A faculty administrator reported a 9-year-old lady missing after she hadn’t been seen in months. When deputies went to Melodee Buzzard’s residence to research, her mother was there – however the younger lady was nowhere to be discovered.
Now, officers are investigating why her mother drove them in a rental automobile from California to Nebraska and why the 9-year-old was apparently sporting a wig in surveillance photographs captured earlier this month.
The final one that was with Melodee was her mother, Ashlee, on October 7, presumably throughout the road trip to Nebraska, investigators have said.
But Ashlee “has been uncooperative with investigators” all through the search for the missing youngster, authorities say.
Melodee’s disappearance has sparked an investigation into the kid’s whereabouts because the search approaches its second week.
“We are hopeful that Melodee might be with someone – perhaps an extended family member or friend – who may not be aware of the circumstances of her disappearance,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.
With solely years-old photographs of Melodee and an allegedly uncooperative mother, officers are working with scant particulars in regards to the younger lady. But detectives have narrowed the “critical timeline” to a few days in early October.
Authorities first went wanting for Melodee at her residence in Lompoc, about an hour’s drive from Santa Barbara, after a college administrator reported her continued absence on October 14, however they didn’t discover the kid, and “no verifiable explanation for her whereabouts was provided.”
“The investigation indicates that Melodee was with her mother as recently as October 7, 2025,” the FBI mentioned in a launch on Facebook.
On October 7, the primary day of investigators’ three-day timeline, the younger lady was noticed in surveillance photographs sporting what gave the impression to be a wig to disguise her pure hair, in addition to a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled over her head, authorities said. The surveillance photographs have been taken at a neighborhood automobile rental company, according to authorities.
During the next days, the FBI believes Ashlee took a road trip with her daughter in a rented white Chevrolet Malibu with the license plate #9MNG101 so far as Nebraska, and the trip again included a cease in Kansas.
On October 10, investigators said Ashlee returned to Lompoc – with out her daughter – narrowing down a window of when the younger lady may have gone missing.
NCS has tried to succeed in out to Ashlee for remark.
“Detectives are now focused on determining where Melodee was during those three days and where she may be now,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said.
Family members held a vigil in Lompoc on Friday close to the house the place investigators first went to look for Melodee, according to The Lompoc Record.
“If she’s listening, we love you. We’re here for you, and we just want you to be happy,” her grandmother, Lilly Denes, advised NCS affiliate KSBY. “Call me. There are numbers on the TV that you can call, and I will come pick you up.”
Melodee’s father died from a bike crash when she was solely six months previous, KSBY reported.
The final recognized picture of Melodee that investigators are utilizing is from 2023, investigators said, with an FBI missing poster describing her as being wherever from 4’0” to 4’6” tall and weighing wherever from 60 to 100 kilos.
“Our detectives are following every lead in this case. We continue to seek information from the public that could help us find Melodee,” said Brown. “We remain determined to bring her home safely.”
In an interview with NewsNation that aired Friday, Melodee’s aunt mentioned she had not seen her niece in 4 years.
“She was just a little 4-year-old girl when we knew her, but that nose definitely reminds me of her dad’s, so yeah, it does look like her,” Lizabeth Meza told NewsNation.