What Happened to Melodee Buzzard?! #truecrime #crimejunkie

What is discussed, and when

1. 0:00 – 2:55: Ashley Buzzard, surveillance footage, welfare check, Chevrolet Malibu

Notable quotes from "What Happened to Melodee Buzzard?! #truecrime #crimejunkie"

• May have been used to alter her appearance. Melody's mom, 35-year-old Ashley Buzzard, rented a white Chevrolet Malibu and started driving from Lampoke toward Nebraska. 3 days…

  about Ashley Buzzard · at 0:54

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

• Ashley Buzzard — Person · 3 mentions · first at 0:58

Companies & orgs

• Lampoke Unified School District — Company · 1 mention · first at 0:33
  When someone finally noticed this, they sounded the alarm. That was October 14th, 2025 when the Lampoke Unified School District officially reported her for prolonged absence…
• CPS — Company · 1 mention
• FBI — Company · 1 mention
• KSBY — Company · 1 mention
• Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division — Company · 1 mention

Products & tech

• Chevrolet Malibu — Product · 1 mention · first at 0:58
  May have been used to alter her appearance. Melody's mom, 35-year-old Ashley Buzzard, rented a white Chevrolet Malibu and started driving from Lampoke toward Nebraska. 3 days…

Concepts & topics

• welfare check — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 0:39
  School District officially reported her for prolonged absence and triggered a welfare check. But here's where things get strange, because just a week earlier on October 7th…
• surveillance footage — Concept · 2 mentions · first at 0:43
  Welfare check. But here's where things get strange, because just a week earlier on October 7th, surveillance footage shows who authorities say is Melody at a California car…
• independent study program — Concept · 1 mention · first at 0:22
  Missing child cases. Melody was homeschooled in LMPoke, California as part of an independent study program.
• Missing person case — Concept · 1 mention

Places & events

• Nebraska — Place · 1 mention · first at 1:02
  Ashley Buzzard, rented a white Chevrolet Malibu and started driving from Lampoke toward Nebraska. 3 days later, on October 10th, Ashley returned home, but Melody didn't. It's…
• Lampoke, California — Place · 1 mention

Full transcript with timestamps

0:00 A 9-year-old girl, Melody Buzzard, has vanished, and the timeline of her disappearance just doesn't add up. She's 4 to 4 1/2 ft tall, 60 to 100 lb, brown hair, brown eyes, and the last verified photo of her is from 2023. Now, the FBI is involved in what's quickly becoming one of California's most chilling recent missing child cases. Melody was homeschooled in LMPoke, California as part of an independent study program. But according to administrators, she hadn't checked in with the affiliated independent study school for months. And when someone finally noticed this, they sounded the alarm. That was October 14th, 2025 when the Lampoke Unified School District officially reported her for prolonged absence and triggered a welfare check. But here's where things get strange, because just a week earlier on October 7th, surveillance footage shows who authorities say is Melody at a California car rental business. She's

0:50 wearing a hooded sweatshirt and a large dark wig. Investigators believe the wig may have been used to alter her appearance. Melody's mom, 35-year-old Ashley Buzzard, rented a white Chevrolet Malibu and started driving from Lampoke toward Nebraska. 3 days later, on October 10th, Ashley returned home, but Melody didn't. It's believed that the critical window of her disappearance is super recent. Between October 7th and October 10th, 2025, the rental car no longer in Ashley's possession. Ashley back home with no insights that she's willing to offer around where Melody is.

1:21 When deputies showed up to the family home for a welfare check on October 15th, Melody was nowhere to be found. And when Ashley was asked where her daughter was, she couldn't give a clear explanation for her whereabouts. A search warrant was executed at her home, but no sign of Melody was found. And Ashley has not exactly been cooperative. And because the trip crossed state lines, the FBI has now joined the case. Ashley Buzzard hasn't been charged or arrested. Authorities have classified Melody as an atrisisk missing person, citing her age, unexplained disappearance, and the multi-state journey that ended with her mother returning alone. Investigators note that Ashley is known to regularly wear wigs, which could connect to what police suspect is the disguise Melody was seen wearing in that surveillance footage.

2:03 According to KSBY, CPS and authorities could be seen at Ashley's home on Monday, October 20th, and a neighbor even reported that she'd been served with papers, although we don't know what kind. We were able to speak to Melody's aunt, Elizabeth Mesa, and she shared with us that Melody's family has not seen her since around April of 2021, and that they were shocked and confused when CPS reached out to them about Melody's whereabouts. Elizabeth also shared with us that a detective has let her know Melody's disappearance is not currently being treated as a criminal investigation, but that authorities are looking into different leads. If you've seen Melody or have any information about her or Ashley Buzzard's whereabouts between October 7th and October 10th, contact the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Criminal Investigations Division or the FBI's tip line. And this is important. Do not attempt your own

2:47 search. Investigators say it could interfere with the case. If you know anything, help bring Melody Buzzard

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "What Happened to Melodee Buzzard?! #truecrime #crimejunkie"?

In order: 0:00 Ashley Buzzard, surveillance footage, welfare check, Chevrolet Malibu.

What is mentioned in this Crime Junkie episode?

13 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Ashley Buzzard, welfare check, surveillance footage, independent study program, Lampoke Unified School District, Chevrolet Malibu. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "What Happened to Melodee Buzzard?! #truecrime #crimejunkie"?

The episode runs 3 min; the transcript is about 544 words in 5 timestamped sections.

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