A California woman has been charged with murder after the remains of her missing 9-year-old daughter were found in Utah, authorities said Tuesday.
Ashley Buzzard, 40, was arrested Tuesday after bullet cartridges were found near her daughter’s body linked to a used cartridge case found in her home, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said. Authorities found the body of 9-year-old Melodie Buzzard on Dec. 6 in a rural area of Utah after a man and woman taking photos on State Route 24 reported discovering remains.
Officers were not immediately able to identify her but concluded she died from her head injuries, Brown said. An FBI DNA analysis of the body found a familial DNA match to Buzzard.
Investigators also found similar ammunition in a car that Buzzard had rented, authorities said.
Buzzard is being held without bail at North Branch Jail in Santa Barbara, Brown said.
Online jail records did not list a court date or an attorney who could speak on Buzzard’s behalf. The public defender’s office represented her in another case in November, but did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The school principal reported Melody Buzzard as an extended absence on October 14. Deputies went to the family’s home in Lompoc, but Buzzard did not say where her daughter was.
Buzzard left California with her daughter on Oct. 7, driving a rented white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. They traveled as far as Nebraska with stops in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, and the return route included Kansas. Melody Buzzard was last seen on October 9 on surveillance cameras near the Colorado-Utah line.
Investigators learned that the mother and daughter changed their appearance while traveling. Police said a video from a car rental office in Lompoc shows the child wearing a hoodie and a wig that is darker and straighter than her natural hair. The video shows her mother wearing a long, curly wig.
Police said Buzzard switched wigs throughout the trip and changed the license plate of the rental car to avoid detection. The sheriff’s office said Buzzard returned home on Oct. 10, but her daughter was not with her.
Brown said the crime was “calculated, cold-blooded” and premeditated, although a motive was not determined.
“Today, we stand together in grief, but also with resolve,” Brown said. “Melody deserves a much better life than she had.”
Officials said the weapon was not found, and the case remains under investigation.
Lily Dennis told the Los Angeles Times that her granddaughter was adorable, always smiling and well behaved. Denise’s son, the baby’s father, died when she was 6 months old. An investigator told Dennis by phone Tuesday that authorities “found the baby and the baby girl with her father,” Dennis said.
“I knew he was telling me the baby was dead,” Dennis said.