Investigators believe the rental car a missing California girl was in while on a road trip with her mother had its license plate swapped to avoid detection, police said Monday, as they zero in on that October trip to Nebraska.
Investigators looking for 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard said previously that security video from Oct. 7, the day they say mother Ashlee Buzzard rented a white Chevrolet Malibu for the three-day road trip, showed Melodee wearing a wig in an apparent effort to disguise her appearance. The mother is also known to wear wigs, authorities said.
The following day, the car was seen with a New York state license plate in an apparent effort to make it more difficult to track, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office said in an update Monday.
“The New York plate seen on the car does not belong to the vehicle or to Ashlee,” the office said. “Investigators believe it was used as a false or switched plate to avoid detection. When the vehicle was returned to the rental agency in Lompoc California, the assigned California plate was on the vehicle.”
Melodee was last seen on Oct. 9 during the return leg of the trip, when security video showed her near the Colorado-Utah border, the sheriff's office said. The pair also traveled to Kansas during the return trip, the office said.
The sheriff's office previously said Buzzard was seen returning to her home in Lompoc on Oct. 10 in the Chevy Malibu — with Melodee nowhere in sight.
Efforts to reach Buzzard on Monday were unsuccessful.
Detectives want to know more about the pair's whereabouts during the return leg of the road trip. The sheriff's office said the Malibu likely traveled through the following locations on its way back to the Lompoc area: Green River, Utah; Panguitch, Utah; northwest Arizona; Primm, Nevada; and Rancho Cucamonga, California.
“Investigators are working to fill gaps in the timeline for that date and are working with law enforcement agencies in Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Southern California for assistance in reaching the members of their communities,” it said in a statement.
The search for Melodee began Oct. 14, when a Lompoc Unified School District administrator reported her extended absence.
On Thursday, the office said its deputies, along with FBI agents assisting with the probe, searched the home of the mother and daughter, making it at least the second law enforcement search at the location. Buzzard was led away by deputies because they planned a long and thorough search, approved by a judge, and needed to ensure there was no interference, the office said.
"A search of the residence confirmed that Melodee was not there. Ashlee has remained uncooperative and has not confirmed Melodee’s location or welfare," the sheriff's office said Monday.
Investigators also searched both a storage locker belonging to Buzzard, as well as the Malibu rental car, the office said.
Melodee is described as 4 feet, 6 inches tall and weighing 60 pounds, with curly brown hair and brown eyes. Investigators are asking that anyone who may have had contact with the girl or her mother on Oct. 9 or Oct. 10 to contact the sheriff's office.
