Investigators say the child disappeared months ago after leaving Southern California with her mother; evidence points to a cross-country trip and a killing near the Utah-Colorado border.
Authorities have confirmed the death of Melodee Buzzard, a 9-year-old Southern California girl who had been missing for months. Her body was discovered in rural Utah, and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, has been arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that Melodee’s decomposed remains were found in Wayne County, Utah, outside the small community of Caineville. The discovery was made by a couple who were photographing the area when they came across the body.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown said Melodee had suffered gunshot wounds to the head. DNA testing later confirmed the remains belonged to the missing child.
Melodee was first reported missing on October 14 after the Lompoc Unified School District alerted authorities that she had not been seen since August. When deputies went to the family’s home, investigators said Ashlee Buzzard could not explain her daughter’s whereabouts and was uncooperative during the early stages of the investigation.
Detectives soon uncovered surveillance footage from a rental car facility showing Ashlee and Melodee wearing wigs before leaving Lompoc in a rented 2024 white Chevrolet Malibu. Investigators believe Ashlee changed wigs multiple times while traveling through Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. At one point, the vehicle was spotted displaying a New York license plate.
According to investigators, the last confirmed sighting of Melodee occurred on October 9, when security cameras captured her with her mother near the Utah-Colorado border. Authorities now believe the child was killed shortly after that stop.
Search warrants executed at the family’s home, a storage unit, and the rental vehicle led to key evidence, including a spent cartridge case recovered from the residence and a live round of similar ammunition found inside the Malibu. Federal agents, including the FBI and ATF, assisted in linking the ammunition to cartridge cases found near the Utah crime scene.
On December 6, Utah investigators responded to reports of a decomposed body discovered along a roadside. Ballistics testing later connected evidence from that site to items seized in California. DNA analysis completed on December 22 confirmed the victim was Melodee.
Ashlee Buzzard was taken into custody earlier this month on an unrelated false imprisonment allegation, which was later dismissed. She has now been formally booked on a charge of first-degree murder and is being held without bail as the investigation continues.
Sheriff Brown described the case as an exceptionally disturbing example of maternal filicide, calling the alleged actions “calculated, ruthless, and deeply troubling.”
