CA MELODEE BUZZARD: Missing from Vandenberg Village, CA - 9 Oct 2025 - Age 9 *Found Deceased*

https://ktla.com/news/california/california-authorities-launch-search-for-girl-who-hasnt-been-seen-in-at-least-1-year/

California authorities launch search for girl who hasn’t been seen in at least 1 year​

Authorities in Santa Barbara County launched a search for a 9-year-old girl who has not been seen in a year, and who has not been seen in a photograph in two.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office began searching for Melodee Buzzard on Tuesday after a school administrator reported she hadn’t been at school in quite some time.

Deputies attempted to contact Melodee and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, at their home in Lompoc, but the elementary school student was not there, and “no clear explanation was provided for her whereabouts.”

Although the missing persons case is only one-day-old, detectives have been unable to confirm a single recent sighting in about a year. The most recent photograph they were able to locate was taken at least two years ago, officials said.

The Sheriff’s Office is urging anyone with information about Melodee, potential sightings or contact in the past year, to come forward.

“Even small details may be critical in helping investigators ensure her safety,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote in a news release.


Media - MELODEE BUZZARD: Missing from Vandenberg Village, CA - 2024 - Age 9

 

[Guess Who]

I thought that was odd, too. I finally got to listen to the recording tonight. I was wondering what that was all about with the keys.

It sounds to me like maybe she wanted something retrieved from her storage locker and bring to her house or from her house to storage? Keys to the storage locker, I can understand but keys to your home is a high level of trust. She did have valid points about him trying to making a name for himself and it sounded like he was running for some office (can't remember what position) and he did not dispute that part.

I wonder what he was doing to make her say that because that was before he went running with his story about the box knife. He evidently did something else online or with the media that she didn't like before this happened.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I think after listening to it a time or two, she may have been referring to him claiming to be things he is not and how if found out, the trouble it could cause him. Otherwise, she knows of something illegal he has done or shady but was being careful to not put the specifics in the recording, more like warning him to remember what he is doing and the impact it could have.

At first I thought she was talking about things he might be saying online about the case but in listening to it again, I didn't think so...

She may have trusted him at first, hence giving him the keys, but would guess that over those five visits, he did or said something that she started to not trust him.

I think the thing to note also is if she gave him keys, it woudn't seem she feels she has anything to hide at her storage locker or her home.

 

[Guess Who]

I think after listening to it a time or two, she may have been referring to him claiming to be things he is not and how if found out, the trouble it could cause him. Otherwise, she knows of something illegal he has done or shady but was being careful to not put the specifics in the recording, more like warning him to remember what he is doing and the impact it could have.

At first I thought she was talking about things he might be saying online about the case but in listening to it again, I didn't think so...

She may have trusted him at first, hence giving him the keys, but would guess that over those five visits, he did or said something that she started to not trust him.

I think the thing to note also is if she gave him keys, it woudn't seem she feels she has anything to hide at her storage locker or her home.

She shouldn't have anything to hide there at that time since they searched both of those before all this.

I would say he was probably helping her move things into storage as it looks like she's moving out.

that is one huge house for just the two of them! That sure can't be cheap, especially in California.

Ashlee Buzzard loading moving boxes into a U-Haul | Banfield

Ashleigh Banfield shows exclusive video of Ashlee Buzzard, the missing of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, loaded moving boxes into a U-Haul on Friday before returning back to her home in Lompoc, Californi...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Guess Who]

So we have her renting cars, lots of wigs, huge house, storage unit, road trips, nice clothes....yeah, she doesn't get THAT much in SSI benefits. She's definitely supplementing somehow and I think that is the purpose of her changing plates. What, exactly - I have no clue other than guessing by her rapid weight loss.

 

[GrandmaBear]

She shouldn't have anything to hide there at that time since they searched both of those before all this.

I would say he was probably helping her move things into storage as it looks like she's moving out.

that is one huge house for just the two of them! That sure can't be cheap, especially in California.

Ashlee Buzzard loading moving boxes into a U-Haul | Banfield

Ashleigh Banfield shows exclusive video of Ashlee Buzzard, the missing of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, loaded moving boxes into a U-Haul on Friday before returning back to her home in Lompoc, Californi...

www.yahoo.com

Maybe. IF he was the one when they took her somewhere and about to search again (that is when it was seen she handed someone her keys wasn't it?), she may not have known if she would be arrested for something in relation to Melodee and just say she worried she'd be charged and in jail forever, she would need someone to have her keys to take care of things, vacate the home maybe, etc.

It would seem she maybe put some trust in him at first as there was no one else or something like that...

Yeah, all try to figure out the finances... I recently heard she was on disability so that means a payment for her and SS for MB for death of dad, so at minimum just over the $2k grand a month with those...You can also get varying waivers if on disability and she may we have received food benefits, etc... Wonder what the house rents for and note she is still residing there...

