The authorities have made significant progress in the Melodee Buzzard’s murder case. The 9-year-old was found dead two months after her disappearance was reported. And now, her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, has been arrested for killing her daughter.
Lompoc Unified School District alerted authorities about Melodee’s disappearance in October. Buzzard reportedly took her daughter to an independent study program in August to enroll her. However, the girl didn’t attend through early October, which raised enough suspicion to notify law enforcement.
There was never any hope the Melodee Buzzard would be found alive, judging from the actions of her mother, Ashlee Buzzard.
Poor Melodee.
I will be posting more details soon.
*Melodee is dead and her “mom” Ashlee is in custody.*#MelodeeBuzzard #missing found deceased… pic.twitter.com/WsZkLFp27v
— Jennifer Coffindaffer (@CoffindafferFBI) December 23, 2025
After two months of extensive searches and questioning, the case finally progressed in early December when the girl’s body was discovered.
A man and a woman found Melodee’s body on Dec. 6 when they were taking pictures in Wayne County, Utah. It was evident that the victim “died of gunshot wounds to the head,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters. The DNA test then confirmed that the body was Melodee’s.
The officials found an expended cartridge case and a live round of similar ammunition after they searched Ashlee’s home, a rented storage locker, and a rental car. The officials further stated that the murder weapon has not been found.
Breaking News!
Sources say 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard ‘s body was found in Utah in early December. DNA results are now in. Her mother Ashlee Buzzard arrested. She was likely dead months before anyone knew she was missing.
Melodee Buzzard RIP 💔🕊️#MelodeeBuzzard #missing pic.twitter.com/SifbhlUazR
— The Last Show- Karen Lee (@thelastshow) December 23, 2025
On Tuesday, the authorities arrested 40-year-old Ashlee from her home in Vandenberg Village. The authorities also said that the accused had been uncooperative during the search and investigation into Melodee’s disappearance, who was ultimately found dead.
The Sheriff told reporters that the investigators have found “a significant amount of evidence” that indicates that Ashlee killed her daughter.
“Our investigators and those of our allied agencies worked simultaneously on multiple fronts, some maintaining around-the-clock surveillance of Ashlee Buzzard, while others focused on the painstaking collection, analysis, and verification of physical, digital, and forensic evidence,” Brown said.
“Maternal filicide is rare and always difficult to comprehend. This level of criminal activity is particularly shocking given the calculated, cold-blooded, and criminally sophisticated premeditation and heartlessness that went into planning it,” he added.
Ashlee reportedly took a road trip with her daughter from Southern California to Nebraska from Oct. 7 to Oct. 10. The surveillance video showed Melodee wearing a wig on Oct. 7 at a rental car business from where her mother picked up a Chevrolet Malibu for the trip. The investigators believe that Ashlee made her daughter wear a wig to throw off attempts to locate her. It is also reported that the accused temporarily switched the rental car’s license plate to a New York plate to avoid detection.
This is the area Melodee Buzzard s body was found by two people taking photos. She was shot and killed by her mother Ashlee Buzzard. A spent shell casing from a gun was found during a search warrant and a unspent shell casing was also found in the rental car. They made it sound… pic.twitter.com/uIcGqjRSAp
— SF INVESTIGATES • STEVE FISCHER (@SF_investigates) December 23, 2025
Melodee was seen on the return leg of the trip on Oct. 9, near the Utah-Colorado border. However, she was not with Ashlee, who returned home with the rental vehicle on Oct. 10. It is believed that Ashlee killed her daughter shortly after the stop at the Utah-Colorado border.
Corinna Meza, the victim’s half-sister, said, “We’re all looking for answers,” KSBY reported. She also said that Melodee’s father died when her younger sister was a baby.
Ashlee is now held on suspicion of first-degree murder without bail.
