Missing 9-Year-Old's Mom 'Uncooperative' in Search for Little Girl: Cops

There has been a frantic search for. missing 9-year-old Melody Buzzard, but. it is now being reported that this girl, who we previously thought hadn't been. seen in a year, was possibly spotted in. August. With her mother apparently not. cooperating with authorities, what is. going on behind the scenes? What can the. public do to help and what can we expect. next? We are going to bring on a private. investigator who is an expert in these. kinds of cases. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. [Music].

Have you heard about this Melody Buzzard. story? It is blowing up on social media. and in the news. It is a really, really. distressing situation happening out in. California. You have this 9-year-old. little girl out of Vandenberg Village. This is in Lo, California. She has been. missing. Authorities initially said that. no one had seen her in a year. However, there's been an update. ABC News is. reporting that California authorities. now say she was last seen in August of. 2025. And this comes as the FBI's Los.

Angeles office just announced Sunday. night that it is now getting involved in. the investigation. And no matter when. she was last seen, the natural question. is why are we only learning about this. now? Right? So this is from the Santa. Barbara County Sheriff's Office press. release. The investigation began on. Tuesday, October 14th, 2025, after a. school administrator reported Melody's. prolonged absence. Deputies attempted to. contact Melody and her mother, Ashley. Buzzard, at their home in the 500 block.

of Mars Avenue, but Melody was not. there, and no clear explanation was. provided for her whereabouts. That's key. because in this press release, they. stress that detectives couldn't confirm. any recent sightings of Melody. And the. most recent photo of her was from two. years ago. So now the natural second. question is what is going on here? Well, here's something to keep in mind. So the. sheriff's PIO, Raquel Zik, told KSBY. that Melody quote last attended a.

homeschooling program approximately one. year ago, but the Lamppoke Unified. School District confirmed that before. that she was enrolled at Buenav Vista. Elementary. However, remember when I. said that it's come out that Melody was. now reportedly seen in August? Well, the. district has come out and said that. Melody was enrolled with the district. that she and Ashley, her mom, visited. Mission Valley Independent School to. begin the registration process. That. this happened back in August. The Lmpoke. Unified School District said in a. statement regarding this independent.

study program, quote, "In our. independent study program, if a student. fails to pick up assignments, the. student is referred back to their school. of residence, which then contacts the. family to complete enrollment. If. attendance does not begin, the school. follows mandatory truency procedures, including phone calls, letters, emails, and home visits. When a student or. family cannot be reached after these. efforts, the school requests a welfare. check from law enforcement. We are doing. everything within our authority to. support this investigation, including.

providing records and coordinating with. the sheriff's office. And here's what. happened. It was a school district staff. member who realized they hadn't seen. Melody, that she hadn't checked in since. apparently registering. Lieutenant Chris. Gotchell of the Sheriff's Office said, quote, "Lpoke Unified School District. deserves credit for recognizing that. something wasn't right, reaching out and. continuing to assist with this. investigation." This important update. helps narrow a significant gap in the.

timeline of when she was last known to. be seen, and because of that, we're. closer to understanding what happened to. Melody. Now, the school district. confirmed that it is working with law. enforcement during the course of this. investigation. It is also offering. counseling and support for students. Now, before we go any further into this. mystery, I'm going to provide you the. contact information if you should know. absolutely anything, anything that may. help finding Melody. Okay? So, the.

sheriff's office can be reached at. 805681-4150. Anonymous tips can be made by calling. 805681-4171. or you can go online at sbsheriff.org. Now, let me talk to you about Melody's. mother, Ashley. We talk about. homeschooling, right? A California. Department of Education spokesperson. reportedly confirmed that there is no. record of Ashley filing an annual. private school affidavit, which is a. requirement for homeschooling. quote,