 

[GrandmaBear]

 

[GrandmaBear]

Reserving comment until I watch all of it. I've seen a fair amount of it but still have more to watch.

 

[GrandmaBear]

In typical Banfield/News Nation fashion, they are leaking bits at a time instead of all at once.

Pics of her in this one and info of her packing up a U-haul allegedly after the charges were dismissed...

 

[Tresir]

https://www.newsnationnow.com/banfield/ashlee-buzzard-left-melodee-couple-tyler-brewer/

(NewsNation) — Tyler S. Brewer, the man who accused Ashlee Buzzard of false imprisonment, tells NewsNation the mother of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard said she left Melodee in Utah with a couple she met at a zoo.
Brewer joined “Banfield” on Monday night, 42 days since Melodee was last seen near the Colorado-Utah border, to discuss what Ashlee, a long-time acquaintance, relayed to him about her daughter.
Brewer clarified he was merely relaying what Ashlee shared with him during his visits to her Lompoc, California, home, since Melodee’s disappearance, and he could not be sure what information, if any, was truthful.
He alleges that upon asking Ashlee whether Melodee had been killed or trafficked, she began fake-crying and did not answer the question.
“I don’t want to believe that she could have hurt Melodee at all, because I think that she does love Melodee in her own way, but the fact that she won’t give me a clear yes or no answer makes me extremely uncomfortable,” Brewer said.
According to Brewer, Ashlee and Melodee’s cross-country trip was “at the instructions of individuals that she barely even knows,” specifically a couple she met at a zoo with a daughter. He says Ashlee informed him they had a daughter of Melodee’s age, and Ashlee wanted the two to play together.
“But she doesn’t know these people’s names, their address, their phone number, their location, nothing. It’s bizarre. It makes no sense,” Brewer told NewsNation.
Brewer alleged Ashlee felt it necessary for Melodee to temporarily reside elsewhere due to an imminent outpatient surgery she is receiving.
“In her mind, it’s something that Melodee needs to be away from her for at least a month or two, an effort for Ashlee to do the surgeries, the medical care, and get back on her feet so she could take care of Melodee,” Brewer said.
He also alleged Ashlee has another daughter that “was taken away from her,” and Melodee has also been “taken from her” previously.

 

[Guess Who]

https://www.newsnationnow.com/banfield/ashlee-buzzard-left-melodee-couple-tyler-brewer/

(NewsNation) — Tyler S. Brewer, the man who accused Ashlee Buzzard of false imprisonment, tells NewsNation the mother of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard said she left Melodee in Utah with a couple she met at a zoo.
Brewer joined “Banfield” on Monday night, 42 days since Melodee was last seen near the Colorado-Utah border, to discuss what Ashlee, a long-time acquaintance, relayed to him about her daughter.
Brewer clarified he was merely relaying what Ashlee shared with him during his visits to her Lompoc, California, home, since Melodee’s disappearance, and he could not be sure what information, if any, was truthful.
He alleges that upon asking Ashlee whether Melodee had been killed or trafficked, she began fake-crying and did not answer the question.
“I don’t want to believe that she could have hurt Melodee at all, because I think that she does love Melodee in her own way, but the fact that she won’t give me a clear yes or no answer makes me extremely uncomfortable,” Brewer said.
According to Brewer, Ashlee and Melodee’s cross-country trip was “at the instructions of individuals that she barely even knows,” specifically a couple she met at a zoo with a daughter. He says Ashlee informed him they had a daughter of Melodee’s age, and Ashlee wanted the two to play together.
“But she doesn’t know these people’s names, their address, their phone number, their location, nothing. It’s bizarre. It makes no sense,” Brewer told NewsNation.
Brewer alleged Ashlee felt it necessary for Melodee to temporarily reside elsewhere due to an imminent outpatient surgery she is receiving.
“In her mind, it’s something that Melodee needs to be away from her for at least a month or two, an effort for Ashlee to do the surgeries, the medical care, and get back on her feet so she could take care of Melodee,” Brewer said.
He also alleged Ashlee has another daughter that “was taken away from her,” and Melodee has also been “taken from her” previously.

If it's outpatient surgery, it's usually not incompacitating.

 

[Tresir]

If it's outpatient surgery, it's usually not incompacitating.

It says surgeries plural later in the article.

"Melodee needs to be away from her for at least a month or two, an effort for Ashlee to do the surgeries, the medical care, and get back on her feet so she could take care of Melodee,” Brewer said."

 

[Kimster]

I have less and less hope that Melodee is still alive. That child should never have been living with her mother.

 

[GrandmaBear]

There's more in the shows than in that written bit. I'm pretty sure he said surgery. Not plural but not positive. He also said the couple kept telling Ashlee a different drop off location as they were paranoid of the govt. and that's why she traveled through so many states, they kept changing the destination or drop of point each time she talked to them. He made the outpatient surgery sound like nothing and as if she would not need much care or Melodee to be away for any amount of time...

