Photos of missing girl Melodee Buzzard ‘look like her,’ aunt says
An aunt of missing 9-year-old girl Melodee Buzzard tells NewsNation that she believes the latest pictures believed to be Melodee could be her.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office released new pictures Friday showing what is believed to be Melodee Buzzard wearing a wig at a car rental business in California before leaving the state with her mother.
Melodee’s aunt, Lizabeth Meza, joined “Banfield” on Friday night and said she had not seen Melodee for over four years.
“She was just a little 4-year-old girl when we knew her, but that nose definitely reminds me of her dad’s so yeah, it does look like her,” Meza said.
Meza added that Melodee was largely cut off from her extended family following the death of her father in a motorcycle accident when she was a baby.
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Per investigators, Melodee and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, rented a car Oct. 7, and the vehicle went as far east as Nebraska. By Oct. 10, Ashlee had returned to the family home without Melodee.
Melodee was reported missing days later, Oct. 14, and her mother has purportedly not cooperated with the investigation and has not provided an explanation or a satisfactory answer for her daughter’s whereabouts or condition.
Meza told NewsNation that Child Protective Services had little contact with her. They asked about Melodee’s whereabouts, and Meza told them she was under the impression Melodee had been adopted out.
Despite her lack of cooperation and inability to provide a satisfactory answer to where her daughter is, Ashlee Buzzard has not been arrested or taken into custody.
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone who has seen Melodee Buzzard, or has had contact with her mother since Oct. 7, is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division at 805-681-4150. Anonymous tips can be provided online or by calling 805-681-4171.