Long Island teen missing for more than two weeks after traveling into NYC, police say

A 15-year-old Long Island boy has been missing for more than two weeks after he left school and traveled into New York City, officers said.

Suffolk County police said Thomas Medlin, from Saint James, left The Stony Brook School around 3:30 p.m. on Jan. 9 and ran to the train station. 

He was last seen on surveillance video at Grand Central Station in Manhattan at about 5:30 p.m. that day. 

There were reports that Medlin went missing after he went to see someone he met on the popular online gaming platform Roblox.  

Medlin is white, 130 pounds and 5 feet 4 inches tall. The teen was last seen wearing a black jacket with red stripes, dark sweatpants with white stripes, a black backpack and glasses, according to police. 

Anyone with information is asked to call Fourth Squad Detectives at 631-854-8452.   

Roblox launches investigation into missing teen

Roblox officials said they followed a standard process and launched an investigation when they learned Medlin was missing.

They said they didn't see any instances of Medlin or the people he was talking to sharing phone numbers or other contact information. All messages were "consistent with typical in-game discussion," and he did not use voice chat.

"We are holding Thomas and his family in our hearts as we hope for his safe return," a statement read. "We will continue to provide our full support to law enforcement throughout their investigation."

Roblox installs more protections for minors

The platform announced in November that it's strengthening guardrails for its users under 18.

Officials said AI-powered facial age-estimation technology will be installed to help verify age. This, combined with ID-based verification and parental consent, will help verify users' ages. 

The protections are meant to limit communication between adults and minors unless they already know each other in real life.