Authorities say the mother of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard switched license plates during a cross-country road trip, a move investigators believe was intended to sidestep detection. The journey began Oct. 7, when Melodee and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, left their home in Lompoc, California, for what was described as a three-day trip to Nebraska, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office. Surveillance footage captured Melodee—apparently wearing a wig—at a California car rental agency on the day they left. The last confirmed sighting of the child was two days later, on Oct. 9. Surveillance footage showed her near the Colorado-Utah border, with her mother, a sheriff's rep tells ABC News.
By Oct. 10, Buzzard had returned to Lompoc in the 2024 white Chevrolet Malibu, but Melodee was no longer with her. Officials say that during the trip, Ashlee removed the car's California plate 9MNG101, replacing it with New York license plate HCG9677, before reinstalling the original plates when she got home, per CBS News. Authorities, focused on the critical window between the last sighting of Melodee on Oct. 9 and her mother's solo return the next day, have now released a map of her return journey from Utah. Investigators say Buzzard has not cooperated, and law enforcement have conducted searches at the family home, a storage locker, and rental car as part of the ongoing efforts to find the missing girl.
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