A California woman faces a murder charge after her missing daughter’s remains were found in rural Utah. Photo / Getty Images
A California woman has been charged with murder in what a sheriff called the “calculated and cold-blooded” killing of her 9-year-old daughter following the discovery of the girl’s remains in rural Utah.
Ashlee Lynn Buzzard, 40, was taken into custody yesterday and charged with murder in the shooting death of Melodee Elani Buzzard, who was reported missing two months ago.
Melodee died of gunshot wounds to the head, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said in a news conference.
“Maternal filicide is rare and always difficult to comprehend,” Brown said. “But this level of criminal activity is particularly shocking.”
Investigators “recovered a significant amount of evidence” against Buzzard, Brown said.
He described Buzzard as “unco-operative” throughout the investigation and said she remained so after her arrest.
The investigation into Melodee’s disappearance was closely tracked by online true-crime sleuths, as well as by worried relatives and community members.
Some gathered outside Buzzard’s home after her daughter went missing, placing posters along the kerb that featured the girl’s photo and read “Where is Melodee?”
Melodee’s father was killed in a motorcycle accident in 2016. Melodee’s paternal grandmother, Lilly Denes, told the Los Angeles Times yesterday that Ashlee Lynn Buzzard had not allowed the girl’s paternal relatives to see her since 2021.
“The detective called me this morning to let me know that they found the baby and the baby is with her dad,” Denes said in that interview. “I knew he was telling me that the baby is dead.”
Authorities’ search began on October 14, when a school administrator reported Melodee’s “prolonged absence” from an independent study programme, according to a timeline provided by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies went to the family residence in Lompoc and contacted Buzzard, who failed to provide verifiable information about her daughter’s whereabouts, authorities said.
The following day, detectives served a search warrant, and investigators found that Buzzard had recently rented a car.
Surveillance footage showed mother and daughter at the rental office – both wearing wigs in an apparent bid to conceal their identities, Brown said. The images were released publicly on October 22.
Buzzard swapped licence plates on the vehicle, replacing its California tag for a New York one, and she backed the car into service stations to deliberately avoid surveillance cameras during the pair’s three-day road trip through eight states, Brown said.
Melodee was last seen on video footage with her mother on October 9, on the Colorado side of the Colorado-Utah border. Detectives believe she was killed shortly after that stop, Brown said.
On October 30, a spent casing was found during another search of the family residence, and a live round of similar ammunition was located in the rental vehicle, authorities said.
Federal authorities’ examination of cartridges found at the crime scene were later linked to the cartridge casing found at Buzzard’s home in Lompoc, Brown said.
The authorities’ break came on the evening of December 6, when two members of the public stopped to take photos on a roadside near the town of Caineville, in a remote area of Wayne County, Utah.
There, they discovered the decomposed body of a female who had been shot in the head.
In a statement, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said it had previously communicated with Santa Barbara authorities and the FBI about the Buzzard case but found no evidence “to indicate any further action” in the area.
Less than 24 hours after the body was found, the Utah State Crime Lab had connected it to the Santa Barbara case, and on Tuesday, the FBI linked the remains to the familial DNA of Buzzard.
Investigators were met with “deliberate efforts” to prevent them from finding Melodee and uncovering the truth, Brown said as he praised their tenacity.
Buzzard is being held at a Santa Barbara County jail without bail. Brown said authorities plan to prosecute Buzzard in Santa Barbara County, because “the intent was believed to have been formed here”.
Michael Winn, the Wayne County lawyer told the news site KSL that he had not ruled out the possibility of criminal charges also being filed in Utah.
Winn did not respond to a request for comment. The Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said he is reviewing the case.
Authorities are continuing to look for the murder weapon, Brown said, and they do not believe anyone else was involved in the killing. They have yet to determine a motive, he added.
Buzzard appeared in court on an unrelated charge in November, after Santa Barbara prosecutors alleged she falsely imprisoned an acquaintance at her home by dead-bolting the door after allowing him inside. A judge dismissed the charge.
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