The mother of the missing nine-year-old, Melodee Buzzard, has been apprehended at her residence in California.
Authorities detained Ashlee Buzzard on Friday afternoon outside her Lompoc home, located approximately 50 miles from Santa Barbara.
Forty-year-old Buzzard resided with her daughter Melodee, who was reported missing on October 14 by school officials due to her repeated absences.
She faces a felony charge of false imprisonment and has been booked at the Northern Branch Jail with a bond set at $100,000, as confirmed by Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies. It’s important to note that this charge is not connected to Melodee’s disappearance.
Buzzard has not been forthcoming with investigators, offering no details on her daughter’s location.
Lizabeth Meza, Melodee’s aunt, expressed a mixture of emotions regarding Ashlee’s arrest in a conversation with the Daily Mail.
‘I don’t understand exactly why they arrested her for false imprisonment and since the FBI took over the case, the detectives are keeping information close to them,’ Meza told the Daily Mail on Friday.
‘Ashlee could be the only one who knows and she is the missing piece to this puzzle. Will she actually talk now? We hope she will so she can tell them where Melodee is.
‘I want her to know if someone is hurting her or Melodee, that she is not alone in this. We want to get them help, both her and Melodee. We just want her back.’
Ashlee Buzzard was taken into custody Friday afternoon outside her residence in Lompoc, roughly 50 miles away from Santa Barbara
Melodee Buzzard, nine, was first reported missing on October 14 by school officials after repeated absences
Private investigator Bill Garcia, who was hired by Melodee’s family, told the Daily Mail that officers recently seized several potential pieces of evidence from the home.
Sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents descended on the family’s property on the 500 block of Mars Avenue in Lompoc with a search warrant last week.
Buzzard was not home as investigators spent hours combing the house and garage into the evening, removing several items – including sections of drywall and carpeting – that could prove vital to the case.
They also collected a piece of concrete from the garage, Garcia said.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s and the FBI for comment.
Sheriff’s investigators earlier this week released more information on the possible route the mother and daughter took from their Lompoc home and traveled more than 1,500 miles away to Nebraska in a rented white Chevy Malibu on October 7.
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.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s officials released pictures of Ashlee Buzzard and her daughter Melodee that focused on their travel route on from their home in Lompoc, California to Nebraska. Investigators said the pair traveled to Utah, Arizona and Nevada on October 9
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s officials said Melodee was wearing a wig that was straighter and darker than her natural hair as seen in this still shot from video surveillance footage captured at a car rental business on October 7
Garcia said sources have indicated Buzzard does have connections in Iowa, although detectives have not indicated the mother and daughter traveled that far into the Midwest.
He also said Buzzard was spotted at a gas station in Santa Paula, California but without her daughter.
On October 27, Garcia approached Buzzard as she was dropped off at her Lompoc home by a medical transportation vehicle.
In a video obtained by the Daily Mail, Garcia is seen approaching Buzzard as she walks calmly to her door.
The 40-year-old, dressed in black pants and a tight black jacket, was sporting the same long curly wig she was also wearing at the time she traveled with Melodee, according to pictures obtained from video surveillance footage and released by Sheriff’s officials.
Melodee also was seen wearing a wig in the same footage.
Buzzard has given Melodee a solitary lifestyle that includes being homeschooled for at least a year, Meza previously told the Daily Mail.
She previously lost custody of Melodee because of mental health woes and allegedly admitted psychological issues run in her family, according to Meza.
The Daily Mail uncovered an eerie Google Maps image last week of Melodee staring into the street while standing on her doorstep in May 2023
Buzzard also previously 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 that go through my mind when I think of that little girl.’
