A desperate search is underway in Kentucky for an 8-month-old girl who tested positive for methamphetamine at birth after her parents failed to report her missing when she was last seen in April.
Kentucky State Police on Tuesday searched about five acres of wooded land near where 8-month-old Miya Tucker Ladd lived with her parents, Tesla Tucker, 29, and Cage Ladd, 30, and her grandfather, Ricky Smith, 56. The three were arrested last week in connection to Miya’s disappearance.
“There is no evidence that she died.” Trooper Corey King with Kentucky State Police spoke to WFIE about the search. “But there’s also no evidence that she’s alive.”
Police say the missing infant’s parents were arrested last week at a nearby motel, where officers found them in possession of methamphetamine and fentanyl pills in plain view.
When asked where the baby was, the parents told police that Family Services had taken the baby, a claim that police say was proven untrue by records from the family services agency.
Family support services had previously removed Miya’s three siblings from the home and placed them in the care of Miya’s maternal grandmother over drug problems, but authorities confirmed that social workers or police never went to the parents’ home to remove the baby. WHAS 11 reported.
Family services had made plans to reunite Miya with her siblings, but on May 30, family members called police to report that Miya’s umbilical cord tested positive for methamphetamine at birth but had not been seen since late April.
King said investigators remained hopeful that Miya might be found alive, but warned that “the longer this situation continues, the more tragic the outcome will be.”
Police announced the arrests of Miya’s parents and grandfather on Thursday. All three were arrested on child neglect and fentanyl-related charges.
Three days later, when police went to the home of Miya’s grandmother, 49-year-old Billie Smith, to look for the baby, they discovered she had an outstanding warrant for domestic violence and arrested her as well.
While at her home, they observed a man, identified as Timothy Roach, 37, throwing “non-prescribed” drugs under her vehicle and he was arrested on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance.
The issue is not what relationship, if any, Mr. Roach has with his family.
Both were transported to the Ohio County Jail.
Miya had brown hair and green eyes, but her umbilical cord tested positive for stimulants at birth. She was last thought to have been in the care of her parents.
The investigation is ongoing.
