Sunday marked two months since 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard was last seen, and while investigators say the case remains active, limited public updates have left family and neighbors searching for answers.
Shavannah Thomas, who lives in the Vandenberg Village neighborhood, said the disappearance has been difficult to process.
“I walked through this neighborhood a lot of times knowing that a little girl been missing that I’ve been saying hi or waving at or invited her to play with my son is missing, it’s kind of terrifying,” Thomas said.
Thomas said she has continued paying attention to activity around the home connected to the case. She says she believes she has seen what appears to be family members of Ashlee Buzzard, the mother of the missing child, visiting the home in recent weeks.
Thomas said she has tried to balance being supportive while grappling with unanswered questions.
“I’ve tried to be a good neighbor, you know, to see, do she really need help too?” Thomas said. “But at the same time, I was speaking to her (Ashlee Buzzard) like, ‘Hey, where’s Melodee at?’' She did cover her face.”
To better understand what the two-month milestone means in a missing child case, KSBY spoke with Tom Parker, a former FBI assistant special agent in charge of the Los Angeles division. Parker said the passage of time is a major concern for investigators.
“The longer it goes on, the more the possibility of something seriously having been done to or happened to the daughter, that possibility increases quite significantly,” Parker said.
Parker also noted the lack of public updates does not mean investigators are no longer working the case, noting that major portions of investigations often take place outside of public view.
“Law enforcement is undoubtedly putting their entire effort into finding out what happened here,” Parker said.
He added that while community frustration is understandable, patience is critical in cases like this.
“We have to give law enforcement the room, without too much speculating, and give them certainly the time and the leeway to do what they do best,” Parker said.
Parker also said investigations often involve running down every possible lead, even those that may initially seem unlikely.
“They will run out every single one of those possibilities, if nothing else, to eliminate those as possibilities,” he said.
According to Parker, the circumstances surrounding this case suggest it has been treated as a criminal investigation early on.
“I can guarantee you that this has been a criminal investigation almost since the beginning due to the absolute strangeness of the activities of the mother,” Parker said.
Parker also addressed why reward money is not always offered early in investigations.
“It’s not unusual that a reward is not offered in the very beginning,” he said, adding that rewards are often used when investigators have narrowed down where information may exist.
He emphasized that members of the public may still hold information without realizing its importance.
“There is someone out there who has valuable information,” Parker said. “They may not know what information they have, but they have seen something unusual.”
According to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick, there are no new updates in the case at this time. She confirmed the investigation remains active and ongoing and also said there is no reward being offered right now.
Another agency spokesperson, Janalee Luke with the Emery County Sheriff’s Office in Utah, told KSBY their agency has never been involved in the investigation and has not been contacted by the agency leading the case. Luke said they are, however, aware of the surveillance video showing Ashlee and Melodee last seen together on Oct. 9 near the Colorado-Utah border.
Anyone with information about Melodee Buzzard’s whereabouts is urged to contact the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
