The parents of 8-month-old Miya Rudd are among four people facing more charges after Kentucky State Police found a body believed to be that of the missing baby in Ohio County on Friday.
Charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and failure to report the death of a person were filed Friday against Miya’s parents, Gage Rudd and Tesla Tucker, along with the baby’s grandfather, Ricky J. Smith, and another man, Brodie C. Payne, all from Reynolds Station, state police said late Friday.
State police said more charges are likely.
An autopsy will be needed to confirm that the decomposing remains found hidden in the family home on Friday are those of Miya and to determine how she died, state police said.
Authorities have been searching for the baby for more than a week, after relatives reported they had not seen her since late April.
When investigators found Rudd, 30, and Tucker, 29, at an Owensboro motel, they said they did not know where their child was.
The two were subsequently charged with child abandonment, possession of fentanyl, trafficking in methamphetamine, first-degree child abuse, trafficking in marijuana, trafficking in legend drugs and participating in organized crime.
Smith, 56, was also charged with first-degree child abuse, abandonment of a minor, participation in organized crime and numerous drug-related charges.
And state police had announced Thursday that they would charge Payne, 28, with a number of drug charges for “his role in the illegal drug operation at the Rudd residence.”
Payne, who was already being held at the Daviess County Detention Center on charges related to an ongoing drug trafficking investigation, had been living at the Rudd home for about six months before he was arrested on May 20, state police said.
During the search for the baby, state police also arrested four other people, three of whom were Miya’s grandparents.
Her grandmother, Billie Smith, 49, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for second-degree assault-domestic violence when state police went to her home looking for Miya.
When state police pulled into Smith’s home, Timothy Roach, 37, was seen throwing drugs under his car, state police said. He was charged with second-degree possession of a controlled substance and first-degree possession of a prescription controlled substance not in its proper container.
Miya’s other grandparents, David and Taletha Tucker, were caring for Miya’s three siblings after social services removed them from their parents.
When state police searched their home in Owensboro, they seized electronics and arrested them both. David Tucker, 53, was wanted on a non-payment warrant in a previous case, and Taletha D. Tucker, 50, was charged with being a fugitive from Indiana.
