Missing California 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard seen in Utah, police say

New details surrounding the disappearance of 9-year-old California girl Melodee Buzzard include bogus license plates, an image of Melodee and her mother in disguise, and a sighting in Utah, detectives say. 

Melodee was reported missing from her home near Lompoc in Santa Barbara County on Oct. 14 after a school official noted that the girl and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, failed to check in. Detectives soon announced that Ashlee Buzzard was being “uncooperative” in the investigation, as the FBI joined the search.

Melodee and her mom embarked on a cross-country road trip on Oct. 7, investigators said. A newly shared image of them apparently wearing wigs at a car rental business was shared by the sheriff’s office on Monday. Through surveillance footage, detectives have now mapped the route Ashlee Buzzard likely took, from California through Utah, northwest Arizona and Nevada. It was previously reported that the rented white Chevrolet Malibu traveled to Nebraska and back that weekend, and that Melodee was not seen with Ashley on her return to her home on the 500 block of Mars Avenue in Vandenberg Village on Friday, Oct. 10.

Complicating matters, investigators believe that the vehicle’s license plate was switched out en route. The two license plates in question are the original California plate, 9MNG101, and a New York plate, HCG9677.

“The New York plate seen on the car does not belong to the vehicle or to Ashlee,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday. “Investigators believe it was used as a false or switched plate to avoid detection.” The original California plate was back on the car when it was returned to the rental establishment in California. 

Detectives added that Melodee was seen on surveillance video on Oct. 9 “in the region between the Colorado–Utah border.”

The sheriff’s office has shared a map of the route and urged residents in the travel corridor to review surveillance footage from that weekend, saying any contact with Melodee or Ashlee between Oct. 9 and Oct. 10 could be critical. 

Ashlee Buzzard is in the midst of several civil cases with creditors who allege she had unpaid debts, court records previously reviewed by SFGATE reveal. On Oct. 15, investigators executed a warrant on Ashlee Buzzard’s Lompoc-area home but did not find Melodee, and they noted that Ashlee remained uncooperative. 

Family members of Melodee, whose father reportedly died in a motorcycle crash when she was a baby, have spoken out against Ashlee Buzzard. “She hasn’t let us see her for a few years,” Melodee’s aunt on her father’s side, Bridgett Truitt, previously told KEYT-TV. “And all of us have tried. But we never stopped thinking about her or loving her or praying for her.”

Melodee is described as standing approximately 4 feet, 6 inches tall, weighing around 60 pounds, with brown curly hair and brown eyes. Investigators note that the wig may have significantly altered her appearance.

On Monday, the sheriff’s office described the investigation as an “ongoing search” for Melodee and urged anyone with information to call 805-681-4150.