Kentucky State Police said remains found Friday during a search of the family home of missing 8-month-old Miya Rudd are likely those of the girl.
“Kentucky State Police detectives located the body of an infant today at 1:15 p.m., identified as Miya Rudd,” the agency said in a statement.
The hidden body was decomposing, he said.
The remains were found in a corner of the house, which was full of debris, Trooper Corey King told NBC affiliate WFIE from nearby Evansville, Indiana.
“Not the results we wanted,” he said, “but the ones we really expected.”
Preliminary findings from a medical examiner, including possible identification, could come as soon as Saturday, King told the station.
Law enforcement officials said that with the 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 for drug possession.
All 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 not clear whether they have sought legal advice. The county’s public defender did not respond to a request for comment.
Investigators searching for Miya discovered drugs, including pills containing fentanyl, “in plain sight” at a Motel 6 where her parents were contacted, King previously said. The couple also faced accusations of child abandonment.
Grandmother Billie J. Smith was contacted as part of the investigation, according to state police and WFIE. She had an active arrest warrant in connection with a domestic incident. Roach was at her home, in a driveway, and allegedly threw drugs when police arrived, they said.
On Wednesday, Miya’s maternal grandparents, Taletha and David Tucker, who raised her three siblings, were arrested on warrants, WFIE reported, citing Kentucky State Police. The nature of the warrants was unclear.
They were initially housed at the Daviess County Detention Center in Owensboro, the station said
It is not clear whether they have retained counsel. The same public defender office that would have jurisdiction if a judge decided to grant the case 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 accused of smuggling drugs, including methamphetamine, from the home.
He was in custody as of May on other drug charges, the agency said in a statement.
It is not clear whether he has an attorney.
On Tuesday, state police deployed cadaver dogs to search the woods near Miya’s home for the missing girl. Police identified her in recent days as Maya Tucker, but now appear to be using Rudd as her last name.
King told WFIE during an on-camera interview Tuesday that state child welfare authorities had removed three of Miya’s siblings from her home over drug charges and were planning to do the same to Miya before she went missing.
He said her 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 about her whereabouts, Miya’s parents told investigators that she had already been removed by the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services, he said Tuesday.
After checking, the researchers determined that this was not true.
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