"Per state law, the CDE does not assess. or physically inspect private or home. schools. Filing an annual affidavit is. the only thing that is required. And. according to KBY, neighbors are very. concerned." You have Janet Holmes who. lives near this 500 block of Mars. Avenue. This is again where authorities. say Melody lives, said, quote, "As a. mother, my mom heart absolutely cannot. take this. I felt really inclined to. step in." And apparently, by the way, she did. She tried to go over to speak.

with Ashley, this little girl's mother, last Thursday morning, but apparently no. one answered the door. KSBY reports that. about a half an hour later, someone. appearing to be Ashley came out of a. car, walked straight to the front door, didn't speak with the media, didn't. speak with KSBY, and shut the door. Then, community reporter Crystal Bermudz. reportedly knocked on the door of the. house. No one answered. Later on that. day, this woman, again believed to be. Ashley, was seen loading things into her.

car and then driving away. When she. comes back, it was reported there was. this large yellow scrape on the back. door of the car as well as a dent on the. door. This woman, again, seemingly. Ashley, didn't say anything to KSBY. outside. And according to KBY, another. neighbor of Ashley, says that child. protective services and law enforcement, they've been at this home for the past. few days. that surveillance footage has. been collected from neighbors. And talk. about neighbors, neighbors tell KBY that.

Ashley kind of kept to herself. Janet. Holmes saying she sees Ashley walking in. the neighborhood but never saw Melody. You have another neighbor who says that. she hasn't seen this little girl in at. least a year. And talking Ashley and. talking Melody's family. KBY and USA. Today reports that relatives say Ashley. cut off their contact with Melody for. years. You have Melody's aunt, Elizabeth. Mez, 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 vanishing through. Facebook. She described 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." By the way, Messa is Melody's. aunt on her father's side. So, we're. talking about the father as Rubiel Mesa, who apparently died when Melody was just. 6 months old in a motorcycle accident. back in 2016. That, by the way, is when. Ashley allegedly cut off contact with.

the family. This is according to USA. Today. And now CPS has reportedly been. in touch with Mesa and her family about. Melody's disappearance, but we don't. really have further information about. that. 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 as for Ashley, ABC. is reporting that while law enforcement. has gone to Ashley's home pursuant to a. search warrant, Ashley's not. cooperating. In fact, Shade told LA.

Times Ashley is mentally unstable. And. my mom tried to get custody or at least. grandparent rights to visit Melody. because she wasn't letting our side of. the family see her. According to the LA. Times, the family is putting up posters. speaking on social media to bring. awareness. One more thing, by the way, about Ashley. According to the LA Times, federal court records reveal that she. filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2017. and has had multiple collection cases. for unpaid debts that were filed against. her in Santa Barbara County Superior. Court. So, what we have here is. currently being investigated as a.

missing person's investigation. This is. according to the sheriff's office. But. what is happening behind the scenes? What can we expect? Now, obviously, this. is a story that we wanted to bring to. you. And the reason that we can do this, the reason we can cover things like this. is not only because of the amazing. support that we get from all of you out. there, but also from our incredible. sponsor, Morgan and Morgan. This is. America's largest injury law firm. This. is a firm with over a thousand. attorneys. You know why they're so big? Because they win all the time. They have. recovered over $25 billion for more than.

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a claim from your phone in just eight. clicks. So, if you're injured, you can. easily start a claim at. forthepeople.comlcsidebar. by clicking the link below or scanning. the QR code on screen. So, for that, let me bring on private. investigator Billy Lane, 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 family members. They. provide a great service. Uh, by the way, Billy is a former police officer and. undercover narcotics police detective.

