Soon after 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard’s remains were found in rural Utah, her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, was arrested for her murder.
The arrest warrant was filed on Dec. 23 by members of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“This is an extraordinarily tragic case involving the murder of a child by the very person she relied upon and trusted the most,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said, per a press release. “While maternal filicide is rare and difficult to comprehend, the evidence in this case clearly indicates a calculated, deliberate, and ruthless act.”
Here is a timeline of the disappearance and discovery of Melodee Buzzard, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office:
Oct. 14: A school administrator contacted authorities and requested a welfare check following Melodee’s prolonged absences. Officers contacted her mother, and “no verifiable explanation” was given.
Oct. 15: A search warrant was filed on the Lompoc, California, residence that Melodee shared with her mother. The investigation uncovered that Ashlee Buzzard had recently used a rental vehicle, and video footage at the car rental office shows Melodee and Buzzard in disguises.
Oct. 24: Information released by detectives showed that the mother and daughter took a road trip traveling through California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming and Nebraska, and then traveled back through Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. Detectives also discovered that Buzzard appeared to avoid discovery by switching license plates and backing into gas stations.
Melodee was last seen on video surveillance on Oct. 9 near the Utah-Colorado border. Investigators believe she was killed shortly after.
Oct. 30: More search warrants were served by the sheriff’s detectives and the FBI Evidence Response Team to reexamine the residence, a storage unit and the rental car used. Investigators found a used cartridge case from the home and a live round of similar ammunition in the vehicle.
Dec. 6: Utah law enforcement in Wayne County responded to a call reporting a decomposed body in a rural area near the 3300-block of east State Route 24.
A couple was traveling in the area to take photographs against the red sandstone of Utah’s rural outdoors when they stumbled upon what would later be identified as Melodee’s remains, per CNN.
Dec. 8: Authorities with Wayne County contacted Santa Barbara authorities and reported the body was that of a little girl who died by gunshot wounds to the head.
Dec. 17: Cartridge cases recovered in Utah were investigated and found to be linked to the case recovered in the residence.
Dec. 22: FBI Crime Lab analysis confirmed the unidentified remains of the girl found in rural Utah had a familial DNA link to Melodee Buzzard.
Dec. 23: Ashlee Buzzard was arrested for the murder of her daughter.
Following her arrest, Santa Barbara County’s Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown said the murder was “calculated, cold-blooded” and planned, according to The Associated Press. “Today, we stand together in grief, but also with resolve ... Melodee deserved a far better life than she had.”
Melodee’s grandmother, Lilly Denes, whose son was Melodee’s father, who died soon after her birth from a motorcycle accident, said authorities contacted her, telling her they “found the baby and the baby is with her dad,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
“I knew he was telling me that the baby is dead,” Denes said.
Prosecutors have said that if Ashlee Buzzard is convicted, they would not seek the death penalty, but rather life in prison without parole. The case remains under investigation.
