A 15-year-old boy has been missing for two weeks since he headed into Manhattan from his home in Long Island, New York, after leaving to meet someone he met online through Roblox, an online gaming platform, his mother said, according to People. Roblox has now shared a statement expressing concerns over the disappearance of Thomas Medlin.
Where is Thomas Medlin? Teen vanishes after allegedly traveling to NYC to see someone he met on Roblox (Suffolk County Police Department)
Medlin of St. James, a hamlet in Suffolk County, disappeared on January 9 after he traveled into Manhattan after school, according to a January 12 news release shared by the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD). On the day he went missing, Medlin left Stony Brook School at around 3:30 pm local time and “ran” to the Stony Brook Long Island Rail Road station, where he is believed to have caught a train into Manhattan, the SCPD said. He was last seen at Grand Central Station around two hours later, about 5:30 pm local time, on the same day.
The SCPD later shared a photo of Medlin walking on what appears to be an NYC subway train platform, carrying a backpack and holding a large object.
The teen is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 130 lbs. He was last seen wearing a black jacket with red stripes, dark sweatpants with white stripes, a black backpack and glasses, police said.
Cops have since traced Medlin’s location to around Cherry and Rutgers Streets in Lower Manhattan, and later to Sands and Jay Street in Brooklyn, News 12 reported, citing the teen’s family. The family has not heard from him since he went missing.
What did Thomas Medlin’s parents say?
Days after Medlin vanished, his mother Eva Yan told News 12 that she believed her son went into the city to meet someone he met through Roblox. She added that her son’s behavior is out of character.
“He has never left us,” she said.
“I just can’t believe why he left in the first place,” the teen’s father, James Medlin, told the outlet.
Yan said that Medlin’s loved ones have been searching for him with organized search parties in both Long Island and Manhattan, checking even homeless shelters. They are worried about the extreme weather expected to hit New York City soon.
“Everyone loves him,” Yan said of her son. “We just want him to be safe.”
Roblox speaks out
Roblox Newsroom said in an X post that the company is “deeply concerned” about reports about Medlin’s disappearance.
“When we learned that one of our users was missing, we followed our standard process and immediately began an investigation, searched for any previous law enforcement inquiries, and reached out to law enforcement to offer any support in their investigation,” it wrote.
Roblox said that after a review, they found that there have been no attempts to direct Medlin to an off-platform communication method, and that there was no sharing of off-platform contact information, including usernames, phone numbers or other communication methods. The company added that all the “chat content was consistent with typical in-game discussions,” and that there is no indication that Medlin used voice chat.
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“We are holding Thomas and his family in our hearts as we hope for his safe return. We will continue to provide our full support to law enforcement throughout their investigation,” Roblox’s statement said.
Anyone with information about Medlin’s whereabouts has been urged by the SCPD to contact Fourth Squad Detectives at 631-854-8452 or call 911.