This article was underwritten in part by the Mickey Flacks Journalism Fund for Social Justice, a proud, innovative supporter of local news. To make a contribution go to sbcan.org/journalism_fund.
[Updated: Wed., Jan. 7, 2026, 1:45pm]
Ashlee Buzzard appeared in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Lompoc on January 7 to set the date for her preliminary hearing. Buzzard is charged with the murder of her daughter, 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard, who went missing on October 7. Following a months-long search, Melodee’s body was recovered in Wayne County, Utah, on December 6 with bullet wounds to the head. Buzzard’s murder charge includes two enhancement charges: use of a firearm during a felony and murder while lying in wait.
Buzzard was arrested on December 23 and arranged on December 26. That day, the S.B. County District Attorney announced he has elected to seek a sentence of life imprisonment without parole rather than the death penalty. Buzzard has pleaded not guilty to her charges and is being held without bail in county jail. On Wednesday, her preliminary hearing was tentatively scheduled for January 21 in Lompoc.
Outside the courthouse Wednesday, Lilly Denes, Melodee’s paternal grandmother, spoke with reporters about her first encounter with Buzzard. “When I met her nine or 10 years ago, she was not like this. I don’t know what happened,” she said of Buzzard. “When my son brought her to the house, she was really quiet and just looking at me from head to toe. I told my son, “Mijo, Is this lady, is this girl okay? … She’s just staring.” She said her son, Rubiell Meza, who died in a motorcycle accident when Melodee was still an infant, replied, “‘Mom, because she’s shy.’”
After that Denes said she did not see much of Buzzard, though she said she did throw her a “huge baby shower.”
“All my family came,” Denes recalled. “That can tell you how much we loved her [Melodee]. We loved our baby, very much.”
Asked what her desired outcome for the case would be, Denes said she hoped she “gets charged the right way” but said that she expects Buzzard to plead insanity.
“I don’t think that’s right because she planned everything. You know, the license plates and moving them and all this,” Denes said, referring to the allegation that Buzzard switched license plates on her rental car in an apparent effort to avoid detection during her final road trip with Melodee.
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