The body of missing girl Melodee Buzzard has been found nearly three months after her unexplained disappearance.
Video captured by a neighbor showed her mother Ashlee Buzzard, 40, being escorted from her Lompoc home in handcuffs by Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department deputies at around 7:40 am on Tuesday.
The short-blonde-haired woman wore jeans, a white t-shirt and black heeled boots on her way to the cop car.
While it is unclear if her arrest was related to her nine-year-old daughter’s October disappearance, the neighbor who shared the footage claimed that police busted down her door when she did not open it for them.
The Sheriff’s office will be giving an update at 5pm EST to share further details in the major development of this case.
Melodee was first reported missing by a school administrator on October 14, but she was last seen on camera with her mother on October 9.
Her mother Ashlee has refused to cooperate or even tell investigators anything about her daughter’s disappearance, so they have no idea where she is or if she is safe.
Melodee Buzzard, 9, was barely seen since she stopped going to school a year ago. Her body has now been found
Her mother Ashlee refused to cooperate or even tell investigators anything about her daughter’s disappearance, so they have no idea where she is or if she is safe
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office detectives said Melodee was with her mother as recently as October 7 and may have been driven all the way to Nebraska.
They were spotted making several stops in a rented white Chevrolet Malibu along the way, before Buzzard returned to Santa Barbara and gave the car back.
Sheriff’s investigators released information on the possible route the mother and daughter took from their Lompoc home and traveled more than 1,500 miles away to Nebraska.
Detectives believe the pair then started their trip back the next day, but the Malibu was spotted with a New York license plate, which authorities said did not belong to the rental or to Buzzard.
Investigators now believe the Malibu traveled through various small towns on October 9, including Green River, Utah; Panguitch, Utah; northwest Arizona; Primm, Nevada and Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Lizabeth Meza, Melodee’s aunt, previously told the Daily Mail that Buzzard had lost custody of Melodee in the past because of mental health woes and allegedly admitted psychological issues run in her family.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office detectives said Melodee was with her mother as recently as October 7 and may have been driven all the way to Nebraska
The Daily Mail uncovered an eerie Google Maps image of Melodee staring into the street while standing on her doorstep in May 2023
Police searched their home (pictured) on Mars Avenue in Lompoc, about 60 miles north of Santa Barbara, but didn’t find Melodee
Buzzard at one point in time declared bankruptcy after amassing debts totaling $23,000.
‘There were so many hurdles, just so much going on within the family,’ Meza said in tears.
‘And it just saddens me that there was so much going on at that time that we weren’t able to keep in contact with Melodee, and nobody had a relationship with her.
‘The system failed her by giving her back to a mother time and time again when she was unstable. There is just so many emotions that go through my mind when I think of that little girl.’
This is a breaking news story.
