Police in Kentucky have arrested five persons in connection with the disappearance of an eight-month-old child who has been missing since at least the beginning of May.
Miya Tucker Rudd of Reynolds Station in Ohio County was proclaimed missing by Kentucky State Police on Thursday after the agency performed a search warrant and welfare check at the family’s house but was unable to locate the girl. Reynolds Station is about 90 miles southwest of Louisville.
Tesla Tucker, 29, and her father, Cage C. Rudd, 30, were detained at a hotel in Owensboro on Wednesday with no knowledge of the baby’s location and a substantial quantity of narcotics, including fentanyl, according to a police spokeswoman for Fox News Digital. Owensboro is about 25 miles west of Reynolds Station.
“[We] tried to interview the parents, but they are not cooperating with our investigation,” Kentucky State Police Trooper Corey King told Fox News Digital on Friday.
Police then detained Ricky Smith, who is believed to be the missing girl’s grandpa and was staying with the couple on Deanfield Church Road.
Police claim Smith was using the residence as a trafficking base, and a variety of substances were discovered during a search. He has been accused with drug offenses, child abuse, and endangering the welfare of a kid.
Billie J. Smith, 49, Miya’s grandmother, was arrested on Friday and charged with second-degree domestic violence assault after police learned she had an outstanding warrant in Daviess County from October 2023, according to WFIE.
Another guy, Timothy L. Roach, was caught after throwing unprescribed Suboxone beneath his car. He has been charged with second-degree possession of a controlled drug and first-degree prescription controlled substance not in the correct container, according to WBKO.
Tesla Tucker, Cage Rudd, and Ricky Smith appeared in Ohio County District Court on Monday for arraignment.
Police reported that the youngster had not been seen by other family members in weeks. She is described as having brown hair and green eyes, and Kentucky State Police believe she was last seen with her parents.
According to WEVV, Kentucky State Police have sent a cadaver canine team to search near a wooded area and church on Hardin Lane in Ohio County.
Child protection services had been seeking for the newborn and alerted police when they couldn’t find her, resulting in a series of arrests, beginning with her parents, who were discovered with a stockpile of fentanyl and methamphetamine at the hotel.
Troopers detained and accused the parents with narcotics trafficking and possession, abandonment of a kid, and child abuse.
The girl’s father, Rudd, was convicted of two drug felonies in March, including methamphetamine possession, and was sentenced to a year of supervised release, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
Anyone with information should phone 270-826-3312.