Please subscribe to Fox News to access this content
You've reached the maximum number of articles. To continue reading, please log in or create a free account.
By entering your email address and pressing “Continue”, you agree to Fox News' Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, including the Financial Incentive Notice.
Please enter a valid email address.
Having problems? Click here.
Kentucky State Police have made five arrests 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 on the baby's whereabouts and in possession of a large amount of drugs, including fentanyl, a police spokesperson 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 and Billy Smith (bottom right) (Daviss County Jail and Ohio County Jail)
Police subsequently arrested 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 arrest warrant out of Davis County from October 2023, according to WFIE.
Kentucky State Police vehicle. (Scotty Perry/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
New Jersey woman missing, mother loses two sons, latest tragedy: 'It's unimaginable'
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 reported.
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 have deployed cadaver dog teams to search wooded areas along Hardin Lane in Ohio County and near a church, WEVV reported.
Click here to get the FOX News app
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 when they were unable to locate him they called police, who found him in possession of fentanyl and methamphetamine at a motel, sparking a series of arrests that included the arrest of the baby's parents.
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 a year.
Anyone with information is asked to call 270-826-3312.