Body of missing 9-year-old California girl Melodee Buzzard found, mother arrested, officials say
A 9-year-old Southern California girl who was reported missing earlier this year was found dead in Utah, and her mother has been arrested on suspicion of murder, authorities announced Tuesday.
The body of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard was found in Wayne County, Utah, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office announced, and her mother, 40-year-old Ashlee Buzzard, was taken into custody Tuesday morning.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown said Melodee's decomposed body was found in a rural area outside of Cainville in Wayne County, discovered by a man and a woman taking photos.
Melodee's whereabouts had been unknown for months, with investigators saying that her mother was not cooperating with the missing person investigation.
"Maternal filicide is rare and always difficult to comprehend. But this level of criminal activity is particularly shocking given the calculated, cold-blooded, and criminally sophisticated premeditation and heartlessness that went into planning it and the ruthlessness that went into actually committing the crime, " Brown said at Tuesday's news conference.
Melodee was first reported missing by the Lompoc Unified School District on Oct. 14. They stated that she had not been seen since August. When authorities went to her home, her mother could not explain her daughter's whereabouts. Detectives served a search warrant at the Buzzard residence the following day.
An investigation into the matter uncovered surveillance video from a rental car lot showing Ashlee and Melodee wearing wigs. The two left their Lompoc, California, home in a rented 2024 white Chevy Malibu.
Investigators believe Ashlee changed wigs throughout the road trip through Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. At one point, the Malibu was observed with a New York license plate.
The last time Melodee was seen, according to the sheriff's office, was on Oct. 9, as security camera video caught the pair on the Colorado side of the Colorado-Utah border. Brown said detectives believe that Melodee was murdered shortly after that stop.
Since the child's disappearance, deputies served several search warrants at the family's home, a storage locker, and a rental car. The FBI has also been assisting deputies. Brown said investigators have "recovered a significant amount of evidence that clearly indicates the crime was committed by Ashlee Buzzard, Melodee's mother."
During an Oct. 30 search of the Buzzard residence, authorities said an expended cartridge case was recovered and a live round of "similar ammunition" was located in the rented Chevy Malibu.
Brown said on Dec. 6, Utah detectives responded to a call from a couple who spotted a decomposed body off the side of a road, with gunshot wounds to the head. A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives investigation linked the cartridge cases from the Utah site to the single cartridge case found at the Buzzard residence.
On Dec. 22, a DNA analysis determined the remains found in Utah belonged to Melodee.
Ashlee was arrested earlier on an unrelated charge in early November for false imprisonment. A man who said he had been helping in the search for Melodee claimed he was held by Ashlee against his will. A judge later dismissed the felony false imprisonment charge against her.
Ashlee Buzzard was booked for first-degree murder and is currently being held without bail. The investigation remains ongoing.