The mother of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard has been released from custody in California, even as questions about her daughter’s disappearance remain unanswered.
Ashlee Buzzard, 36, walked out of the Santa Barbara County Jail this week wearing a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor, just days after she was arrested on a false imprisonment charge unrelated to Melodee’s case. She has pleaded not guilty.
The arrest — and the release — come nearly a month after Melodee vanished following a cross-country road trip with her mother, a trip that took them as far as Nebraska before ending back in California. The child has not been seen since.
According to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office, Ashlee was taken into custody last week after allegedly preventing a man from leaving her home while brandishing a box cutter.
He told KSBY that Ashlee appeared “visibly distressed after sharing information she seemed to regret disclosing,” and that she became agitated when he tried to leave.
Authorities have not connected that case to Melodee’s disappearance, and they’ve stopped short of naming Ashlee a suspect or even a person of interest. But investigators say she has been uncooperative and unable to explain where her daughter is.
Melodee was first reported missing by a school official in Lompoc, California, after she failed to return to class in early October. Detectives later discovered that Ashlee had taken her on a multi-state road trip — a journey that, according to the sheriff’s office, was marked by strange stops and misleading signals.
Security footage captured the mother and daughter together at a car rental business in California on October 7, and two days later near the Colorado–Utah border. In one video, investigators say, Melodee’s appearance seemed altered. She was wearing a wig.
That discovery raised concerns that Ashlee might have been deliberately trying to conceal her daughter’s identity. When officers visited Ashlee’s home after the school’s missing person report, Melodee was gone.
Since then, authorities have called in the FBI to assist with the search. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office has circulated photos of Melodee — described as about 4 feet 6 inches tall, 60 pounds, with curly brown hair and brown eyes — and urged the public to come forward with any information.
The timeline of the mother’s actions has left many locals unsettled. The idea that a mother could emerge from jail wearing a GPS monitor while her child remains missing has become a point of frustration in the small Central Coast community where Melodee lived.
Ashlee’s release does not appear to mean the scrutiny around her will fade. With federal agents now involved, the investigation is widening — across state lines and digital footprints.
