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The body of 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard has been located, and her mom has been arrested more two months after the child vanished during an impromptu mother-daughter road trip.
Ashlee Buzzard was in custody Tuesday in connection with the young girl’s disappearance, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet it would be sharing “major developments” in the missing girl’s case at 5 p.m. ET Tuesday, as NBC News and local outlets reported that the child’s body was recovered.
Melodee was last seen on camera with her mother on Oct. 9 near the Colorado-Utah border after the pair took a sudden road trip from their home in Lompoc, California, and went as far as Nebraska.
But family members said they haven’t seen the girl for over a year, and described the elder Buzzard as “extremely mentally unstable.”
The mother has been uncooperative with investigators.
Buzzard and her daughter wore wigs as they walked into a Santa Barbara car rental outlet on Oct. 7 to obtain a Chevrolet Malibu.
The next day, however, their car was clocked on the road with New York plates, and when it was returned on Oct. 10 in California, the original plates had been returned — and Melodee was not with her mother.
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