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The agonising months-long search for nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard has ended in tragedy, as the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, acted alone in killing her daughter.
Authorities said Melodee was shot in the head, and her body was found in Utah in early December—nearly two months after she disappeared during what was described as an impromptu mother-and-daughter road trip.
Santa Barbara County Sheriff-Coroner Bill Brown, speaking on Tuesday, December 23, described the case as deeply disturbing.
“Maternal filicide is rare and always difficult to comprehend,” Brown said.
He added that the killing was premeditated, ruthless, calculated, and heartless, noting that Melodee died from gunshot wounds to the head.
According to investigators, Melodee was last seen on surveillance footage with her mother on the Colorado side of the Colorado–Utah border on Thursday, October 9.
“Detectives now believe that Melodee was murdered shortly after that stop,” the sheriff’s office said.