I didn't catch the fake crying part but then Banfield is leaking the interview in dribs and drabs--I hate when news does that. And then some of the info in both shows was duplicated, it was irritating.

Who knows if she is telling the truth... This is the kind of made up sounding thing that someone says when they can't tell the truth of where their child is... And in that case, I'd think she killed her which I've been loathe to believe in this one.

Another thing said in the interview was that she used some kind of calling app or some such when asked how she contacted them... I forget exactly what. Not sure I buy that but one thing to keep in mind is that cops know all she told Tyler I'd imagine...

More may come to me. I was tired when watching it. Woke up at 1 fifty something this morning this time (3rd night in a row of broken sleep). Went back to bed at 5 and woke up again at 9.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I have less and less hope that Melodee is still alive. That child should never have been living with her mother.

I was just typing the very same thing as you posted that... I haven't wanted to believe it in this one and really didn't but that story sounds like something you make up when you can't tell them the truth about what happened to your kid...

However, I still hold out some slim hope as she had reasons to fear her child would be taken from her...

 

[Kimster]

I was just typing the very same thing as you posted that... I haven't wanted to believe it in this one and really didn't but that story sounds like something you make up when you can't tell them the truth about what happened to your kid...

However, I still hold out some slim hope as she had reasons to fear her child would be taken from her...

I just hope she didn’t leave Melodee out in the wild. Schizophrenia can cause delusions that we can’t imagine. I’m starting to wonder if that’s AB’s mental illness.

 

[Guess Who]

It says surgeries plural later in the article.

"Melodee needs to be away from her for at least a month or two, an effort for Ashlee to do the surgeries, the medical care, and get back on her feet so she could take care of Melodee,” Brewer said."

It still says "imminent outpatient surgery" and those are generally get sent home immediately after with a day or two of rest. Not incapacitating or they would not be outpatient surgery.

 

[Guess Who]

I just hope she didn’t leave Melodee out in the wild. Schizophrenia can cause delusions that we can’t imagine. I’m starting to wonder if that’s AB’s mental illness.

that's what I fear happened.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I just hope she didn’t leave Melodee out in the wild. Schizophrenia can cause delusions that we can’t imagine. I’m starting to wonder if that’s AB’s mental illness.

I'm not convinced yet she has any serious mental illness but I'm not saying she doesn't either.

What still bothers me to this day is from what we know, she went on that trip before she had any idea anyone was wondering where MB was... I keep thinking she had to have been alerted somehow but they are not telling us and maybe never will how that could be.

We don't see too many cases do we where a parent leaves a child in the wild? I get that with a disease like that they are not in their right mind for lack of better words...

you know we do know she had MB with her even on the return trip for a bit...

 

[Tresir]

There's more in the shows than in that written bit. I'm pretty sure he said surgery. Not plural but not positive. He also said the couple kept telling Ashlee a different drop off location as they were paranoid of the govt. and that's why she traveled through so many states, they kept changing the destination or drop of point each time she talked to them. He made the outpatient surgery sound like nothing and as if she would not need much care or Melodee to be away for any amount of time...

I didn't catch the fake crying part but then Banfield is leaking the interview in dribs and drabs--I hate when news does that. And then some of the info in both shows was duplicated, it was irritating.

Who knows if she is telling the truth... This is the kind of made up sounding thing that someone says when they can't tell the truth of where their child is... And in that case, I'd think she killed her which I've been loathe to believe in this one.

Another thing said in the interview was that she used some kind of calling app or some such when asked how she contacted them... I forget exactly what. Not sure I buy that but one thing to keep in mind is that cops know all she told Tyler I'd imagine...

More may come to me. I was tired when watching it. Woke up at 1 fifty something this morning this time (3rd night in a row of broken sleep). Went back to bed at 5 and woke up again at 9.

As it was Idaho, I am wondering if it is like the FLDS who took the Fischer children. Especially if they were paranoid of the government.

 

[GrandmaBear]

It still says "imminent outpatient surgery" and those are generally get sent home immediately after with a day or two of rest. Not incapacitating or they would not be outpatient surgery.

I have had some this year and have one upcoming--outpatient surgeries. They like to see you with a driver and someone to be with that night of at home, and then usually from there you are pretty much fine. Maybe healing a bit but fine. I even with my last one told them I had no one to stay but could make sure someone checked with me several times that night by phone and would call 911 if I didn't answer. So they prefer someone at home with you for that day but they let me not do that.

Point is too that having a 9 year old with you would be fine, just so someone else is there with you that knows a number to call if anything was wrong.

I keep having the off the wall thought that maybe it was for cosmetic surgery... I guess the wigs led me to that thought...

Heck it could be just getting teeth out or some such too...