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

[Gigglingtoes]

Wonder why Ashlee doesn't own a car with all this money she's supposedly making from drug trafficking?
IMO.

Can’t get financed

 

[Gigglingtoes]

That wig is sooooo unnatural and cheap looking IMHO. Where is Melodee???

Good wigs are actually expensive. Hundreds

 

[Eli9]

That wig is sooooo unnatural and cheap looking IMHO. Where is Melodee???

It does her zero favors.

 

[TMich6811]

Wonder why Ashlee doesn't own a car with all this money she's supposedly making from drug trafficking?
IMO.

Not sure people doing the leg work always get amazing income

But also a purchase would need reported if she’s receiving any assistance and would
Prompt questioning

Also she wouldn’t want to use a personal vehicle to move stuff (I dunno if I think she’s trafficking.. drugs anyway) so would need to keep renting anyway

 

[Lebowski]

Wonder why Ashlee doesn't own a car with all this money she's supposedly making from drug trafficking?
IMO.

i wasn't being totally serious with my "drug mule or foreign spy". just remarking on how much she's acting like a covert agent. i think the most likely possibilities here involve hiding melodee with a trusted caregiver, and melodee no longer being alive and no one else being involved.

 

[Jo in Calif]

i wasn't being totally serious with my "drug mule or foreign spy". just remarking on how much she's acting like a covert agent. i think the most likely possibilities here involve hiding melodee with a trusted caregiver, and melodee no longer being alive and no one else being involved.

I don’t or never have thought that Ashlee was running drugs.
Just made that post because of all the theories that have been made, mostly in MSN.

 

[Gigglingtoes]

i wasn't being totally serious with my "drug mule or foreign spy". just remarking on how much she's acting like a covert agent. i think the most likely possibilities here involve hiding melodee with a trusted caregiver, and melodee no longer being alive and no one else being involved.

I do think she does drive/deliver something she’s not supposed to be/doing something illegal. I think that’s why she changed plates and has been said to rent cars often. Also think she’s paid cash.

 

[Eli9]

I do think she does drive/deliver something she’s not supposed to be/doing something illegal. I think that’s why she changed plates and has been said to rent cars often. Also think she’s paid cash.

Yes and then converts that cash to gift cards. Yep, same.

 

[Gigglingtoes]

I don’t or never have thought that Ashlee was running drugs.
Just made that post because of all the theories that have been made, mostly in MSN.

Why do you think she rents cars and changes plates? I’m just wondering other reasoning

 

[Lebowski]

While I'm as interested as anyone else where Melodee might be, we don't have any evidence to suggest that Ashlee killed her own child.
Sure, on the surface the road trip can be perceived to be suspicious. But now it seems like the whole world is demanding to know where Melodee is, and Ashlee is well within her rights to them to mind their own business. For all we know she may have dropped Melodee off to spend time with an interstate friend.

for me at least, the possibilty of murder is based on statistics. when a child disappears, one of the possibilities is that they're deceased (edited to clarify). and it becomes more likely when the disappearance stretches on for more than a few days and the child is known to be separated from their caregiver. children her age are unlikely to survive on their own. on the premise that she's deceased, children her age rarely commit suicide or die of natural causes. that leaves accident and homicide. and if it were an accident, we would expect the parent to report it and maybe even try to get help. those things didn't happen. concealing whatever happened is more consistent with foul play.

but having said all that, it's not a certainty that melodee is deceased. given some indications, i'd still put decent odds her mom stashed her with a friend to try to avoid losing custody, as a reaction to escalation by the school and/or CPS.

on a tangent, i wouldn't say she's "within her rights" to drop melodee off with someone and tell the world to mind its own business. at a minimum, she has an obligation to make sure melodee gets an education, and she seems to be out of compliance with that. also, she is not allowed to abandon her daughter -- child abandonment is a crime -- and for all law enforcement knows, she's done exactly that. melodee's not in the home. during a welfare check, she gave no clear explanation for where melodee was. she's not cooperating with the search.

 

[Lusitana]

Ashley Banfield

@ 2:30 recording that Ashlee made.

While she does sound somewhat way less "crazy" than I assumed she would sound, the very beginning of that audio when she's fake crying makes me think she's a manipulative woman. Why would this random guy have the keys to her home and storage? In my opinion, she was using him for favors and suspected he was crossing her by probably talking to LE, that's why she cut him off.

 

[tlcya]

While she does sound somewhat way less "crazy" than I assumed she would sound, the very beginning of that audio when she's fake crying makes me think she's a manipulative woman. Why would this random guy have the keys to her home and storage? In my opinion, she was using him for favors and suspected he was crossing her by probably talking to LE, that's why she cut him off.

IMO she didn't sound threatening. She didn't sound psychotic. And that was the first I had heard that he had visited her for five days straight. After not having seen her for years. No wonder she found his motives suspect. I would have too. Haven't' seen him for years and he just happens to pop around every day for five days when LE are up my butt about my missing child. Yeah that seems sus.

And she nailed it IMO when she said he wanted attention. And he got it. Now

Where is Melodee?

 

[tara83]

IMO she didn't sound threatening. She didn't sound psychotic. And that was the first I had heard that he had visited her for five days straight. After not having seen her for years. No wonder she found his motivates suspect. I would have too. Haven't' seen him for years and he just happens to pop around every day for five days when LE are up my butt about my missing child. Yeah that seems sus.

And she nailed it IMO when she said he wanted attention. And he got it. Now

Where is Melodee?

The scary thing to me is despite claims of mental illness she clearly recorded this to protect herself. She knows exactly what she's doing and that makes it even more likely this cold blooded woman will never come clean.

