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

[nhmemorymaker]

With a candlelight vigil this Friday, Melodee’s family on her father Rubiell’s side seeks to keep attention on the case until Melodee is found.


“I think everybody's looking and they'll find her,” she says. “I just hope in the Lord that they find her soon, because this is a lot of a lot of pain for us.”


She also has requested that from now on her missing granddaughter be referred to as Melodee Buzzard-Meza.



She tells us some time after Rubiell died, Melodee had been placed in Lilly’s custody, but that Ashlee went to college taking Melodee with her, and Lilly hasn’t seen her granddaughter since.

Melodee’s Paternal Grandmother Announces Candlelight Vigil | News Channel 3-12

SANTA MARIA / LOMPOC, Calif. (KEYT) - We are learning more about the extended family of the 9-year-old girl from Vandenberg Village who was reported

keyt.com

I found this article somewhat refreshing....
oh... how i hope this young girl is with us and can be reunited with this family.

I COULD really see Ashlee just hiding all this... JUST so Melodee's grandmother cannot have her.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Why on earth can't LE do something? Sounds like Ashlee did not have legal custody but took Melodee anyway and was the last person M was seen with. And Ashlee is now refusing to cooperate? In what universe is none of this illegal / worthy of arrest

We have no information that says the grandmother had LEGAL custody.. I think it would be the opposite, and why Ashlee could take her away. I guess I want to be reminded of WHEN Melodee was taken away from paternal grandmother.........??? tia

 

[bearfossils]

I think her refusal to cooperate with law enforcement regarding her missing daughter says much more about her values, moods and aspirations than a goofy pair of pants could ever say.

I’ve never been one to judge a woman by her choice of clothing or lack of fashion sense. The ones in the church appropriate clothing also disappear their children at alarming rates.

This case stinks. I hope Melodee is alive and well somewhere safe. I have seen these stories play out too many times to have any measurable hope that she will be located alive, but there is a glimmer.

MOO

Seriously. Can we please stop judging women based on appearance or how they’re dressed? Like you said: there are plenty of conservatively dressed women who commit horrific crimes against their own children. Her leggings are meaningless; her actions speak volumes.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

The info about Ashlee's college attendance is chef’s kiss. Here's the working timeline:

• 1995: Newspaper lists Ashlee Buzzard as 9 years old in Santa Maria → suggests birth year ≈ 1985–1986. (Posted earlier in thread.)
• 2002: Declared emancipation at about 16 years old (fits California’s legal age range for emancipation).
• 2003: Graduated from Santa Maria High School (age ~17). Appears on the school’s Class of 2003 page.
• 2003–2015: Unaccounted period — no clear public records, schooling, or address history found so far.
• 2015: Birth of daughter Melodee (Ashlee about 29).
• Post-2016: Meza passes away; Ashlee reportedly attends college after his death.

Open question:
Where was Ashlee during that decade-plus gap — still in California, in Nebraska, or somewhere else entirely?

I think it was on Linked in.... where we saw a degree granted. After two years of college I think???
Is this true, validated?
Where does it fit in.
She was apparently employed by a school system, but that does not verify or necessarily require a degree.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Seriously. Can we please stop judging women based on appearance or how they’re dressed? Like you said: there are plenty of conservatively dressed women who commit horrific crimes against their own children. Her leggings are meaningless; her actions speak volumes.

I just want to make a comment on my personal sense of "judging"....

I do FEEL very non-judgmental about any such thing. However, we are in the speculative trade here on Websleuths.... and I TOO, wonder sometimes why mothers do post almost all facies, selfies, and the ever standard-- pinched up lips sexy portraits. As common as anything out there these days.
I don't really CARE or JUDGE.... But I often DO wonder who lurks and get ideas from these postings....

There are a number of cases here, that many of us had followed, that have made me wonder, when these women are found dead. For the most part, we don't judge. But I ask MYSELF why. they love these..all the time.
And it isn't only the Daily Mail or whatever that other one is (ha) that make sure they DO post those pictures that signify SOMETHING about the mothers, without having to say a word.

I do bet there are others, like me, who may wonder with the same wonders.
But we don't bring up any elephants in the room, so we dont say.

 

[Jo in Calif]

Latest update from LE, nothing new.
No update of when seen last.

Detectives Continue Search for Missing Child, Melodee Buzzard – Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office

Proud to Protect and Serve Santa Barbara County The men and women of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office are proud to protect the people of this beautiful county. Our dedicated team of professionals uphold our five core values, integrity, caring, courage, fairness and service, in all that...

www.sbsheriff.org

 

[teeby]

At the 14:40 mark here FBI assisting search for missing California child Melodee Buzzard the reporter explains that when LM received a call in 2016 about Melodee about to be taken by CPS, Ashlee's older daughter Destiny was also living in the home with Ashlee and Melodee and that she (LM) thought it was Destiny, that Ashlee was trying to feed the rotten food to.

