A former Northern Kentucky bookstore employee, who was reported missing and found dead in Paris, France, earlier this month, was being investigated for possessing and distributing child pornography, according to court documents.
Covington police said 64-year-old Todd Garland had not been seen since June 9. Detectives made contact with Garland on June 10 regarding a criminal investigation, and later learned Garland had flown to Paris, France on June 11.
According to a Kenton County application and affidavit in support of a search warrant, Covington police 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.
Three reports in particular came from a source called xAI, which, according to documents, operates an artificial intelligence chatbot called Grok as well as the social media platform X.
Between Oct. 2, 2025 and Nov. 18, 2025, documents say 192 images of child pornography were uploaded from three different xAI accounts. The different accounts were found to have a common IP address traced back to Garland’s apartment on Greenup Street.
Documents say some of the images in the reports showed a watermark for “LS Magazine,” determined to be a Ukrainian online subscription service and photography studio that existed between 2001 and 2004 and created and sold hundreds of thousands of pictures and videos of “young teen” and “prepubescent girls.”
According to the documents, police executed a search warrant for Garland’s apartment on June 10 and seized a phone, laptop and hard drive.
Police said Wednesday that they’ve confirmed with Homeland Security Investigations that Garland was found dead Tuesday in Paris, and the Paris Police Prefecture is investigating his death.
Garland was a former employee at Roebling Books & Coffee, a well-known business with locations in Covington, Newport and Dayton.
