Ashlee Buzzard pleads not guilty to murder charge – NBC Los Angeles

Ashlee Buzzard pleaded not guilty to a murder charge Friday in the shooting death of her 9-year-old daughter, whose body was found earlier this month in a remote part of Utah.

The 40-year-old mother of Melodee Buzzard, of Lompoc in Santa Barbara County, was arrested Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder. The 9-year-old girl had been missing since early October, when the two went on a road trip outside California.

The sheriff’s department began investigating the case Oct. 14 after a school administrator reported Melodee had not been seen at school for several days. Detectives said Melodee and her mother left California Oct. 7.

Melodee was last seen on the return trip to California Oct. 9 on security camera video near the Colorado-Utah border, investigators said.

Buzzard was in court Friday morning when her attorney entered the not guilty plea. The next hearing was scheduled for Jan. 7.

Prosecutors announced they would not seek the death penalty against Buzzard, but would be seeking life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Melodee Buzzard’s decomposed body was found in Wayne County, Utah on Dec. 8, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown said during a news conference on Tuesday. When the body was discovered, immediate identification was not possible, but it was clear that the deceased was a female with gunshot wounds to the head, Brown said.

More than week after the body was discovered, the FBI crime lab was able to confirm based on a DNA analysis that the remains indeed were those of Melodee.

“We have recovered a significant amount of evidence that clearly indicates that this heinous crime was committed by Ashlee Buzzard, Melodee’s mother, and the very person upon whom she relied upon and trusted the most in this world, Brown said.

Sheriff Brown said while the murder weapon was not found, investigators seized a single cartridge case that matched cartridge cases found at the Utah crime scene at Ashlee Buzzard’s home.

Investigators believe Ashlee Buzzard, 40, acted alone. Her motive was not immediately clear.

The Buzzards were in a white 2024 Chevrolet Malibu with license plate license plate 9MNG101 when they left California and traveled as far as Nebraska before the return trip, authorities said. Beginning Oct. 8, the Malibu was seen with New York license plate HCG967, the sheriff’s department said. It was not immediately clear when the different plate was installed or whether other plates were used during the trip.

On or around Oct. 9, the Malibu is believed to have traveled through Green River and Panguitch, Utah; northwest Arizona; Primm, Nevada; and Rancho Cucamonga.

Detectives also shared security camera images that they said show Ashlee Buzzard and her daughter at a rental car business in Lompoc at the start of the trip on Oct. 7. They appear to be wearing wigs, the agency said.

Ashlee Buzzard was arrested in November in an unrelated crime, the sheriff’s department said. She was arrested on suspicion of felony false imprisonment, authorities said.