5 Bombshell Developments in Melodee Buzzard Disappearance

Shocking, shocking new updates [music]. according to authorities in the Melody. Buzzard disappearance as family and law. enforcement desperately search for this. missing 9-year-old California girl. New. allegations of fake [music] wigs, switch. license plates, a crossstate road trip. have all eyes on Melody's mother, Ashley. What these developments [music]. mean and what we can expect next. We are. going to talk to a private investigator. who specializes in [music] these kinds. of cases. Welcome to Sidebar, presented.

by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Now, by the way, we've been all over. this Melody Buzzard story since it. began. We plan to be on it uh as it. continues. We want to find answers. We. want to find her. And the reason that we. can stay on top of a story like this and. really do a deep dive is because we get. this amazing support from our sponsor, Morgan and Morgan. Okay? I'm talking. about America's largest personal injury. law firm. Do you know why, by the way, they're so big? Why they're a firm with.

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You can click the link below or scan the. QR code on screen. Melody Buzzard. That is not only the. name of this adorable 9-year-old girl. out of California, described as 4' 6 in. tall, weighing 60 lb, with curly brown. hair, brown eyes, but it is a name that. has now become synonymous with mystery, with questions, with frustration. Where is she? What happened to her?

Melody has been missing now for almost a. month. She was first reported missing. October 14th. This is when a Lampoke. United School District administrator. reported that they hadn't seen her since. she was registered. There are a lot of. questions that have been circulating. about her mother, Ashley Buzzard, who. reportedly was homeschooling Melody at. their place in Vandenberg Village. The. problem with that is, as ABC previously. reported, there was no record of Ashley. filing an annual private school. affidavit, which is mandatory for. homeschooling. When authorities spoke.

with this mother, she apparently didn't. provide an explanation of where her. daughter was and even reportedly became. quote uncooperative in the. investigation. And while it was. initially reported that there hadn't. been a verified sighting of Melody in a. long time, and she hadn't been. photographed in 2 years, we now have. some updates that we need to talk about. It is now being reported that Ashley. took Melody on a 3-day road trip back in. October from Lampoke to Nebraska. ABC.

reporting that authorities say they. believe Ashley drove through Green River. Utah, Panguitch, Utah, Northwest. Arizona, Prim Nevada, Rancho Cukamonga, California. And that surveillance video. from October 7th allegedly shows this. 9-year-old girl possibly wearing a wig. inside of a rental car business out in. Santa Barbara. In fact, it appears. Ashley was wearing one, too. The. sheriff's office saying both Ashley and.

Melody appear to be wearing wigs with. Melody's appearing darker and straighter. than her natural hair. And according to. ABC, the last confirmed sighting of. Melody is October 9th. This is from. surveillance video putting her with her. mom near the Colorado Utah border. And. it is also believed that there was a. return trip to Kansas as well. By the. way, NewsNation reporting that Melody's. aunt, Elizabeth Mesa, told the outlet. that she didn't know of any connection.

that Ashley or Melody would have to. Nebraska or Kansas. There's not a family. connection. There's not a personal. connection as far as she's aware. But. not only that, it is also being reported. by NBC and ABC that Ashley may have. swapped the license plates on the rented. white 2024 Chevy Malibu. That according. to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's. Office, the spokesperson, Raquel Zik, talking about this rented car for this. road trip. Ashley allegedly removed the. California license plate that read 9 MNG.

101. And on October 8th, the Malibu had. a New York license plate, HCG9677. Now, it's not clear when this happened. exactly or whether other plates were. installed as well, but the allegation. being that has been asserted by. authorities is that this may have been a. way to avoid being spotted. Zix saying. it appears quote the license plate was. switched to avoid detection and that. there's not any other plausible reason.

But according to the sheriff's office, Ashley apparently returns back home to. LMPoke October 10th driving the Chevy, but Melody wasn't with her. And when. Ashley reportedly returned the car back. to the rental business, it had the. original California license plate back. on. The sheriff's office in a press. release stated, "The sheriff's office is. sharing a map of the vehicle stops and. urges anyone in those communities to. check surveillance and report relevant. information. Detectives are seeking. anyone who may have had contact with.

