Melodee Buzzard's mother arrested in connection with 9-year-old's killing after her body is found

https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/23/us/melodee-buzzard-found-dead

The multi-state hunt for Melodee Buzzard, a missing 9-year-old California 
girl, came to a close when her remains were discovered in a rural area of 
southern Utah, authorities announced Tuesday.

Members of the sheriff’s office and the FBI arrested Ashlee Buzzard, 
Melodee’s mother, Tuesday morning on a charge of first-degree murder, 
Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown said Tuesday.

Authorities say she deliberately tried to hide her steps, such as backing 
a rental car at gas stations in an attempt to avoid detection by their 
surveillance cameras.

The body was initially discovered by a couple who were taking photos in a 
remote part of Wayne County, Utah, Brown said.

The remains couldn’t be immediately identified, he said, but “it was 
apparent that the decedent was a female who had died from gunshot wounds 
to the head.”

But DNA analysis found it was a familial DNA match to Melodee’s mother, he 
added.

“We have recovered a significant amount of evidence that clearly indicates 
that this heinous crime was committed by Ashlee Buzzard, Melodee’s mother, 
and the very person upon who she relied upon and trusted the most in this 
world,” Brown said at a news conference.

CNN is attempting to determine whether Buzzard has an attorney.

Investigators do not have the murder weapon and it’s unclear as to the 
motive of the killing as Ashlee is “uncooperative,” authorities said 
Tuesday.

Melodee’s paternal grandmother Lilly Denes told CNN affiliates KEYT and 
KSBY earlier Tuesday the sheriff’s office informed her Melodee’s body had 
been discovered.

“It’s really sad for us, especially that tomorrow is Christmas Eve and, 
you know, I have the rest of the grandkids coming home,” Denes told KEYT 
Tuesday.

CNN has reached out to the grandmother, who declined to comment because 
she was on her way to the news conference.

Brown went through a timeline on Tuesday that explained what led 
investigators to Melodee’s body.

Melodee was last seen October 9
Buzzard went on a road trip with her 9-year-old daughter on October 7, 
when surveillance footage captured the girl at a local car rental agency 
dressed in what seemed to be a disguise, authorities said.

Melodee was wearing a hoodie pulled over her head and “what appears to be 
a wig that is darker and straighter than her natural hair,” the Santa 
Barbara County Sheriff’s previously Office said. “Investigators believe 
the wig may have been used to alter her appearance.”

The rental car traveled through Nebraska, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Kansas 
before returning home to Lompoc, about 55 miles northwest of Santa 
Barbara, authorities said.

At some point along the trip, Ashlee switched the license plates on the 
vehicle she had rented to a New York plate, Brown said Tuesday.

“Investigators have confirmed that Ashlee was seen returning to her Lompoc 
residence on October 10, driving the same rental vehicle she departed with 
on October 7 – but Melodee was not in the car,” the sheriff’s office 
previously said.

The young girl was last seen on video surveillance with her mother on the 
Colorado side of the Colorado-Utah border on October 9, 2025, according to 
Brown.

Detectives, Brown said, now believe Melodee was killed shortly after that 
stop.

Melodee was reported missing days later on October 14 – not by a family 
member, but by a school administrator concerned about her long absence.

The next day, on October 15, detectives served a search warrant at the 
home of Ashlee Buzzard, according to a release from the Santa Barbara 
County Sheriff’s Office.

On October 30, sheriff’s detectives, along with the FBI Evidence Response 
Team, served follow up search warrants at the home of Ashlee Buzzard as 
well as for a storage locker and car she had recently rented, 
investigators said.

An expended cartridge case was recovered during the search of the Mars 
Avenue residence, Brown said, and during the search of the rental car a 
live round of similar ammunition was located, Brown said.

On December 17, the ATF found that cartridge cases from the Utah crime 
scene linked to a single cartridge case found at the Buzzard residence, 
authorities said.

“Cold-blooded and criminally sophisticated premeditation and 
heartlessness… went into planning” the crime, Brown said.

The “ruthlessness” that went into committing it, he added, was shocking.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly listed a previous 
felony charge for Ashlee Buzzard. It was dropped in November.


-- 
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Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
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