Authorities in Santa Barbara County are searching for a 9-year-old girl who hasn’t been seen in weeks — and whose mother, investigators say, refuses to help them find her.
The girl, identified as Melodee, was last confirmed to be with her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, on October 7, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. The case began when an administrator at Melodee’s school reported her “prolonged absence” on October 14, prompting a welfare check at the family’s home in Vandenberg Village, a quiet community about 160 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
When deputies arrived, they found Buzzard — but not Melodee. “No clear explanation was provided for her whereabouts,” the sheriff’s office said. Since then, officials say, Buzzard has refused to cooperate or share any information about her daughter’s location or condition.
“Ms. Buzzard remains uncooperative and has not provided detectives with any information,” the department said Monday.
Investigators believe the two may have traveled as far as Nebraska in a rented white Chevrolet Malibu that has since been returned. They are still piecing together where they went, and when.
What makes the case especially troubling, officials say, is how long it may have been since anyone outside the household last saw Melodee. In a bulletin last week, the sheriff’s office revealed that the girl’s “last verified contact” was about a year ago — and that the most recent photo of her dates back two years.
Melodee’s school said that she was enrolled this August but stopped showing up early in the semester. When school staff couldn’t reach her they alerted law enforcement, triggering the welfare check. “The district followed standard procedure for student absences,” the district said in a statement.
The FBI’s Los Angeles field office is now assisting in the search. Meanwhile, the story has shaken Vandenberg Village, where neighbors and relatives gathered over the weekend to demand answers.
“We’re all looking for answers,” said Corinna Meza, Melodee’s half-sister, in an interview with NBC affiliate KSBY. She described Melodee as quiet and rarely seen, even among family. Their father died when Melodee was a baby, Meza said, and since then, Buzzard had largely kept her daughter out of view. “I just hope she [Buzzard] will come out and tell us where she’s at,” Meza said.
“Detectives are aware of the strong community interest in Melodee’s case,” the agency said. “We ask the public not to attempt to conduct their own searches or investigations, as it could hinder our work.”
As the search stretches into a second week, the case has raised difficult questions about how a child can go unseen for so long — and what it means when the one person who might have answers refuses to speak.
