The mom of lacking Melodee Buzzard, whose disappearance triggered a determined, months-long search, was arrested after her 9-year-old daughter’s stays have been found in a rural space of southern Utah, police mentioned.
Members of the sheriff’s workplace and the FBI arrested Ashlee Buzzard Tuesday morning on a cost of first-degree homicide in connection along with her daughter’s demise. Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Invoice Brown informed reporters {that a} “cold-blooded and criminally subtle premeditation and heartlessness” went into orchestrating Melodee’s killing, which required a further quantity of “ruthlessness” to hold out.
“At present, we stand collectively in grief, but in addition with resolve,” Brown mentioned. “Melodee deserved a much better life than she had.”
Authorities discovered Melodee’s physique on Dec. 6 in Wayne County, off of State Route 24, after a person and lady taking images alerted them to the stays. Whereas authorities couldn’t instantly determine them, they concluded the sufferer died from gunshot wounds to the top, Brown mentioned. Then, on Monday, the FBI crime lab confirmed a DNA hyperlink between the stays to familial DNA of Melodee.
Investigators have since “recovered a major quantity of proof” towards Ashlee Buzzard, Brown mentioned. That features a spent shell casing discovered within the Buzzard dwelling matching what was discovered on the scene in Utah, he added. Authorities additionally discovered comparable rounds in a automotive Buzzard rented, although a homicide weapon has not but been recovered.
Her arrest comes some two months after Melodee was reported lacking by a college administrator on Oct. 14, following a chronic absence from her courses. Authorities on the time mentioned Buzzard was refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
In keeping with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Workplace, Buzzard left dwelling in California along with her daughter on Oct. 7, driving a rented white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu. They traveled to Nebraska with stops in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, and a return route that included Kansas. Investigators imagine Melodee was killed shortly after she was final seen alive in surveillance video on Oct. 9, close to the Colorado-Utah border.
Melodee, within the clip, may be seen carrying a darkish wig beneath the hood of her sweatshirt, whereas Buzzard was sporting a curly wig on the time.
Buzzard modified wigs all through the journey, police mentioned, even going so far as swapping the license plate of the rental automotive to keep away from detection.
With Information Wire Companies
