Mom of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard swapped license plates to ‘avoid detection’, officials believe
Chilling new twist in disappearance of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard
- Nine-year-old Melodee Buzzard is missing after a multi-state road trip with her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, who is now suspected of swapping license plates on their rental car to avoid detection.
- Melodee was last seen on 9 October near the Colorado-Utah border, two days after leaving Lompoc, California, with her mother.
- Investigators believe Ashlee Buzzard replaced the rental car's California plate with a New York plate on or before 8 October, and the California plate was back when she returned the car alone on 10 October.
- Melodee's prolonged absence was reported on 14 October by a school official, and her mother has since refused to cooperate with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office and FBI investigation.
- Authorities have released a map of the mother's return route and are urging anyone with information, particularly from communities along the route, to come forward.