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

[truecrimel]

Longtime WS lurker and I had to make an account to comment on this case because it’s bothering me so badly. I genuinely believe Melodee is alive, or was alive whenever Ashlee left her somewhere. I KNOW how unlikely this is given the circumstances and cases like these, but I have a strong feeling Melodee was given to someone or trafficked. A number of reasons why:

At the car rental place, if she really didn’t want to be recognized or be seen with Melodee, why take Melodee inside with her? To me, that shows a level of care (or control) Ashlee has for Melodee that she wouldn’t leave her at home alone or outside the rental place to wait for her. Negligent parents leave their kids in the car or home alone all the time, but Ashlee made sure Melodee was with her - even while seemingly hoping to avoid being recognized.

Additionally, I find it very coincidental that all of this occurred as truancy officers and child welfare started to ask questions. As we know, Ashlee lost custody of her oldest daughter and temporarily lost custody of Melodee for a time when she was younger. It seems to me all of this sprung about out of fear Melodee would be removed from her custody again.

Ashlee’s occupation on arrest records is unemployed - which certainly could be recent but from what I can tell, nobody’s sure where her money is coming from. She’s likely receiving checks for Melodee since her father passed, but how is she able to afford all of these things? Wigs, cars, bills, food, gas, etc? Part of all of this that is concerning to me is that Ashlee allegedly rented cars often. I’d be curious to know if she made past drives like this with Melodee. Could she be trafficking Melodee over time for the money? Is she visiting people when she rents these cars and is it possible Melodee was left with them?

I have a suspicion Ashlee has a grudge with Melodee’s paternal family. When she removed the signs in her yard, she left some up and I saw a couple reports saying Ashlee only removed signs made by the family. She also cut that family off a long time ago, seemingly without reason. Maybe she feels like they are going to take Melodee from her, like they did her oldest daughter, and she has convinced Melodee that they aren’t safe for whatever reason. Maybe she’s convinced someone else they aren’t safe and they are hiding Melodee.

I know it’s a lot of speculation and the likelihood Melodee is safe decreases everyday, but something about this case is so unusual to me. I’m just hoping that Melodee is safe and the best case scenario plays out. I do not want to see another Lori Vallow situation.

 

[Knox]

How do we know Ashlee doesn't have any photos of Melodee?

Would LE be publishing photos of Melodee at age five if Ashlee had current photos?

 

[Greenestdays]

Would LE be publishing photos of Melodee at age five if Ashlee had current photos?

It’s possible she has recent photos but refused to hand them over?

 

[steff13]

Would LE be publishing photos of Melodee at age five if Ashlee had current photos?

She could have them in just not given them to law enforcement. If she has sold Melodee, or given her away, or whatever it is that she's done with her, it wouldn't really behoove her to share more recent photographs that would make her more identifiable.

 

[mmeynstyn]

Longtime WS lurker and I had to make an account to comment on this case because it’s bothering me so badly. I genuinely believe Melodee is alive, or was alive whenever Ashlee left her somewhere. I KNOW how unlikely this is given the circumstances and cases like these, but I have a strong feeling Melodee was given to someone or trafficked. A number of reasons why:

At the car rental place, if she really didn’t want to be recognized or be seen with Melodee, why take Melodee inside with her? To me, that shows a level of care (or control) Ashlee has for Melodee that she wouldn’t leave her at home alone or outside the rental place to wait for her. Negligent parents leave their kids in the car or home alone all the time, but Ashlee made sure Melodee was with her - even while seemingly hoping to avoid being recognized.

Additionally, I find it very coincidental that all of this occurred as truancy officers and child welfare started to ask questions. As we know, Ashlee lost custody of her oldest daughter and temporarily lost custody of Melodee for a time when she was younger. It seems to me all of this sprung about out of fear Melodee would be removed from her custody again.

Ashlee’s occupation on arrest records is unemployed - which certainly could be recent but from what I can tell, nobody’s sure where her money is coming from. She’s likely receiving checks for Melodee since her father passed, but how is she able to afford all of these things? Wigs, cars, bills, food, gas, etc? Part of all of this that is concerning to me is that Ashlee allegedly rented cars often. I’d be curious to know if she made past drives like this with Melodee. Could she be trafficking Melodee over time for the money? Is she visiting people when she rents these cars and is it possible Melodee was left with them?

