Ashlee Buzzard Appears in Lompoc Court on Murder Charge After Two No-Shows

Defense Challenges Search Warrant in Case of Woman Accused of Murdering 9-Year-Old Daughter

Public Defender Erica Sutherland and Ashlee Buzzard in Lompoc court on March 18th. | Credit: elaine k sanders

Ashlee Buzzard appeared in Lompoc court on Wednesday morning for the first time since January. Buzzard is charged with the murder of her 9-year-old daughter, Melodee.

Wednesday’s court event was brief and procedural: Buzzard’s public defender, Erica Sutherland, said the defense had made a “motion to traverse,” or challenge, a search warrant on Tuesday. Search warrants include affidavits wherein usually a law enforcement officer swears that they have probable cause to search a place. Legally, a defendant can challenge the truthfulness of the affidavit with a motion to traverse. If a judge finds the affidavit to be untruthful, they can suppress the evidence.

Sutherland clarified that the search warrant in question would remain sealed to the public.

Presiding Judge Stephen Dunkle said he had not yet had time to evaluate the motion. He scheduled another preliminary hearing setting for April 1.

Judge Stephen Dunkle in Lompoc court listening to Ashlee Buzzard speak in court on March 18

Buzzard missed her last two court dates on February 11 and March 4. On March 4, Public Defender Sutherland said that Buzzard was ill. Judge Dunkle set the preliminary hearing setting to Wednesday and said that if Buzzard did not attend, he would issue an extraction order.

During Wednesday’s hearing setting, Judge Dunkle instructed present media members to refrain from photographing Buzzard in handcuffs.

Buzzard spoke during the case, affirming that she would waive her time through the end of May.

Law enforcement arrested Buzzard in late December, after DNA evidence determined that a body found in a remote area of Wayne County, Utah, was a familial match to her. At that point, law enforcement had been investigating the disappearance of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard for more than two months and had shared with the public evidence that Buzzard had driven Melodee on a three-day road trip from October 7-10. Law enforcement repeatedly said that surveillance footage showed Melodee alive on October 9 somewhere near the Colorado-Utah border, but that Buzzard returned to Lompoc alone on October 10.

Through its investigation, law enforcement obtained warrants to search Buzzard’s house and storage locker, as well as the rental car she used on her October road trip.