The mother of a 9-year-old girl from California who is missing has been arrested for first-degree murder. Her daughter's body was found in a remote area of southern Utah, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown, who made the announcement on Tuesday.
Melodee Buzzard FBI
Ashlee Buzzard, 40, was arrested by the sheriff’s office and the FBI on Tuesday morning, Brown said.
Authorities claim that Buzzard intentionally tried to avoid being noticed by cameras. She was seen driving a rental car and even backed it into gas stations to make it harder for cameras to track her.
Speaking at a news conference, Brown said, "We have recovered a lot of evidence showing that this terrible crime was done by Ashlee Buzzard, Melodee's mother, the person Melodee trusted and relied on the most in the world."
CNN is trying to find out if Buzzard has a lawyer.
Melodee's paternal grandmother told CNN stations KEYT and KSBY earlier Tuesday that her granddaughter's body had been found. The sheriff’s office told the grandmother, Lilly Denes, that Melodee's body had been recovered, according to KEYT.
CNN has contacted the grandmother, but she refused to comment because she was heading to the news conference.
Brown also shared a timeline that explained how investigators found Melodee’s body.
Melodee was last seen on October 9.
On October 7, Buzzard took her on a road trip. Surveillance video showed Melodee at a car rental agency wearing what seemed like a disguise. She had a hoodie pulled over her head and what looked like a wig that was darker and straighter than her natural hair. Investigators believe the wig was used to change her appearance.
Over the next three days, the rental car traveled through Nebraska, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Kansas before returning home to Lompoc, which is about 55 miles northwest of Santa Barbara.
Investigators confirmed that Ashlee was seen driving the same rental car back to her Lompoc home on October 10, but Melodee was not in the car.
The child was last seen in video footage around the Colorado and Utah border on October 9.
Melodee was reported missing on October 14—not by a family member, but by a school administrator who was worried about her long absence.
The FBI joined the search for Melodee, and the case has drawn a lot of attention beyond Southern California.
Source: CNN