Melodee Buzzard’s mother arrested in connection with 9-year-old’s killing after her body is found
By Josh Campbell, CNN
(CNN) — The mother of a missing 9-year-old California girl has been arrested on a charge of first-degree murder after her daughter’s remains were found in a rural area of southern Utah, Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown said Tuesday.
Members of the sheriff’s office and the FBI arrested Ashlee Buzzard, 40, Tuesday morning, Brown said.
CNN is attempting to determine whether Buzzard has an attorney.
Melodee’s paternal grandmother told CNN affiliates KEYT and KSBY earlier Tuesday that Melodee’s body had been discovered. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office informed the paternal grandmother, Lilly Denes, that her granddaughter’s body had been recovered, KEYT reported.
CNN has reached out to the grandmother, who declined to comment because she is on her way to a news conference.
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 Office said. “Investigators believe the wig may have been used to alter her appearance.”
Over the next three days, 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.
“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 said.
The child was last seen October 9 in video surveillance in the region around the Colorado and Utah state line.
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 FBI joined the search for Melodee, a case that has drawn widespread attention well outside Southern California.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
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CNN’s Danya Gainor, Sophia Peyser and Holly Yan contributed to this report.
