A 15-year-old boy from Long Island has been missing for more than two weeks after leaving school and taking a train into New York City, reportedly to meet up with someone he connected with through the online game Roblox.

Thomas Medlin was last seen around 5:30 p.m. on January 9, 2026, at Grand Central Station in Manhattan, captured on surveillance video walking with a backpack and holding a large object. He had left the Stony Brook School in Stony Brook around 3:30 p.m. that day, ran to the nearby Stony Brook Long Island Rail Road station, and boarded a train to the city.

According to the Suffolk County Police Department, detectives believe Thomas traveled to meet an individual he met online via Roblox. His mother, Eva Yan, told News 12 Long Island that this was completely out of character for her son, describing him as someone who “has never left our side” and adding through tears, “Everyone loves him.” His father, James Medlin, expressed similar shock, saying, “I just can’t believe why he left in the first place.”

The family has organized search parties in both Long Island and New York City to help locate him. Police released a surveillance image from Grand Central and a photo of Thomas smiling, provided by the Suffolk County Police Department.

A Roblox spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement that the platform is “built with safety at its core,” including robust policies, parental controls to disable in-game chat, filters to block sharing of personal information, and no allowance for user-to-user image or video sharing. The company stated it is “deeply troubled by this incident” and is cooperating with law enforcement, though it could not comment further due to the ongoing investigation.

Anyone with information on Thomas Medlin’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Suffolk County Police Department’s Fourth Squad Detectives at 631-854-8452.

Rewritten and summarized based on the original Fox News article, published January 25, 2026.