NY NY - Thomas Medlin, 15, Stony Brook, 9 Jan 2026

[shiningonsmiles]

"“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,” they added.

“We will continue to provide any assistance we can.”

But Jim told The U.S. Sun he has subsequently found three Roblox accounts his family had no idea about.

“They are researching these now,” he added."

His Mum mentioned other emails and accounts he had made in the video I posted earlier also.

Why would he need 4 roblox accounts though?

Kids don't seem to get banned much. I'm not sure what behaviour earns a permaban?

Could he have been playing on multiple sockpuppet accounts on multiple devices at once to earn extra points make extra progress etc?

Or is this nefarious in some way?

In my experience parenting children and trying to keep up with what they are up to online is challenging. I've found kids often have multiple accounts to make extra points or get bonuses they can "gift" to their main account.
It's also common they forget a password to an account and then just make another one.
Or want to be online but don't want friends to know they're playing a certain game or avoid interacting with their friends when they aren't feeling social.

 

[Lisbeth_S]

In my experience parenting children and trying to keep up with what they are up to online is challenging. I've found kids often have multiple accounts to make extra points or get bonuses they can "gift" to their main account.
It's also common they forget a password to an account and then just make another one.
Or want to be online but don't want friends to know they're playing a certain game or avoid interacting with their friends when they aren't feeling social.

I shudder at the thought of all the sneaky things I've done in my youth, so I can only imagine what kids do now in all those online platforms!

Having followed the thread and this story since the beginning, I can see all the arguments for a potential drastic decision on that bridge and they all make perfect sense, but I can't shake the gut feeling that something else happened.
I don't even know what to hope for because all the scenarios in my head are not good.

 

[AnyNameIWish]

I saw mom on the local news but at this point I don't think he was lured offline and kidnapped? He was seen on a bridge in NYC and then a splash was heard. This is heartbreaking. (I can't find the people article linked here but I'm sorry if it is a duplicate I will delete).

New Evidence Shows Boy Who Disappeared After Traveling to N.Y.C. 2 Weeks Ago Was Last Seen on Bridge Over Water

New footage shows that missing Long Island teen Thomas Medlin, who disappeared in New York City over 2 weeks ago, was last seen on a bridge over a river, according to police.

people.com

"The last activity on his cell phone was on January 9 at 7:09 p.m. and a nearby surveillance camera captured a splash in the water on January 9 at 7:10 p.m," police continued, noting that the teen was "never seen leaving the bridge via path exits."

At this point I think investigators believe they have their answers...

Is a body likely to be recovered?

 

[Cardgame]

I shudder at the thought of all the sneaky things I've done in my youth, so I can only imagine what kids do now in all those online platforms!

Having followed the thread and this story since the beginning, I can see all the arguments for a potential drastic decision on that bridge and they all make perfect sense, but I can't shake the gut feeling that something else happened.
I don't even know what to hope for because all the scenarios in my head are not good.

If he dropped his phone into the water would it make a splash loud enough to be picked up on cameras?

I'm guessing probably not, but I can understand why the family would not accept this as an explanation. After all NYC is a big city, cops are busy, they are going to accept the obvious solution. The family will not. Question is, would this kid want to disappear for good? Because if he's thrown his phone in the river and sneaked off the bridge out of sight of cameras then that was his plan. More likely than abduction I think. Voluntary disappearance. But I don't know how likely that is.

 

[Cardgame]

In my experience parenting children and trying to keep up with what they are up to online is challenging. I've found kids often have multiple accounts to make extra points or get bonuses they can "gift" to their main account.
It's also common they forget a password to an account and then just make another one.
Or want to be online but don't want friends to know they're playing a certain game or avoid interacting with their friends when they aren't feeling social.

I wonder also if his parents had banned him from Roblox so he kept creating accounts to outwit them.

 

[TMich6811]

I think suicide is the most likely answer but I have a few thoughts/questions because I would think like the parents until I knew confidently this is what happened

Was the splash heard or seen?

The quote above says “captured” on camera - but many people are saying it was heard.

If the sound was caught on camera - how? Surely there is a lot of noise in the area, how close was the camera that it caught a sound they suspect confidently was jumping?

If the splash was seen - how did they not see the person who caused the splash? At least a shadow?

It’s believed his phone was wiped and he was invisible electronically
LE says last phone activity was at 7:09pm - if a phone is fully wiped and can’t be found then what does this mean? Or do they mean a ping and only the apps were wiped? If they couldn’t track his route via phone then I don’t understand this part of the statement unless they are implying location and everything was off until that exact moment?

 

[TMich6811]

I wonder if he had any of the Roblox Manhattan/train simulation games on his accounts

 

[warp3dwing]

I think suicide is the most likely answer but I have a few thoughts/questions because I would think like the parents until I knew confidently this is what happened

Was the splash heard or seen?

