COVINGTON, Kentucky — A former Northern Kentucky bookstore employee who was reported missing and later found dead in Paris, France, was being investigated on child pornography charges.
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News Center 7 previously reported that Todd Garland, 64, had not been seen since June 9 and was reported missing to the Covington Police Department.
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On June 10, Detectives had made contact with Garland regarding a criminal investigation, and later learned that he had flown to Paris the next day.
The Covington Police Department received multiple reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about the possession, distribution, and manufacturing of child pornography at a Covington apartment, according to our news partners, WCPO.
Three reports came from a source called xAI, which operates an artificial intelligence chatbot called Grok as well as the social media platform X, according to an affidavit.
192 images of child pornography were uploaded from three different xAI accounts between Oct. 2, 2025, and Nov. 18, 2025. The different accounts were traced back to Garland’s apartment.
According to documents, some of the photos showed a watermark for “LS Magazine,” which was determined to be a Ukrainian online subscription service and photography studio that was in business between 2001 and 2004.
The service allegedly created and sold hundreds of thousands of pictures and videos of “young teen” and “prepubescent girls.”
Officer executed a search warrant on Garland’s apartment on June 10, seizing a phone, laptop, and hard drive, according to documents.
Police confirmed with Homeland Security Investigations that Garland was found dead in Paris.
The Paris Police Prefecture is investigating his death.
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