Sky Gilbert’s abduction is blamed on his his non-custodial mother.

Roby Gilbert and his son Sky Thomas Gilbert have a distinction the father would just as soon lose.

Sky was allegedly abducted by his mother Juliette Peet from the Town and Country parking lot two years ago, making the 8-year-old among some 200,000 other children nationwide nabbed by a parent in 2002. But unlike most of those children, he is still missing.

“Ninety-seven percent of missing kids are found within 14 months,” Gilbert said. “(We’re) one of the 3 percent.”

To mark the two-year anniversary, Gilbert, an island artist and musician, has organized a benefit to raise funds to help prevent abductions and assist with search and rescue.

Hosting a musical event is a way to celebrate Sky’s life, and for Gilbert – who performs with local blues bands the Recliners and Bobbie Gil and the Backsliders – a positive move in the wake of two tough years.

“Anniversaries are hard,” he said. “Holidays are hard. I buy him a present every birthday. This April 3, I wanted to hold a candlelight vigil, which we did, and it was wonderful. But I didn’t want it to be a sad time, so we came up with the idea of the benefit.”

Sky was a toddler when his parents moved to the island from California in 1998. Gilbert soon found work teaching animation at Seattle Art Institute and started a business doing children’s illustrations. Juliette helped color the illustrations and kept the family’s books.

Sky was 5 years old when Gilbert realized that the marriage had unraveled, and that his wife was allegedly diverting family funds. By the time he realized what had happened, he says, more than $40,000 was gone, much of it his inheritance from his father.

“The long and the short of it is, I found she had siphoned off our savings,” he said. “I suddenly realized we were getting divorced. I tried to get us into couple counseling over what I considered to be a tremendous breach of trust. I went into counseling. I was very confused.”

His wife accused Gilbert of emotional abuse and filed for sole custody. But after court-ordered psychological assessments, both parents were granted equal access and Sky was made a ward of the court for a two-year period.

Juliette had moved to another house on the property and continued to work for Gilbert. He now concludes that, during this time, when he was still trying to find a way to co-parent, she was making plans to leave with Sky.

“I never imagined she would go this far,” Gilbert said. “And, in fact, I still have voicemail from her saying ‘Roby, you’re a wonderful father and Sky loves you, and we’ll work this out.’ And that’s just three months before the abduction, (when) simultaneously she’s plotting this escape, I guess.”

Gone missing

Juliette Peet began to pack and move her belongings, she said, to move to a new address.

On the morning of April 3, Gilbert handed his son to his ex-wife, ostensibly so that she could bring the boy to a birthday party.

“I took him to the Town and Country parking lot that morning,” he said. “We were to meet at 9 o’clock…Sky and I were singing ‘who let the monkeys out.’ We were having a good time. He was happy to see his mom. I put him in her arms. I said to him ‘I love you.’”

When Juiliette didn’t call at 5 p.m., Gilbert knew his son was gone.

“I knew immediately, because she’d made threats of abduction to the court psychiatrist,” he said. “In retrospect, I don’t think the courts, the police or any of us recognized that 50 percent of these threats are acted upon.”

Police found Juliette’s car in Seattle. Images from a video surveillance camera in a Northgate bank, where Juliette had gone to cash a check, gave Gilbert a last fleeting glimpse of his son.

Although Juliette never alleged physical abuse, Gilbert says he found himself stigmatized by some community members.

“We want to believe that women run because they’ve been abused,” he said. “People say ‘what must he have done to cause this thing?’”

The investigation is ongoing; Peet is currently wanted on a Kitsap County Superior Court warrant for custodial interference, and a federal warrant for flight to avoid prosecution, Bainbridge Police Detective Scott Weiss said.

A “sighting” in South Carolina just two weeks ago proved to be another false lead.

The case has been broadcast on radio and TV, and Sky and Juliette’s photos have been distributed via the Polly Klaas Foundation website for missing children. Another national mailing is slated for this month.

Meanwhile, Gilbert copes with both the loss of his child, and the singularity of his situation.

He does have a message for his son, a prayer he and Schmidt composed for the anniversary:

“Two years ago today, you were suddenly ripped from our lives. A hole has been left, a missing limb from our family that awaits your return. We pray for your health and happiness. We pray for your safety. We miss you.”