Ashlee Buzzard, mom of missing 9-year-old Lompoc, California girl, Melodee Buzzard arrested on unrelated charges as cops continue search for child amid lingering questions.
The ‘evasive’ mother of a missing 9-year-old Lompoc, California girl was on Friday afternoon arrested at her Santa Barbara area home.
Ashlee Buzzard, 40, was taken into custody on charges unrelated to the disappearance of daughter Melodee who continues to be unaccounted for after she was first reported missing on October 14 by school officials after repeated abscences.
Buzzard was booked on 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.
Missing 9-year-old Lompoc girl’s mom refuses to cooperate with investigators
The sheriff’s office said the arrest comes ‘during the course of the missing person investigation’ but is not connected to the ongoing search for Melodee. Additional details are not being released at this time ‘as it would impede their ongoing investigation,’ the sheriff’s office said.
‘Sheriff’s detectives remain fully focused on locating Melodee and confirming her safety,’ the sheriff’s office said.
The mom’s arrest comes as Buzzard continues to refuse to cooperate with authorities as to the whereabouts of the missing girl as the parent has offered no explanation as to how her daughter came to go missing and where she now might be.
Missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard was last seen on surveillance tape on October 7 at a car rental business with both mother and daughter wearing wigs. It remained unclear why the mother and daughter turned up at the office wearing wigs. Investigators believe it may have been so as to avoid detection.
Investigators believe Buzzard “swapped wigs throughout the trip” to intentionally avoid recognition during their travel, the sheriff’s office said Thursday while releasing surveillance footage showing the two in the rental car location in Lompoc on Oct. 7.
Changing wigs and changing license plates mystery
Commenting on the mom’s arrest, Lizabeth Meza, Melodee’s aunt told the dailymail she had ‘mixed emotions’ about the 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 dailymail.
‘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.’
Private investigator Bill Garcia, who was hired by Melodee’s family, told the dailymail that officers recently seized several potential pieces of evidence from the home.
Sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents descended on the family’s property on the 500 block of Mars Avenue in Lompoc with a search warrant last week.
Mom and 9 year old girl go for road trip only for Melodee not to return home
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.
They also collected a piece of concrete from the garage, Garcia said.
Sheriff’s investigators earlier this week released more information on the possible route the mother and daughter took from their Lompoc home upon renting a rental car where the mother and 9-year-old 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 Buzzard. Investigators believe the switch in license plate was done to avoid detection.
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.
Ashlee Buzzard returned the rental car with its original license plates back on but daughter Melodee was not with the parent at the time of the rental car’s return.
Life of solitude and mental health woes
According to the missing girl’s aunt, leading up to Melodee’s disappearance, her mom had given Melodee a solitary lifestyle that includes being homeschooled for at least a year.
The aunt also revealed Ashelee Buzzard previously lost custody of Melodee because of mental health woes with the relative admitting to psychological issues running in her family.
Buzzard also previously declared bankruptcy after amassing debts totaling $23,000.
‘There were so many hurdles, just so much going on within the family,’ Meza told the dailymail.
‘And it just saddens me that there was so much going on at that time that we weren’t able to keep in contact with Melodee, and nobody had a relationship with her.
‘The system failed her by giving her back to a mother time and time again when she was unstable. There is just so many emotions that that go through my mind when I think of that little girl.’