Ashley or Melody at any point from. October 9th to the 10th, 2025, or any. video footage from their route of. travel. So, now we have a new timeline, even though there's no arrests that have. been made, and there's still a lot of. questions of what happened here, but. this is a development. Now, I will tell. you this. NBC is reporting that not only. have authorities searched the Malibu, this car, and apparently a storage. locker belonging to Ashley, but that the. sheriff's office confirmed that Ashley's. house has been searched by deputies and. FBI agents. So, this would mark the.

second time it was searched since the. investigation began. The sheriff's. office stating a search of the residence. confirmed that Melody was not there. Ashley has remained uncooperative and. has not confirmed Melody's location or. welfare. And as we previously reported, when it comes to Melody's family, KSBY. and USA Today report that relatives say. Ashley cut off contact with this little. girl for years. Melody's aunt, again, Miss Mesa reportedly told USA Today, "We. haven't seen her in over four years due.

to the mother not allowing the family to. see her and that she only found out. about Melody's disappearance through. Facebook." She describes Melody as this. sweet girl. Quote, "She has a beautiful. smile. She's very, very loving, very. welcoming. She loved to be around her. family. And by the way, Mesa is Melody's. aunt on her father's side. So, we're. talking about Ruby Mesa, who apparently. died when Melody was just 6 months old. in a motorcycle accident back in 2016. And this is when Ashley allegedly cut. off contact with the family. This is. according to USA Today. By the way, CPS.

has reportedly been in touch with Mesa. and her family about Melody's. disappearance. We don't have further. information about that right now, but. Melody's aunt, Vicky Shade, told the LA. Times, "I am horrified for my little. niece. I can't imagine what she's gone. through. This does not sound good. I. just want to know if she's okay. We need. to find her. And the New York Post. reported that Melody's grandmother. expressed concerns over Ashley's mental. health, even explaining how police were. called to the home at one point in the. past and it was in just filthy.

condition. Quote, "I couldn't believe it. was my daughter. I mean, the house was. in disarray. There were raw eggs and. pans. There was rotten food in the. fridge. I think she was trying to give. my granddaughter. And when Melanie was a. baby, she also apparently had to be. taken in to child protective services. By the way, there was reporting from. outlets like SF Gate that indicates. Ashley may have been going through a. tough time too when all this is going on. that creditors were apparently trying to. collect unpaid debts. This is according. to court records that were reviewed by. the outlet. So, what do we make of all.

this? So, I want to bring in Billy Lane. right now, private criminal defense. investigator, founding member of We Are. the Essentials. It's a group of former. law enforcement and military service. members who use their skills to locate. missing people. Does incredible work. Um, thank you so much for taking the. time. This is a case that's getting more. distressing, more strange. It's hard to. understand what's what happened here. Let's start with the road trip. Your. thoughts on this? I mean, how much does. that complicate things now? Uh it. complicates a lot of things because now.

we're dealing with a vast large area. that law enforcement's got to cover and. consider possible uh camera sightings, locations that the car could have. stopped where she could have got out of. and why did she go there to begin with. Uh reports now has it that Melanie. actually came back with her to a certain. area. Uh and law enforcement still. trying to piece together this puzzle and. it's very hard. There's a lot of uh. there's a lot of deception going on here. by the mother. >> Well, that's the thing, right? It'd be.

different to have a case where someone. disappears in one state, in one. neighborhood, in one house. Now, if. you're going from state to state, and. yes, they can kind of track a little bit. where Melody was at least until October. 9th. There's something that happened in. that day, right? There's something that. happened when Ashley comes back without. Melody. You know, I will tell you this. much. The sheriff's office said, quote, "Investigators are working to fill gaps. in the timeline for that date and are. working with law enforcement agencies in.

Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and. Southern California for assistance in. reaching the members of their. communities." What does that mean? How. does that work? >> Well, at this point, they're just trying. to reach out to everybody to see if. anybody has seen Melanie. And that's the. most important thing at this point. They're trying to find out if there's. any footprints of her, digital. footprints, physical footprints of where. she's been. Uh, and the other fact that. you're dealing with here is mom is. trying to conceal her identity. She's. wearing wigs. She's wearing hoodies. So, this is going to be quite challenging.

