Overview
- Detectives say Melodee Buzzard was with her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, on Oct. 7 and may have traveled in a rented white Chevrolet Malibu with California plate 9MNG101 that is no longer in the mother's possession.
- The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office says the mother remains uncooperative and has provided no verified information about the child's location or condition.
- The FBI's Los Angeles office is assisting the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office in the ongoing missing-person investigation.
- A search warrant at the family's Vandenberg Village home did not yield answers, and authorities are asking the public to submit verified tips rather than conduct independent searches.
- Investigators narrowed the timeline from an initial yearlong gap after Lompoc Unified confirmed an August enrollment visit, noting that the most recent available photo of Melodee is about two years old.