I have a suspicion Ashlee has a grudge with Melodee’s paternal family. When she removed the signs in her yard, she left some up and I saw a couple reports saying Ashlee only removed signs made by the family. She also cut that family off a long time ago, seemingly without reason. Maybe she feels like they are going to take Melodee from her, like they did her oldest daughter, and she has convinced Melodee that they aren’t safe for whatever reason. Maybe she’s convinced someone else they aren’t safe and they are hiding Melodee.

I know it’s a lot of speculation and the likelihood Melodee is safe decreases everyday, but something about this case is so unusual to me. I’m just hoping that Melodee is safe and the best case scenario plays out. I do not want to see another Lori Vallow situation.

Welcome to Websleuths! I really hope your instincts are spot-on and Melodee is ok.

 

[Knox]

She could have them in just not giving them to law enforcement. If she has sold Melodee, or given her away, or whatever it is that she's done with her, it wouldn't really behoove her to share more recent photographs that would make her more identifiable.

They obviously had a warrant for her cell phone, given we know they traced her pings to different locations. If there were pictures I have to believe they would have been published.

Same goes for any which would have been found in the home.

 

[steff13]

They obviously had a warrant for her cell phone, given we know they traced her pings to different locations. If there were pictures I have to believe they would have been published.

Same goes for any which would have been found in the home.

This is somebody who put her daughter in wigs and swapped out license plates on her rental car. You don't think she would have deleted any photos that she had and made sure that they were at least difficult to find? She's clearly paranoid for some reason.

 

[borndem]

Crazy thought … what if the child we’ve seen in recent photos isn’t Melodee? She’s been gone for a while now. Would explain why Dad’s family isn’t allowed to see her, homeschooling, and why the child has disappeared. When the truancy thing ramped up, the gig was over.

Feel free to tell me I need to take a break from WS.

Take a nice cleansing breath or two -- you're always so solid and reasonable (if that's possible at times -- for all of us). But sometimes a short break is necessary for a cool drink of water and a bit of cooling breaths.
I have taken a brief break a couple of times, but I always come back...
Just a calm, soothing breath or two helps me -- as it probably does many of us here.
You're always strong and smart about these kinds of situations.
This thing is crazy as a bed bug. Hoping that Melodee (if indeed it is Melodee) is okay...
Take some long breaths to clear the clatter if needed.
Hoping for some good news soon.

 

[borndem]

How do we know Ashlee doesn't have any photos of Melodee?

Hmmmm. Indeed.

 

[borndem]

It’s possible she has recent photos but refused to hand them over?

Indeed.
If so, wondering why? Something to hide?

 

[Knox]

This is somebody who put her daughter in wigs and swapped out license plates on her rental car. You don't think she would have deleted any photos that she had and made sure that they were at least difficult to find? She's clearly paranoid for some reason.

The FBI has the technology to recover deleted data on cell phones. 100% agree on the paranoia.

 

[borndem]

Welcome to Websleuths,
truecrimel !!​

 

[Knox]

Take a nice cleansing breath or two -- you're always so solid and reasonable (if that's possible at times -- for all of us). But sometimes a short break is necessary for a cool drink of water and a bit of cooling breaths.
I have taken a brief break a couple of times, but I always come back...
Just a calm, soothing breath or two helps me -- as it probably does many of us here.
You're always strong and smart about these kinds of situations.
This thing is crazy as a bed bug. Hoping that Melodee (if indeed it is Melodee) is okay...
Take some long breaths to clear the clatter if needed.
Hoping for some good news soon.

You are truly a kind person @borndem, thank you very much.

 

[Bigditch]

Would LE be publishing photos of Melodee at age five if Ashlee had current photos?

Wouldn't the photos have had to come from family members? Why would A give them a picture of her daughter? Jmo

 

[OddOneOut]

Would LE be publishing photos of Melodee at age five if Ashlee had current photos?