Uh, I think that your your your digital. footprint here is going to be one of the. most important things. And there again, did mom take her phone with her? Did she. have another cell phone? There's methods. to be used even if it's not her cell. phone that they can track a cell phone. in those areas and try to identify which. direction those phones are moving in and. not to mention the car itself. I I'll. get to the license plate in the cars in. a second, but the wig, right? So, they. say that not only was she allegedly. wearing a wig, but so was Melody. I.

mean, what what's going on there? It's it's intentional deception for some. reason. The the question is, why is she. being deceptive? What's going on? Uh is. she trying to cause harm to Melanie? Is. she feel like she is being followed? Is. there some type of psychosis going on. here with mom? Uh, there's no telling at. this point until somebody can sit down. with mom and try to get an interview out. of her. We're not going to know. We're.

just going to have to assume the worst. here. And the worst is that Melanie may. no longer be with us. >> But the surveillance footage helps. because now we have a relatively recent, you know, sort of image of what Melody. looks like, right? We we've always seen. this photo of her um you know this. adorable photo of her with the curly. hair that's been circulating. There. weren't a ton of photos. Now we at least. have a sense of what she looked like. I. wonder if that could help people s look. for her, find her, see her in some way. I mean the surveillance footage could be.

key here. >> The key word there is looked at that. moment October 9th or whenever the. surveillance video captured her. Mom. seems to have this this need to continue. to change the disguises and change. everything. So, mom may have seen her. picture on on the news. Mom may have. changed her look totally from there. So, we only have to be able to go back to. that date and use that picture for. anybody that remembers her during that. time frame. But, like I said, today she.

may be wearing a blonde wig, she may be. wearing a red wig, she may be in a. different type of hoodie of some types. is concealment and it's certainly. intentional at this point. >> Talk to me about the alleged switching. of the license plates. I mean, you hear. authorities saying that that is. intentional deception. Why switch it. from California to New York back to. California, right? That's the. allegation. We don't know if there were. other plates. And where would someone. get a spare plate? So Jesse, the. important thing with the license plate.

reader is she is consciously aware that. there are cameras that picks up the. plates as she drives down the roads. So. she took and put another plate on there. to to save law enforcement from. realizing that's her vehicle that she's. driving. They know what vehicle it is. They know what the tag is based on the. information provided by the uh rental. company. She's aware of that, too. So, she somehow obtained another license. plate, not sure how, and put it on the. car. So, that way if law enforcement is.

trying to track her through those. license plate reader cameras, it's going. to pick up a different tag because the. system works on numbers, tag numbers. So, if I put in the tag number, it may. and they can also work on vehicles, too, but it's primarily based on the tag. number. Uh there's a potential to try to. search the vehicles, but that's a that's. a secondary search. So, she. intentionally did this because she did. not want them to track her movement in. that vehicle. >> I am struggling to come up with a benign.

explanation for why somebody would. switch license plates like this. Um, but, you know, you hear law enforcement. say that it was a deliberate effort to, you know, avoid detection. I mentioned. before that they've conducted a search. of the storage locker that was. apparently associated with Ashley and. the Chevy Malibu. What does a search. like that consist of? What do they do? >> I think at this point they're looking. for DNA. Uh I think they're looking for. fingerprints, physical evidence, blood,

anything that would lead them to believe. that Melanie has been harmed and is no. longer possibly with us. Uh that's very. big in law enforcement. If you could. show that there's enough of blood that. Melanie could no longer be here, then. now you have a homicide case. Uh, and. this has happened many times before in. some of the cases that we worked. Law. enforcement's already done arrest for. homicide even though they don't. physically have the missing person yet. >> And why the second search of her home.

with the addition of FBI, by the way, >> it could lead from new clues that they. located. They could be looking for. something different than they did the. first time or primarily they could. dismiss things. It happens all the time. There's times when law enforcement will. serve more than one search warrant. because maybe the scope is different now. or they did miss something and they. realized that and they said, "You know. what? We need to go back and take a. second look at that because I do. remember that, but we really didn't home. in on that." So, those are the the. issues you deal with when you're got a.

case of this magnitude that's constantly. changing by the hour and by the day. >> I want to read you something. So, I. mentioned the FBI as a part of this. The. FBI um today uh put up a post about. Melody Buzzard, a missing person post. I'm going to read it to you. It's on FBI. FBI wanted. The FBI continues to search. for missing and at risk 9-year-old. Melody Buzzard. Last seen via video. surveillance on October 9th, 2025 in the. region between the Colorado Utah border.

