Parents charged with abuse of corpse after remains ‘consistent’ with missing baby are found
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 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 of whom are 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 inside the family home 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 family members reported that they had not seen her since late April.
When investigators found Rudd, 30, and Tucker, 29, at a motel in Owensboro, they said they did not know where their child was.
The two were then charged with child abandonment, possession of fentanyl, trafficking in methamphetamine, first-degree child abuse, trafficking in marijuana, trafficking of legend drugs and engaging in organized crime.
Smith, 56, was also charged with first-degree child abuse, abandonment of a minor, engaging in organized crime and numerous drug-related charges.
And state police had announced Thursday that they were charging Payne, 28, with a number of drug charges because of “his role in the illegal drug operation held at the Rudd residence.”
Payne, who was already being held in the Daviess County Detention Center on charges related to an ongoing drug trafficking investigation, had been living at the Rudd house for about six months before he was arrested 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.
As state police pulled in at Smith’s house, Timothy Roach, 37, was seen throwing drugs under his vehicle, state police said. He was charged with second-degree possession of a controlled substance and first-degree prescription controlled substance not in proper container.
Miya’s other grandparents, David and Taletha Tucker, had been caring for Miya’s three siblings because social services had removed them from the parents.
When state police searched their home in Owensboro, they seized electronics and arrested both of them. David Tucker, 53, was wanted on a warrant for non-payment in a previous case, and Taletha D. Tucker, 50, was charged with being a fugitive from Indiana.
