Missing California Girl
Body Found After 2-month Search, Mom Arrested
Published
The body of a 9-year-old California girl has been found two months after she vanished during an impromptu mother-daughter trip … leading to the arrest of her mother.
Authorities say Melodee Buzzard’s body was found in Utah earlier this month, and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, was taken into custody Tuesday in connection with the child’s death.
Officials confirmed Melodee was found in an area she had traveled to with her mom back in October … and investigators believe she was killed there before her disappearance made headlines, KABC-TV reports.
Melodee and her mom were seen wearing wigs when they walked into a Santa Barbara car rental on October 7, picking up a Chevrolet Malibu just before setting off on their road trip.
She was last spotted on camera with her mom on October 9 near the Colorado-Utah border, where the Malibu was on the road with New York plates. The original plates were put back on when it was returned October 10 … but Melodee wasn’t with her mom.
Family members paint a troubling picture, calling Ashlee “extremely mentally unstable” — and authorities say she refused to cooperate with investigators as the case unfolded. She hasn’t yet been charged.
This isn’t her first run-in with the law — Ashlee was hit with felony false-imprisonment charges last month in an unrelated case, accused of trying to stop a man from leaving her home … though those charges were ultimately dropped.
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