A relative of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard has expressed hope that recently released images might actually be of the young girl. Melodee’s aunt, Lizabeth Meza, shared her thoughts following the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office’s release of photos on Friday. The images depict a girl, believed to be Melodee, wearing a wig at a car rental facility in California, just before she reportedly left the state with her mother.

Appearing on “Banfield” Friday night, Meza explained that she hasn’t seen Melodee for more than four years. “The little girl we remember was only four, but the nose in those pictures really resembles her father’s, so yes, I think it could be her,” Meza commented.

Meza elaborated that Melodee has been mostly distanced from her extended family since her father’s tragic passing in a motorcycle accident when Melodee was just an infant.

“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,” Meza said.

Meza added that Melodee was largely cut off from her extended family following the death of her father in a motorcycle accident when she was a baby.

Per investigators, Melodee and her mother, Ashlee Buzzard, rented a car Oct. 7, and the vehicle went as far east as Nebraska. By Oct. 10, Ashlee had returned to the family home without Melodee.

Melodee was reported missing days later, Oct. 14, and her mother has purportedly not cooperated with the investigation and has not provided an explanation or a satisfactory answer for her daughter’s whereabouts or condition.

Meza told that Child Protective Services had little contact with her. They asked about Melodee’s whereabouts, and Meza told them she was under the impression Melodee had been adopted out.

Despite her lack of cooperation and inability to provide a satisfactory answer to where her daughter is, Ashlee Buzzard has not been arrested or taken into custody.

The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone who has seen Melodee Buzzard, or has had contact with her mother since Oct. 7, is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Division at 805-681-4150. Anonymous tips can be provided online or by calling 805-681-4171.

affiliate KTLA’s Travis Schlepp contributed to this report.