Thank you so much for taking the time, Billy. What stands out to you about this. story? >> Um, the fact that no one's seen her in a. year. It's very concerning. Um, >> well, apparently now in August, they. might have seen her in August. >> Well, I I I'd like to see if that's. confirmed or not because I'll tell you, a lot of the sightings that we have, a. large majority of those sightings are. not true sightings. I mean, people think. it's them and they want it to be them, but when it comes down to the time to. actually find out if it's them, a lot of. times it's not. And the only way that.

we're able to determine that is by. camera. So unless there's a video or a. witness, sometimes unfortunately these. are these are concerning. >> If it's true that she and her mom were. enrolling her now in August for this. study program, right? And again, the. reason that this made radar is because. you had this school staff employee who. hadn't seen her since registering. That. provides a timeline. And when you hear. law enforcement say now, you know, we're. closer to understanding what happened. What does that tell you? I mean, August.

to now, >> um, that's still concerning. I mean, where has she been? Why have the family. kept her from everybody? Is this a. custody issue? Is this a mental health. issue with the mother? I know there's. concern about that. Um, there's just a. lot of unanswered questions here, and I. think law enforcement is really going to. dig into this to find out. And this is. going to be a full-blown investigation. and it's going to take a lot of time and. a lot of cooperation from the neighbors. and potentially from the family. >> What do you think they're looking for.

when they might be confiscating. surveillance footage from the neighbors. and and what are the the strengths of. that and what are the limitations of. surveillance footage? >> So, it's only as good as the the video. that it captures. Uh some are Ring. doorbell cameras which only capture a. certain small area right in front of the. doors. Um, and then a lot of these video. systems have a very uh small limitation. Some of the more ring systems will keep. for up to 30 days. Others may overwrite. in 5 to 10 days depending on how the.

home system is set up. So, I'm sure they. are going through these systems trying. to locate that video proof of her and. that she is still with us. >> If they searched her house, what do you. think they're looking for? I think. they're looking for any evidence that. would support whether she is still. alive, whether there are things that. would support that she might not be. depending on what they find in there. I'm sure they're looking for u any. digital evidence of her being around,

whether it be pictures, whether she was. on any type of devices, I would say any. type of DNA, DNA, uh fingerprints in the. home, um anything that in the trash that. may lead them to believe that a small. child would be there. Um there's. multiple things. So, you really have to. step back and really look at these. things uh from hindsight. And you don't. know what you're looking for sometimes. until you get in there and see what you. find. And it's a weird way to say that, but as an investigator, you have to go. in there with your eyes open and try to.

see if you can understand the what the. what the home is giving you, what the. circumstances are giving you. What are. you seeing there? What's that search. warrant allowing you to do? I would tell. you if I was an investigator, the first. thing I'd want to seize would be her. phone. her cell phone, I believe, would. be the biggest piece of evidence. possible for an investigator, >> not only because of messages or search. history, but also location data. >> Absolutely. It can tell you everything. Your cell phone can tell you pretty much.

where you go, where you've been, uh. possibly where you plan on going, and. any communication that you've had with. people through text messages, through. phone calls, through social media. There's a lot of things. And social. media is another thing, too. I'm not. sure if this mother was a big person in. social media, but you know, no pictures. of the child, not uh not talking about. the child. That's something that most. mothers with a small child like this. would be happy to talk about how how. great their child's doing in school and. other activities in which they're in. memorialize their life because a lot of.

us now memorialize children's lives on. social media. So, it's just something. that's normal. >> So, she hasn't been charged with a. crime. She hasn't officially been. implicated. She hasn't been arrested. Her behavior based on the report seems. very unusual. Like if she's not. cooperating, if she's not talking to the. media, you would imagine if your. daughter is missing that you would try. to get the message out there that you. would do anything you can in your. experience. Have you ever seen a. situation where family members do remain. quiet, aren't speaking to law.

enforcement, and in the end they have. nothing to do with that person's. disappearance, or do you say something's. not adding up? Um, I don't think it passed the smell. test. There's things here that normal. parents would be doing. Like you said, they'd be out there and if my child had. been missing, my daughter's missing, I. would not rest. Uh, you would see me on. every news outlet, every TV outlet. I. would be at the police department every. day trying to get updates. So there may. be a small chance that there are some.

mental illness issues that's preventing. her from reaching out and talking about. this situation, but I really don't. believe that that's the norm here. And. like you said, what is the norm here? The norm would be parents trying to be. involved, trying to show that there is a. problem here and trying to cooperate. with law enforcement as much as possible. to try to get their child back as. quickly as possible. What are the challenges when you're. dealing with a missing person's case of. a child this young? You know, not an. adult, not a teenager, but a little.

