Kentucky State Police discover body of infant 'matched' to baby missing for weeks

Detectives found a body Friday that may be that of a missing 8-month-old girl, according to Kentucky State Police.

Police discovered the body of a baby during a search of a house. The body, which was partially decomposed, was “consistent with that of Miya Rudd,” according to a police press release.

The body was hidden in the house, according to the release.

The body will be transported to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy and positive identification.

An autopsy will determine the manner of the child's death, Trooper Corey King told Evansville television station WFIE.

King told the television station that the body was found “under a lot of debris” in the family's home in Reynolds Station.

He said there were drugs and drug residue inside the home and because it was a dangerous situation for both investigators and the dogs they were using To search for the baby, authorities had to clear the house before they could safely enter it and investigate. further research on Friday.

The search for the baby began more than a week ago after family members asked police to check on her. Relatives said they had not seen the baby since late April, according to a citation in the case.

State police said they found the baby's parents, Tesla Tucker, 29, and Cage Rudd, 30, at an Owensboro motel with a large amount of drugs, but the baby was not with them.

Both men said they did not know where she was, according to the citation.

Both men are charged with child abandonment, possession of fentanyl, trafficking methamphetamine, first-degree child abuse, trafficking marijuana, trafficking legendary drugs and engaging in organized crime.

King, a state police spokesman, told the Evansville, Ind., television station earlier this week that Kentucky social workers had removed Miya's three siblings from Tucker and Rudd, and also told Louisville station WHAS that child welfare workers planned to remove Miya from the hospital. at home after his umbilical cord blood tested positive for methamphetamine.

Police arrested several people close to the couple as they ran to try to find Miya.

Police have charged one of the baby's grandfathers, Ricky Smith, 56, with first-degree child abuse, abandonment of a minor, engaging in organized crime and numerous drug-related charges.

They arrested one of Miya's grandmothers, Billie Smith, 49, on an outstanding warrant for second-degree assault unrelated to the baby.

When police raided the home of Miya's other grandparents in Daviess County — who were babysitting her three siblings who had been taken from her parents — they arrested them both as well.

Taletha D. Tucker, 50, was charged as a fugitive from Indiana and David Tucker, 53, was arrested on a warrant charging him with failure to pay in a previous case , according to state police.

Police arrested two other people on drug charges during the search for Miya.

One of them, Timothy Roach, 37, allegedly threw a drug he had not been prescribed under a vehicle as police stopped, and another, Brodie C. Payne, 28, of County Ohio, was charged with trafficking methamphetamine; trafficking a legendary drug; marijuana trafficking; engaging in organized crime; and wanton endangerment in the first degree.

Payne had been living in the house where Miya was for several months before he was charged and was using the U.S. Postal Service to facilitate his alleged drug sales, state police said.

Herald-Leader Staff Writer Karla Ward contributed to this report.