He was an old friend who stood up for me in school when I was facing harassment. He had a tough persona, but he spoke softly to me and was gentle with me. That was in 2006. I messaged him on Facebook a month ago, nothing too detailed, just asking him if he was at [school] in 2006. To be specific, the exact message was “hey, were you ever at [school I went to] in 2006?”. I have a picture of my face as my profile picture, and my intention was just to re-connect with old friends or maybe to just thank him for what he did. That day, I was being harassed so badly that I was in tears. I’d been bullied a lot, and he was someone I looked up to. Today, his profile in my Chats list just says “Facebook user” and how he’s not available on messenger. My sister can’t find him on Facebook either.
No idea - maybe the best way of contacting him now is to ask someone else you knew from school to reach out to him.
Maybe he just forgot/mixed up your name, mistaking you for someone else he went to school with.
Maybe he doesn’t get messaged on facebook a lot, so you reminded him that it exists and he decided to delete it - i know i historically had no space for it on my phone so I got rid of it.