New particulars have emerged within the ongoing seek for Melodee Buzzard, a lacking 9-year-old Lompoc lady who authorities now say was seen as lately as Oct. 7 and will have been pushed to Nebraska by her mom.
Melodee’s mom, Ashlee Buzzard, refuses to cooperate with authorities or reply questions on her daughter’s location or situation, in keeping with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Workplace. Relations on the lady’s father’s aspect say they haven’t seen her in years.
When Melodee was first reported lacking by college authorities final Tuesday, the Sheriff’s Workplace couldn’t affirm any sightings of the lady inside the final 12 months. Since then, detectives, with help from the FBI, have narrowed the window significantly.
Folks have put up a poster asking “The place is Melodee” exterior the Vandenberg Village residence the place the lacking lady’s mom, Ashlee Buzzard, lives. Melodee hasn’t been seen since Oct. 7 and her mom is refusing to cooperate with regulation enforcement.
(Lizabeth Meza)
“Detectives have gathered proof indicating that Melodee was together with her mom, Ashlee Buzzard, as lately as October 7, 2025,” the Sheriff’s Workplace stated in a Monday morning replace. “Detectives have additionally decided that Ashlee could have pushed with Melodee in a White Chevrolet Malibu to areas exterior of Santa Barbara County to incorporate so far as the state of Nebraska.”
The Instances has not been capable of attain Buzzard for remark.
The car, with license plate quantity 9MNG101, was a rental automobile and is now not in Buzzard’s possession, in keeping with the Sheriff’s Workplace.
Final Tuesday, detectives made contact with the mom at her residence in Vandenberg Village, however Melodee was nowhere to be seen.
Melodee’s kinfolk on her father’s aspect say the mom has refused to let relations go to the kid. They haven’t seen Melodee for about 4 and a half years and the newest photograph authorities have of the lady is 2 years previous.
Melodee’s father, Rubiell Meza, died in a motorbike accident in 2016 shortly after the lady was born. Buzzard then moved away from Santa Maria, the place she had been residing with Meza and his mom, in keeping with one in all Melodee’s aunts, Vicky Shade.
Melodee’s household on her father’s aspect say her mom, Ashlee Buzzard, has not allow them to see the lady in round 4 and a half years.
(Lizabeth Meza)
“She simply stored [Melodee] away from us after which she up and moved,” stated Shade. “She wouldn’t allow us to see her.”
In August, Buzzard took Melodee to the Lompoc Unified Faculty District to enroll her in an impartial research program, in keeping with a district assertion. After Melodee failed to choose up classroom assignments for a number of weeks, the district reached out to her mom after which to regulation enforcement, which triggered the seek for the lady.
On Sunday, the FBI introduced on X that it’s aiding the Sheriff’s Workplace with the seek for Melodee.
Lizabeth Meza, one other aunt of Melodee’s, stated the announcement made her really feel hopeful figuring out that there have been extra groups trying to find her niece.
The Meza household spent the weekend distributing fliers searching for assist finding Melodee round Lompoc, Guadalupe and the 5 Cities area of San Luis Obispo County.
“It’s been actually onerous not figuring out something about her whereabouts,” Shade stated.
Indicators saying “The place is Melodee?” have been posted across the mom’s Vandenberg Village residence, the place on Sunday afternoon a number of dozen neighborhood members gathered to wish for the lady and demand solutions from her mom, in keeping with native TV station KSBY.
The seek for Melodee has generated vital neighborhood curiosity and outrage in addition to web sleuths with theories about what occurred.
“Detectives are conscious of the robust neighborhood curiosity in Melodee’s case and are asking the general public to not try to conduct their very own searches or investigations,” the Sheriff’s Workplace stated in Monday’s assertion. “Whereas well-intentioned, these efforts may unintentionally intrude with investigative work already in progress.”
The latest images of Melody Buzzard, now 9, are two or extra years previous.
(Lizabeth Meza)
Anybody with details about Melodee or anybody who has had contact with Ashlee Buzzard since Oct. 7 is requested to contact the Sheriff’s Workplace at (805) 681-4150. Suggestions will also be left anonymously at (805) 681-4171 or at SBSheriff.org.
Ashlee Buzzard was seen by KSBY coming into her residence as lately as Thursday and neighbors instructed the TV station that she continues to be nonetheless residing on the home. Court docket data present that she filed for Chapter 7 chapter safety in 2017 and has a number of debt collections circumstances pending towards her.
Previous to Melodee being signed up for the impartial studying program in August, detectives consider the lady was homeschooled for a number of years, in keeping with Sheriff’s Workplace spokesperson Raquel Zick. Nonetheless, the California Division of Schooling has no file of Buzzard submitting a personal college affidavit, which is required for homeschooling, in keeping with division spokesperson Scott Roark.
