Police in Kentucky have arrested five people in connection with the disappearance of an 8-month-old baby girl who has been missing since at least early May..
The boy, identified as Mya Tucker Ladd of Reynolds Station, Ohio, was reported missing by Kentucky State Police on Thursday. Police executed a search warrant and searched the family’s home but did not find the boy. Reynolds Station is about 90 miles southwest of Louisville.
The girl’s mother, Tesla Tucker, 29, and father, Cage C. Ladd, 30, were arrested Wednesday at a motel in Owensboro, about 25 miles west of Reynolds Station, with no information about the baby’s whereabouts and in possession of a large amount of drugs, including fentanyl, a police spokesman told Fox News Digital. Owensboro is about 25 miles west of Reynolds Station.
“[We] “We have attempted to interview the parents, but they have not been very cooperative with our investigation,” Officer Corey King of the Kentucky State Police told Fox News Digital on Friday.
Baby goes missing in Kentucky, parents arrested on drug charges at motel
Missing Miya Tucker (left) with her parents Tesla Tucker and Cage Ladd (top right), and grandparents Ricky Smith and Billy Smith (bottom right). (Daviss County Jail and Ohio County Jail)
Police subsequently arrested suspect Ricky Smith, believed to be the missing girl’s grandfather. Smith had been living with the couple at their home on Deanfield Church Road. Police said Smith was using the home as a home base for drug trafficking, and various drugs were found during a search. Smith has been charged with drug offences, child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.
Mya’s grandmother, Billie J. Smith, 49, was arrested Friday and charged with second-degree domestic violence after police discovered she had an outstanding warrant out of October 2023 in Davis County. According to WFIE.
Kentucky State Police vehicle. (Scotty Perry/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Another man, Timothy L. Roach, was also arrested for throwing unprescribed suboxone under a car. He was charged with second-degree possession of a controlled substance and first-degree possession of a prescription controlled substance not in a proper container. WBKO coverage.
Tesla Tucker, Cage Ladd and Ricky Smith appeared in Ohio County District Court on Monday to enter arraignments.
Police said the girl had not been seen by other family members for several weeks. Kentucky State Police said the girl, who has brown hair and green eyes, was last found in the custody of her parents.
Kentucky State Police said they had deployed cadaver dog teams to search a wooded area along Hardin Lane in Ohio County and near a church. From WEVV.
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A file photo of pills containing fentanyl seized at the border. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
Child Protective Services had been searching for the baby but was unable to locate him and called police, which led to a series of arrests, starting with the arrest of the baby’s parents, who were found in possession of fentanyl and methamphetamine at a motel.
Officers arrested the parents and charged them with drug trafficking and possession, abandonment of a minor and child abuse.
According to the Kentucky Department of Corrections, Ladd, the girl’s father, was convicted in March of two drug-related offenses, including possession of methamphetamine, and was on probation for one year.
Anyone with information is asked to call 270-826-3312.
