Ashlee Buzzard pleads not responsible to homicide of 9-year-old Melodee

Ashlee Buzzard, the California mom accused of killing her 9-year-old daughter, Melodee Buzzard, pleaded not responsible Friday morning throughout a quick 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 expenses of first-degree homicide, “mendacity in wait” and associated firearm expenses within the dying 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 folks seated within the gallery cried “oh my god,” video of the listening to exhibits. A courtroom officer briefly known as for order earlier than the continuing continued.

Buzzard will stay held with out bail pending additional proceedings, based on the Santa Barbara County district lawyer’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 consider 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 dwelling from what investigators described as an “uncommon” cross-country journey along with her mom. Based on sheriff’s officers, Buzzard rented a car 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 fuel stations so cameras wouldn’t seize figuring out info, 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 felony grievance described the homicide as totally deliberate and “skilled,” alleging Buzzard carried out the killing with a “excessive diploma of cruelty, viciousness, or callousness.”

“This stage of felony exercise is especially stunning 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 function 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 dwelling in Vandenberg Village.

A dwell spherical of comparable ammunition was additionally recovered from the rental automotive Buzzard used through the journey, based on legislation 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 consider 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 test that launched the investigation.

Investigators mentioned Buzzard was “uncooperative” all through the investigation and declined to offer a verifiable rationalization for her daughter’s whereabouts when deputies first contacted her in October. Detectives later obtained search warrants for Buzzard’s dwelling, a storage unit and the rental car 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 seek 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 data present Buzzard has confronted monetary instability lately, together with a Chapter 7 chapter submitting and a number of civil collections instances.

Prosecutors allege Buzzard’s intent to kill was shaped in Santa Barbara County, which is why the case will likely be tried regionally 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 adequate proof for the case to proceed to trial.