Mother of missing 9-year-old charged, unrelated to daughter’s disappearance: Sheriff

The sheriff’s office has been searching for Melodee since mid-October, saying mom Ashlee Buzzard has not cooperated from the beginning, the office said.

​The sheriff’s office has been searching for Melodee since mid-October, saying mom Ashlee Buzzard has not cooperated from the beginning, the office said.   

Ashlee Buzzard, the mom of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, has been charged with one count of felony false imprisonment for an incident that occurred in Lompoc, California, authorities announced.

Buzzard was arrested on Nov. 7, the day after the alleged incident, on a felony charge. The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office said that the charge was unrelated to the search for Melodee.

“Detectives learned of a recent incident where Ashlee prevented a victim from leaving a location, against their will, which constitutes false imprisonment,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

No other details about the charges have been released.

Buzzard is currently in custody at the Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail, where she is being held on $100,000 bail.

She is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday at the Santa Maria Superior Court.

The sheriff’s office has been searching for Melodee since mid-October, saying Ashlee Buzzard has not cooperated from the beginning, the office said.

The mother and daughter left their Lompoc, California, home on Oct. 7 for a several-day road trip, traveling as far as Nebraska in a rented white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu, the sheriff’s office said. Investigators allege Buzzard wore wigs and switched license plates during the road trip to avoid detection.

Melodee was last seen alive on Oct. 9 near the Colorado-Utah border during the drive home, according to authorities.

Buzzard returned to their house on Oct. 10 with the car she and Melodee had rented on Oct. 7 — but Melodee was not with her, the sheriff’s office said.