Remains found hidden in Kentucky home of 8-month-old girl missing since April

Kentucky State Police said remains found Friday during a search of the family home of missing 8-month-old Miya Rudd likely belonged to the girl.

“Kentucky State Police detectives located the body of an infant matching that of Miya Rudd at 1:15 a.m. today,” the agency said in a statement.

The hidden body was said to be decomposing.

The remains were found in a corner of the house, which was full of debris, Trooper Corey King told NBC affiliate WFIE in nearby Evansville, Indiana.

“These are not the results we wanted,” he said, “but we definitely expected.”

A medical examiner's preliminary findings, including a possible identification, could be released as early as Saturday, King told the station.

Law enforcement officials said that with this discovery, the search is now turning into a criminal investigation.

The girls' parents, Tesla Tucker, 29, and Cage Rudd, 30; paternal grandparents Billie J. Smith, 49, and Ricky J. Smith, 56; and a fifth person, identified as Timothy L. Roach, were arrested in early June on drug charges.

All except Roach are from Reynolds Station, about 90 miles southwest of Louisville, police said. Roach is from Owensboro, about 25 miles west of Reynolds Station, they said.

It is unclear whether they have retained legal counsel. The area's public defender did not respond to a request for comment.

Investigators searching for Miya spotted drugs, including pills containing fentanyl, “in plain sight” at a Motel 6 where her parents were contacted, King previously said. The couple also faced allegations of child abandonment.

Grandmother Billie J. Smith was contacted in connection with the investigation and had an active warrant related to a domestic incident, according to state police and WFIE. Roach was at her home in an alley and allegedly threw drugs when police arrived, they said.

On Wednesday, Miya's maternal grandparents, Taletha and David Tucker, who are raising her three siblings, were arrested on warrants, WFIE reported, citing Kentucky State Police. The nature of the warrants was unclear.

They were initially booked into the Daviess County Detention Center in Owensboro, the station said.

It is unclear whether they have retained an attorney. The same public defender's office that would have jurisdiction if a judge decided to award it did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Thursday, state police said a man who had lived with Miya's parents for six months, Brodie C. Payne, 28, was indicted and charged with trafficking drugs, including methamphetamine, from the residence.

He was in custody on other drug-related charges dating back to May, the agency said in a statement.

It was unclear whether he had an attorney.

On Tuesday, state police used cadaver dogs to search the woods near Miya's home for the missing girl. Police identified her in recent days as Maya Tucker, but she now appears to use Rudd as her last name.

King told WFIE in an on-camera interview Tuesday that state child welfare authorities had removed three of Miya's siblings from her home due to drug allegations and planned to do the same with Miya before she disappears.

He said his umbilical cord tested positive for methamphetamine shortly after birth.

A family member told police she was last seen in late April, King said. When asked where she was, Miya's parents told investigators that she had already been evicted by the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, he said Tuesday.

After checking, he said, investigators determined that was not true.