The search for a missing nine-year-old girl has taken a disturbing turn, with her mother accused of leaving the child with complete strangers she met at a zoo and subsequently refusing to cooperate with investigators.
A Mother's Bizarre Allegations
Ashlee Buzzard, the 40-year-old mother of missing Melodee Buzzard, allegedly told an acquaintance that she left her daughter in Utah with a couple she had encountered during a visit to a zoo. The acquaintance, Tyler Brewer, revealed this information to NewsNation, stating that Buzzard claimed she wanted Melodee to play with the couple's child, who was of a similar age.
Brewer expressed his profound unease with the situation, telling the outlet, "I don't want to believe that she could have hurt Melodee at all... but the fact that she won't give me a clear yes or no answer makes me extremely uncomfortable." He reinforced that Buzzard did not know the couple's names, address, phone numbers, or exact location.
The circumstances surrounding the alleged handover grew more convoluted. Brewer claimed the drop-off location kept changing because the unidentified couple was "paranoid of the government and being followed and spied on." He admitted he was relying solely on what Buzzard told him and noted that the entire story sounded "crazy".
A Pattern of Uncooperative Behaviour and Hostage Accusation
The situation escalated when Brewer visited Buzzard at her home in Lompoc to question her about Melodee's whereabouts. During one of these visits, Buzzard was arrested on November 6 on a felony charge of false imprisonment after allegedly holding Brewer hostage with a boxcutter. This charge was, however, dropped two weeks later during a court hearing.
School officials first reported Melodee missing on October 14 after noticing her repeated absences. She had been barely seen since she stopped attending school a year ago. Despite this, Ashlee Buzzard remains uncooperative and has not provided detectives with any information about her daughter's current location or condition.
Lilly Denes, Buzzard's grandmother, provided a troubling context. She told Fox News Digital that she was in the process of adopting Melodee when Buzzard "took her away from us" after being released from a mental hospital in 2021. "That lady is mentally ill bad," Denes stated, adding that she believed Buzzard wanted to cut the girl off "from the entire world."
The Unexplained Cross-Country Journey
Investigators have since uncovered details of an unexplained road trip. The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office revealed that Melodee was with her mother as recently as October 7. Detectives believe the pair travelled more than 1,500 miles from their Lompoc home to Nebraska in a rented white Chevrolet Malibu.
They were spotted making several stops along the way. Intriguingly, the Malibu was seen with a New York license plate that did not belong to the rental vehicle or to Buzzard. The believed route included stops in Green River, Utah; Panguitch, Utah; northwest Arizona; Primm, Nevada; and Rancho Cucamonga, California before Buzzard returned to Santa Barbara alone and gave the car back.
Melodee's aunt, Lizabeth Meza, told the Daily Mail that the system had failed her niece by returning her to an "unstable" mother time and again. She revealed that Buzzard had lost custody of Melodee in the past due to mental health woes and had previously declared bankruptcy with debts totalling $23,000.
The primary goal of the investigation remains to verify the location and welfare of Melodee Buzzard. Officials describe her as four feet to four feet, six inches tall, 60 to 100 pounds, with brown curly hair and brown eyes. The public is urged to come forward with any information.
