By JESSICA HILL
A California woman has been charged with murder after the remains of her missing 9-year-old daughter were found in Utah, authorities said Tuesday.
Ashlee Buzzard, 40, was arrested after 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard’s body was found in a rural area of Wayne County, where they had traveled two months ago, said the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials said DNA from the remains connected her mother. Detectives searched Buzzard’s home, a storage locker and a car she had rented, and found a used cartridge case in her home and similar ammunition in the rental car, authorities said.
A school administrator reported the child’s prolonged absence Oct. 14. Deputies went to the family’s residence in Lompoc, but Buzzard would not say where her daughter was.
Buzzard left California with her daughter on Oct. 7, driving a rented white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. They traveled as far as Nebraska with stops in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, and a return route included Kansas. Melodee Buzzard was last seen Oct. 9 on video surveillance near the Colorado-Utah line.
Detectives learned the mother and daughter changed their appearance during travel. Video from the rental car office in Lompoc shows the child wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a wig that was darker and straighter than her natural hair, police said. The video shows her mother wearing a long, curly haired wig.
Buzzard swapped wigs throughout the trip and changed the license plate of the rental car to avoid detection, police said. On Oct. 10, Buzzard returned to her Lompoc residence in the rental car she had rented Oct. 7 with its original license plate — but her daughter was not with her, the sheriff’s office said.
Buzzard was arrested Nov. 7 on charges unrelated to the search for her daughter. Authorities said she prevented someone from leaving a location against their will.