Kentucky State Police said remains found Friday during a search of the family home of missing 8-month-old Miya Rudd likely belong to the girl.
“Kentucky State Police detectives located the body of a child consistent with Miya Rudd at 1:15 p.m. today,” the agency said in a statement.
The hidden body was decomposed, it said.
The remains were found in a corner of the house, which was littered with debris, said police officer Corey King. NBC affiliate WFIE from nearby Evansville, Indiana.
“It wasn’t the results we wanted,” he said, “but we really hoped.”
Preliminary findings from a medical examiner, including possible identification, could be released as early as Saturday, King told the station.
Police authorities said that with the discovery, the search has now transitioned 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, was arrested in early June on drug trafficking charges.
All but 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 hired lawyers. The region’s public defender did not respond to a request for comment.
Investigators searching for Miya found drugs, including pills containing fentanyl, “in plain sight” at a Motel 6 where her parents were contacted, King previously said. The pair also faced accusations of child abandonment.
Grandmother Billie J. Smith was contacted as part of the investigation and had an active warrant related to a domestic incident, according to state police and WFIE. Roach was at her residence in a garage and allegedly threw drugs when police arrived, they said.
On Wednesday, Miya’s maternal grandparents, Taletha and David Tucker, who were raising her three brothers, were arrested on warrants, WFIE reported, citing the 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’s unclear whether they have hired an attorney. The same public defender’s office that would have jurisdiction if a judge decided to grant 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 had been in custody on other drug charges since May, the agency said in a statement.
It was unclear whether he has a lawyer.
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 be using Rudd as her last name.
King told WFIE during an on-camera interview Tuesday that state child welfare authorities removed three of Miya’s siblings from her home because of drug allegations and planned to do the same to Miya before she disappeared.
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, he said, investigators determined that was not true.
This story first appeared in NBCNews. with.
This article was originally published in TODAY.com