The quote above says “captured” on camera - but many people are saying it was heard.

If the sound was caught on camera - how? Surely there is a lot of noise in the area, how close was the camera that it caught a sound they suspect confidently was jumping?

If the splash was seen - how did they not see the person who caused the splash? At least a shadow?

It’s believed his phone was wiped and he was invisible electronically
LE says last phone activity was at 7:09pm - if a phone is fully wiped and can’t be found then what does this mean? Or do they mean a ping and only the apps were wiped? If they couldn’t track his route via phone then I don’t understand this part of the statement unless they are implying location and everything was off until that exact moment?

I’m sure the splash was visibly caught on CCTV, likely from some random camera on the Manhattan side. I can’t imagine the sound of it being noticeable above the traffic noise on the bridge and the general thrum of the city. Even a visible splash wouldn’t be terribly obvious considering the grand scale of the bridge and East River.

Where was it reported his phone was wiped? I take it that they were able to geolocate his phone to the bridge (and other locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn), which would require it to still be active and connecting to towers and likely using apps that backup to the cloud because I don’t think they were pinging his phone at 7pm. It’s astounding what data is stored about a user’s activity and whereabouts.

The 7:09pm “last activity” might mean that’s the last time the phone was interacted with by Thomas, e.g., sending a text, opening an app, etc.

 

[TMich6811]

I’m sure the splash was visibly caught on CCTV, likely from some random camera on the Manhattan side. I can’t imagine the sound of it being noticeable above the traffic noise on the bridge and the general thrum of the city. Even a visible splash wouldn’t be terribly obvious considering the grand scale of the bridge and East River.

Where was it reported his phone was wiped? I take it that they were able to geolocate his phone to the bridge (and other locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn), which would require it to still be active and connecting to towers and likely using apps that backup to the cloud because I don’t think they were pinging his phone at 7pm. It’s astounding what data is stored about a user’s activity and whereabouts.

The 7:09pm “last activity” might mean that’s the last time the phone was interacted with by Thomas, e.g., sending a text, opening an app, etc.

The phone info has been in every article I believe - eta I am wrong

Yes I agree it was likely visually on camera

And to my point - they would know it was a human and not a phone

 

[warp3dwing]

The phone info has been in every article I believe

Yes I agree it was likely visually on camera

And to my point - they would know it was a human and not a phone

I haven’t seen any report of the phone being wiped, which is an intentional action to remove all personal data from the device.

 

[TMich6811]

I haven’t seen any report of the phone being wiped, which is an intentional action to remove all personal data from the device.

You’re correct I just went to grab a source and it was family speculation that I misread

 

[TMich6811]

I think suicide is the most likely answer but I have a few thoughts/questions because I would think like the parents until I knew confidently this is what happened

Was the splash heard or seen?

The quote above says “captured” on camera - but many people are saying it was heard.

If the sound was caught on camera - how? Surely there is a lot of noise in the area, how close was the camera that it caught a sound they suspect confidently was jumping?

If the splash was seen - how did they not see the person who caused the splash? At least a shadow?

It’s believed his phone was wiped and he was invisible electronically
LE says last phone activity was at 7:09pm - if a phone is fully wiped and can’t be found then what does this mean? Or do they mean a ping and only the apps were wiped? If they couldn’t track his route via phone then I don’t understand this part of the statement unless they are implying location and everything was off until that exact moment?

Re: phone - the family was speculating, I can’t edit post

 

[warp3dwing]

You’re correct I just went to grab a source and it was family speculation that I misread

Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the update.

Not that wiping the phone would be necessary if it’s 60 feet under water among 125 years of discarded man made detritus.

 

[anonypotomous]

"“

Why would he need 4 roblox accounts though?

if you listen to the podcast I posted in the thread his mom explains it better than I can. In a nutshell, his parents pretty much had control of his main Roblox account had his password and all that stuff .. so to get around that, he made more accounts that they could not access.

 

[GMS]

The latest accounts including CCTV and the last phone ping, unfortunately, seem to point to suicide, but I go back to the initial report when TM was captured in a surveillance photo (bbm).

"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."

Did he climb and jump with the backpack (potentially more difficult) and more importantly, what was the large object he was carrying and where was that discarded? Could that have been the splash if he threw that object off the bridge? I'm guessing the object may have been some type of gaming console that he didn't want left behind (imo)?

 

[TMich6811]

The latest accounts including CCTV and the last phone ping, unfortunately, seem to point to suicide, but I go back to the initial report when TM was captured in a surveillance photo (bbm).

"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."

Did he climb and jump with the backpack (potentially more difficult) and more importantly, what was the large object he was carrying and where was that discarded? Could that have been the splash if he threw that object off the bridge? I'm guessing the object may have been some type of gaming console that he didn't want left behind (imo)?

Oh interesting point about what he was carrying.

Or did he weigh his backpack down