CA CA - Melodee Buzzard, 9, Vandenberg Village, 14 Oct 2025

[Lusitana]

The CCTV pictures look like Melodee to me, the pictures that were released of her seem to be pretty old. She's 9 now and she looks about 4 or 5 on those pictures.

 

[Lucy6226]

The CCTV pictures look like Melodee to me, the pictures that were released of her seem to be pretty old. She's 9 now and she looks about 4 or 5 on those pictures.

Exactly this. Kids thin out as they get taller. They used to call it 'puppy fat'. MOO

 

[Hexe]

Exactly this. Kids thin out as they get taller. They used to call it 'puppy fat'. MOO

It's not about the fat or lack of it, at least for me. It's about the facial features.

Also Melodee 's hair are long and dark so long, dark wig won't change her appearance much, it just has no sense as a disguise. Her mother though has distinctly brown hair, different than Melodee's. She would need a wig to cosplay her daughter.

 

[Knox]

It's not about the fat or lack of it, at least for me. It's about the facial features.

Also Melodee 's hair are long and dark so long, dark wig won't change her appearance much, it just has no sense as a disguise. Her mother though has distinctly brown hair, different than Melodee's. She would need a wig to cosplay her daughter.

Camera angle, wearing the hoodie, wig … I trust LE when they say it’s Melodee. They have seen the whole video while she was in the rental agency. We haven’t, there’s zero reason to doubt that’s her JMO.

 

[bootsinmass]

I didn't add on my original comment but I also had questions about the difference in appearance between the professional photo and the CCTV.

I agree the first photo of her looks a little younger than 9, which makes sense because it appears to be a school photo (IOW, taken when she was attending school). I would probably guess older than 4 or 5 but there is tons of room for differences in development and I'm not an expert!


The CCTV still - in particular the nose seems to be a match to Melodee. I agree with Knox, no reason to doubt it from what I can tell. But knowing it is Melodee, what else can we learn?

What I will note is that in the school (?) photo, she looks healthy and appears to have an appropriate amount of body fat.

she does look thinner than I'd expect from her public photo. Maybe paler but I wouldn't trust the coloration of CCTV footage to be accurate. She actually does look a little tall/old for 9 IMO but I've known some kids to grow very quickly around that time .

 

[Lebowski]

So now that we know Melodee was seen with Ashlee on 10/7 - we also know through the school district that Ashlee likely started receiving calls and emails, then letters as early as September. The home visit from the district truancy officer beginning of October. Then we have the well check vist to the home by SB County Sheriff’s Department last week.

I’m guessing Ashlee knew what was coming. Hence the car rental and road trip to Nebraska somewhere around October 7th.

She isn’t cooperating, but she hasn’t tried to flee either. A neighbor is posting updates proving she’s still at the home.

After all the new info we learned today, I think she has hidden her out of state, for a reason related to her current mental health status, JMO.

bbm

i keep thinking about this theory. it does seem like a big coincidence in timing that ashlee takes melodee on this road trip and melodee disappears only about a week before authorities start ringing the alarm bells and searching for melodee.

if it's not just dumb luck, then how might the two be linked? don't think the road trip triggered the LE investigation -- authorities didn't know about it until after they started investigating. (right?) and the LE investigation couldn't have triggered the road trip, because it happened after. that leaves the possibility that the LE investigation and the road trip were both triggered by some third thing -- probably the truant officer visit or communications from the school.

if you take your kid out of state because the school or truant officer make you feel like authorities are going to take your daughter away, it seems like your goal is to hide her from them. not anything else. and this would be consistent with the extraordinary lengths she reportedly went to when there was the possibility of extended family adopting melodee.

though of course, if there are indeed MH issues here, it's hard to be certain of anything.

all JMO

 

[Gigglingtoes]

Since Mom isn’t cooperating… but she hasn’t been listed as being a “suspect” we can’t really talk about her here much right?

 

[Gigglingtoes]

bbm

i keep thinking about this theory. it does seem like a big coincidence in timing that ashlee takes melodee on this road trip and melodee disappears only about a week before authorities start ringing the alarm bells and searching for melodee.

if it's not just dumb luck, then how might the two be linked? don't think the road trip triggered the LE investigation -- authorities didn't know about it until after they started investigating. (right?) and the LE investigation couldn't have triggered the road trip, because it happened after. that leaves the possibility that the LE investigation and the road trip were both triggered by some third thing -- probably the truant officer visit or communications from the school.

if you take your kid out of state because the school or truant officer make you feel like authorities are going to take your daughter away, it seems like your goal is to hide her from them. not anything else. and this would be consistent with the extraordinary lengths she reportedly went to when there was the possibility of extended family adopting melodee.

though of course, if there are indeed MH issues here, it's hard to be certain of anything.

all JMO

I have a feeling she has a big fear of someone else gaining custody.

