A recently-filed document reveals several electronics were seized during an initial search of Ashlee Buzzard’s home a day after her daughter, Melodee, was reported missing.
A motion filed by the defense on Jan. 7 and obtained by KSBY Community Reporter Crystal Bermudez requests the search warrants served at Buzzard’s Vandenberg Village home on Oct. 15, 2025 be unsealed in an effort to allow the 40-year-old a right to a fair hearing.
The motion states that during the search, authorities seized two cameras with SD cards, an Apple iPad, desktop computer, micro camera with two USB sticks, a Galaxy A7 tablet, another SD card and an AT&T SIM card packaged together. A cell phone on Buzzard at the time was also seized, the documents state, adding it’s believed additional warrants were obtained to search the electronics.
The search was the first of many executed at the home during the investigation into 9-year-old Melodee’s disappearance.
She was reported missing on Oct. 14 after school administrators in Lompoc notified the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office of the girl’s prolonged absence from an independent study program.
Authorities said Buzzard would not provide information as to her daughter’s whereabouts and was uncooperative with the investigation into the girl’s disappearance.
Buzzard was arrested on Dec. 23 and charged with first-degree murder, discharge of a firearm causing death and lying in wait.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown announced Melodee’s body was discovered in a remote area of Wayne County, Utah, on Dec. 6 and that DNA results came back Dec. 22 showing the remains were a familial match to Buzzard.
He says the girl died from multiple gunshot wounds to the head, adding they believe she was killed on Oct. 9 during a multi-day road trip she took with her mother as far east as Nebraska.
Sheriff Brown called the killing “ruthless and heartless,” adding it was “calculated, cold-blooded and criminally sophisticated premeditation.”
A temporary gag order has since been ordered, prohibiting anyone with the sheriff’s office from discussing additional details about the investigation.
WATCH: Full Santa Barbara County Sheriff's press conference on discovery of Melodee Buzzard's body
Buzzard has made two court appearances since her arrest but has shown little to no emotion in front of either judge.
She’s pleaded not guilty and is due back in court Jan. 21 when the judge is expected to hear the defense’s motion requesting the search warrants be unsealed and accessible to them.
In the meantime, Buzzard is being held without bail in the Santa Barbara County Northern Branch Jail in Santa Maria.
