ONGOING: Mental health concerns, new leads in missing student case

The family of College junior Timothy Hamlett — the former track and field athlete who went missing on Dec. 26 — disclosed more information on the investigation and Hamlett’s state of mental health. The Port Authority Police Tour Commander Lieutenant Brown confirmed that the former track and field athlete has yet to be found as of Friday morning.

Hamlett, a Teaneck, NJ native, was last seen near the George Washington Bridge in the Washington Heights area of New York City. On the morning of his disappearance, Hamlett underwent a pituitary gland analysis to test for a brain cyst previously diagnosed from an MRI, his mother, Katherine Hamlett, confirmed in a phone interview. His mother said the final diagnosis is still unclear at this time.

Hamlett’s mother said her son’s behavior had changed noticeably starting in Sept. 2013. She believes the change might be connected to Hamlett’s use of athletic supplements, which she estimated began that spring. 

He used “all different types of supplements,” his mother said. “At one point, at least from what we can tell, maybe there were two or three in a day, just a lot.” Hamlett purchased the supplements, which are legal, online using Amazon and eBay, she said.

Hamlett was on a leave of absence from Penn during the fall semester following criminal charges filed against him in September for a brick-throwing vandalism incident four months prior. The case is currently pending Grand Jury hearing, according to Maureen Parenta of the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. 

After the disappearance, an email was sent to "upperclass members of the track team, who were once teammates with him," Director of Athletic Communications Mike Mahoney said in an email. He added that Robin Martin, the head men's track coach, reached out to the family at the time.

Hamlett’s mother believes his drug use was involved in his behavior change because his neuropsychiatrist had experience with other patients with brain toxicity resulting from athletic supplement use. She is seeking additional medical help from experts in the field, but those efforts are on hold while the family searches for her son.

“We are pulling out all the stops to find our son,” Hamlett’s mother said.

She said she has been “constantly in contact” with the police and the family has put together its own search team, which is working in coordination with the police to find Hamlett. 

The family sent a truck to drive around New York City with a speaker, projecting information about Hamlett’s disappearance. 

So far, the Hamlett family search team has uncovered a number of leads into finding their son, which Hamlett’s mother said the police are currently investigating.

At 2:24 a.m. on Dec. 31, both of Hamlett’s parents received phone calls from a blocked number. His mother said the phone calls were silent and that the police are currently trying to track the location of the blocked caller’s phone.

A subway booth clerk at a subway station on 157th Street told the Hamlett family that she sold Hamlett a subway card around 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning. She said she was confident it was him because he was not one of the regulars and she did not usually see young people at that hour of the morning.

Hamlett’s mother said the police have located Timothy’s cell phone and wallet. She was able to identify the general area of his phone and then tracked the IP address from a recent Gmail login. The police were soon granted a warrant to enter the address.

When the police went to the apartment, she said, they found out that a couple of young people had found the cell phone and wallet. They had replaced the SIM card and their mother was using the phone. They pointed the police to the park adjacent to P.S. 173 at 306 Fort Washington Avenue, where they say they found the phone and wallet unattended. Because the wallet still had $10 in it, Hamlett’s mother said the police do not suspect foul play.

When the family went “dumpster diving” in the park, they found “additional contents from his wallet” including an ATM card, his mother’s business card, a university card, and three bus tickets from last year.

The family also identified a number of homeless people who say that they saw Timothy on Friday evening, December 26, at a Dunkin Donuts on 178th Street and Broadway. Hamlett’s mother said the police are looking into this information, but it has yet to be verified.

Pent Angelo, a media relations representative for the Port Authority Police Department said that the department is canvassing for Hamlett on both sides of the bridge.

Sergeant Zoraida Martinez of the Teaneck Police Department, which is leading the search, refused to confirm or deny any details of the investigation beyond its existence.

Anyone who has seen or has any information regarding Hamlett's whereabouts should contact authorities at (917) 686-0087 or (201) 406-6990.

Social Media Director Steven Tydings contributed reporting.

Staff Writer David Cahn can be reached at cahnda@wharton.upenn.edu.

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