Piedmont Triad woman is veteran, detective and artist

GRAHAM, N.C. (WGHP) — Detective Ada Cabanillas seeks to hold people accountable in the most troubling cases that come across her desk at the Graham Police Department, including crimes related to child sexual abuse and assaults.

Something she learned well before she became a detective is now one of her greatest tools to help children cope.

“I try to redirect that pain that they’re holding inside of them into something fun, something that will take their mind off [it] a little bit, and I know that because I’ve been through that, and it’s helped me,” she said.

Cabanillas is also an artist. Her work was featured in Alamance Arts’ exhibit “Salute to Alamance.”

It featured the work of 18 veteran artists. “Like I learned in the military, yes, there’s therapy … but what do you do the other days that you’re not in therapy? … I found art to be healing,” Cabanillas said.

Cabanillas is a Marine veteran who was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, for two years and then at Camp Pendleton in California.

“I loved every single moment of it. Of course, there was hard times. I was deployed to Iraq my last year there, and I got out … I was hurting for a little bit,” she said.

Things happened that affected her emotionally. Art helped give her the reset and outlet she needed.

That has also inspired the way she connects with victims involved in investigations.

“If it’s a child, I would bring up my art. ‘Hey, do you want to draw something? You want to make something?’” she said.

“Often, they’re like, ‘yeah, sure,’ and they’re happy … For that one moment, they forget about what happened to them,” Cabanillas said.

Cabanillas saw the benefits in a new way recently as a mentor for Camp Hope in partnership with the Family Justice Center of Alamance County.

The camp is for children who have experienced trauma.

Cabanillas oversaw arts and crafts.

“It warmed my heart to see how happy and how much they grew in confidence because a lot of these kids … come in [with] very low self-esteem,” she said.

Whether it’s through solving crimes or helping veterans, Cabanillas wants people to know that no matter what they’ve been through in the past, all those pieces can still come together to create a beautiful picture.

“You can overcome the trauma and the abuse and everything bad that has happened to you, and I always encourage to take back your power and move forward and show them that … what they did to you is not going to slow you down. It’s not going to bring you down and … You can fight,” she said.

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