{"id":111380,"date":"2026-01-24T19:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/111380\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T19:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T19:41:07","slug":"missing-boy-went-to-n-y-c-reportedly-to-see-someone-he-met-on-roblox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/111380\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing Boy Went to N.Y.C., Reportedly to See Someone He Met on Roblox"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> NEED TO KNOW<br \/>\nThomas Medlin, 15, went missing after traveling into Manhattan from his Long Island, N.Y., school on Jan. 9The teen&#8217;s mother believes he was heading into the city to see someone he met on RobloxThomas has been missing for two weeks, and remains missing as extreme weather is set to hit New York<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_2-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> A teenage boy has been missing for two weeks, since heading into Manhattan from his home in Long Island, N.Y. His mom believes he left to meet someone he met online through Roblox.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_4-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Fifteen-year-old Thomas Medlin of St. James, a hamlet in Suffolk County, went missing on Friday, Jan. 9, after traveling into Manhattan after school, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/suffolkpd.org\/Alerts\/Press-Releases\/ArtMID\/10029\/ArticleID\/14352?\/\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">news release<\/a> shared by the Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) on Monday, Jan. 12.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_6-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Thomas left Stony Brook School that Friday at around 3:30 p.m. local time, and \u201cran\u201d to the Stony Brook Long Island Rail Road station, where he seemingly caught a train into Manhattan, per the SCPD.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_8-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> He was last seen at Grand Central Station around two hours later, about 5:30 p.m. local time, that same day, police said.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_10-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> A photo shared by the SCPD shows the 15-year-old wearing a backpack and holding a large object while walking on what appears to be a N.Y.C. subway train platform.\n<\/p>\n<p> Thomas Medlin.<\/p>\n<p>Suffolk County Police Department<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_13-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> The teen \u2014 who is 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 130 lbs. \u2014 was last seen wearing a black jacket with red stripes, dark sweatpants with white stripes, a black backpack and glasses, according to police.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_15-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Police have since traced Thomas\u2019 location to around Cherry and Rutgers Streets in Lower Manhattan, and later, Sands and Jay Street in Brooklyn, Long Island outlet <a href=\"https:\/\/longisland.news12.com\/exclusive-st-james-family-seeks-publics-help-finding-missing-15-year-old-boy\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"externalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">News 12<\/a> reported, citing the teen\u2019s family.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_17-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Thomas\u2019 family has not heard from the teen since he left that Friday afternoon, according to News 12.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_21-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> In a new interview published on Friday, Jan. 23, two weeks after Thomas first went missing, his mother, Eva Yan, told the outlet that she believes the teen was heading into the city to meet someone he became acquainted with through Roblox. (The online game platform told the outlet they are cooperating with police in the case.)\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_23-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> The Suffolk County Police Department and Roblox did not immediately respond to PEOPLE\u2019s requests for comment on Saturday, Jan. 24.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p> Thomas Medlin.<\/p>\n<p>Suffolk County Police Department<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_26-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Yan also told News 12 that her son\u2019s behavior is out of character. \u201cHe has never left us,\u201d she said through tears.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_28-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-news-daily-newsletter-sign-up-8692701\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">PEOPLE&#8217;s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_30-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> \u201cI just can\u2019t believe why he left in the first place,\u201d the teen\u2019s father, James Medlin, told News 12.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_34-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> Yan also said that Thomas&#8217; loved ones have been searching for him every day with organized search parties in both Long Island and Manhattan. They have been checking homeless shelters, and are particularly worried about the teen with <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/nightmare-winter-weather-expected-across-30-states-including-south-11889671\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-type=\"internalLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the extreme weather that is set to hit New York in the coming days<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_36-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> \u201cEveryone loves him,\u201d Yan said of her son, later adding, \u201cWe just want him to be safe.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p id=\"mntl-sc-block_38-0\" class=\"comp mntl-sc-block mntl-sc-block-html\"> The SCPD has asked anyone with information about Thomas\u2019 whereabouts to contact Fourth Squad Detectives at 631-854-8452 or call 911.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Thomas Medlin, 15, went missing after traveling into Manhattan from his Long Island, N.Y., school&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75,84,83,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-111380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}