Search Intensifies for Missing 9-Year-Old in US as Authorities Focus on Mother’s Uncooperative Road Trip

A school official raised alarms after a 9-year-old girl had been absent for several months without explanation.

When authorities arrived at Melodee Buzzard’s residence to conduct a welfare check, they found her mother present, but Melodee herself was missing.

Investigators are now delving into why the girl’s mother took a rental car journey from California to Nebraska and why Melodee appeared to be disguised in a wig, as seen in surveillance images taken earlier this month.

The last confirmed sighting of Melodee was with her mother, Ashlee, around October 7, potentially during their drive to Nebraska, according to investigative reports.

However, law enforcement officials report that Ashlee has been uncooperative in their efforts to locate the missing child.

Melodee’s disappearance has sparked an investigation into the child’s whereabouts as the search approaches its second week.

“We are hopeful that Melodee might be with someone – perhaps an extended family member or friend – who may not be aware of the circumstances of her disappearance,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said.

Timeline narrows window of disappearance

With only years-old photos of Melodee and an allegedly uncooperative mother, officials are working with scant details about the young girl. But detectives have narrowed the “critical timeline” to three days in early October.

Authorities first went looking for Melodee at her home in Lompoc, about an hour’s drive from Santa Barbara, after a school administrator reported her continued absence on October 14, but they did not find the child, and “no verifiable explanation for her whereabouts was provided.”

“The investigation indicates that Melodee was with her mother as recently as October 7, 2025,” the FBI said in a release on Facebook.

On October 7, the first day of investigators’ three-day timeline, the young girl was spotted in surveillance photos wearing what appeared to be a wig to disguise her natural hair, as well as a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled over her head, authorities said. The surveillance photos were taken at a local car rental agency, according to authorities.

During the following days, the FBI believes Ashlee took a road trip with her daughter in a rented white Chevrolet Malibu with the license plate #9MNG101 as far as Nebraska, and the trip back included a stop in Kansas.

On October 10, investigators said Ashlee returned to Lompoc – without her daughter – narrowing down a window of when the young girl could have gone missing.

CNN has attempted to reach out to Ashlee for comment.

“Detectives are now focused on determining where Melodee was during those three days and where she may be now,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said.

Family members held a vigil in Lompoc on Friday near the home where investigators first went to look for Melodee, according to The Lompoc Record.

“If she’s listening, we love you. We’re here for you, and we just want you to be happy,” her grandmother, Lilly Denes, told CNN affiliate KSBY.

“Call me. There are numbers on the TV that you can call, and I will come pick you up.”

Melodee’s father died from a motorcycle crash when she was only six months old, KSBY reported.

The last known photo of Melodee that investigators are using is from 2023, investigators said, with an FBI missing poster describing her as being anywhere from 4’0″ to 4’6″ tall and weighing anywhere from 60 to 100 pounds.

“Our detectives are following every lead in this case. We continue to seek information from the public that could help us find Melodee,” said Brown. “We remain determined to bring her home safely.”

In an interview with NewsNation that aired on Friday, Melodee’s aunt said she had not seen her niece in four years.

“She was just a little 4-year-old girl when we knew her, but that nose definitely reminds me of her dad’s, so yeah, it does look like her,” Lizabeth Meza told NewsNation.