How dark web agent spotted bedroom wall clue to rescue girl from years of harm

Specialist online investigator Greg Squire had hit a dead end in his efforts to rescue an abused girl his team had named Lucy.

Disturbing images of her were being shared on the dark web - an encrypted corner of the internet only accessible using special software designed to make owners digitally untraceable.

But even with that level of subterfuge, the abuser was conscious of "covering their tracks", cropping or altering any identifying features, says Squire. It was impossible to work out who, or where, Lucy was.

What he was soon to discover was that the clue to the 12-year-old's location was hidden in plain sight.

Squire works for US Department of Homeland Security Investigations in an elite unit which attempts to identify children appearing in sexual abuse material.

A BBC World Service team has spent five years filming with Squire, and other investigative units in Portugal, Brazil, and Russia - showing them solving cases such as that of a kidnapped and presumed-dead seven-year-old in Russia, and the arrest of a Brazilian man responsible for five of the biggest child-abuse forums on the dark web. ... Read more

The Darkest Web: Inside the internet's most hidden corners to save kids | BBC World Service | 02/16/26 | 1:24:23