JMO: According to early posts on this thread, the photos of Melodee at age 4-5 came from the father's family because they haven't been allowed to see Melodee since then. In the photos from LE, Melodee is age 7 years.

In my opinion, the evidence so far supports my feeling that Ashlee is hiding Melodee with friends because she is afraid of losing custody again to either her mother or Melodee's father's family. The contacts regarding truancy could have started this fear of losing custody again.

She may not have been "renting" cars all the time. It is possible she has an occasional job of picking up and returning cars to the rental agency when previous renters left them somewhere. I knew someone years ago that did that.

As far as the moving boxes are concerned, Ashlee could have decided to move to another state with different (more lenient) home schooling laws. It is even possible that she could have sent Melodee on ahead to stay with friends while she moves their belongings. Her refusal to tell where Melodee is could be to protect the location of their new home from her mother and the father's family.

 

[tara83]

JMO: According to early posts on this thread, the photos of Melodee at age 4-5 came from the father's family because they haven't been allowed to see Melodee since then. In the photos from LE, Melodee is age 7 years.

In my opinion, the evidence so far supports my feeling that Ashlee is hiding Melodee with friends because she is afraid of losing custody again to either her mother or Melodee's father's family. The contacts regarding truancy could have started this fear of losing custody again.

She may not have been "renting" cars all the time. It is possible she has an occasional job of picking up and returning cars to the rental agency when previous renters left them somewhere. I knew someone years ago that did that.

As far as the moving boxes are concerned, Ashlee could have decided to move to another state with different (more lenient) home schooling laws. It is even possible that she could have sent Melodee on ahead to stay with friends while she moves their belongings. Her refusal to tell where Melodee is could be to protect the location of their new home from her mother and the father's family.

I would imagine police would have already checked with Ashlee's friends and would have found her if that was the case. I don't see friends willing to get in trouble with police by hiding a child. I think the likely outcome if that Ashlee killed her and hid the body.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Listened to a retired FBI agent who’s a guest on Brian Entins show tonight.

His opinion is that they likely had enough to arrest her on a charge related to Melodee at this point. But they didn’t do that. Which means they don’t want to give up their game plan or the evidence they have so far.

Instead they arrested her for something completely unrelated to Melodee. That’s pretty much what I thought as well. It’s a generic easy to charge felony that will buy them time to ultimately get whatever it is they are working on, wrapped up.

Guys, if this were a simple case of a wacko mom taking her child to someone she knows, in order to protect her from aliens from mars. Do you think we’d be seeing this kind of activity from LE?

BBM:
Makes sense because there's no way that Ashlee did this without other's involvement.
imo

 

[Izzylizzy]

Looking at the video of AB & MB in the car rental I can't figure out why in hell LE didn't release the video/image of the 2 of them after getting it and it took them so long to release the hoodie image of just MB in the car rental.

A child in a grey hoodie draws no attention but put a woman next to that child with a size XXX blondish wig on her head and you'd remember seeing them.
imo

Ashely Banfield today.

 

[Knox]

Wouldn't the photos have had to come from family members? Why would A give them a picture of her daughter? Jmo

Not sure I understand your question? Family hasn’t seen Melody since 2021. I would think they did supply pictures, because many that we see today, were on their personal pages before this story gained any traction. Can’t say that for certain however.

 

[Knox]

Melodee was last seen on an Oct. 9 surveillance camera recording in Colorado near the Utah border, according to Raquel Zick, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.

“We’ve honed down our investigative focus to October 9 through October 10 from that location at the Colorado-Utah border all the way back to Lompoc,” Zick said.

Investigators are now asking anyone who may have seen Melodee since Oct. 9 — possibly at stops in Green River or Panguitch, Utah; northwest Arizona; Primm, Nev.; or Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. — to contact the sheriff’s office.

“While we’re looking for where Melodee was on the 9th and 10th, what’s most important — and what we’re really looking for — is where Melodee is now,” Zick said.

A family’s nightmare: Inside the investigation into Melodee Buzzard’s disappearance

A month after 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard vanished, her relatives remain desperate for answers. But one person who may know what happened isn’t talking.

www.latimes.com