to a follow-up examination, police said, after results proved inconclusive.
Authorities are still trying to build a timeline in the case. While he disappeared Sunday, indications are that the last time anyone saw Sky was a couple of weeks ago. Johnson said investigators have been unable to find anybody who has seen Sky since then. Johnson also said that investigators are troubled by Biryukova's story.
"When you hear this story the mom has told, you have to scratch your head and wonder why? If that's really what happened, why?" he said.
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Sky Metalwala Missing
Biryukova told police Sky was ill Sunday morning and she was driving him from their Redmond home to a Bellevue hospital when her car ran out of gas.
"She is reporting that Sky was asleep in his car seat," Bellevue police spokeswoman Carla Lafrate told The Huffington Post. "She took her 4-year-old [daughter] and they walked to a gas station, which is about a mile walk, and called a friend to come and pick them up. When the friend picked her up and they got back to the car, the child was missing."
Johnson said the story does not add up.
"[If] you're on the way to the hospital, why would you leave your kid in the car? It certainly is suspicious," he said.
Authorities also found it bizarre that Biryukova's car started when it was checked by officers. According to Lafrate, mechanics are conducting a forensic exam of the car Wednesday.
"They are looking at the gas tank to see how much gas is in there," she said.
Despite their suspicions, investigators said they are not ready to name any suspects or persons of interest in the case. In addition to polygraph examinations, authorities were conducting additional searches Wednesday for clues in the case. That search has taken investigators to Biryukova's Redmond home.
"The reason we have moved out there is because that is the last place we think Sky was, so we are backtracking," Lafrate said.
Johnson said police also plan to focus on the people closest to Sky.
"The people who are closest to Sky and Julia are the people who know what happened to Sky," he said.
Neither Biryukova nor Solomon Metalwala responded requests for comment from The Huffington Post.
