Missing Long Island Teen Thomas Medlin Found Dead in Brooklyn Waters

Two months of searches, flyers, and social media campaigns ended in heartbreak when Suffolk County Police announced Thursday that the body recovered from the waters off Red Hook, Brooklyn on March 7 had been positively identified as Thomas Medlin, the 15-year-old St. James boy who vanished on January 9.

Medlin was a student at the Stony Brook School, a private school in Stony Brook, Suffolk County. He left campus at about 3:30 p.m. on January 9 and headed to the Stony Brook Long Island Rail Road station. Investigators determined he traveled into Manhattan that afternoon, with surveillance placing him at Grand Central Terminal at around 5:30 p.m. From there, detectives traced his movements to the pedestrian walkway of the Manhattan Bridge, where cameras recorded him at about 7:06 p.m. His cellphone went dark at 7:09 p.m. A nearby surveillance camera then captured what police described as a splash in the water at 7:10 p.m. Authorities said Medlin was never seen walking off the bridge.

The investigation that followed was extensive. Detectives conducted wide-ranging video canvassing, executed subpoenas and search warrants, and performed forensic examinations of electronic devices and online accounts connected to Medlin. Those examinations included a review of his social media and online gaming profiles. Police ultimately determined those platforms were not connected to his disappearance and found no indication of criminal activity related to the case.

That conclusion put official investigators at odds with what the Medlin family had publicly feared. His family had said they believed their son traveled to the city to meet someone he had connected with through Roblox, and they suspected foul play. The theory drew wide attention and drove the searches that spread across Long Island and New York City in the weeks following his disappearance. After reviewing the digital evidence, police said the Roblox theory did not hold up. A Roblox spokesperson stated the platform is "built with safety at its core" and pointed to parental controls that allow parents to disable the in-game chat function.

The Suffolk County Police Department said it has kept Medlin's family informed throughout the process. "Detectives have continuously communicated the department's findings to Medlin's family," the department stated. "The department is continuing to work with its law enforcement partners to bring closure to the family."

No cause or manner of death has been released. The circumstances of how the body was recovered from the Red Hook waterway have not been disclosed, and no autopsy results have been made public. The investigation remains ongoing.