This case just gets more sad with every update.

Sorry, I have little ears and can't watch the video. Does it say where Destiny is now? How old is she?

 

[Tricia]

We will be discussing the updated timeline put out by the Sheriff on pur Websleuths YouTube Live at 10:30 PM Eastern. CLICK HERE and join us tonight.

 

[Eli9]

Sorry, I have little ears and can't watch the video. Does it say where Destiny is now? How old is she?

No it doesn't elaborate.

 

[Knox]

Interesting, so Melodee’s paternal Grandmother says she has legal custody of her? But Ashlee at some point in the past, took Melodee back when she went to college?

Where did she go to college, locally at Alan Hancock or Cuesta? Doubt it would be Cal Poly in SLO.

A little more detail on how that actually transpired would help it make more sense.

The story has been updated today, makes more sense now.

UPDATED 10/22) She clarifies to us that some time after Rubiell died, Melodee had been placed in Lilly’s custody, but that Ashlee took Melodee from the school she had been attending at the time and left Santa Barbara county. Lilly hasn’t seen her granddaughter since.

“I didn't even know she lived there,” she says. “She's been hiding from us, especially from me, because I'm the grandma and they gave her to us. So she's always been scared that I'm going to go and just grab her and take her and get a lawyer and fight with her. I don't want to fight.”

https://keyt.com/news/2025/10/21/melodeess

paternal-grandmother-announces-candlelight-vigil/

So it seems taking Melodee and leaving the area with her is not a new thing - perhaps when Ashlee feels threatened, MOO.

There’s a possibility the Tulare address I found fits the timeframe Lilly is describing, JMO.

 

[Jo in Calif]

The Search for missing Melodee Buzzard has entered its second week.

A Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson on Wednesday told KSBY there was no new information to release; however, a timeline of events in her case was provided.

Search for Melodee Buzzard enters second week

A Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson on Wednesday told KSBY there was no new information to release.

www.ksby.com

 

[Jo in Calif]

The 'uncooperative' mom of missing California girl Melodee Buzzard has been seen for the first time since police launched an investigation into her daughter's disappearance.

In a bizarre sequence of events, Ashlee Buzzard, 40, was seen repeatedly attempting to rent a car in Santa Maria – a town approximately 20 miles from her modest three-bedroom home in Lompoc, California.

Exclusive Daily Mail photos show how the mom of the 9-year-old was picked up by a friend in a black Lincoln sedan early on Wednesday morning and driven first to a branch of Budget and then an airport Avis location.

"Uncooperative" mom of missing 9-year-old breaks cover to rent car

The disappearance of a missing girl, 9, has taken a bizarre twist as her mother was spotted emerging from her home after refusing to answer the door for CPS or police.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Eli9]

The 'uncooperative' mom of missing California girl Melodee Buzzard has been seen for the first time since police launched an investigation into her daughter's disappearance.

In a bizarre sequence of events, Ashlee Buzzard, 40, was seen repeatedly attempting to rent a car in Santa Maria – a town approximately 20 miles from her modest three-bedroom home in Lompoc, California.

Exclusive Daily Mail photos show how the mom of the 9-year-old was picked up by a friend in a black Lincoln sedan early on Wednesday morning and driven first to a branch of Budget and then an airport Avis location.

"Uncooperative" mom of missing 9-year-old breaks cover to rent car

The disappearance of a missing girl, 9, has taken a bizarre twist as her mother was spotted emerging from her home after refusing to answer the door for CPS or police.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Airport? Um.

 

[Stunned]

I found this article somewhat refreshing....
oh... how i hope this young girl is with us and can be reunited with this family.

I COULD really see Ashlee just hiding all this... JUST so Melodee's grandmother cannot have her.

I think she's alive. I think her Mom is enjoying messing with her mom.

 

[Warwick7]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1981044836229628242

 

[Warwick7]

Interesting post from the Sheriff's office.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1981150533865136465

 

[Warwick7]

The mom was picked up by a friend in a black Lincoln sedan early on Wednesday morning and driven first to a branch of Budget and then an airport Avis location. She was denied a rental at both and eventually returned home.

"Uncooperative" mom of missing 9-year-old breaks cover to rent car

The disappearance of a missing girl, 9, has taken a bizarre twist as her mother was spotted emerging from her home after refusing to answer the door for CPS or police.

www.dailymail.co.uk