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Mother of missing nine-year-old Melody Buzzard The girl has been taken into custody after her body was found months after she went missing, according to new reports.
Ashley Buzzard, of Lompoc, California, was taken into custody following the results of a complete DNA test. ABC News Reported on Tuesday.
In early December human remains were found in Utah in an area where it was known the teen had traveled with her mother. Results have now confirmed that the remains are those of Melody.
The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s County Office has not yet released further details. A press conference is scheduled to be held on Tuesday at 2 pm PT.
Melody was first reported missing on October 14 when the Lompoc Unified School District reported her long-term absence.
Deputies who went to the family’s home after she was reported missing said they spoke to Ashley Buzzard, but “there is no verifiable explanation for it.” [Melodee’s] “A location was provided,” according to the sheriff’s office, which added that Buzzard did not cooperate with the investigation.
In early November, the Sheriff’s Office announced that they had narrowed their investigation to the time frame between October 9 and October 10, while the pair were on a multi-state road trip to Nebraska that also included several stops in Utah.
They shared a map of the vehicle’s stops on Buzzard’s way back to California, which they believe took him through Green River, Utah; Panguitch, Utah; northwestern Arizona; Primm, Nevada; and Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Surveillance images shared by authorities also show Melody, wearing a wig, with her mother at a Lompoc rental car company on Oct. 7. Melody was last seen two days later, on October 9, near the Colorado-Utah border.
Deputies revealed they believe Buzzard removed the California plate 9MNG101 from the white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu rental car on or before October 8 “to avoid detection” and replaced it with the New York plate HCG9677.
When he returned the car, the California plate was back in place. It is unknown when the plate was installed or whether additional plates were used at other times during the journey.
When her mother returned to her home in California on October 10, Melody was nowhere to be found.
Ashley Buzzard was also arrested on November 7 on false imprisonment charges, unrelated to the investigation into her daughter’s disappearance.
Detectives said in a press release at the time that Buzzard had prevented a victim from leaving a location against their will.