The mother of missing nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard has been arrested at her California home.
Ashlee Buzzard was taken into custody Friday afternoon outside her residence in Lompoc, roughly 50 miles away from Santa Barbara.
Buzzard, 40, lived at the home with her daughter Melodee, who was first reported missing on October 14 by school officials after repeated absences.
She was arrested on the felony charge of false imprisonment and booked at the Northern Branch Jail on a $100,000 bond, Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies confirmed. The charge is not related to Melodee’s disappearance.
Buzzard has refused to cooperate with their investigation and has offered no explanation for her daughter’s whereabouts.
Lizabeth Meza, Melodee’s aunt, told the Daily Mail she has mixed emotions about Ashlee’s arrest.
‘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 Buzzard’s Lompoc home.
Last week, Sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents descended on the family’s property on the 500 block of Mars Avenue with a search warrant.
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.
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 Ashlee.
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.
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.
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
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
Garcia 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.
This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.
