Mother of missing 9-year-old Melodee Buzzard isn't cooperating with officials, California authorities say

Authorities in California say the mother of a missing 9-year-old girl has been uncooperative with investigators who continue a search launched after a school administrator reported the child’s “prolonged absence.”Ashlee Buzzard “remains uncooperative and has not provided detectives with any information about Melodee’s current location or condition,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday

Authorities in California say the mother of a missing 9-year-old girl has been uncooperative with investigators who continue a search launched after a school administrator reported the child’s “prolonged absence.”

Ashlee Buzzard “remains uncooperative and has not provided detectives with any information about Melodee’s current location or condition,” the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Monday.

The search for the girl from the small community of Vandenberg Village, about 160 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles, was launched Oct. 14 after the Lompoc Unified School District administrator’s report, the sheriff’s office said. Detectives tried to reach Buzzard and Melodee at their home that day, but the girl was not there, “and no clear explanation was provided for her whereabouts,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Melodee Buzzard.Santa Barbara County Sheriff's OfficeIt said evidence indicates Melodee was with her mother as recently as Oct. 7. Buzzard and Melodee may have traveled as far as Nebraska in a rented white Chevrolet Malibu that was later returned, the sheriff’s office said.

In a bulletin last week, the office said that the “last verified contact” with Melodee was about a year ago and that the most recent picture of her was taken two years ago.