Melodee Buzzard, the 9-year-old whose disappearance was reported by Santa Barbara County educators in October, has been discovered useless, a relative confirmed to The Instances on Tuesday.
Melodee vanished throughout an uncommon highway journey along with her mom earlier this 12 months, sparking a months-long investigation.
Her disappearance captivated and confounded true crime watchers across the nation as FBI investigators and armchair detectives alike tried to unravel the puzzle of what occurred.
On Tuesday, Melodee’s paternal grandmother confirmed to The Instances that her physique has been discovered by investigators.
“The detective referred to as me this morning to let me know that they discovered the child and the child is along with her dad,” mentioned Melodee’s grandmother Lilly Denes. “I knew he was telling me that the child is useless.”
Melodee’s father, Rubiell “Pinoy” Meza, died in a motorbike accident in 2016.
Native TV information station KSBY captured video of Melodee’s mom Ashlee Buzzard being taken into custody shortly earlier than 7:45 a.m. Tuesday. Through the highway journey earlier this 12 months, Buzzard modified out the license plates on her rental automotive and wore wigs in what detectives described as doable makes an attempt to keep away from detection, in accordance with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Workplace.
The Sheriff’s Workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark, however has deliberate a 2 p.m. information convention to offer updates on the case. Here’s what we all know concerning the occasions that led as much as Tuesday’s tragic discovery.
Ashlee Buzzard’s ‘exhausting knock’ childhood
When Ashlee Buzzard was simply 9 years outdated — the identical age as her daughter Melodee when she went lacking — she and her mom, Lori Miranda, turned homeless after fleeing Buzzard’s abusive father, Miranda advised the Santa Maria Instances in 1995.
The article, titled “Classes From the College of Laborious Knocks,” describes how Miranda and her daughter arrived on the streets of Santa Maria with no job, residence or automotive and solely $40 to help them.
That they had beforehand moved from place to put to get away from Miranda’s husband, who she mentioned struggled with substance use and episodes of violence. In June 1994, Miranda determined to take her daughter from Orange County to the Central Coast to be farther away from him, and so they briefly lived on the Good Samaritan Shelter in Santa Maria earlier than transferring into an house.
“I used to be so scared,” Ashlee advised the paper, describing her early days in Santa Maria. “I knew nobody [here]. I felt very uncomfortable.”
In keeping with Melodee’s paternal relations, Buzzard had a contentious relationship along with her mom.
When Buzzard was within the eleventh grade at Santa Maria Excessive College, she filed a petition to be emancipated from Miranda, in accordance with courtroom data. The choose rejected the petition, noting that Buzzard was nonetheless residing along with her mom and had not submitted enough data pertaining to her earnings and bills.
A start and a sudden dying
Melodee was born Feb. 10, 2016, to Buzzard and Meza. Six months later, Meza died.
In Melodee’s early years, Meza’s household continued to have a relationship with the woman, in accordance with Denes. She was a lovable baby, at all times smiling and well-behaved, Denes mentioned.
Lilly Denes, the paternal grandmother of lacking California woman Melodee Buzzard, in her residence in Orcutt on Nov. 6.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Instances)
In 2021, one other of Denes’ sons took care of Melodee whereas Buzzard was hospitalized for a number of weeks, she mentioned.
Throughout this era, Denes mentioned she was working with social companies to achieve custody of Melodee as she was involved about Buzzard’s potential to take care of the kid. However earlier than Denes had completed the background verify course of, Buzzard was discharged from the hospital, picked up her daughter from college and left Santa Maria, Denes mentioned.
After that, Buzzard relocated to the close by neighborhood of Vandenberg Village and refused to let the woman’s paternal relations see her. She did, nevertheless, sometimes go to Denes to ask for cash through the years, Denes mentioned.
Federal courtroom data present that Buzzard filed for Chapter 7 chapter in 2017. She’s additionally had 5 collections and one small claims lawsuit for alleged unpaid money owed filed in opposition to her in Santa Barbara County Superior Courtroom, the latest of which was filed by Capital One Financial institution in Could.
In August, Buzzard enrolled Melodee in an unbiased research program on the Lompoc Unified College District. Sheriff’s detectives consider that she had beforehand been homeschooling the woman for a number of years, however the California Division of Schooling has no file of her submitting the required paperwork to take action, in accordance with a division spokesperson.
An odd cross-country highway journey
Melodee Buzzard was captured on surveillance digicam apparently carrying a wig at a automotive rental location in Lompoc on Oct. 7.
(Santa Barbara County Sheriff)
On Oct. 7, Buzzard and Melodee left their Vandenberg Village residence and traveled to Nebraska, in accordance with the Sheriff’s Workplace. Through the journey, Buzzard switched out the California license plates (9MNG101) on the automotive with New York plates (HCG9677). When she returned residence Oct. 10, the unique plates had been reaffixed, in accordance with the Sheriff’s Workplace.
Each Melodee and Buzzard had been apparently carrying wigs throughout the journey and the mom reportedly modified wigs all through, in accordance with the Sheriff’s Workplace. The final confirmed sighting of Melodee was on Oct. 9, when she was seen on surveillance video close to the Utah-Colorado border.
The investigation
On Oct. 14, college directors reported Melodee’s extended absence from her unbiased research program to the Sheriff’s Workplace.
Investigators then visited Buzzard’s residence, the place the mom refused to reply questions on her daughter’s whereabouts, in accordance with the Sheriff’s Workplace.
On Oct. 30, the FBI joined the case and assisted the Sheriff’s Workplace in serving search warrants for Buzzard’s residence, the rental automotive and a storage locker.
Detectives then mapped out Buzzard’s highway journey route and targeted on the return route, from the place Melodee was final seen in Utah to Vandenberg Village.
Investigators consider that Buzzard traveled via the next areas on or round Oct. 9: Inexperienced River, Utah; Panguitch, Utah; Northwest Arizona; Primm, Nev.; Rancho Cucamonga.
(Santa Barbara County Sheriff)
Throughout October, relations and anxious neighborhood members usually gathered round Buzzard’s residence, chanting, “The place is Melodee” and leaving posters with messages equivalent to “Convey her residence.” The investigation turned a nationwide sensation, with movies produced by true crime sleuths racking up hundreds of views on TikTok and Instagram.
Buzzard arrested following accusations of false imprisonment
Buzzard was arrested Nov. 7 in an incident unrelated to the investigation into her daughters disappearance, in accordance with the Sheriff’s Workplace.
She was accused of unlawfully violating the non-public liberty of Tyler S. Brewer after disclosing delicate data to him.
Brewer, a paralegal and acquaintance of Buzzard, mentioned in an announcement that he visited Buzzard at her residence to supply help within the seek for the lacking woman, and that the state of affairs shortly escalated.
However at a listening to in November, a Santa Barbara County Superior Courtroom choose dismissed the case after new proof got here to gentle that referred to as his model of occasions into query.
“After the preliminary report back to legislation enforcement and the submitting of the criticism, additional investigation yielded further proof that was contradictory to the knowledge that was initially offered to detectives,” mentioned Amber Frost, a spokesperson for the Santa Barbara district legal professional’s workplace.
“That proof was introduced out on the listening to and inconsistencies had been examined by either side. Finally, it was decided that the proof was not enough to maneuver this case ahead to trial,” Frost mentioned.
Instances employees author Terry Castleman contributed to this report.