 

[BlaiseFinlay]

Just want to mention that generally speaking, not cooperating is not going to be considered impeding an investigation. You would need a court order to require her to cooperate.

MOO perhaps they’re thinking that they’re going to get more information with her out of jail than in jail. The priority will be to find the child.

 

[Stunned]

If both mother and daughter were gone would that be less suspicious. If you have custody or are the sole parent of a kid moving isn’t a crime. She didn’t move but her child isn’t living with her. If this is a spiteful custody battle again why didn’t she leave with her child. Can you give your child away legally. Also wouldn’t that be an adoption. If you did that why not tell LE? I’m surprised you don’t get in trouble for not being able to produce a kid that you have custody of. You can leave your kid with relatives even friends. I don’t understand how you can lose a kid, not report them missing or refuse to say where they are and not be held accountable.

Right? Your child nowhere to be found, you won't say where she is, you ignore a court order to bring her forward in 72 hours and you continue to be free as a bird? WTH?

 

[Ontario Mom]

Right? Your child nowhere to be found, you won't say where she is, you ignore a court order to bring her forward in 72 hours and you continue to be free as a bird? WTH?

Wondering if LE have confirmed this?

 

[tlcya]

Wondering if LE have confirmed this?

only source for the 72 hour produce child thing was Daily Mail and they don't divulge how they "know" this so for now I've taken it with a grain of salt since way longer than 72 hours has passed.

 

[Ontario Mom]

only source for the 72 hour produce child thing was Daily Mail and they don't divulge how they "know" this so for now I've taken it with a grain of salt since way longer than 72 hours has passed.

Thanks, I thought maybe I'd missed an article.

 

[Stunned]

Right? Your child nowhere to be found, you won't say where she is, you ignore a court order to bring her forward in 72 hours and you continue to be free as a bird? WTH?

Sorry, I didn't realize the 72 hour court order was from the DM.

 

[Bigditch]

If I'm to be honest these cctv pics look more like Ashlee in kid clothes than like Melodee herself.

Good catch!

 

[Knox]

bbm

i keep thinking about this theory. it does seem like a big coincidence in timing that ashlee takes melodee on this road trip and melodee disappears only about a week before authorities start ringing the alarm bells and searching for melodee.

if it's not just dumb luck, then how might the two be linked? don't think the road trip triggered the LE investigation -- authorities didn't know about it until after they started investigating. (right?) and the LE investigation couldn't have triggered the road trip, because it happened after. that leaves the possibility that the LE investigation and the road trip were both triggered by some third thing -- probably the truant officer visit or communications from the school.

if you take your kid out of state because the school or truant officer make you feel like authorities are going to take your daughter away, it seems like your goal is to hide her from them. not anything else. and this would be consistent with the extraordinary lengths she reportedly went to when there was the possibility of extended family adopting melodee.

though of course, if there are indeed MH issues here, it's hard to be certain of anything.

all JMO

IMO, the road trip happened because the truancy warnings from the school had escalated, ending with a truancy offer visting the home. I’m sure she didn’t answer the door. But there were likely emails/calls/ or a letter which spelled out the next step. Which was to involve CPS/LE/Courts.

IMO, for Ashlee anyone in authority is a threat. Wouldn’t matter who it is. She’s had previous interactions with them all when Melodee was removed from her custody.

She evidently is unable to make a correlation to the fact she herself caused the separations. Seems like a pretty straight line to me?

 

[Knox]

Since Mom isn’t cooperating… but she hasn’t been listed as being a “suspect” we can’t really talk about her here much right?

LE isn’t calling her a suspect, but neither are we. We’re discussing possibilities based on the information they are putting out to the public, IMO.

 

[Bigditch]

It's not about the fat or lack of it, at least for me. It's about the facial features.

Also Melodee 's hair are long and dark so long, dark wig won't change her appearance much, it just has no sense as a disguise. Her mother though has distinctly brown hair, different than Melodee's. She would need a wig to cosplay her daughter.

Unless Melodee's hair is cut short it would be hard to get a wig to fit over that mass of curls.

 

[Megnut]

Perhaps LE has cctv that includes both mother and daughter, and mother was cropped out. Assuming this image is from a car rental company, they surely have video of the mother attempting to rent a car.

I have to believe LE has footage of both of them together.

JMO

 

[Gigglingtoes]

I’m sure they have footage of them both but are keeping it under wraps for their own reasons