The mother of a missing 9-year-old California girl has been arrested on a charge of first-degree murder after her daughter’s remains were found in a rural area in southern Utah, Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown said Tuesday.
Members of the sheriff’s office and the FBI arrested Ashlee Buzzard, 40, Tuesday morning, Brown said. Authorities say her mother deliberately tried to hide her steps, such as backing up a rental car at gas stations in an attempt to avoid being caught by their surveillance cameras.
“We have recovered a significant amount of evidence that clearly indicates that this heinous crime was committed by Ashlee Buzzard, Melodee’s mother, and the very person she stole from and trusted the most in this world,” said Brown in a news conference.
CNN is trying to determine if Buzzard has an attorney.
Melodee’s paternal grandmother told CNN affiliates KEYT and KSBY earlier Tuesday that Melodee’s body had been discovered. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office informed the paternal grandmother, Lilly Denes, that her grandson’s body had been recovered, KEYT reported.
CNN reached the grandmother, who declined to comment because she was on her way to the news conference.
Brown went through a timeline Tuesday that explained what led investigators to Melodee’s body.
Melodee was last seen on October 9th
Buzzard went on a road trip with her 9-year-old daughter on Oct. 7, when surveillance footage captured the girl at a local car rental agency wearing what appeared to be a disguise, authorities said.
Melodee was wearing a hoodie pulled over her head and “what appears to be a wig that is darker and straighter than her natural hair,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said. “Investigators believe the wig may have been used to alter her appearance.”
Over the next three days, the rental car traveled through Nebraska, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Kansas before returning home to Lompoc, about 55 miles northwest of Santa Barbara, authorities said.
“Investigators have confirmed that Ashlee was seen returning to her Lompoc residence on October 10th, driving the same rental vehicle that she left with on October 7th – but Melodee was not in the car,” the sheriff’s office previously said.
The boy was last seen on October 9 on video surveillance in the region across the Colorado and Utah state line.
Melodee was reported missing days later on October 14 – not by a family member, but by a school administrator concerned about her long absence.
The FBI joined the search for Melodee, a case that attracted attention well outside of Southern California.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Danya Gainor, Sophia Peyser and Holly Yan contributed to this report.
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