New surveillance video shows missing Central Coast girl, mother renting car in wigs
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office released surveillance footage of Ashlee Buzzard paying for a rental car with her 9-year-old daughter, Melodee Buzzard, before the child went missing.
The footage, taken on Oct. 7, shows the two wearing wigs as Ashlee Buzzard pays for the rental vehicle, a white Chevrolet Malibu, at a Lompoc rental car company.
Both Ashlee and Melodee Buzzard appear to be wearing wigs in the footage. Investigators believe Ashlee Buzzard changed her wig to a darker style at some point during a 48-hour road trip from Lompoc to Nebraska and back.
Melodee did not return to her Vandenberg Village home with her mother on Oct. 10.
“This change in appearance is believed to have been intentional to avoid recognition during travel,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a Thursday news release.
Ashlee Buzzard has not cooperated with investigators since they began searching for her daughter on Oct. 14, when a school administrator reported Melodee’s prolonged absence from school, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Ashlee “provided no verifiable explanation for Melodee’s whereabouts,” the agency said.
“Ashlee has continued to refuse cooperation and has not confirmed Melodee’s location or welfare,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Ashlee left Lompoc with Melodee on Oct. 7 in a 2024 Chevrolet Malibu with California license plate 9MNG101, the agency said. Detectives believe Ashlee and Melodee traveled as far as Nebraska, driving through Kansas on the way back.
By Oct. 8, the Malibu was observed with New York license plate HCG9677. The plate did not belong to Ashlee nor the vehicle and “is believed to have been used as a false or switched plate to avoid detection,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
The Malibu was returned in Lompoc with its original California plate, the agency said.
Detectives confirmed Melodee was last seen on Oct. 9 on video surveillance footage in the region around the Colorado-Utah border.
Detectives believe the Malibu traveled through Green River and Panguitch, Utah; northwest Arizona; Primm, Nevada; and Rancho Cucamonga on or around Oct. 9.
The Sheriff’s Office urges businesses, gas stations, hotels, rest stops and community members in the areas to review surveillance footage from Oct. 9 and 10.
Detectives ask anyone who may have had contact with Ashlee or Melodee at any point from Oct. 9 through Oct. 10, have video footage from their route of travel or other possible helpful information to call 805-681-4150. To remain anonymous, callers can contact 805-681-4171 or submit a tip at sbsheriff.org/home/anonymous-tip.
