You’re staring at the mugshot of a suspected child predator.
They stare back from their booking photo; accused of crimes that can leave lifelong scars on children, families, and entire communities.
Then, you look into the warm brown eyes of Electronic Storage Detection (ESD) K9 Arwen. A highly trained yellow Labrador trained both to detect electronic devices during search warrants, and also to provide therapeutic support for Survivors in one of the worst types of cases.
The contrast is immediate.
Where one image represents the aftermath of harm, the other represents hope. Arwen’s eyes are friendly, warm, intelligent, focused, and eager. Her tail wags as she waits for the next command from her handler, Investigator Lewis A. Kellison III. To Arwen, it’s another opportunity to do what she loves. To investigators, it could be the difference between unanswered questions and life-changing evidence.
ESD K9 Arwen is trained to locate electronic storage devices such as cell phones, USB drives, hard drives, hidden cameras, and memory cards. Using her extraordinary sense of smell, Arwen can detect TPPO, a chemical compound commonly found in electronic storage devices.
That means when investigators enter a cluttered home, a packed storage room, or a property where someone has intentionally tried to hide evidence, Arwen can help uncover what human eyes might miss. And in child exploitation investigations, what is hidden often matters most.
Arwen is also trained as a therapy animal. That means that when a survivor is discovered during a search, there is comfort on hand.
The Devices Tell the Story
When investigators execute a search warrant in a child exploitation case, they are not simply looking for devices.
They are looking for answers.
Answers about what happened. Answers about who may have been harmed. Answers that could help identify additional victims or prevent future abuse.
Those answers are often stored inside a phone hidden beneath a mattress, a memory card taped underneath furniture, or a USB drive buried inside a box of everyday household items.
Offenders know digital evidence can expose their crimes. That’s why they work hard to conceal it.
Investigators work even harder to find it.
Across Oklahoma, law enforcement agencies continue to investigate cases involving child sexual abuse material (CSAM). While every case is unique, they share a common goal: protecting children and holding offenders accountable.
For hundreds of ESD K9s, like Arwen, every search represents an opportunity to help uncover the truth.
Substitute Teacher Faces Ongoing Investigations
When authorities arrested an Oklahoma substitute teacher on multiple complaints, investigators faced the challenge common to many child exploitation cases: determining whether additional evidence existed and whether additional victims could be identified.
Cases involving repeat allegations are particularly concerning because every unanswered question carries the possibility that someone else may have been harmed.
Digital devices often hold the pieces investigators need to understand the full scope of an offender’s actions. Messages, photos, videos, cloud accounts, and online communications can all help establish timelines and corroborate evidence.
For investigators, every recovered device brings them one step closer to the truth.
For children and families seeking justice, those answers can mean everything.
When a Cyber Tip Leads to a Search
A cyber tip led investigators to a Stillwater, OK man accused of producing, receiving, and possessing CSAM.
What began as suspicious online activity eventually connected investigators with historical reports and allegations spanning years.
Cases like this demonstrate why digital evidence is so critical. A hidden device may contain information that reveals additional offenses, identifies victims, or connects investigators to evidence that would otherwise remain buried.
During search warrants, investigators often face a daunting reality: evidence may be hidden anywhere.
That’s where ESD K9s like Arwen can become force multipliers.
While investigators focus on securing a scene and collecting evidence, Arwen can search quickly and methodically, helping ensure that critical devices aren’t overlooked. A phone hidden in a wall, a memory card tucked into a book, or a flash drive concealed among tools may seem impossible to find.
To Arwen, it’s simply another scent to follow.
Looking Beyond the Obvious
Another Oklahoma investigation began with a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and quickly grew into a multi-agency effort involving local, state, and federal partners.
These investigations often require countless hours of collaboration, forensic analysis, and evidence collection. Every agency brings unique expertise to the mission of protecting children.
Among those partners was ESD K9 Arwen.
In this case, investigators ultimately located evidence on a cellphone belonging to the suspect. While technology continues to evolve, so do the methods offenders use to conceal devices.
Arwen helps level the playing field.
Her ability to locate hidden electronics allows investigators to focus less time searching and more time analyzing evidence that could help identify victims and strengthen cases against offenders.
Evidence Hidden in Plain Sight
Investigations involving allegations of CSAM distribution through online platforms serve as a reminder that some of the most important evidence can be hidden in the most ordinary places.
A phone charger on a nightstand.
A gaming console in a bedroom.
A memory card, no larger than a fingernail.
What appears insignificant at first glance may contain critical evidence.
Electronic devices often tell a story far larger than a single charge. They can reveal communication records, online activity, file-sharing networks, and connections to other offenders.
Every device recovered helps investigators better understand what happened and who may need protection.
That’s why finding even the smallest piece of hidden technology can have such an enormous impact.
A child’s best friend
And during these cases, when a survivor is discovered, Arwen’s job is just beginning.
Disclosing abuse, sitting through a forensic interview, or testifying can be some of the most frightening moments in a child’s life. For many survivors, the presence of a familiar adult isn’t always enough to ease that fear. But a dog doesn’t ask questions. A dog doesn’t need an explanation. A dog just shows up, leans in, and stays.
That’s where Arwen’s second job begins. Highly trained, ESD K9s are trained to sit beside a child during an interview, rest at their feet in a courtroom, or simply be present in a room that otherwise feels overwhelming.
For a child who has had their sense of safety taken from them, that might be the first steady, trustworthy presence they’ve had in a long time. And for investigators and advocates, watching a frightened child relax enough to pet a dog’s fur, even for a moment, is a reminder of why this work matters.
Arwen can’t undo what happened. But she can bring needed comfort. And sometimes, that’s exactly what a child needs to begin healing.
A Different Kind of Hero
Arwen doesn’t know what a search warrant is.
She doesn’t understand criminal charges or courtroom proceedings.
She doesn’t know that investigators are working to protect children from exploitation.
She doesn’t even know what are on the devices she finds.
What she knows is that his handler has given her a job to do.
And every time Arwen discovers a hidden device, she helps move an investigation forward.
Every phone found.
Every memory card recovered.
Every hard drive located.
Each one represents another opportunity to uncover the truth, identify victims, bring them comfort and ultimately, and help bring offenders to justice.
For Arwen, the reward is the food and praise from the handler she trusts.
Arwen doesn’t know she’s ‘s a hero.
But to the law enforcement team she helps, and the children she comforts and protect; she is.
