UPDATE: Kentucky State Police found the decomposed body of an infant on Friday that they believe is 8-month-old Miya Tucker.
The body was found “hidden in a concealed manner” in a home in Ohio County, Ky.
The remains have not yet been officially identified. An autopsy will be carried out by the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office.
ORIGINAL: Police in Kentucky have been searching nearly a week for a missing eight-month-old baby who is believed to have been abandoned by her parents.
The parents of missing Miya Tucker were both arrested on Thursday after police carried out a welfare check for the baby and were unable to find her, according to a press release from Kentucky State Police. The girl’s mother Tesla Tucker, 29, and father Cage Rudd, 30, were arrested on drug and child abandonment charges.
Later, Miya’s grandparents were also arrested on various charges, including drug trafficking, child abuse and assault. All four family members are residents of Reynolds Station, Ky., an unincorporated community in Ohio County.
A photo of Miya was shared by Kentucky State Police on Facebook. She is described as having brown hair and green eyes.
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State police told local broadcaster 14News that they are searching the woods near the home the missing girl shared with her parents and grandfather, Ricky Smith. The entrance to the forest is about 100 yards (90 metres) away from the family’s home and troopers are using sniffer dogs to scour roughly five acres of woods.
Officer Cory King told the outlet that the investigation so far has turned up no sign of the missing eight-month-old.
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“We have no evidence … that she is deceased, but we also don’t have anything to suggest she’s alive either. At this point, she is truly a missing child, but there is no information that anyone has her, that they sold this child, that this child was abducted,” King said. “Really, we’re getting very little to no information from those who should know the most.”
Police were alerted that Miya was missing by other members of her family, who reported on May 30 that they hadn’t seen Miya since late April.
While carrying out a welfare check for the eight-month-old, police say they found her parents in an Owensboro hotel with meth and fentanyl pills in plain view, 14News reports. When troopers asked where Miya was, her parents told them that family services had taken her.
When police followed up with family services, they found this was untrue.
Miya has three older siblings who were all removed from their parents’ care by family services some time ago. Troopers told 14News that Miya was meant to join her siblings, but her removal from the home had not yet taken place. When Miya was born in October 2023, her umbilical cord tested positive for meth.
“Illicit street drugs can and will destroy lives,” King said.
Miya’s parents were arrested on Thursday and her grandfather was also arrested later that day. Miya’s grandmother, Billie Smith, was arrested three days later after police learned she had an outstanding warrant from October 2023 for second-degree assault in a domestic violence incident.
Troopers arrested Billie at her residence but were unable to locate Miya there. However, while pulling into Billie’s driveway, police observed a man, 37-year-old Timothy Roach, throwing unprescribed Suboxone under his vehicle. Suboxone is a drug used to treat opioid dependence.
Roach was also arrested on drug charges. His relationship to the family is unclear.
King said police are holding out hope that someone will come forward with information that leads them to Miya.
“The sense of spirit with the investigators today is still hopeful and optimistic. However, the longer this goes the more grim of an outcome this will be,” King said Tuesday. “Either way, everyone’s looking for closure. I believe the community deserves it. The family deserves it, and we as an agency investigating this deserve to know what happened to baby Miya.”
Tesla Tucker has been charged with child abandonment, first-degree child abuse, fentanyl possession, trafficking meth and marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia and engaging in organized crime. Rudd was charged with the same crimes, with the addition of meth possession.
Both are being held at the Daviess County Detention Center.
Miya’s grandfather Ricky Smith has been charged with meth and prescription drug trafficking, first-degree child abuse, child abandonment and possession of firearms as a convicted felon.
Roach was charged with possession of a controlled substance and not storing a prescription-controlled substance in the proper container.
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