girl. Does it present challenges in. terms of the availability, the. opportunity to transport someone like. this to be able to, you know, I guess. I'm struggling. Is it different? Is it. different if you're dealing with the. disappearance of a child versus someone. else? >> Absolutely. I can tell you from what we. do trying to help families find missing. people when it's a small child that the. the rules totally change because now. you're dealing with a smaller stature uh.

person. Um the possibility of that. person hiding or being in a location uh. is much easier because they're so much. smaller. And if somebody was nefarious, there was a criminal activity here and. something happened to her, it would be. so much easier to be able to take that. person somewhere, you know, one. individual could pick up a small child. easily and transport them somewhere. where in a total adult is going to take. multiple people to be able to move that. person. And that's concerning. You know, that's one of the things that we look at.

too when we start looking at missing. people is the size of the individual, especially if there is a criminal. element here. Is this going to be. something that we need to cons be. concerned about whether they're actually. moving uh the missing person if. something nefarious happened to them? Um. so yeah, and even as an investigator. when you're inside the home that that. that small child leaves a smaller. footprint than a large human does. There's things that kids don't do that. we do every day. You know, we have.

social media maybe, you know, small. children don't have social media. So. that you're missing possibilities of. things that you could utilize to capture. uh the movement of the individual. And. unfortunately, children just don't have. that. They don't have cell phones. typically. >> Um no recent photos of her. How does. that complicate things? >> Very concerning. These all little things. add up. Uh we always look for the first. lie as an investigator. I think it's. very important. As soon as you capture.

somebody telling you that lie, that's. where the red flag comes up. As an. investigator, there's no need for. anybody, especially parents, to lie. during an investigation like this. There. should be no cover up. This should be. totally open about everything that's. going on here and being on the side of. law enforcement because that's their. biggest biggest ally at this point is. law enforcement trying to help them. locate their family. >> How important is family? How important. are neighbors in this uh who know the. family? Um, you know, you talk about the.

challenges of being, you know, they were. cut off access to her, so they might. have limited information about recent. activity, but family, neighbors, how. important are they going to be in this. investigation? >> Absolutely. The most important thing uh. possible because they're going to be the. ones who are going to be able to tell us. if they've seen her, you know, if she. was out in the yard playing, if she got. in the car with mom to go to the grocery. store, any of those areas. and family as. well. But unfortunately in this.

scenario, it seems like family's been. cut off, at least part of the family. has. And I'm not really sure how much. interaction mom's been having with her. side of the family. So there again, unless there's some extreme social. anxiety here that's to the extreme. There should be no reason that the. neighbors didn't see her get in the car. or the family had some type of. communication with her interaction, whether it be over holidays, birthdays, any of those scenarios should have given. the family some interaction with this. young girl. I. >> I also imagine homeschooling it prevents.

its own ch raises its own challenges as. opposed to a child who's in school day. in and day out. I covered another case. like this as well. There's less. eyeballs, there's less attention, there's less follow-up. You don't I mean. how many cases do you cover where there. is a situation of homeschooling and it. does take a while to find out if. someone's missing or something wrong is. happening? >> It's it's hard because the parents in. the people who are inside the home. control the narrative as you can imagine.

uh we have no rights to go into a home. Even private or investigators, law. enforcement investigators have no right. to go into a home. They can do a welfare. check where they may come to the home. and knock on the door and say, "Hey, is. it okay if I see your daughter, you. know, we're concerned that we haven't. talked to her in a while, but there. again, the parents or the mother may. say, "No, I'm she's she's busy. She's. sick. She doesn't feel good today. She. doesn't really feel like talking to. you." And now that's concerning even for. a law enforcement officer. So, those are. the things you have to deal with when.

