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Melodee Buzzard: Body of missing Caifornia girl found, mom arrested
A California woman has been charged with murder after the remains of her missing 9-year-old daughter, Melodee Buzzard, were found in Utah, authorities said Tuesday.
A California woman has been charged with murder after the remains of her missing 9-year-old daughter were found in Utah, authorities said Tuesday.
Mom arrested
What we know:
Ashlee Buzzard, 40, was arrested Tuesday after bullet cartridges found near her daughter’s body were linked to a used cartridge case found in her home, said Santa Barbara County’s Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown. Authorities found 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard’s body Dec. 6 in a rural area of Utah after a man and woman taking photos off of State Route 24 reported they had discovered remains.
Melodee died from gunshot wounds
Dig deeper:
Officers could not immediately identify her but concluded she died from gunshot wounds to the head, Brown said. The FBI’s DNA analysis of the body found a familial DNA match to Buzzard.
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Detectives also found similar ammunition in a car Buzzard had rented, authorities said.
Buzzard is being held without bail at the Northern Branch Jail in Santa Barbara.
Online jail records did not list a court date or attorney who could speak on Buzzard’s behalf. The public defender’s office represented her in another case in November but did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Girl was reported missing in October
The backstory:
A school administrator reported Melodee Buzzard’s prolonged absence Oct. 14. Deputies went to the family’s residence in Lompoc, but Buzzard would not say where her daughter was.
Missing California 9-year-old seen in surveillance photo disguised in wig, detectives say
The intense search for a missing California 9-year-old has now extended to as far as Nebraska as investigators detailed a bizarre sighting of the child, who appeared to be in disguise.
Buzzard left California with her daughter on Oct. 7, driving a rented white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. They traveled as far as Nebraska with stops in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, and a return route included Kansas. Melodee Buzzard was last seen Oct. 9 on video surveillance near the Colorado-Utah line.
Detectives learned the mother and daughter changed their appearance during travel. Video from the rental car office in Lompoc shows the child wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a wig that was darker and straighter than her natural hair, police said. The video shows her mother wearing a long, curly haired wig.
Buzzard swapped wigs throughout the trip and changed the license plate of the rental car to avoid detection, police said. Buzzard returned home on Oct. 10 but her daughter was not with her, the sheriff’s office said.
Brown said the crime was "calculated, cold-blooded" and premeditated, though a motive has not been determined.
"Today, we stand together in grief, but also with resolve," Brown said. "Melodee deserved a far better life than she had."
Officials said the weapon has not been found, and the case remains under investigation.
The Source: This report is based on information from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office, the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office, and previous reports.