Authorities in Washington state are searching for a 2-year-old boy who went missing after his mother says her car ran out of gas and she left him in the vehicle while she went for help. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
@WiL
More than 50 searchers, including police and canine teams, combed wooded areas in the northwestern part of the state, near Bellevue, for several hours on Sunday, looking for the toddler.
But Sky Metalwala was not found by nightfall, when the search was suspended until daybreak, according to local reports.
His mother, who was not identified in the reports, told police she had left the boy buckled into his car seat inside the unlocked car while she and her 4-year-old child walked to a gas station.
She said she was forced to make the walk after her car ran out of gas about 8:30 a.m. Sunday, the Seattle Times reported.
She said that once she reached a nearby Chevron station, she called a friend, who picked her up and drove her back to her stranded Acura, the newspaper reported.
But when she reached the car, little Sky was gone, she says.
Police were called to the scene, but did not find a gas can there — an observation that cast some doubt on Sky’s mother’s story, the paper reported.
Bellevue police said that the investigation was being treated as a missing-person case, not a kidnapping.
“We don’t know much, other than that the child is still missing,” police spokeswoman Carla Iafrate said. “I don’t know if the child got out on his own.”
The boy was described as having brown eyes and closely buzzed brown hair. He was wearing a green sweatshirt and blue-and-gray striped pants, according to reports.
His parents were said to be cooperating with police.