you are homeschooling. And a lot of. times, unfortunately, parents use. homeschooling. Some of them do to cover. up bad things that happen or abuse. Um I. know there's been a lot of cases in the. media recently where kids who are. homeschooled had signs of abuse and it. was covered up by the parents because. they brought them into the homeschool. scenario. They were in control of their. life. >> I in one aspect I'm I'm thankful at this. point that it's just a missing person's. investigation as opposed to a homicide.

investigation. Unfortunately, I've seen in other cases. that quickly evolve and uh you know. evolve into that. At this point, if it's. just a missing person's case, what does. that tell you? >> It means that they don't have enough to. say that there is more at this point. Remember, Jesse, they all start as. missing persons. And we tell everybody. that through our organization. The. homicide victims that we recovered, they. started as missing persons. um everybody.

that we recovered started as a missing. person. So I would tell you that's the. first phase of this and this may. progress quite quickly depending on the. information they get or the lack of. information they get. That alone can. give you probable cause. It's not what. you find. Sometimes it's what you don't. find that could still give you the. probable cause to start moving forward. I I have to imagine people who look at. this story will look at this photo of. Melody and their heart will break. I.

mean, she's just such a sweet girl, such. a sweet face. Um, if people want to. help, you know, we put up the contact. information. What do you encourage. people to do right now? I mean, obviously, we're amplifying this. We. want people to know how can people be on. the lookout. What What should people be. looking for? Um, what is the role of the. public and the community in this. investigation in finding Melody? >> I would tell the public and even like in. our cases to be the eyes and the ears of.

law enforcement. Um, if you think you. see her, take a photograph. If you. can't, take a video of her. Um, and turn. that into the police. Call the police. and say, especially if you live close to. where she lived, if you think you see. her, but she could be anywhere. If she. is truly alive, she could be anywhere in. the United States or even outside the. United States. So, at this point, it's. important for anybody who think they see. her to take a video or a photograph, turn that into law enforcement, contact. law enforcement, note the location that.

you've seen her at, and let them know. right away, whether it be local law. enforcement or the FBI. The FBI has a. hotline. You can contact them as well. So, there's multiple opportunities here. for anybody to help this investigation. FBI joining this. How does that uh how. does that change things? >> It's very concerning. It shows that this. is reached a different level of. investigation. Uh if this was just a. missing person's case, FBI typically.

doesn't get involved in many miss. person's case. If they are anticipating. this being something more, that's where. you start seeing local reach out to the. federal law enforcement agencies and. start getting them on board early in the. investigation. So that way everything is. done properly. Not that local law. enforcement doesn't, but sometimes. federal law enforcement can bring in. additional resources uh especially. inside the search warrant into the home. going inside trying to locate DNA and. other things. So yes, you'll see a lot. of that, a lot of resources there and I.

think it projects what we may be seeing. soon. >> By the way, I I just have to get your. opinion about this. Sometimes you wonder. how these cases start. They can start. with a 911 phone call. They could start. with a witness seeing something. Thank. goodness for the school, right? They. they realized what happened to this girl. and they hadn't seen her for a long. time. Something was going on. Um, talk. to me about that. You know, how these. missing person's cases begin to have I.

mean, the for the foresight to know that. something is wrong and contact law. enforcement. >> Yeah. See, there's angels in the world. and it sounds like this person from the. school is definitely one of those. individuals. I think what's most. concerning is the mother wasn't the one. reporting the child missing. You know, why wasn't the mother that they're there. jumping up and down saying, "My child's. missing." But this person from the. school, thank God for them that they. realized that something's wrong here and. they threw down the red flag to at least. get additional eyes on this case until.

we can figure out what's going on. So, kudos to them. Absolutely. >> Billy Lane, thank you so much. Really. appreciate it. Again, uh we are the. essentials. I encourage people who are. in these situations to contact your. organization um because you do provide a. great service. Thank you so much, Billy. >> Thank you, Jesse. God bless. >> And that is 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 podcasts. You can follow. me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber.

I'll speak to you next time. [Music].