Originally living in Lo, California, law. enforcement authorities are seeking any. information about Melody's whereabouts. or condition. A photo of Melody seen. with her mother while traveling is being. released as is a map of the locations on. their suspected route. So, first let me. ask you um now that this is being. provided, do you anticipate more people. are going to be coming forward? >> Absolutely. >> Information. Yeah. >> I pray that people come forward. I pray. that, you know, if you even think you've. seen them, you need to contact the FBI.

and let them know. Uh it's very. important at this point. They're still. trying to put together these pieces. Uh, is this a crime? Um, will there be an. arrest? Will there be an indictment? But. until then, they have to put the pieces. together. The FBI investigate crimes, then they charge where local police. sometimes will arrest and then. investigate the crime. So for the FBI, they want all of their parts together. before they move forward. And the most. important thing at this point, besides.

the criminal charge, is where is Melanie. at? Where where is she at? and what can. they do to try and bring her home as. soon as possible or prevent the worst. case scenario. >> Can you also emphasize how significant. it is that the FBI is part of this. search and and what resources they can. bring to a search like this? >> The FBI sort of supercharges these type. of searches. Uh they have a lot of. resources, a lot of analysts. They have. a lot of people who can put together. data. You have to understand we're. dealing with multiple cell phone towers.

here from her traveling multiple. cameras. There's a vast amount of dis. evidence that you're going through. I. would say discovery, but in this case, it's evidence that you're going through. because you're trying to put together. this jigsaw puzzle. And with them, they. bring in all these extra resources. They. bring in the power of federal subpoenas. and search warrants. Uh they bring in. additional manpower through search. teams. So they are the best of the best. and that's the reason that they're the.

top of the federal law enforcement. agency. >> But reading between the lines what. you're hearing from law enforcement FB. and the FBI, >> it is possible it is possible that they. may be considering Melody is still. alive, right? Right. I mean, if they're. asking for help trying to find her or. information about what happened, because. if they did think if they had enough. evidence to suggest that she was dead, would they make that announcement or is. it possible they believe she might be. with someone else that or she's in.

certain circumstances where she's, you. know, currently alive? I mean, I guess. the question is, and we are praying that. she's alive and well. are praying that. this doesn't lead to a conclusion like. we've seen in so many other cases. Is it. possible reading between the lines from. law enforcement that they believe she. might be in someone else's hands? >> I believe at this point you're going to. have to assume that she is still with us. and pray that she's still with us. You. need to focus on your investigation to. support that theory that she is still.

with us. Um I think at the point where. they get to the point where they believe. she's no longer with us, you're going to. see an indictment. You're going to see. evidence that supports that and you're. going to see maybe some handcuffs come. out that fits mom. >> Why no arrest at this point? And to be. clear, right, she she hasn't been. officially charged. We're looking at. some of the strange circumstances. Um to. be clear, you don't necessarily have to. assist law enforcement. You don't have. to provide them information, but you.

can't lie. You can't obstruct. So unless. she did that, right, if she just is. refusing to cooperate, maybe not. necessarily a crime, but why no arrest. at this point if it seems at this point. she may have been, you know, one of the last people to see. uh Melody until she disappeared. I I I. don't there's so much we don't know, but. obviously there's a lot of eyeballs on. Ashley. I mean, why no arrest at this. point? Like I'd mentioned earlier, federal law.

enforcement investigates and then they. arrest. Uh where local law enforcement. will arrest and then investigate. So. they're putting all the pieces together. It eventually if federal law enforcement. is in charge of the arrest, which they. may or may not be. It may be local law. enforcement, they may go before a grand. jury and get an indictment against her. or they may just get a warrant for her. arrest based on some other charge, not. possibly for harming her, but some other. charge that they can use to leverage uh. her to be cooperative in this. investigation. That's the point. Right.

