{"id":468258,"date":"2025-12-24T05:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T05:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/468258\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T05:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T05:37:13","slug":"melodee-buzzards-disappearance-and-death-nbc-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/468258\/","title":{"rendered":"Melodee Buzzard\u2019s disappearance and death \u2013 NBC Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The missing person case of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard <\/a>left law enforcement stunned when the body of the young girl from Santa Barbara County was found in a remote area in Utah about two months after her disappearance.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the grim discovery was made, the girl\u2019s mother, 40-year-old Ashlee Buzzard, was arrested <\/a>on suspicion of her daughter\u2019s murder.<\/p>\n

The case began when a school employee reported the girl\u2019s long absence from school and escalated to Melodee\u2019s decomposing body being found with gunshot wounds to her head. Here\u2019s a timeline of the young girl\u2019s missing person case.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"<\/p>\n

Oct. 7 \u2013 The Buzzards begin their road trip wearing wigs<\/p>\n

Security camera from a rental car business in Lompoc captured Melodee and her mother at the establishment, wearing what seemed to be wigs.<\/a> Investigators believed the wigs may have been used to alter their appearances.<\/p>\n

The Buzzards left the state and traveled as far as Nebraska in a rented white 2204 Chevrolet Malibu with a license plate that read 9MNG101.<\/p>\n

Oct. 8 \u2013 Rented vehicle is seen with different license plate<\/p>\n

The Malibu Ashlee and Melodee were traveling in was seen with a New York license plate that read HCG967. It\u2019s unclear when the plates were swapped<\/a>, but law enforcement said detectives believe they were changed to avoid detection.<\/p>\n

“The New York plate seen on the car does not belong to the vehicle or to Ashlee,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department (SBSO) said in a statement. “Investigators believe it was used as a false or switched plate to avoid detection. When the vehicle was returned to the rental agency in Lompoc, California, the assigned California plate was on the vehicle.”<\/p>\n

Oct. 9 \u2013 Melodee is last seen<\/p>\n

Security camera taken near the Utah-Colorado border captured the young girl.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMelodee Buzzard, 9, was last seen Oct. 9 as she and her mother went on a road trip in a rental car.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Oct. 10 \u2013 Ashlee returns to California<\/p>\n

Ashlee Buzard was seen returning to Lompoc in the Malibu, but without Melodee.<\/p>\n

Oct. 14 \u2013 Investigation begins<\/p>\n

A school administrator in Lompoc, where Melodee and Ashlee lived, reported that the child hadn\u2019t been at school for several days, prompting detectives to begin their investigation.<\/p>\n

Sheriff\u2019s deputies said the mother refused to cooperate with their investigation.<\/p>\n

Oct. 30 \u2013 Lompoc home is searched<\/p>\n

Investigators searched the home of the Buzzards, as well as the rental car they were seen traveling in and a storage locker. During the search, Ashlee was escorted to an \u201calternate location that would not interfere with their ability to conduct a thorough search,\u201d the sheriff\u2019s department said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nov. 7 \u2013 Ashlee is arrested in case unrelated to Melodee<\/p>\n

SBSO said Ashlee Buzzard was arrested after she allegedly “prevented a victim from leaving a location\u201d in Lompoc.<\/p>\n

Nov. 10 \u2013 Ashlee charged in unrelated case<\/p>\n

Ashlee Buzzard was charged in a case that was not directly related to Melodee\u2019s disappearance, according to prosecutors.<\/p>\n

The mother was charged with a single count of felony false imprisonment. Details surrounding that case were not disclosed, but law enforcement said it was related to an incident that happened days before.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLaw enforcement have released new images of a young Santa Barbara County girl who’s been missing. This video was broadcast on Today in LA on Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Dec. 6 \u2013 Remains are found in Utah<\/p>\n

Hikers roaming through a remote part of Caineville, Utah, in Wayne County, found the girl\u2019s decomposing body.<\/p>\n

According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown, the immediate identification of the remains was not possible, but it was clear the body had gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n

Dec. 8 \u2013 Utah authorities flag body<\/p>\n

Following the grim discovery, law enforcement in Wayne County notified the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department of the identified body.<\/p>\n

Dec. 22 \u2013 Body identified as Melodee<\/p>\n

The Federal Bureau of Investigation crime lab positively identified the body as that of Melodee\u2019s through a DNA analysis, SBSO said.<\/p>\n

Dec. 23 \u2013 Ashlee Buzzard is arrested<\/p>\n

After confirming the body found in Utah was Melodee, her mother, Ashlee, was arrested in their Lompoc home on suspicion of her murder.<\/p>\n

A search and arrest warrant was served at the mother and daughter\u2019s home in the morning, leading to Ashlee Buzzard being taken into custody without incident. She faces a charge of first-degree murder and was booked into the Santa Barbara County Northern Branch Jail, where she was held without bail.<\/p>\n

A possible motive was not clear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The missing person case of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard left law enforcement stunned when the body of the young…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":468259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337,31399],"class_list":{"0":"post-468258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles","13":"tag-santa-barbara"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115772932423842810","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}