 

[TMich6811]

Based on the info I’ve gathered, since mental health keeps getting thrown around

California is a M'Naghten Rule (right or wrong) follower for their insanity standard and requires:
1. Did not understand the nature and quality of their act or
2. Did not understand that what they were doing was morally or legally wrong

California does not accept arguments based in a volitional impairment (inability to control behavior), rather on understanding

Bipolar has a legal precedent under a few cases when severe psychosis or severe cognitive impairment has been present

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=25.

DIMINISHED CAPACITY AND CALIFORNIA'S NEW INSANITY TEST | Office of Justice Programs

www.ojp.gov

https://www.justia.com/criminal/docs/calcrim/3400/3450/

https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/3d/10/565.html

https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/3d/205/1259.html

 

[Ontario Mom]

The scary thing to me is despite claims of mental illness she clearly recorded this to protect herself. She knows exactly what she's doing and that makes it even more likely this cold blooded woman will never come clean.

Is it Ashlee herself claiming mental illness, or is that her mother & Melodee's paternal family members claiming it in the various media interviews?

 

[Knox]

I don’t or never have thought that Ashlee was running drugs.
Just made that post because of all the theories that have been made, mostly in MSN.

How do you think she funds her lifestyle, just curious?

 

[Beans]

I was expecting her to be less lucid and more eccentric. She was right about his desire for the spotlight and she picked up on that with quickness.

Yes! I wasn't particularly enamoured with the rush from M's side of the family to talk about A's mental health history, specifically the way they talk about it, and I always suspected they might be exaggerating the situation for their own ends or perhaps sharing gossip rather than known fact. The media haven't helped much in that regard either, they're more than happy to paint her as 'crazy' and it's common to read people describing her as 'psychotic'. This recording certainly puts a great big question mark over all that.

Nothing about this story matches with the behaviours or thinking of a crazy, psychotic or particularly disordered person imho. That said, no matter what her reasons are, and even if they are coming from a good and justified place (to her mind), I can't believe there isn't something she could do to put minds at rest, even if she believes she shouldn't have to.

Thanks for that info, I vaguely remember him from another case now that you said that. Maybe it was Orrin and Orson?

I’ll quit referencing his interviews. Did note that he gets a few things wrong at times.

Yes! I had the same vague memory so went off and did some reading. He appeared on that case, randomly came up with a witness who allegedly saw the boys, but was never named and didn't contact LE. The suggestion at the time was that he fabricated the witness, LE weren't impressed by his interventions at all and shortly after that he stepped back from it.

He has a tendency to pitch up during high profile cases and offer his services pro bono, then does lots of media. His promo materials speak of involvement in "many high profile cases" but I can't find any actual results or successes and the only one he seems to have actually been hired on was Amber Dubois. More of a media personality or commentator than a PI to my mind. I haven't been impressed by his completely unevidenced hot takes in this case, they all seem deliberately designed to generate media interest and headlines - for him. Especially the blatantly sensational "she was building an altar" comments.

 

[Knox]

Yes! I wasn't particularly enamoured with the rush from M's side of the family to talk about A's mental health history, specifically the way they talk about it, and I always suspected they might be exaggerating the situation for their own ends or perhaps sharing gossip rather than known fact. The media haven't helped much in that regard either, they're more than happy to paint her as 'crazy' and it's common to read people describing her as 'psychotic'. This recording certainly puts a great big question mark over all that.

Nothing about this story matches with the behaviours or thinking of a crazy, psychotic or particularly disordered person imho. That said, no matter what her reasons are, and even if they are coming from a good and justified place (to her mind), I can't believe there isn't something she could do to put minds at rest, even if she believes she shouldn't have to.



Yes! I had the same vague memory so went off and did some reading. He appeared on that case, randomly came up with a witness who allegedly saw the boys, but was never named and didn't contact LE. The suggestion at the time was that he fabricated the witness, LE weren't impressed by his interventions at all and shortly after that he stepped back from it.

He has a tendency to pitch up during high profile cases and offer his services pro bono, then does lots of media. His promo materials speak of involvement in "many high profile cases" but I can't find any actual results or successes and the only one he seems to have actually been hired on was Amber Dubois. More of a media personality or commentator than a PI to my mind. I haven't been impressed by his completely unevidenced hot takes in this case, they all seem deliberately designed to generate media interest and headlines - for him. Especially the blatantly sensational "she was building an altar" comments.

I did relisten to a few of his interviews, you nailed it in your assessment. I won't give him any further playtime, thanks!

 

[Beans]

How do you think she funds her lifestyle, just curious?

This wasn't directed at me but I have thoughts on it.

• I believe she has left Melodee with someone, and that someone must support her pretty strongly to sit tight while this media circus happens around her.
• It looks like someone may have bonded her out.
• It also appears that she has some sort of funds available for storage, transport, car hire, fuel, whatever else.
• There never has been an explanation for the stream of people who turned up at her door who looked like PIs, process servers or similar - Tyler Brewer excepted.
• It's not unreasonable to assume she's getting advice from somewhere wrt her rights. She seems to be one step ahead of the authorities in terms of what they can and cannot compel her to do.
• That journey across the country must have taken considerable planning and insight from people who know how to travel distances without being tracked at all times.

I can't see a situation in which a drug or other type of criminal enterprise would entertain childminding or risking bringing itself into the spotlight like this - that makes no sense to me. I reckon there's either someone who loves her very much, enough to keep her child, and just so happens to have a) funds and b) legal knowledge.... or, perhaps she's getting support from a political movement.

 

[cujenn81]

The last two pages of post have more have articles, and shorter clips.

Call starts at 6:10

IMO and based on personal experience, Ashlee doesn’t sound like she was experiencing a major episode (manic or depressive—as her mother has implied) at the time of this recording. Her speech isn’t pressured, her thoughts are clear and rational, and she doesn’t sound agitated, threatening, overly emotional or indifferent.