now, there's no force, nothing to force. her to cooperate in this investigation. She's choosing not to. So, that's. concerning because now there's a lot of. unanswered questions here. Um, at some. point, you know, if the judge go they're. going to obtain a judge, an order from. the judge to bring mom in there to have. her to produce Melanie. I think that. would be a great possibility is to have. some scenario like that and then she. could be held in contempt of court. But. the other part of that coin is if they.

arrest her, they may miss out an. opportunity that mom will lead them to. her. So that too you have to think about. She. is out. She's moving about. I guarantee. you that there's some surveillance. There's some tracking of mom and there's. a great possibility that if she is still. alive, mom may take her or law. enforcement right to her. And that's. what we pray. >> It's interesting. And you know, I when I.

speak to you, the role of a a private. investigator, a criminal investigator, um can be very useful to the family uh. who who are part of this. Why do I say. that? Because News Nation reported uh. that Melody's aunt, who I mentioned. before, Miss Mesa, told Banfield that. she hasn't been provided a lot of. details on what's going on. Quote, "We. spoke to the news girl who's been. following it. She called and just let us. know what was going on. But as far as. detectives, we've called, left messages, and they haven't returned any calls. So, we've been in the dark. Now, if that's.

true, is that unusual, Billy? >> No, it's not. Because at this point, law. enforcement does not know who's involved. and who's not. So, you can't really give. details out because this could be a. family issue and somebody could be. involved that you may be telling the. details of the story to and the case to. So, you have to consider everybody's a. suspect at this point and you have to. keep all your cards close to your chest. when you're doing these types of. investigations and you have to move as. expeditious as possible to try and if.

the other issue is that if you tell a. family member what's the first thing. they're going to do? They're going to go. talk to somebody else and then next. thing you know the rumor mill starts. They will share that information. Before. you know it, it may get back to mom and. this could potentially hurt the case. So, there's lots of reasons that the law. enforcement will not speak with family. members. They won't speak with private. investigators. They won't speak with. search and recovery investigators in. these types of cases. This is a criminal. case. This is a high-profile case. And. at this point, I would assume it's all.

hands on deck. >> I'll tell you this much. Anybody uh with. information is asked to contact. detectives at 805681-4150. But if you want to provide an anonymous. tip, you can provide it online by. calling 805681-4171. Um so you can call or do it online. Um. let me also ask you this. Um Billy, as. we as I mentioned that people calling. in, this is a very high-profile story. There are people who are actively.

following it. people who are emotionally. invested in this. How does law. enforcement sort through credible tips. versus tips that maybe, you know, maybe. useful, maybe go on a wild goose chase, maybe not credible. You know, people. call in for all sorts of reasons, but. how do they sort through it? Because. that feels like a monumental task in a. case like this. It is and that's where. the FBI brings their resources in with. the manpower ability. But when it boils. down to it, it's just good oldfashioned. talking to people, going out and.

following these leads and these tips. And the most important thing is knowing. what the facts of the case are to begin. with. And that may be and is one of the. reasons that law enforcement does not. release these facts because if somebody. wanted to just call in and create a. story and they knew some of the details. of the case, they could potentially take. law enforcement on this this this ghost. hunt which is just going to take them. off the case itself. So boots on the. ground, interviewing people, knowing the. facts of the case, those are the things.

that's going to get you farther down the. road when these people call in, tipsters. call in, and individuals who believe. they've seen her. But there again, that. shouldn't prevent anybody from trying to. call in. If you think you have, please. call in because at this point, we need. everybody's tip. Billy Lane, I hope everybody can check. out We Are the Essentials. Um it's. incredible work that you're doing and uh. you know if anybody should ever be in. need um of your services. I I I hope.

they do go to you um because you again. you're really doing such a service for. so many um and I'm so happy to have your. perspective on a case like this and we. just hope and pray um that Melody will. be safely returned. We'll keep following. it. Billy, thank you so much. >> Thank you, sir. God bless. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us and as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcast. You can follow me on X. or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time.