A tragic conclusion has emerged in the search for a teenage boy who vanished after embarking on a secret trip to New York City two months ago. The body of Thomas Medlin, a 15-year-old student from a private school, was discovered in the waters near Brooklyn’s Red Hook area.
Thomas, who attended the prestigious Stony Brook School, was last seen departing on a train from Long Island to Manhattan on January 9. The Suffolk County Police Department reported that he left school at around 3:30 p.m. and was later seen at Grand Central Station around 5:30 p.m. that same evening.
The boy’s mother, overwhelmed with grief, expressed her belief that Thomas may have been lured by someone he met on the popular gaming platform Roblox. She feared he was on his way to meet this individual when he disappeared.
However, both Roblox representatives and local authorities have clarified that there is no evidence linking the app to his disappearance, as reported by CBS.
On Thursday, police officials confirmed the heartbreaking news that Thomas’s body had been recovered from the waters near Brooklyn, bringing a somber end to the search for the young boy who had been missing for weeks.
Police gave a tragic update on Thursday, saying the missing 15-year-old had been found dead in the waters close to Red Hook in Brooklyn.
Though his body was discovered Saturday, it took until Thursday for authorities to identify his remains.
‘Our beautiful boy is in heaven! We are both so proud to have him as our son,’ Thomas’s parents, Eva and James, told Newsday.
Thomas Medlin, 15, disappeared on the afternoon of January 9 after taking a train from Long Island to Manhattan, according to the Suffolk County Police Department
Footage released by the Suffolk County Police Department showed the teen walking on a train platform, wearing a striped jacket and a black backpack
Surveillance footage captured the teen on the Manhattan Bridge pedestrian walkway around 7pm the night he vanished.
Police say he last used his phone at 7.09pm and surveillance video captured a splash in the water a minute later.
After an investigation, authorities concluded his disappearance was not linked to Roblox or any social media.
‘There is no indication of criminal activity,’ police said back in January.
Roblox told the Daily Mail it assisted investigators as much as possible and found no evidence linking the game to the teen’s disappearance.
‘We conducted a thorough review to support law enforcement’s investigation and found no attempts to direct him to an off-platform communication method or sharing of off-platform contact information, including usernames, phone numbers or other communication methods,’ Roblox said in a January 27 statement.
Thomas’s mother led the search for her son, tirelessly working to draw attention to his disappearance.
She spent hours searching Manhattan, while multiple search parties across Long Island scoured the region for him in desperate attempts to bring him home.
At the time, Eva told the outlet that each day her son was missing was a struggle.
People walk through Grand Central station in New York, the teen was last seen here at around 5.30pm
Pictured: Stony Brook Long Island Rail Road train station. Medlin ran to the station after school, according to police
His mother told local outlet News12 that she believes he was meeting up with a stranger he met online through Roblox, which is out of character for him
‘But I have to be strong, to find my boy,’ she told Newsday at the time.
She said her son’s death has driven her to support other grieving families, adding she ‘loved Thomas more than anything he could imagine.’
‘I am so proud of my boy, I love him. I am heartbroken, but I love him, and I have to be strong to whatever he wanted, to help others,’ Eva said.
The boy’s loving family said he ‘shined in school’ and earned several awards in music, arts, and sports.
