UPDATE: 12/24/25 1:22 p.m. ET.
Authorities have revealed the cause of death for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, who went missing in October, as gunshot wounds to the head. It has not been revealed how many times Melodee was shot, People reported on Wednesday, December 24.
Melodee’s body was discovered on December 6, outside of Caineville, Utah, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office confirmed in a Tuesday, December 23, press release and subsequent press conference. Her body was decomposed, which sheriffs believe points to her most likely being killed in October.
One day after DNA analysis confirmed that the remains found in Utah belonged to Melodee, her mother, Ashlee Lynn Buzzard, was arrested for her alleged murder. She was taken into custody on Tuesday “without incident” and booked the Santa Barbara County Northern Branch Jail for first-degree murder at approximately 7:51 a.m., per the sheriff’s office. Ashlee is being held without bail.
“This is an extraordinarily tragic case involving the murder of a child by the very person she relied upon and trusted the most,” Sheriff Bill Brown said in the press release. “While maternal filicide is rare and difficult to comprehend, the evidence in this case clearly indicates a calculated, deliberate, and ruthless act.”
Original story below:
The body of missing 9-year-old girl Melodee Buzzard has been found out of state two months after she went missing in Southern California, a law enforcement source confirmed to NBC News on Tuesday, December 23.
The source said that Melodee’s body was found earlier in December, though further details about the discovery have not yet been shared.
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Shortly after her body was found, Melodee’s mother, Ashlee Buzzard, was reportedly taken into custody, according to video shared with NBC News affiliate KSBY. The family’s neighbors said they saw Ashlee being taken by deputies from her home early on December 23. However, it’s not currently clear why she was taken into custody.
The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office has not yet confirmed that Melodee’s body was found, though they shared that they had an update regarding the case in an X post. “The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office has major developments in the missing person investigation for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard. Members of the media are invited to a press conference: Tuesday, December 23, 2025, 2:00 p.m.,” the post read.
Melodee’s disappearance in October has left many people in her community of Vandenberg Village feeling unsettled, while the case has garnered national interest.
Officials previously said that Ashlee, 40, had been “uncooperative and has not provided detectives with any information about Melodee’s current location or condition” amid the search and investigation into Melodee’s disappearance, according to NBC News.
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In October, the Lompoc Unified School District said in a statement that Ashlee brought Melodee to an independent study program in August to enroll her as a student. However, she did not attend through early October, and the district ultimately notified law enforcement about her absences.
Amid the investigation, authorities looked into a road trip the mother-daughter duo took from Southern California to Nebraska that took place between October 7 and October 10.
The sheriff’s office said that one security video captured on October 7 showed Melodee wearing a wig at a rental car business, where the duo picked up a Chevrolet Malibu. Detectives speculated she was wearing the wig to throw off attempts to track or find her, noting that Ashlee herself was known to sport wigs.
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At one point during the trip, the rental car’s license plate was temporarily switched to a New York plate in an alleged attempt to avoid detection.
Melodee was last seen on the return leg of the trip on October 9 when she and Ashlee were near the Utah-Colorado border. The young girl was not with her mother when she returned the rental car or came back home on October 10, detectives previously confirmed.
Ashlee was previously arrested on suspicion of felony false imprisonment on November 7 in a separate case not related to Melodee’s disappearance. A man testified that Ashlee held him against his will at her home and threatened him with a box cutter, according to KSBY of San Luis Obispo. The charge was ultimately dismissed on November 20, with prosecutors citing contradictory information and insufficient evidence.
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