How a Single Brick Helped Homeland Security Rescue an Abused Child from the Dark Web

A years-long investigation by the US Department of Homeland Security led to the dramatic rescue of a young girl whose abuse images had been circulating on the dark web — with a crucial clue hidden in the background of a photograph.

Specialist online investigator Greg Squire had nearly exhausted all leads while trying to identify and locate a 12-year-old girl his team had named Lucy. Explicit images of her were being distributed through encrypted networks designed to conceal users’ identities. The perpetrator had taken deliberate steps to erase identifying features, carefully cropping and altering images to avoid detection.

Despite those efforts, investigators found that the answer was concealed in plain sight.

Squire, part of an elite Homeland Security Investigations unit focused on identifying children in sexual abuse material, became deeply invested in Lucy’s case early in his career. The case struck him personally — Lucy was close in age to his own daughter, and new images of her abuse continued to surface online.

Initially, the team determined only that Lucy was likely somewhere in North America, based on visible electrical outlets and fixtures in the room. Attempts to seek assistance from Facebook proved unsuccessful. Although the company had facial recognition technology, it stated it “did not have the tools” to help with the search.

Investigators then scrutinized every visible detail in Lucy’s bedroom — bedding patterns, toys, clothing, and furniture. A breakthrough came when they realized that a sofa appearing in some images had only been sold regionally rather than nationwide, reducing the potential customer base to roughly 40,000 buyers.

“At that point in the investigation, we’re [still] looking at 29 states here in the US. I mean, you’re talking about tens of thousands of addresses, and that’s a very, very daunting task,” says Squire.

Still searching for more clues, Squire turned his attention to an exposed brick wall visible in the background of several photos. He contacted the Brick Industry Association after researching brick manufacturers.

“And the woman on the phone was awesome. She was like, ‘how can the brick industry help?'”

The association circulated the image among brick specialists nationwide. One expert, John Harp — a veteran in brick sales since 1981 — quickly identified the material.

“I noticed that the brick was a very pink-cast brick, and it had a little bit of a charcoal overlay on it. It was a modular eight-inch brick and it was square-edged,” he says. “When I saw that, I knew exactly what the brick was,” he adds.

Harp identified it as a “Flaming Alamo”.

“[Our company] made that brick from the late 60s through about the middle part of the 80s, and I had sold millions of bricks from that plant.”

Although sales records were not digitized and existed only as a “pile of notes”, Harp shared a vital insight.

“He goes: ‘Bricks are heavy.’ And he said: ‘So heavy bricks don’t go ve

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