The decomposing corpse of an eight-month-old infant has been found hidden inside a rural Kentucky home in Ohio County, following a week long search.
Miya Rudd was last seen ‘at the end of April’ but the Kentucky State Police were not told of her disappearance until this month.
Miya’s body was found at 1:15 pm on Friday under a pile of debris at the family home in a rural area southeast of Owensboro.
Searches were carried out over several locations including a portion of the backyard areas of the home where investigators were looking for any sign that Miya may have been there.
The decomposing body of eight-month-old Miya Tucker (pictured) was found on Friday at her parents’ home in Ohio County, Kentucky. She not been seen by her family ‘since the end of April’
Police say Miya was last suspected to be in the care of her mother Tesla Tucker, 29, (left) and father Cage Rudd (right). Tucker and Rudd, 30, were arrested on June 6 at Motel 6 in Owensboro, located about 25 miles away from their home in Reynolds Station, on multiple felony drug charges and abandonment of a minor
The decomposing corpse of an eight-month-old infant has been found hidden inside a rural Kentucky home in Ohio County, following a week long search.
Miya’s tiny body was found at her parent’s home in rural Kentucky on Friday
‘It’s not easy. In fact, we were really optimistic, just like the rest of the community. We were hopeful that maybe someone was holding this baby. But noticing how we had cadaver dogs, how we were sifting through debris in the backyard, we obviously knew, in the back of our mind, that the end result wasn’t going to be overly promising,’ Kentucky State Police Trooper Corey King said to WDRB.
Miya Tucker was reported missing last week after state troopers carried out a welfare check at her parents’ home in Ohio County and the infant was nowhere to be found.
Cadaver dogs were brought to the family’s residence on Tuesday to search the property and nearby woods, however there were no signs of Miya.
At the time, police said they had ‘no evidence she’s deceased, but no evidence she’s alive, either’.
The coroner at the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville will now uncover Miya’s cause of death.
In the run-up to Miya’s tiny body being found, state police had unraveled a drug ring.
Cadaver dogs have been used during the search for Miya’s body over the past week
Investigators, with the help of cadaver dogs, spent several hours searching roughly five acres of woods near the couple’s home earlier this week, but found no sign of missing Miya
Miya’s grandparents Ricky J. Smith (left) and Billie J. Smith (right) have been arrested in connection to the investigation
Police also arrested Timothy L. Roach (pictured) at Billie Smith’s home after officers saw him throw ‘unprescribed’ opioids under his vehicle. Roach was charged with second-degree possession of a controlled substance and first-degree prescription controlled substance not in a proper container
Miya’s parents, Tesla Tucker, 29, and Cage Rudd, 30, have been arrested on charges including drug possession, child abuse and abandonment of a minor.
Police found them in a room at a Motel 6 with drugs, including fentanyl and methamphetamine, ‘in plain sight’, WFIE-TV reported.
They have already appeared in court this week on the drug charges and will appear once against next week to be arraigned for abandoning a minor.
Following their arrest, King added that they were ‘not being very cooperative with our investigation’.
Kentucky State Police removed Miya’s three older siblings from Tucker and Rudd’s home awhile ago.
Miya, whose umbilical cord tested positive for meth after her birth in October, was expected to join her siblings on May 30.
Kentucky State Police removed Miya’s three older siblings from Tucker and Rudd’s home awhile ago. The couple are pictured together with one of their children
Police have also arrested Miya’s paternal grandparents, Billie J. Smith and Ricky Smith, who had been living with the couple.
Investigators believe Smith had been using the couple’s home as his base for drug trafficking, Fox News reported.
Billie Smith was arrested on a warrant relating to domestic violence while Ricky Smith has been charged with abandonment of a minor and drug charges.
Miya’s maternal grandparents, Taletha, 50, and David Tucker, 53, have been arrested on unrelated charges out of Daviess County.
And another arrest was made Thursday. Brodie Payne is facing numerous drug charges for his role in the illegal drug operation held at Miya’s home.
Police also arrested Timothy L. Roach at the grandmother’s home after officers saw him throw ‘unprescribed’ opioids under his vehicle.
Roach was charged with second-degree possession of a controlled substance and first-degree prescription controlled substance not in a proper container.
He we also taken to the Ohio County Detention Center, according to The Louisville Courier Journal. It is unclear what his relationship is to the family.
KSP said Miya’s body will be taken by the Ohio County Coroner’s Office and transported to the Kentucky Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville.