Investigators believe car carrying missing California girl had license plate swapped to avoid detection

Investigators believe the rental car Melodee Buzzard was in while on a road trip with her mother had its license plate swapped to avoid detection, police said Monday.

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 Buzzard is wearing a hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and what appears to be a wig.Santa Barbara County Sheriff's OfficeMelodee 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.