The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office on Friday released new images of Melodee Buzzard from surveillance video taken at a local car rental business on October 7.
Sheriff’s detectives began investigating the 9-year-old’s disappearance on October 14 after Lompoc Unified School District officials reported her prolonged absence.
Officials say deputies responded to Melodee’s home on Mars Avenue in Vandenberg Village but she was not there, and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, gave no verifiable explanation for her whereabouts. Ashlee Buzzard has since been uncooperative with the investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.
Detectives are reportedly focusing their investigation on the period between October 7 and October 10.
They say Ashlee rented a car with Melodee on October 7, then drove to Nebraska and Kansas before returning home on October 10 without Melodee.
Authorities say that in the surveillance photos of Melodee taken on October 7, she appears to be wearing a wig that is darker and straighter than her natural hair. She is wearing colorful leggings and a gray hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over her head.
Detectives say that Ashlee is also known to wear wigs.
Melodee is described as 4’6” tall and 60 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts is urged to call the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Detectives line at (805) 681-4150. Anonymous tips can be made by calling (805) 681-4171 or on the sheriff's website.
Also on Friday, a representative from the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office said they are consulting with the sheriff's office on this case, but since it is an active investigation, they cannot comment further.
