Ashlee Buzzard, the California mom accused of killing her 9-year-old daughter, Melodee Buzzard, pleaded not responsible Friday morning throughout a short however emotional arraignment in Santa Barbara County Superior Court docket.
Buzzard, 40, appeared in custody for the listening to, the place a choose formally arraigned her on fees of first-degree homicide, “mendacity in wait” and associated firearm fees within the demise of her daughter, whose stays have been found Dec. 6 in a distant space of Utah.
The courtroom erupted as Buzzard entered the not responsible plea on all counts, as individuals seated within the gallery cried “oh my god,” video of the listening to reveals. A courtroom officer briefly referred to as for order earlier than the continuing continued.
Buzzard will stay held with out bail pending additional proceedings, in line with the Santa Barbara County district legal professional’s workplace. Her preliminary listening to is scheduled for Jan. 7.
Authorities allege that Buzzard fatally shot Melodee throughout a multistate highway journey in October earlier than returning alone to Santa Barbara County.
Investigators imagine the killing occurred on or round Oct. 9, shortly after the pair have been final seen collectively on surveillance video close to the Utah-Colorado border.
Melodee had been reported lacking weeks earlier after failing to return residence from what investigators described as an “uncommon” cross-country journey along with her mom. In line with sheriff’s officers, Buzzard rented a automobile for the journey and took deliberate steps to keep away from detection, together with sporting wigs and clumsy disguises. Buzzard was additionally captured on surveillance swapping license plates and backing into gasoline stations so cameras wouldn’t seize figuring out data, investigators allege.
On Dec. 6, a pair found Melodee’s decomposed physique alongside a distant stretch of State Route 24 close to Caineville, Utah.
Prosecutors alleged Buzzard carried out the homicide with a excessive diploma of “planning, sophistication, or professionalism.” A prison grievance described the homicide as completely deliberate and “skilled,” alleging Buzzard carried out the killing with a “excessive diploma of cruelty, viciousness, or callousness.”
“This degree of prison exercise is especially surprising given the calculated, cold-blooded and criminally refined premeditation and heartlessness that went into planning it,” Santa Barbara County Sheriff Invoice Brown mentioned at a Tuesday information convention.
Ballistics proof performed a key position within the case, investigators mentioned. Cartridge casings recovered close to the Utah crime scene have been matched via a federal database to an expended casing beforehand discovered throughout a search of Buzzard’s residence in Vandenberg Village.
A stay spherical of comparable ammunition was additionally recovered from the rental automobile Buzzard used throughout the journey, in line with regulation enforcement officers. DNA testing later confirmed a familial match between Buzzard and the stays present in Utah.
Buzzard was arrested at her Santa Barbara County residence Dec. 23.
Investigators relied on bodily, digital and forensic proof when cooperation from the suspect was not forthcoming. Authorities haven’t recognized a motive and don’t imagine anybody else was concerned.
Authorities have been made conscious of Melodee’s disappearance when her extended absence was first reported by a college administrator, triggering the preliminary welfare verify that launched the investigation.
Investigators mentioned Buzzard was “uncooperative” all through the investigation and declined to offer a verifiable clarification for her daughter’s whereabouts when deputies first contacted her in October. Detectives later obtained search warrants for Buzzard’s residence, a storage unit and the rental automobile tied to the highway journey.
Melodee’s disappearance drew widespread consideration, with members of the family and neighborhood members organizing searches as authorities tracked the mom’s actions via California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas.
“We have been all hoping to search out Melodee alive, as you undoubtedly have been as effectively,” FBI Particular Agent in Cost Patrick Grandy mentioned on the Tuesday information convention. “Our collective hearts are damaged because of this mindless end result.”
Court docket information present Buzzard has confronted monetary instability lately, together with a Chapter 7 chapter submitting and a number of civil collections circumstances.
Prosecutors allege Buzzard’s intent to kill was shaped in Santa Barbara County, which is why the case can be tried domestically regardless of the killing occurring out of state, sheriff’s officers mentioned.
Buzzard’s subsequent courtroom look is ready for Jan. 7, when a choose will decide whether or not there’s enough proof for the case to proceed to trial.
