The physique of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard has been positioned, and her mother has been arrested greater than two months after the kid vanished throughout an impromptu mother-daughter highway journey.
Ashlee Buzzard was in custody Tuesday in reference to the younger California woman’s disappearance, regulation enforcement sources advised ABC Information.
Melodee’s physique was present in Utah in early December, authorities confirmed.
Regulation enforced sources confirmed the younger woman’s physique was present in an space the place Melodee had traveled together with her mom in October.
It’s believed that Melodee was killed and that she probably died in October, earlier than her disappearance had made headlines.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Workplace advised the outlet it will be sharing “main developments” within the lacking woman’s case at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, as NBC Information and native shops reported that the kid’s physique was recovered.
Melodee was final seen on digital camera together with her mom on Oct. 9 close to the Colorado-Utah border after the pair took a sudden highway journey from their dwelling in Lompoc, California, and went so far as Nebraska.
However members of the family stated they haven’t seen the woman for over a yr, and described the elder Buzzard as “extraordinarily mentally unstable.”
The mom has been uncooperative with investigators.
Buzzard and her daughter wore wigs as they walked right into a Santa Barbara automobile rental outlet on Oct. 7 to acquire a Chevrolet Malibu.
The following day, nevertheless, their automobile was clocked on the highway with New York plates, and when it was returned on Oct. 10 in California, the unique plates had been returned — and Melodee was not together with her mom.
