2-year-old boy missing in Washington state

[MADeline]

From Greg Morrison, CNN
updated 5:41 AM EST, Mon November 7, 2011

(CNN) -- Authorities are searching for a 2-year-old boy in Bellevue, Washington, after the boy's mother said he went missing when she left him in her car to get help after she ran out of gas.

The mother, who was not identified in a police press release, ran out of gas Sunday morning in the northwestern area of the city with her two children, a 4-year-old and 2-year-old, in the car, authorities said.

The woman took the 4-year-old with her when she went to seek assistance, police said, leaving 2-year-old Sky Metalwala behind.

"Approximately an hour later she returned to the vehicle and the baby was gone," police said in a statement. The boy was reported missing at 9:50 a.m.

About 50 people, including police with tracking dogs, fanned out around the area Sunday to try to find the boy, said Carla Iafrate, a spokeswoman for Bellevue police. The search was suspended as night fell, she said.

Iafrate said the parents of the boy are cooperating.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/06/us/was...n-missing-boy/

[MADeline]

Police, FBI Still Searching for Missing Toddler in Bellevue



A strange and slightly creepy story took over headlines yesterday after police in Bellevue released information about a missing 2-year-old, whose mother told them that she had left the boy in her unlocked car after running out of gas.
The mother reported running out of gas at around 8 a.m. yesterday morning, on 112 th. Avenue in Bellevue. Taking her other child, a 4-year-old, with her, the mother left the toddler, Sky Metalwala, in his car seat, in the unlocked car, as she walked to to a service station, about a mile down the road.
Some reports include a phone call by the mother to a friend, or a friend to who may have come to pick her up. However, the Bellevue police haven't yet confirmed this aspect of the day's events. Additionally, no gas can was recovered from the vehicle.
A family lawyer told KIRO that the parents, who were in the midst of a divorce, were involved in a custody battle. However, both parents, the Bellevue Police Department has stated, are being cooperative as the search for the boy continues.
Authorities spend much of Sunday combing the area around the car, looking for the child who may have left the vehicle on his own. However, by yesterday evening, police had suspended the search of the immediate area near the car where the child's mother reported that she had left him, and began instead focusing on leads that had come in throughout the day which may help to locate the child.
The story has already captivated many--articles on nearly every major news site show hundreds of "Likes" and scores of comments--chiefly due to its unusual nature. Commenters have been busy speculating about the nature of the case and the unanswered questions surrounding it, but so far, authorities have been fairly vague.
The FBI, who is called in on every incident of a missing child, has joined in the effort to find the child. Anyone who may have additional information about the child or his whereabouts is encouraged to call 911 immediately.
http://seattlest.com/2011/11/07/poli...g_for_miss.php

[MADeline]

Sky Metalwala Missing: Parents Have Previous Record of Reckless Endangerment

By Ellen Killoran | November 7, 2011 1:52 PM EST
A two-year old boy is missing after his mother left him unattended in an unlocked car on Sunday morning.
Sky Metalwala's mother told Bellevue, Wash., police she ran out of gas, and left her son strapped into a car seat while she and her four-year-old daughter walked to a Chevron station a mile away. He was reportedly unattended for an hour.

The police have not yet issued an Amber Alert, which, along with information published in a Seattle Times article, could indicate that police are unconvinced that Sky was kidnapped.
According to The Seattle Times, police conducted a search of the area where Sky went missing Sunday afternoon but called off the search at around 6 p.m. There were no plans to resume the search on Monday.
"King County felt like they had done a very thorough search of a pretty wide area for the boy and were confident that he wasn't there," Officer Carla Iafrate, spokesperson for the Bellevue Police Department, told the Times.
Lafrate also said the police did not find a portable gas can in or near the car.

"We don't know much, other than that the child is still missing," Iafrate told the Times. "I don't know if the child got out on his own. We don't have very much information.
"At this point we're just treating it as a missing child," Iafrate added. "We don't know anything more yet."
The Times reported Monday that the FBI had joined the search, but did not specify in what capacity.
According to King County District Court records obtained by the Times, Matalwala's parents were charged in Dec. 2009 with reckless endangerment and leaving a child unattended in a motor vehicle.
lafrate reportedly told a Fox News affliliate the boy's parents were cooperating with the investigation.
Sky Metalwala is of Indian and Caucasian descent, with dark buzz-cut hair and brown eyes. The toddler was last seen wearing a dark green hooded sweatshirt and blue and gray striped pants.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/2447...d-reckless.htm