Mother suspected of murder after officials find body of California 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard

Melodee Buzzard's mother was arrested Tuesday and accused in the death of her 9-year-old daughter after the girl's body was found in a rural area of Utah more than two months after she disappeared in Southern California.

Melodee Buzzard's mother was arrested Tuesday and accused in the death of her 9-year-old daughter after the girl's body was found in a rural area of Utah more than two months after she disappeared in Southern California.

Investigators uncovered a "significant amount of evidence" that indicated that Ashlee Buzzard, 40, killed her daughter, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters. Buzzard is being held without bail on suspicion of first-degree murder, Brown said.

"Maternal filicide is rare and always difficult to comprehend," he said. "This level of criminal activity is particularly shocking given the calculated, cold-blooded and criminally sophisticated premeditation and heartlessness that went into planning it."

Melodee's body was found Dec. 6 by a man and a woman who were taking pictures in Wayne County, Utah, Brown said. It was clear that the body was that of a girl who "died from gunshot wounds to the head," Brown said.

An FBI analysis of DNA confirmed the body was Melodee's, Brown said.