Missing 9-Year-Old Melodee Buzzard Found Dead, and Mom Is in Custody

Authorities have discovered the body of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard two months after she disappeared — and taken her mother into custody.

Melodee’s decomposing body was discovered on Dec. 6 in Wayne County, Utah, Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown said at a press conference on Tuesday, Dec. 23. The girl, who had sustained gunshot wounds to her head, was identified only on Dec. 22.

Melodee was found in a spot where she had previously traveled with her mother Ashlee Buzzard in October, sources said, per ABC News.

Melodee’s mother Ashlee Buzzard, 40, was arrested on murder charges, Brown said.

“This level of criminal activity is particularly shocking given the calculated, cold-blooded and criminally sophisticated premeditation and heartlessness that went into planning it and the ruthlessness that went into actually committing the crime,” said Brown.

“We have recovered a significant amount of evidence that clearly indicates that this heinous crime was committed by Ashley Buzzard, Melodee’s mother, and the very person upon who she relied upon and trusted the most in this world,” Brown continued.

Melodee was seen on video surveillance with her mother on Oct. 9 at a rest stop near the Utah-Colorado border, Brown said, adding she is believed to have been killed shortly after that.

Melodee was reported missing on Oct. 14 by a school official who flagged her “prolonged absence,” according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities at the time said Ashlee was refusing to cooperate with investigators.

She was arrested on Friday, Nov. 7 on false imprisonment in a different case, the sheriff’s office announced.

In November, the sheriff’s department released security camera footage showing Melodee with Ashlee on Oct. 7, around the time the girl vanished.

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Earlier, investigators released CCTV photos stills at a car rental business in California where Melodee was seen in a wig, which officers alleged was likely Ashlee’s attempt to disguise the little girl.

In a statement on Thursday, Nov. 6, the sheriff’s office said they have also discovered that Ashlee also wore a wig at the car rental in the video captured on Oct. 7, alleging the mother “swapped” wigs several times during the trip that ensued.