Copyright WEAU
VANDENBERG VILLAGE, Calif. (KSBY) – The grandmother of missing 9-year-old girl Melodee Buzzard recently spoke with local media about her granddaughter’s disappearance. The latest photo of Melodee and her mother Ashlee Buzzard is reported to be from a rental car business in Lompoc, California on Oct. 7, right before the two headed out on a multi-state road trip. Melodee’s grandmother Lori Miranda said the image has left her stunned. “I was totally numb and in shock,” she said. “This is just so shocking to me that my granddaughter dressed in a disguise. This is just so overwhelming, it’s just so really scary.” The photo is one of several surveillance images released by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office as detectives work to piece together the family’s route and timeline. “We know that Melodee was still with Ashlee on that return trip as close as the Colorado-Utah border on the Colorado side on Oct. 9, so this does very much shorten our timeline, our search timeline, as well the area of search,” Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raquel Zick said. Zick said an out-of-state license plate was added to the rental car at some point during the trip. “We originally were looking for a Chevy Malibu with California plates,” Zick said. “Now, we’re looking for a Chevy Malibu with California or New York plates, or possibly something else.” Zick said investigators have reached out to law enforcement in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and southern California to help locate Melodee. Miranda said she believes her daughter and granddaughter may have crossed paths with people she and Ashlee Buzzard’s father once knew in those states. “When you start getting past Utah, coming back, that’s when you’re running into his friends,” she said. Lompoc school officials reported Melodee missing in mid-October. Authorities said Ashlee Buzzard has been uncooperative with investigators and has not provided any information on her daughter’s whereabouts. Last week, the FBI executed a search warrant at Ashlee Buzzard’s home as part of their gathering of evidence. Miranda said she believes her daughter knows where Melodee is and is asking for her to speak up. “You need to tell them where the baby is, you need to tell them who’s setting all these things up for you. I know you’re not doing it,” she said.
